Saturday, July 10, 2010

Blizzard backs down to it's community's backlash

Blizzard has retreated from its position and said that Real ID on its forums won’t be implemented, following a community backlash to the announcement.

Speaking on the Blizzard forums, company boss Mike Morhaime said, “When we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name and character code, not your real name.

“The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name.”

Morhaimed added: “I want to make sure it’s clear that our plans for the forums are completely separate from our plans for the optional in-game Real ID system now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II.

“We believe that the powerful communications functionality enabled by Real ID, such as cross-game and cross-realm chat, make Battle.net a great place for players to stay connected to real-life friends and family while playing Blizzard games.

“And of course, you’ll still be able to keep your relationships at the anonymous, character level if you so choose when you communicate with other players in game. Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.”

Earlier Blizzard had said they were in the process of implemeting Real ID by which it's forum's user's real names would be shown but now it looks like they've finally retreated from it.

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