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The end of internet anonymity in MMO's

lilac said:
Huh, they think the way to end aggressive behavior on a gaming forum is to force people to use their real names...

Is it to make people scared that if they say the wrong thing someone is gonna find where they live and do horrible things to them?
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I've posted on the forum for said game in the past, I used to play it with a friend... If they enact this retroactively, you can bet that I'll be taking them to court for every cent I can get. I don't insult people, I play nice, and I try to add to the community - either by adding to the collective knowledge base or by injecting humor into the lives of others. That said - I don't think I have anyone mad at me on any of the forums I use, but I don't want any of the potential crazies having my name, especially since it isn't all that common (a Facebook search returns 10 results, including me...).

I wouldn't be worried about what someone would do to me, but what I would do to them if someone decided to track down my address and do something stupid. I generally don't trust people I haven't met unless I have gotten to know them some other way - call me paranoid, but some unknown person at my home when I arrive is likely to be met with the "shoot first, ask later" philosophy, especially since my home has been broken into twice in the past 4 years.

If that isn't bad enough, think of the possibility of identity theft. The example of the guy that posted his real name is all to accurate - I know of the resources to pull that in-depth of a search off, I don't want it used against me. Any time I get ready to do a transaction that was set up via Craigslist, I always run a search on the person I'm dealing with so that I am aware of who I'm dealing with and if I should have any concern in dealing with them.

aridash said:
presumably tie it to account details which people tend to put correct details in for. would work up to a point, and those with CC cards you can check easily. but yeah, difficult really and is a problem created for really very little gain and alot of hassle. simpler just to close the boards and let others deal with the problem, as MA has.

main problem is it couldnt be done retrospectivly as im sure that would be a breach of data protection law, only possible for new accounts where you have the choice to sign up or not.
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There is a reason that I sign up with fake names and phantom e-mail addresses for most things... The only time I give my real name is if I have to in order to complete a financial transaction.

addz said:
Ultimately if you don't act like a total douchebag then you shouldn't have anything to fear. Being forced to post under a real name will prevent 95% of the bullshit as people will think of the consequences before they write stuff.

Remove the anonymity and you remove the dickwads
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You'll remove far more than that. As mentioned in some of the articles - I don't want potential employers to Google my name and find out I'm a gamer. Although gamers are growing more numerous, there are still stigmas associated with being one, especially if you are found to be a MMO player. Gamers are widely thought of as slackers, I don't want somebody that holds my financial future in the hands to think that I'm something that I'm not because of me posting on a MMO forum.
 
I got nothing to hide and will never have... im an honest guy who have been ripped of by "#¤%&/()= who hide behind the privacy policy...

personaly i think its cowardly of MA not to do anything about these matters, shame on you MA.
 
Trolls blah.. blah.. blah.. there's gotta be a financial incentive for them to get their players identities. Otherways what would they hold the users accountable for? For what they say? Are they getting personal? Are we back to the 17th century duel scenarios? But, if it's a new marketing inovation to get themselves into the news? respectz!
 
Obviously the people over at the other forum don't really know how to run one. As much as some may dislike the rules here it does keep things overall in check. There will always be people that flame, or at times, like myself post when to angry or upset about things.

They just need to make stricter non-flaming rules, have sub section for off topic things and enforce their rules. They have the complete power, as does 711 to ban the users the constantly disrupt their forum. Pretty easy.

Have to say :wtg: for 711 for making a good place although it does get a bit hot in here at times. ;)
 
oh wel lez get used to it, the gamers dont have anonymity in North Korea ,

so we had some good time...at least here you dont get shoot or send to gulak if you say the stuffs you get sux... and the system is unfair.


hmm not yet anyway.


Wel what is the worst thing that can happen if you troll too much ?

At best someone put a Jihad on you...
 
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mike jones said:
im sure the trolls still wont use there real names
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Thing with games you subscribe to is if you want to use your credit card for monthly fees and DLC you'll have to disclose your real name to the company.

I get several warning bells ringing when there's a change of policy that includes publishing a person's real name after (presumably) on account creation stating that this information will not be made publically availabe. I strongly suspect any subclauses added saying 'we reserve the right to change this policy at any point' are overruled by general privacy laws (a lot of EULA junk and contract text simply isn't legally sound - when tried it's often overruled).

Meg said:
Well...
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Meg said:
Thing with games you subscribe to is if you want to use your credit card for monthly fees and DLC you'll have to disclose your real name to the company.

I get several warning bells ringing when there's a change of policy that includes publishing a person's real name after (presumably) on account creation stating that this information will not be made publically availabe. I strongly suspect any subclauses added saying 'we reserve the right to change this policy at any point' are overruled by general privacy laws (a lot of EULA junk and contract text simply isn't legally sound - when tried it's often overruled).
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very true although prepaid cards are all the rage now.
 
I`ve never liked the idea of full disclosure for public consumption. Too many risks before you even say or type a word. A local newspaper here is doing the same thing with the comment section on the bottom of thier articles. It`s going to kill that too. I think if whoever is running the board or site where the posting occurs had the personal info it would be good enough. But of course that would need to be policed and followed up on in certain cases. So instead they just throw everyone to the wolves, let fear be the enforcer and squash a whole lot of dissent in the process. The latter will be a big factor in the case of the newspaper. It makes them look bad you know. ;)
 
Anonymity is, in the first place, a security feature. In the second place it's away of expressing the fact that an avatar may have or not resemblances with the actual person behind it. Your actual name says something in the real world. The way you choose to represent your ego in a virtual world is a matter of individual will and stands in some way for the freedom of speech and choice.
It is one thing to implement restrictions over idiotic/insulting names and a completely other matter to constrain individual freedom of expression.
 
As long as security issues on the internet are a problem, you should not use real identy on the net... its as simple as that. Identity theft is a real problem on the net.
 
IDK - presenting yourself in form "ultimatemotherfuckerava" is kinda childish for me.

I actually dont wanna be recognised via avatar name yet by real name.

Igor is actually mu REAL name and my surname begins in L... so there you go.

I must admit I hate when games where they automatically bring in my avatar name in forum posts :mad: like Eve

I.
 
The management there is such a big dick heads since it was bought buy vivendi

It's no longer the good guys that created the most fun multiplayer games that run the show

And that's not me saying but the gamers that I know it first hand

The intentions are obvious

With the "save the children" (create a bogus man) approach they want to capitalize even further their profits.

There is no need to tie a real name to a nickname and then show it for everybody to see it.
If the company wants to sell advertising with their database then put it on the conditions of use (most do it this days anyway)

So it is dumb managing because other for profit based companies will start gathering free information on real people for extreme low costs without giving the users the abilities to protect it from at least "non friend". (ultimately rendering useless a good part of company (which doesn't protect their user) business model profits)



Amenophis said:
Anonymity is, in the first place, a security feature. In the second place it's away of expressing the fact that an avatar may have or not resemblances with the actual person behind it. Your actual name says something in the real world. The way you choose to represent your ego in a virtual world is a matter of individual will and stands in some way for the freedom of speech and choice.
It is one thing to implement restrictions over idiotic/insulting names and a completely other matter to constrain individual freedom of expression.
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Most censorship in the internet will end in the think of the children defense.

When the much more correct approach is being done in most forums that I go to:
internetdickwadmoderator.jpg


the moderators just bury the posts and if repeated abuse happens they take away the previledge to post.

So instead of good moderator having the ability to decrease the tension by the logic step

they will give people tools to make real life arrassment very easy




My guess their is a new business market now
Virtual credit cards with "anonimous/fake information" (you can already create them but they don't usually come with a name, my guess is that will start coming with John Doe)
 
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I think using your real names and having no anominity is ludicrous. I guess the way round it at least in UK is to change you real name by deed poll lol :ahh:
 
Internet anonymity is a myth :rolleyes:

And as for trolling, EU trolls are really quite tame compared to quite a few other places. :silly2:

(OT) I've been accused of being a troll here, but I look at a certain forum, and it makes me laugh, as the accusers really have no idea. :laugh: a certain forum has more troll posts than a small city has people, IMO :laugh:

I won't mention the name on this public forum, ever.
 
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I used to think internet anonymity was a smart thing, and in some cases, still think it is... However, true anonymity is indeed a myth. If someone wants to figure out who you are, they can and will figure it out eventually, and in some cases, it's actually not that bad if they do figure it out, or if you give that info over willingly to the general public. After all, if you have a neat hobby and want to make it in to a real job eventually, or want to meet someone you talked to online irl for whatever reason, you can't do that too easily if no one admits to who they are irl.

Sure, you don't want some idiot flamer coming to cause problems irl, but on the other hand if that flamer does come and cause a ruckus, you can call the cops on them for stalking, vandalism, tresspassing, etc... so in some cases, real life gives you more protections then virtual life does. Just look at the amazingly high number of virtual crimes we have seen in EU in the last couple of years that no one could do anything about really since it was all anonymous until and unless MA actually cooperated with the local police force from whatever part of the world the troublemaker was coming from.

The right to free speech is important, and internet anonymity helps that. However, it also helps a lot of people simply hide in the shadows that should get there arses hauled off to jail irl for doing the amount of trouble causing they do online.
 
this is just "sigh". Making ppl have to post with their real names are retarded.

Instead connect the accounts they have to their real gaming accounts where you got their visa and other info on but DONT make them post it publicaly.

And if ppl cant behave there is a way more simpler solution.. BAN them.
 
Moderators?!
 
Why is everyone so paranoid?

Whats wrong with your name? You ashamed of it?

When you meet new ppl do you shake hands and think "hmm this one looks suspicious - ill kinda not tell him my real name... if you are like that - you should really see a doctor.

Its not like you are giving any confidential info man. This aint done because of profit / corporate conspiracy, yet because of the proven fact ppl tell less bullshit under their real name, troll less, offend ppl less and so on.

I.
 
Its not like you are giving any confidential info man. This aint done because of profit / corporate conspiracy, yet because of the proven fact ppl tell less bullshit under their real name, troll less, offend ppl less and so on.
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With WOW I suspect it's mainly so they don't gold mine and spam as much. I've never played WOW but have played it's predecessor, and still do on occassion, Diablo II... Like every third line of the chats in there, both in games and in the main chatrooms you go to between games, there's goldminers posting their stupid links trying to sell junk items to others in what are usually scammy deals. This sort of junk is really the essence of what started the RCE in an mmorpg idea in the first place. Over there, it's not legal or legit per eula to do that stuff but people do anyways.

One really huge fear I have is that eventually EU will turn in to a spamtrap like that because MA doesn't seem to always take second avatars as seriously as they should, expects people to pay to get to other planets when travel should be free (which will cause more people to want to have second avatars), and is starting to do stuff with the new entry point in to the game that might possibly eventually lead to gold miners if they are not careful... Sweat might be a little bit like gold mining somewhat now, but right now it's not that big of a deal since the price of sweat is actually going down. In the future, especially when CRD in China goes in to play, if it ever does, or if something similar over in that part of the world starts up, we might start seeing a lot more of these problems here in EU.
 
Igorl said:
Why is everyone so paranoid?

Whats wrong with your name? You ashamed of it?

When you meet new ppl do you shake hands and think "hmm this one looks suspicious - ill kinda not tell him my real name... if you are like that - you should really see a doctor.

Its not like you are giving any confidential info man. This aint done because of profit / corporate conspiracy, yet because of the proven fact ppl tell less bullshit under their real name, troll less, offend ppl less and so on.

I.
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Your example doesn't make any sense. Revealing your name to a certain person irl, is like revealing a name on a Pm in forum, only to 1 person. Posting under your real name is another matter entirely. You're revealing your identity to potentially everyone who has access to that forum. And what's more, using that name they can find out lots more about you, than you choose to share. Just look what happened to that Dev guy in article..

Even irl, if you reveal your identity, it's not like you automatically want to share everything about you. And this is what going to happen.

In case you haven't heard, CIA and other services are already using facebook to mine info on potential suspects. So..
 
Igorl said:
Why is everyone so paranoid?

Whats wrong with your name? You ashamed of it?

When you meet new ppl do you shake hands and think "hmm this one looks suspicious - ill kinda not tell him my real name... if you are like that - you should really see a doctor.

Its not like you are giving any confidential info man. This aint done because of profit / corporate conspiracy, yet because of the proven fact ppl tell less bullshit under their real name, troll less, offend ppl less and so on.

I.
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Well nothing wrong with my real life name, it's just that when I do a search on well know engine like google (which isn't even post for the job), all I get info about me, and me only.

I'm not really scared that 50 year stalker comes after me and tries to make babies, just to realise that the nature doesn't allow this, no.

It's just that if I kill a random person in a virtual word, it might be one those unstable ones that might take real life action over this. And again, i'm not really concerned if the target would only be me. But rather if it's someone that I do care about. Like one of my little sisters, or my little brother or... you got the point.

I hope that his makes at least some sense to some one

edit oh and:
If I have meeting, and it's with a employee of a bank for example, ofcourse I tell my full name.
If it's a random stranger i've never met in my life saying and comes to me and says "wazaa", I might say "o hai" and continue like it never happened, or I might say nothing and continue like it never happened.
If it's a friend introducing me to hes/her friend, I will most likely start only with my first or last name only or with the "nick names" that (most of my friends at least) friends are often know as.

Like one could come up Mo(nroe)Bo(ndage) from my EU name, but instead from real name ;)
 
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Legion said:
this is just "sigh". Making ppl have to post with their real names are retarded.
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Agreed

Legion said:
Instead connect the accounts they have to their real gaming accounts where you got their visa and other info on but DONT make them post it publicaly.
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It already is, been that way like, forever. The forum account, and game account, are one and the same.


Legion said:
And if ppl cant behave there is a way more simpler solution.. BAN them.
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They do, amount of time depending on infraction, though I guess they probably don't do it enough.
 
hm. it becomes more and more attractive to steal someones passport / ID-card and just use their details whereever i log on...

i'm paranoid by nature and news like this make my (2-feet long) hair stand up straight. i sure DO hope that we won't see this here EVER - if and when we do, i'm bye-bye (or consider the above mentioned)

seriously ... i know where your house lives! :silly:

S.
 
mastermesh said:
I've never played WOW but have played it's predecessor, and still do on occassion, Diablo II...
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Warcraft 3 is the predecessor to WoW.

Diablo takes place in a totally different universe.
 
Warcraft 3 is the predecessor to WoW.

Diablo takes place in a totally different universe.
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Yes... but it's all on battlenet... so it's the same thing basically... just pick your game... sort of very similar to EU and how there's different planets but they are in the same darn client... I wish EU was more like battlenet actually. It'd be cool if there was an official huge chatroom that was like a limbo area before your avatar goes online, and if it had a gigantic forum, similar to ef... It'd probably make Hanne's job a bit easier instead of having to have her jump all around to this forum, that forum, and the other forum... It'd also help FPC give out messages without causing gigantic amounts of lag wherever the official FPC avatars are standing as the chat would just happen in the chatroom/forum before you go in to the actual virtual world.
 
Well that’s interesting, let’s see where that leads to.
Glad I or any family members have an account there,
I do hope this forum never ever does the same thing. :rolleyes:
Many governments, universities and security agencies strongly
recommended to keep all your private information, private,
including full names.

I wonder what will happen with all those accounts already created,
do they all get changed to real life names ? Quit interesting if this happens without the account holders consent, I wonder what US law says about that.

For those who think it’s not a big deal, have a look at the link below.
It’s for US only I think, but there are many sites like this out there.


http://www.intelius.com

.
 
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Paranoia.
No trouble can come from someone knowing your name, unless you're in the business of causing trouble, or you're hiding from someone.
 
I would never want random people to know my real name or worse yet what I look like irl.










<---- Cough!
 
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