Yesterday something kind of sad happened.
After reading of the monumentally stupid idea of forcing Real ID on anyone wanting to post in the official forums I started thinking. I have always known Blizzard is a company, and as such is chasing the almighty dollar.
Long have I played this game, and even though I always knew Blizzard was a company I always considered them as doing things in the best interests of their clients. Last night though I found myself unable to find any joy in playing.
Three times I logged in, and not once did it last longer than a few minutes.
The real world kept encroaching on my fun time.
You see, I have this knack. I can look at a given situation and very often figure out where a company is going with some of its ideas before they come to pass. I see little things, and like the pieces of a puzzle they snap together to show parts of a bigger picture. I don’t know how it works, I just know it’s right more often than not.
Right now I am nearly certain that the Real ID “feature” is the wave of the future.
First it was an optional in game service.
A few weeks later it’s announced that it will be mandatory for the forums.
Give it time and I see it being mandatory everywhere. At least I think that was the plan.
Whether they will go through with it amidst the outcry about this remains to be seen. Something tells me that they will though.
.
Right now I see four solutions.
Just keep right on playing like nothing is different. (the head in the sand method)
Use parental controls to block Real ID on all three of my accounts. Delete all my forum posts including the several guides I have posted there. (the Shermans march to the sea method)
Or I can do what Gnomegeddon did and simply cancel my account. (the vote with my wallet method)
Create a new Battle net account with a false name and start over. (not happening, I have three accounts and I am not paying $210 for new copies of the software)
.
As of right now I am leaning towards number two just to be safe. If things continue down the road I see them on I’ll simply pull the plug and go find another game to play.
This whole post was actually supposed to be a rant, but oddly enough I can only rant about things that anger me.
I find I am not so much angry as I am disappointed. It’s the same kind of feeling I would get if one of my kids brough home a report card full of failing grades. I know they can do better, just like I know that Blizz can do better.
This time though? The missed the mark by a wide margin.
This time they failed.
I almost wish I could be angry at them, somehow disappointed is much worse.
.
Filed under: World of Warcraft |
Dechion's Place 
I’m on the same boat with you, and I’ll guide my kids to make their battle.net account on a false name. It’s too late for me, though, just like you.
It’s all in the business, so we have to figure out how Blizz would benefit from this in making profit. Follow the money, so to speak.
C out
I don’t see them making a huge profit from this as it is currently implemented, what I see is little pieces of the Next Gen MMO peeking through the cracks. Things that are controversial they will want to get out of the way early, preferable when they have an expansion coming to lure people that rage-quit back.
If something is going to annoy people do it slowly and they won’t complain too much.
It ‘s like the story my middle school science teacher told us about frogs.
If you put a frog into boiling water it will jump out. (duh)
If, on the other hand, you put a frog in room temperature water and slowly heat it, it will sit right there until it croaks.
I forsee Real ID being a required feature of the Next Gen MMO by design. They are just trying to get us all in the room temperature water now, they’ll ratchet up the heat later.
Dech, you don’t need to delete your posts.
They’re moving to an entirely new forum system and have stated that any posts made before that point will remain the way they are now: anonymous.
So, don’t worry about that.
This whole thing reeks of some middle manager going “man, facebook is popular… let’s do that here here and here.” Someone later said “we should allow aliases” and the middle manager got his feathers ruffled and freaked out.
At least, that’s how things like this go in my experience.
I still doubt you’ll be seeing “Firstname Lastname” over character heads in MMOs though.
Regis and I was discussing this last night &Regis suggested that he wouldn’t be surprised if this was Blizz’s easy way out of running the forums. How much money does it cost to maintain the forums and to police them?
That suggestion makes me look at Blizzard in a whole new and disappointing light. I tend to forget that in the end, Blizzard’s goal is to make money.
I can only hope that QQing wins. If they nerfed Occulus and put a pony in it because of QQing, I can only hope they nerf this idea.
[…] Dechion wonders “what is Bliz smoking?” (while bringing us kittehz) and sees four solutions. […]
[…] with fissures and vents forming everywhere. Some have simply left the game, while others are unsure of their future with our favorite MMO, while even others feel that the new RealID feature may be a good thing. […]
[…] Blizz, kindly keep the real world where it belongs, not in my video games. Long have I played this game, and even though I always knew Blizzard was a company I always considered them as doing things in the best interests of their clients. Last night though I found myself unable to find any joy in playing. […]