Real ID edges its way into Blizzard Forums

[Darkeros]

This may also just be a marketing ploy. I mean, everyone is talking about it. They pull the plug at the eleventh hour and people every where go YEAH! and Bliz looks like a customer caring company all the while they got massive press and people talking about sc2.

Smart imo, if this is the direction they were going.

I just dont see that being the case. There is no-recurring revenue involved in SC2 and such a massive number of people to exploit. Don't get me wrong I bought the game(its not my cup of tea but I can see that its a good game) but I dont think this is about the game itself its about making money. Not only is there no recurring revenue but it cost money to maintain. I mean if I was being a shrewd business man having the whole game fall on its ass after 6 mos. would be the best thing to happen or I would find a way to exploit the community.

The memory of gamers is so short or so non-chalant that if the franchise were to go down in flames on purpose by the time there was SC3 10 years from now there would be no blood lost.

[Demolition]

My memory is pretty excellent, If SC hadn't been what it was I'd not be getting SC2. If they burn SC2 I will not be getting SC3.

[Darkeros]

My memory is pretty excellent, If SC hadn't been what it was I'd not be getting SC2. If they burn SC2 I will not be getting SC3.

I wont be buying another FUNCOM or NC SOFT game ever. But we are the exeption not the rule. I really don't think they will burn SC2 but when Activision has all that recurring revenue for WoW and a huge player base playing SC2 and SC2 doesn't generate them any revenue they will figure out a way to make more than box on the game.

[Talifey]

There is no-recurring revenue involved in SC2

The engine is done, the editors are made, the standards are set.

The next two expansion packs will take a 100th of the time and money making Wings of Liberty took. The next two Expos, are huge profit. And 99% of people will buy them, why? Because everyone knows that Broodwar was way more fun than SC1 and had way more strategies and was better balanced. So they already pretty much know that every 18 months (the projected time they announced between SC2 expansions) they can almost write it down in the books now that everyone who buys wings of liberty will buy Heart of the Swarm.

Then there is the LUCRATIVE Professional starcraft culture in S.Korea which Blizzard is currently in a legal battle with for intellectual rights. If Blizzard makes X dollars every time they broadcast an SC2 game on TV in Korea, that's basically free money.

Then of course they can always release more content in the form of sideline stories, like $10 down loadable campaigns that follow story lines in the past or are side plots.

There's a lot of marketing opportunities whether its in game like B.net 1.0 or on forums or at at tournaments.

They could start their own tournament leagues involving entry fee's.

And that's just what I thought of in like 20 seconds. There's tons of opportunities to make more money off SC2 that don't involve stupid networking sites and plastering your consumers names all over the net. Not to mention a lot of those ideas are actually good for the gamers.

What I love most is 'god forbid they expect to release more content to make money, it should just flow in like WoW! GOD.' So stupid.

[Darkeros]

The engine is done, the editors are made, the standards are set.

The next two expansion packs will take a 100th of the time and money making Wings of Liberty took. The next two Expos, are huge profit. And 99% of people will buy them, why? Because everyone knows that Broodwar was way more fun than SC1 and had way more strategies and was better balanced. So they already pretty much know that every 18 months (the projected time they announced between SC2 expansions) they can almost write it down in the books now that everyone who buys wings of liberty will buy Heart of the Swarm.

Then there is the LUCRATIVE Professional starcraft culture in S.Korea which Blizzard is currently in a legal battle with for intellectual rights. If Blizzard makes X dollars every time they broadcast an SC2 game on TV in Korea, that's basically free money.

Then of course they can always release more content in the form of sideline stories, like $10 down loadable campaigns that follow story lines in the past or are side plots.

There's a lot of marketing opportunities whether its in game like B.net 1.0 or on forums or at at tournaments.

They could start their own tournament leagues involving entry fee's.

And that's just what I thought of in like 20 seconds. There's tons of opportunities to make more money off SC2 that don't involve stupid networking sites and plastering your consumers names all over the net. Not to mention a lot of those ideas are actually good for the gamers.

What I love most is 'god forbid they expect to release more content to make money, it should just flow in like WoW! GOD.' So stupid.

We are on the same side here. I am just saying that if cash is the ultimate goal there isn't a limit to the shady things that can be done in order to double and triple dip the audience.

[Kainzo]

People still play WoW? dear god.

[Cel]

People still play WoW? dear god.

10/10 for content.

[Loopah]

And.... it's all canceled.

Hello everyone,

I'd like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.

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.

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.

In closing, I want to point out that our connection with our community has always been and will always be extremely important to us. We strongly believe that Every Voice Matters, ( http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/mission.html ) and we feel fortunate to have a community that cares so passionately about our games. We will always appreciate the feedback and support of our players, which has been a key to Blizzard's success from the beginning.

Mike Morhaime
CEO & Cofounder
Blizzard Entertainment


//ed - Post edited to update the list of new forum features that will be implemented.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...68987278&sid=1

[Darkeros]

It still is mandatory social networking though like steam in the background. I hope they have in game away offline and 'bating option for status. While complete name was shitty. It wont effect trying there cash model for RTS whatever that may be.

The brightside to me is that its still an RTS and they haven't made a move to dumb it down for the masses.

[Cel]

Quite fast but hardly surprising that they reversed it that fast. Whoever thought it was a good idea must live in a cave.

[Tivia]

Glad they listened to reason. I really want to play SC2 and I absolutely would not have had that gone through.

[Talifey]

If they went through with it after Bashiok had his biography posted, I dunno, I mean, I don't have much faith in Actiblizzard as it is but if they did, flushhhhh. But at least someone has enough sense to say 'hmm you know, an 1000 page thread in just what, 2 days? maybe this is a bad idea, someone roll the D20 of decision making!'

[Mojache]

YOU SHALL BE MISSED REAL ID!

[Mojache]

Glad they listened to reason. I really want to play SC2 and I absolutely would not have had that gone through.

You would have not played a game, if that games forums required you to post using your Real ID?

Are you fucking stupid?


That might come off harsh, but seriously the fucking stupidity that has come out of people with a FORUM that requires you to use your real name to use is absolutely retarded. The forum usage is 100% optional. You can still read/lurk it all you want, but if you want to post, they ask you do so under "Steve Goldstine" and not "ToHawt4TehLadies69". I hope they have a forum that is still Real ID exclusive when the system comes out. I understand peoples issues with having all the forums be Real ID only, but the idea for an optional forum is completely sound.

[spyd]

Preach Rob!