17,263
edits
Changes
→Blizzard Capitulates
On the morning of July 9, 2010, two days after issuing the original announcement, Blizzard announced that they were bowing to the wishes of their public, and removing the mandatory requirement<ref> {{cite web | url = http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzard-buckles-on-real-id/ | title = Blizzard rescinds Real Names requirement | date = 2010-7-9}}</ref> of using Real Names on their forums in the future, while keeping their plans to incorporate all of the other planned social upgrades. A partial quote from [[Mike Morhaime]]'s announcement:<ref> {{cite web | url = http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=25968987278&sid=1 | title = Mike Morhaime rolls back Real Names requirement}}</ref>
<blue>It's important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as the ability to rate posts up or down, post highlighting based on rating, improved search functionality, and more. However, 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 + 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.<br>
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.</blue>
==Epilogue==