With the recent announcement of yet another large forum update and the already-present Facebook sharing shit AS WELL as the same old issues with Battle.net 2.0, I think they've lost it. Just look at it: http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=25626109041&sid=3000
They're already killing our social lives far more than they are helping them with the Facebook crap, and this goes for anything like that too - Twitter, Myspace, etc all those other social networking sites they choose to partner with. Most of my friends, if not all of them wouldn't give two shits if I just played a game of StarCraft 2 on Kulas Ravine. It just makes you seem a lot more nerdy than you probably are. And I know it ain't forced, you don't have to use it, but really at most few people will use it and it's cause it's basically saying "Yo guys I'ma nerdy mofo who plays StarCraft all day look at my win/loss ratio omg." And while that may not be true for everyone who uses the feature, the majority is going to seem like this - even if you aren't.
Blizzard also seems to want to strip the internet of it's anonymity now. According to the blue post(link at the top) they are planning on using people's IRL names on their forums with the option of displaying their internet aliases after them. Is it just me or are they smoking crack...? It's like they are asking for a lawsuit if not several. And while I agree that it would end the flame wars, kill the trolls and save a otherwise dieing forum - you just don't do this. Ever. People are going to be complaining nonstop(and they already are) about how they're personal privacy is being invaded with this change. And it's true, it is. Some people do not like to have their real name be displayed to the world over the internet so some nerdy hacker to be able to track him down. That alone is bad, without imagining what that hacker could do to that guy in person or otherwise.
I know I wouldn't like this to happen to me, and I'll bet you anything this is going to happen at some point be it soon or later. Don't say it can't happen - if your name is unique enough they have a decent chance of actually finding you. Common names like John(for example) would be harder to track down just because of the fact they are so common. And yes I did get this from the thread I linked above, it was a good example.
And Battle.net 2.0 isn't much better. While it's not phase 2 and we haven't seen a near complete launch version of it as of yet overall it is missing far too many things, things that should be there upon launch. Chatrooms, clear working voice chat (this isn't the 19XX's anymore, things like this should be in working order by now), and especially a leaderboard that doesn't just span a 100 - 1000 players. I don't know wtf they we're thinking with the divisions thing. It will make players feel more accomplished than they actually are. Getting high in their division means nothing when you compare it to everyone in the world - and right now there is no way to do that anyhow - so they're kind of fucked both ways. Maybe it will get fixed for phase 2 or launch, here's hoping.
It just seems like ever since the merge between Activision and Blizzard they have been steadily going downhill and making stupid decisions. Imo it's all Kotick but maybe they are just brain dead, I don't know. /rants
This does seem like a strong move by Blizzard; maybe that guy who spammed the Blizz forums to death last weekend was the final straw for them. I understand they want their forums to be a constructive place to talk about Blizzard games, but slapping everyone's real name on their posts, wow.
"The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before. With this change, you’ll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well."
This is why. Like most community based moves by their owners, its the posters fault.
"The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before. With this change, you’ll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well."
This is why. Like most community based moves by their owners, its the posters fault.
I'm not asking why. I know why, and I honestly don't give much of a fuck. They are going waaaaaaaaayyyyyy too far with this social crap.
I posted this on TL already: I don't mind having a name like my SC2 character linked to my global acct, but I am not enthusiastic about having my real name all over the internet forums. I don't even have facebook because I don't want people snooping around my life... now this... I'll just stick to the old forums I guess. SC2Mapster forums are good too.
P.S. the new forum system LOOKS great. Just don't show our real name...
Its too bad people will make their name be Billy Mays and spam the forums anyway.
If anything, I like This suggestion below.
"It's easy to change your Online ID. Just log into your account and change your name. Anyway, I must say that Blizzard is nuts and it's the dumbest idea I have ever heard. Without a doubt this will lead to legal issues down the road especially if someone goes out of their way to cause trouble to someone else using the Blizzard forums as a medium to hurt someone else by means of physically harm or defamation of character.
Blizzard, if you really want to know why your forums are trolled with many disrespectful people then you should go view some half decent website communities and their system. The problem with the Blizzard forums is that there is absolutely no warning system here. The moderation system here is not transparent. Nobody feels that Blizzard is here actively warning and banning trolls. Whenever someone gets banned or warned, nobody here knows. Make your warning system transparent and it will deter most disruptive behavior."
I think they might just get T-bagged into undoing the change by the community, and problem solved.
@dimfish - one guy last weekend had zero impact on this issue. That's not how features get chosen/programmed/implemented/vetted in the industry. This probably took months of planning on their parts - not just a weekend "FUUUUUUUUUU".
@BlueFacedGit - Personally I don't think Blizzard will be bullied into changing it back. They've gone the road of SOE's Vision (TM) lately. If Blizzard was murdering baby angels I don't think anybody could convince them it was wrong - this isn't the Blizzard of yesteryear. Important company folk have left over the past few years and the face of the company seems to be changing.
Honestly, the biggest problem I see is that you'll very easily be able to pursue and harass someone you don't like, for whatever reason. Blizz won't care, either.
Stupid anti social shits... people are turning into robots...
Why cant we just play games ? ;(
First they are inventing some uber powerful anticheat softwares that are useless from hackers... They just ruin games. Now we got facebook, and shits like that in our games ? WTF...
Just got banned for voicing my opinion on this subject on their forums. Jesus Christ, look at the thread on the WoW forums, it has over 300 pages, last I checked it was something like 6000 posts.
Just got banned for voicing my opinion on this subject on their forums. Jesus Christ, look at the thread on the WoW forums, it has over 300 pages, last I checked it was something like 6000 posts.
Exactly why they're doing this :) They don't have the manpower to deal with the bullshit that is the official forums, I guess they figure by blackmailing people into being civil with the threat of future employers finding their posts it'll decrease forum activity to the point where it can actually be moderated.
Quote from BrotherLaz:
You don't HAVE to specify your real name, you know.
Make a new b.net account. Enter your real name: 'Donald Duck'.
Problem solved.
@BlueFacedGit:
I got banned for saying American SC2 players are nerds, I am American and I play SC2. Some other guy got banned for simply posting a link to the SC2 trailer commercial.
With the recent announcement of yet another large forum update and the already-present Facebook sharing shit AS WELL as the same old issues with Battle.net 2.0, I think they've lost it. Just look at it: http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=25626109041&sid=3000
They're already killing our social lives far more than they are helping them with the Facebook crap, and this goes for anything like that too - Twitter, Myspace, etc all those other social networking sites they choose to partner with. Most of my friends, if not all of them wouldn't give two shits if I just played a game of StarCraft 2 on Kulas Ravine. It just makes you seem a lot more nerdy than you probably are. And I know it ain't forced, you don't have to use it, but really at most few people will use it and it's cause it's basically saying "Yo guys I'ma nerdy mofo who plays StarCraft all day look at my win/loss ratio omg." And while that may not be true for everyone who uses the feature, the majority is going to seem like this - even if you aren't.
Blizzard also seems to want to strip the internet of it's anonymity now. According to the blue post(link at the top) they are planning on using people's IRL names on their forums with the option of displaying their internet aliases after them. Is it just me or are they smoking crack...? It's like they are asking for a lawsuit if not several. And while I agree that it would end the flame wars, kill the trolls and save a otherwise dieing forum - you just don't do this. Ever. People are going to be complaining nonstop(and they already are) about how they're personal privacy is being invaded with this change. And it's true, it is. Some people do not like to have their real name be displayed to the world over the internet so some nerdy hacker to be able to track him down. That alone is bad, without imagining what that hacker could do to that guy in person or otherwise.
I know I wouldn't like this to happen to me, and I'll bet you anything this is going to happen at some point be it soon or later. Don't say it can't happen - if your name is unique enough they have a decent chance of actually finding you. Common names like John(for example) would be harder to track down just because of the fact they are so common. And yes I did get this from the thread I linked above, it was a good example.
And Battle.net 2.0 isn't much better. While it's not phase 2 and we haven't seen a near complete launch version of it as of yet overall it is missing far too many things, things that should be there upon launch. Chatrooms, clear working voice chat (this isn't the 19XX's anymore, things like this should be in working order by now), and especially a leaderboard that doesn't just span a 100 - 1000 players. I don't know wtf they we're thinking with the divisions thing. It will make players feel more accomplished than they actually are. Getting high in their division means nothing when you compare it to everyone in the world - and right now there is no way to do that anyhow - so they're kind of fucked both ways. Maybe it will get fixed for phase 2 or launch, here's hoping.
It just seems like ever since the merge between Activision and Blizzard they have been steadily going downhill and making stupid decisions. Imo it's all Kotick but maybe they are just brain dead, I don't know. /rants
This does seem like a strong move by Blizzard; maybe that guy who spammed the Blizz forums to death last weekend was the final straw for them. I understand they want their forums to be a constructive place to talk about Blizzard games, but slapping everyone's real name on their posts, wow.
Well, I'm not posting in Blizzard forums anymore. :P
Taken directly from Battle.net's forum guidelines LOL:
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Curse Premium"The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before. With this change, you’ll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well."
This is why. Like most community based moves by their owners, its the posters fault.
I'm not asking why. I know why, and I honestly don't give much of a fuck. They are going waaaaaaaaayyyyyy too far with this social crap.
I posted this on TL already: I don't mind having a name like my SC2 character linked to my global acct, but I am not enthusiastic about having my real name all over the internet forums. I don't even have facebook because I don't want people snooping around my life... now this... I'll just stick to the old forums I guess. SC2Mapster forums are good too.
P.S. the new forum system LOOKS great. Just don't show our real name...
I think Blizzard's CEO is also a minion of Kerrigan now...
Its too bad people will make their name be Billy Mays and spam the forums anyway.
If anything, I like This suggestion below.
"It's easy to change your Online ID. Just log into your account and change your name. Anyway, I must say that Blizzard is nuts and it's the dumbest idea I have ever heard. Without a doubt this will lead to legal issues down the road especially if someone goes out of their way to cause trouble to someone else using the Blizzard forums as a medium to hurt someone else by means of physically harm or defamation of character.
Blizzard, if you really want to know why your forums are trolled with many disrespectful people then you should go view some half decent website communities and their system. The problem with the Blizzard forums is that there is absolutely no warning system here. The moderation system here is not transparent. Nobody feels that Blizzard is here actively warning and banning trolls. Whenever someone gets banned or warned, nobody here knows. Make your warning system transparent and it will deter most disruptive behavior."
I think they might just get T-bagged into undoing the change by the community, and problem solved.
@dimfish - one guy last weekend had zero impact on this issue. That's not how features get chosen/programmed/implemented/vetted in the industry. This probably took months of planning on their parts - not just a weekend "FUUUUUUUUUU".
@BlueFacedGit - Personally I don't think Blizzard will be bullied into changing it back. They've gone the road of SOE's Vision (TM) lately. If Blizzard was murdering baby angels I don't think anybody could convince them it was wrong - this isn't the Blizzard of yesteryear. Important company folk have left over the past few years and the face of the company seems to be changing.
Honestly, the biggest problem I see is that you'll very easily be able to pursue and harass someone you don't like, for whatever reason. Blizz won't care, either.
Fuck this. I also deleted facebook.
Stupid anti social shits... people are turning into robots...
Why cant we just play games ? ;(
First they are inventing some uber powerful anticheat softwares that are useless from hackers... They just ruin games. Now we got facebook, and shits like that in our games ? WTF...
Oh yes, another topic turning into a mindless "blizzard is evil" rant.
Name those "important folk".
Just got banned for voicing my opinion on this subject on their forums. Jesus Christ, look at the thread on the WoW forums, it has over 300 pages, last I checked it was something like 6000 posts.
Yea they went too far, seriously, i'm here to play the game and have fun, not to be reprimanded in cyber-life.
Exactly why they're doing this :) They don't have the manpower to deal with the bullshit that is the official forums, I guess they figure by blackmailing people into being civil with the threat of future employers finding their posts it'll decrease forum activity to the point where it can actually be moderated.
It'll never go live though.
the sky is falling, and the next ceo of blizz will be satans spawn. does that sum it up for everyone? ./sarcasm
You don't HAVE to specify your real name, you know.
Make a new b.net account. Enter your real name: 'Donald Duck'.
Problem solved.
that.