Battle.net Update: Upcoming Forum Changes

Recently, we introduced our new Real ID feature http://eu.battle.net/realid/, a new way to stay connected with your friends on the new Battle.net. Today, we wanted to give you a heads up about our plans for Real ID on our official forums, discuss the design philosophy behind the changes we’re making, and give you a first look at some of the new features we’re adding to the forums to help improve the quality of conversations and make the forums an even more enjoyable place for players to visit.

The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID -- that is, their real-life first and last name -- with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm. Certain classic forums, including the classic Battle.net forums, will remain unchanged.

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.

We also plan to add a number of other features designed to make reading the forums more enjoyable and to empower players with tools to improve the quality of forum discussions. Players will have the ability to rate up or rate down posts so that great topics and replies stand out from the not-so-great; low-rated posts will appear dimmer to show that the community feels that they don’t contribute effectively to the conversation, and Blizzard’s community team will be able to quickly and easily locate highly rated posts to participate in or to highlight discussions that players find worthwhile.

In addition, individual topics will be threaded by context, meaning replies to specific posts will be grouped together, making it easier for players to keep track of multiple conversations within a thread. We’re also adding a way for Blizzard posters to “broadcast” important messages forums-wide , to help communicate breaking news to the community in a clear and timely fashion. Beyond that, we’re improving our forum search function to make locating interesting topics easier and help lower the number of redundant threads, and we have more planned as well.

With the launch of the new Battle.net, it’s important to us to create a new and different kind of online gaming environment -- one that’s highly social, and which provides an ideal place for gamers to form long-lasting, meaningful relationships. All of our design decisions surrounding Real ID -- including these forum changes -- have been made with this goal in mind.

We’ve given a great deal of consideration to the design of Real ID as a company, as gamers, and as enthusiastic users of the various online-gaming, communication, and social-networking services that have become available in recent years. As these services have become more and more popular, gamers have become part of an increasingly connected and intimate global community – friendships are much more easily forged across long distances, and at events like DreamHack, GamesCom or our own BlizzCon, we’ve seen first-hand how gamers who may have never actually met in person have formed meaningful real-life relationships across borders and oceans. As the way gamers interact with one another continues to evolve, our goal is to ensure Battle.net is equipped to handle the ever-changing social-gaming experience for years to come.

For more info on Real ID, check out our Real ID page and FAQ located at http://eu.battle.net/realid/ We look forward to answering your questions about these upcoming forum changes in the thread below.

Q u o t e:
p.s.

Does this mean that Blizzard officials will also be posting with their real first and last name?

Yes it does :-)

Q u o t e:
Will all the posts posted before July 27th be converted to show your real name?

No.

All posts made on the current forums, be it the WoW forums or the classic Battle.net forums, will remain as they are now.

We will be launching a brand new forum system in the future around the time when we will be releasing Cataclysm, and no posts from the current forums will be transferred over. In the new forums you will be given a clear warning that your real name will be made visible alongside any post you make.

Q u o t e:
I can only say this. Without an option for players to decide what information is displayed to the "community" and the world wide web as a whole I will be cancelling my subscription to the game and will go play something like the Star Wars MMO.

Your real name is not going to be showed to anyone unless you decide to share it. Existing posts in the current forum system will not be changed to show players' real names. Real names showing in forum posts is something that will come with the introduction of our new forum system closer to Cataclysm launch.

On the new forum system, your name is not going to be displayed publicly unless you chose to post in them. This means that you first have to go through the process of being notified that posting on the forums will show your real name along with your post, accept this, and then actually submit your post, before your real name is displayed.

In other words, simply playing the game will not give away any information that ties your real name to the game or your activities.

Q u o t e:
and what about when someone needs technical support, a GM points to the forum, yet they cant post without revealing their real name, which they don't want to do? They aren't allowed technical support?

This point would have some legitimacy if the forums were the only means of contacting our technical support staff, however, there are multiple other options to receive support. One option would be using the technical support phone contacts as listed on this page: http://www.wow-europe.com/en/support/technical.html

Another option would be to contact the technical support team via email, which can be done via this support contact webform: https://eu.blizzard.com/support/webform.xml?locale=en_gb

Lastly, there is also the option of reading the forums to see if other players have posted similar issues, or if there is information provided in sticky threads that may help solve the issue at hand.

None of these options require posting on the forums and thus giving out your real name to the public :)

Q u o t e:
Are old posts converted into this system? Will posts made prior to the changes to the forums display my real name?

New posts made after the forum changes to the new system will display your real name, but you will be carefully warned in advance before you post. Thus, your real name will only be displayed if you choose for it to be displayed.

Any post you've made already -- here in the WoW forums or over in our Battle.net forums -- will remain untouched. Your real name will not be retroactively applied to posts already existing.

We have been planning this change for a very long time. During this time, we have thought ahead about the scope and impact of this change and predicted that many people would no longer wish to post in the forums after this change goes live. We are fine with that, because we want to change these forums dramatically in a positive and more constructive direction.

It's been very obvious over the last few years that the forums are an exceptionally valuable source of information both for players and for us to gather feedback. There are many threads on this forum now, and over the last few years, that people have been constructively discussing many aspects of the game. They've received new wisdom and have then been able to go back to the game and enjoy it further with the new knowledge acquired through the forums.

These threads, however, can often be lost amongst a great deal of other threads that are basically filled with trolling, name calling, flaming, off-topic conversations and that's just a small amount of some of the content that has been found in these forums over the years. We don't want that anymore, and we believe the Real ID change will bring about a lot of the improvement that we are hoping for.

There's a lot of scare-mongering going on about the change, but there seems a need to make something very clear. The forums have always been an optional extra -- something you can choose to participate in if you wish to. With our Real ID changes for the forums, this is still the case. The only difference will be, if you do choose to participate in the forums, then you will do so by using your real name. But only after you've been warned and accepted this in advance.

We want you to know we are very much aware of the range of reactions being displayed here. We're very much aware of the feedback being given. We're listening and carefully considering everything being said. Posting in this thread is not a waste of time, the feedback is being gathered and delivered. You may choose not to believe it, but we do greatly appreciate it when you take the time to give us your constructive thoughts and reactions. For those who are avoiding the insta-ban style spamming and instead are taking the time to write constructively, we thank you. For those that aren't, we hope that in the future you will come back later and with a clearer head, to provide constructive feedback when you are more able to.

Q u o t e:
I don't think "scare mongering" is appropriate when people are in fact reading this thread by very virtue of the fact that they are scared. This news is point in fact scary.

Since this comment seems to have been misinterpreted by more than just yourself, let me try to explain further -- I could have easily not used it and avoided the repercussions, but it seemed to describe some of what was apparent and thus seemed the best word to use.

A lot of legitimate and understandable concerns are being raised. It would be hard for myself or any caring individual to not empathise with the fears and concerns people have. But amidst these concerns there is also a bit of something going on that I can't easily describe with other words, but I'll try.

Posting on the forums with your real name will be optional -- yes, in the sense that the options are simply post and show your real name, or do not post and you keep it confidential. If people are happy to post and do not feel intimidated by this, then great -- hopefully they will also post constructively (though it's fair to say, this isn't a given). It might be scary to consider posting with your real name, in which case it might be advisable simply not to post in these forums. There's a whole load of other forums across the internet where you'll be able to post in a more anonymous way, and maybe you will make a useful and constructive contribution there instead.

If you really do read all posts in this thread and others, like we are doing, then you will see some examples of what I was meaning by "scare-mongering". There are posts from some people who are either confused by the changes or generally uncertain, and they are getting understandably scared and then posting in a way that scares other people in the process. With such a change as we have outlined, it is completely understandable that people can and do feel this way. Describing the process of scaring others and raising the level of general fear as "scare-mongering" does not in any way diminish people's validity in doing so, nor does it dismiss the usefulness of anyone expressing themselves in any way, including in a way I might describe as "scare-mongering"; the term simply describes it for what it appears to be.

Q u o t e:

Q u o t e:
New posts made after the forum changes to the new system will display your real name, but you will be carefully warned in advance before you post. Thus, your real name will only be displayed if you choose for it to be displayed.

Was written by the CM with a croc or something.

I do not get it.

he writes " your real name will only be displayed if you choose for it to be displayed. " ?

What it means is, unless you choose to post, your real name will not be revealed.

Q u o t e:
From the looks of it, you might be reading it all-right, and then discarding it all.
Not even once have any blue post even made the tiniest hint of actually caring about valid concerns.

That's just not true at all; please don't try and put words in our mouths or represent us in ways that just aren't the case. We do care, and saying otherwise doesn't really help anyone. If we didn't care, we wouldn't be posting. And believe me, it's not fun to jump in here and post but we do so because we care and because we want you to see that we are listening and not just moderating.

Q u o t e:
If you care, that means you will make an option to let us post on the forums without having to reveal our real name?

I can only reiterate what we've already said, that is that we are listening and compiling your feedback for review and consideration. We cannot foresee what will be the outcome of that and thus we cannot make predictive statements about future events and decisions. However, when there is further information to share, as is always the case we will endeavour to share it here.

Q u o t e:
The solution is simple, and you didn't answer to that suggestion a single time yet. Just add an UNIQUE alias that cannot be changed to everyone's battle.net account, and use that one on the forums

From the perspective of individual representatives, we can only really thank you for your suggestion. It isn't up for us to make on-the-fly decisions about suggestions, but we can and do take your feedback and suggestions and deliver them for consideration.

Q u o t e:
So basically ''it's our choice'' to publicize our ID if we want customer support, report a Bug or have an other technical issue, but all of a sudden privacy is a concern for those who choose to work for Blizzard or something.

Nice double standard.

So you're selectively ignoring what we're saying and jumping to conclusions? Well, in that case, let me restate because I thought it was already clear from the previous times we answered this question and from the original message ("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."). We will be posting in the new style forums, and because choosing to post in the new forums means that you display your real name, we too will display our real name.

Q u o t e:
Hi Blues

Just wanted to leave a note here myself on this topic.

The changes you propose, if they go live, will in fact mean that I will cease to post on the boards in any fashion. This is despite several years of participation in the warrior forums in a constructive and enjoyable manner.

The reasoning is fairly simple. When playing games on-line I have always been a person who is protective of personal details. I am polite to all, I like to have a good time, but equally I am protective of my privacy especially with people who (for the vast majority) I do not know. So to all gamers, except the few who I have got to know separate from the game know me as Flanks.

Obviously the people who know me well, know me by my name also. No surprise then that I have them as Real-ID friends, and when we chat we see each others real names.

However this comes to the point. The only people who can do this with me are people who I have agreed to, and visa versa for them. There is a reason my character is called 'Flanks' and not my real name.

Now personally, I would have no problem at all with a forum system that forced only 1 posting character from the moment a battlenet account is created. This would make sense, and indeed seem to satisfy any and all objectives your proposals are aimed at. It would allow the social networking aspect, and the Real-ID system could easily be tied in by allowing real-ID friends to see the specific details that most users can not.

I applaud your desire to make the battlenet community a real community, it is an aim which can only make games more enjoyable for all involved. However your proposals to strip the privacy away from forum posting seem to open another can of worms which can have far more severe and personal consequences than any benefit you desire in terms of politeness and decent behaviour.

As stated before, if the change does go through then I will (personally) cease to post on the forums in order to continue my practice of keeping privacy from people except those I choose to be more personal with.

I hope the change does not go through, as on the whole I have enjoyed my times on forums. Currently, that time left is limited.

That's quite understandable, Flanks. Privacy is very important and if you're not even slightly comfortable with revealing your real name in the forums, then I think it is perfectly understandable that you err on the side of caution and just don't post. It's a shame that some perfectly constructive and decent folk predict they will no longer be posting in our forums when we make this change. We hope though, at the very least, you will still be reading them. We've got a lot of other changes coming to the forums in terms of layout, content and the like and we hope that you will still find the forums a useful source of information.

Q u o t e:
Ancilcorn left the CM team after only 18 months, no reason given other than "Moving on". When this stuff hit, people posted in his goodbye topic asking if this was his reason for leaving. Those posts were deleted (even though Wryxian said they don't delete posts unless they contain swearing) and the topic was locked.

We also always delete what we call "necromancy" posts when we lock a topic that's been raised from the dead. It's unfortunate that people decided to resurrect my friend's topic with this stuff -- even he didn't appreciate it. Out of respect to him, please don't keep putting words in his mouth. He moved away for his own reasons which had nothing to do with this change, and these reasons are of no business to the general public.

Q u o t e:

Q u o t e:
What it means is, unless you choose to post, your real name will not be revealed.

I do get that its all up to us whether or not our real name is revealed, by choosing to post or not. I get that for most of the forums, where it really is up to us whether or not to post, however there are times we have no choice and are just about "forced" to post to get help. When we have technical issues, ingame issues and the like, we do get faster help posting here than going to the support forms. Basically that then ends up in most not being able to post for help because they do not want their real names revealed. How on earth is that helpful for the community? With the response time we have now on support forms (I have waited a week once) are you then saying this will be vastly improved so we can avoid posting and revealing our names?With all the reduction on trolling you will say will happen, will more effort go into helping those asking for help with support forms?

Though we've addressed this already, with such a large thread as this it's not surprising that many of our answers are hard to find.

Basically, there will be still other ways to contact our Technical Support or Billing teams. Taking Technical Support as an example, I imagine they will still have phone numbers and a totally free to use webform. More information on both can be found on our website (http://www.wow-europe.com/en/support/technical.html).

It's not for me to predict ahead of time what changes might occur, if any, in the ways to contact our support staff. But I do know for certain that our support teams are committed to providing top quality support, so if for any reason we believe there are not enough ways for people to easily contact us for that support, then it may be that we might want to review the situation and make changes if they are necessary.

Q u o t e:
Just to clarify, i think voicing concerns and complaining is futile, yes

It really isn't, and in response I'd like to clarify it again. Please everyone, continue with expressing your feedback and thoughts. We absolutely are listening and taking note. No we don't have the ability to reply to every post but we are definitely taking on board what is being said. As with every major announcement in the past, we make the announcement, we collect the feedback and we review it and if we believe it necessary we change our plans. This isn't something new and I can't see why this would be any different so it is a bit unfair to suggest that we aren't listening and that your feedback doesn't matter, because it does matter and we are listening.

Q u o t e:
Well, I'm glad to hear that. Now, can you assure us that our feedback will have ANY effect at all?

I would have liked to hope that it was obvious that as a simple human, limited to only seeing what is here now or in the past, I cannot predict the future even if I try... ;-)

Q u o t e:
Wryxian.

It is.

You already said that you'll be implementing this. Blues have CLEARLY hinted at this.

Sharein. You must be new to the WoW forums -- welcome! You might have missed previous announcements we've made, only to change our minds later. It's unfortunate but it can happen. Now I'm not going to predict either way on this one, but the idea that we have never listened and have never adapted our plans based on feedback is, frankly, untrue.

Q u o t e:
*sigh* I know, and I apologise. it was a silly quip...

But I hope you understand how upset and disillusioned we are. Well, actually I am certain you understand it, I should rather say that I hope your bosses all the way up to the top understand it.

Thank you, Yirrah; it's nice to see you're being reasonable and no offense was taken on my side.

Q u o t e:
Wryxian. I am not new here. I have been posting on this forum for five years in fact. I am sure you do read our feedback, no doubt about that. But i am still unsure about what is being done with the feedback us players provide you with. I know some plans have been changed/scrapped because players gave feedback on it. But i am unsure if the complaints about this system will have any effect, seeing that it seems to be a very big project which -might- eventually gain influence on every single player.

Maybe you could enlight us on this aspect?

Thank you for being reasonable with your response. But alas, again, I cannot predict the future. It's just not possible to guess what could be done from this point onwards, considering the feedback given. And it's not going to matter how the question is re-worded, I just won't be goaded into trying to guess ahead of time what might come in the future.

Q u o t e:
Wryxian...I wish you the very best, and I hope you'll always show the courage you have shown in facing all these angry posters, myself included. You and the other CM's have at least shown us that there was someone listening, even if they could do nothing. For doing your very difficult job, and doing it well...Thank You. (and a special shout-out to Vaneras, I always was a fan of any roleplaying Dwarf with his own mug)

Well thank you, too. I can't fully be certain it's courage or foolhardiness, though. ;-) Because it seems that some of my words, however well meant, have been twisted to mean something quite different. And when you're approaching a situation with good intentions, with the hope of trying to make things better, and you see comments from people saying you are being "disgusting," for example, it's not particularly good for one's mood.

Q u o t e:
I'll keep posting, I'll keep arguing, trying to build the momentum to turn this elephant...but I don't think my heart is in it any more.

Maybe you just need some time out to get a clear head again. Don't worry, we're not going away and you can come back again after a break and restart your posting if you need a bit of time to rest.

Q u o t e:
atleast it showes some one is alive here, then on the other end Why does the US have a bluetracker and we DONT ?

The Blizz Tracker was a bit of a test. Because our development teams are based in the US, it's much easier for them to test stuff over there first. As it is, though the test looks like it worked out okay, we instead decided that features such as this would be better of being implemented as part of a much larger redevelopment of our forum system and the ways in which our Community team in particular interacts with players. So what you see now as the Blizz Tracker in the US forums is just a tiny hint at some of the stuff we'll have in the new forums and online Community team presence in the future. Yes, even here in the EU.

Q u o t e:
Wryxian, you sound like a nice chap, but your replies are worded in a manner that seem most patronizing. At least that is how i read them.

Well I'm sorry if that's the way I come across, because I absolutely do not intend to sound like that. I think perhaps it is the classic case of it being generally hard to gauge someone's intent and tone just from their words alone. If you heard me speaking you wouldn't think I was being patronising, and I can assure you that it just isn't in my nature to be like that.

Q u o t e:
In Vaneras' announcement (Post no1) there has been a text edit in paragraph 3 after the sentence which ends "...run wild." Prior to the edit the next sentence began "We understand that some responsible forum members will no longer wish to participate in the forums, but we are fine with that, because removing etc etc"
Wonder why (and when) Wryxian removed the line about how they were fine with responsible posters not wanting to participate anymore? Does it indicate a softening of the official line, a faux-pas, or a response to complaints about the arrogance displayed?

I haven't quoted this line verbatim cos im working from memory, but would be happy if a blue could confirm what was removed.

Again, sorry if this has been remarked upon before.

If that is an intended conspiracy theory, well it was nicely done and quite elaborate. But it is quite false. In the first post, I only edited the URLs. You can see this by checking any number of blue tracker sites online that still preserve the original text of the announcement.

I changed:
<http://eu.battle.net/realid/>,
To:
http://eu.battle.net/realid/

And:
http://eu.battle.net/realid/.
To:
http://eu.battle.net/realid/

The reason is because the punctuation and formatting was being combined with the clickable URL.

We want to acknowledge that within this thread there remains a lot of unanswered but important questions and some very valid concerns that we have not yet been able to address. We want you to know that we are still listening and still gathering your feedback and taking it into consideration. We are not, in any way, ignoring your concerns, your questions and your feedback; in fact it is quite the opposite. Your feedback has been delivered to the people who need to see it, and it continues to be delivered.

Some in this thread have claimed that though it seems Community team members like myself are showing that we are listening and we are caring about the concerns, there are still doubts that those above us may feel the same way. I want to take a moment to clarify that this isn't actually the case. Though it can be a fine line at times to write in the forums both as an individual representative and also on behalf of the company, it needs to be made clear that the company as a whole is listening and that we do, as a company, care very much for your concerns and we are taking them on board.

We're listening, we're working through the feedback, and we're discussing it internally. When we do have more answers, updates or information to give about this announcement and about our internal discussions, we will be certain to update you here in the forums. In the meantime, please continue to provide your feedback as it is not in vain and we are taking it into account.

Thanks very much for being patient with us while we work through the process of gathering, delivering and discussing the feedback, questions and concerns you've been posting in this thread. We greatly appreciate that you have been, and continue to be, engaging with us here and expressing yourself with patience and admirable candour.

Q u o t e:
Anyone else noticed how the threads are being locked down much more zealously if they so much as remotely touch upon the issue? If you want us to give feedback here, Blizzard, then please get your higher ups to get in touch with their paying customers. It is unfair to us to be left up in the air like this, and it is unfair for the community posters to have to be the bearers of bad news.

Please read our comments in this thread before jumping to conclusions:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=13816838128&sid=1&pageNo=642#12836

Q u o t e:

Q u o t e:
Wryxian wrote:
We want to acknowledge that within this thread there remains a lot of unanswered but important questions and some very valid concerns that we have not yet been able to address. We want you to know that we are still listening and still gathering your feedback and taking it into consideration. We are not, in any way, ignoring your concerns, your questions and your feedback; in fact it is quite the opposite. Your feedback has been delivered to the people who need to see it, and it continues to be delivered.

Some in this thread have claimed that though it seems Community team members like myself are showing that we are listening and we are caring about the concerns, there are still doubts that those above us may feel the same way. I want to take a moment to clarify that this isn't actually the case. Though it can be a fine line at times to write in the forums both as an individual representative and also on behalf of the company, it needs to be made clear that the company as a whole is listening and that we do, as a company, care very much for your concerns and we are taking them on board.

We're listening, we're working through the feedback, and we're discussing it internally. When we do have more answers, updates or information to give about this announcement and about our internal discussions, we will be certain to update you here in the forums. In the meantime, please continue to provide your feedback as it is not in vain and we are taking it into account.

Thanks very much for being patient with us while we work through the process of gathering, delivering and discussing the feedback, questions and concerns you've been posting in this thread. We greatly appreciate that you have been, and continue to be, engaging with us here and expressing yourself with patience and admirable candour.

This fills me with happy hope thoughts.

Maybe Im too biased and hopeful but this is the first post Ive seen that doesnt in any way dismiss the concerns or hint that this will go through anyway - and not advicing people not to post or use unofficial forums.

I'm really glad to see this and will continue checking mmo's blue tracker in hopes for hints on what the internal discussions are.

Most valid points has been made already so I wont repeat them, but thanks for responding to us.

No problem.

And restating the link here for further visibility:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=13816838128&sid=1&pageNo=642#12836

As we have said many times already in this thread, we have been listening, gathering feedback and discussing your concerns and questions internally. We would now like to link you to a new thread which contains a message direct from our CEO & Cofounder, Mike Morhaime:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=13816839821&sid=1