A flurry of controversy in the gaming community arose earlier this week over the proposition that Blizzard’s official forums would transition all user names to display a person’s real name. The response to this proposition was fierce to say the least.
A post by Blizzard on behalf of Blizzard CEO and President Mike Morhaime addressed the outcry, “I'd like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.”
The plan aimed at cutting down on the increasing amount of user hostility and temper tantrums that arose from user-to-user interaction. The response to this plan was overwhelmingly negative, with users calling upon Blizzard to either enact the requirement on all users, including Blizzard employees or drop the issue immediately. Protests included users posting personal information of Blizzard employers on Facebook and personal blogs, including names of friends and family.
The message did not say that the changes would be dropped from the table forever; the inclusion of “at this time” leaves room for the possibility of the matter potentially coming back.
