Official forums: Real names only - Page 4

Sythalin · 07-07-10, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by d87

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/view...opic_id=128252

Now this is really disgusting

So summarize:
- Activision/Blizzard openly admitting they are in it purely for the money and could give a rat's ass about their customers
- Once a contract company establishes a solid foundation for a game IP, they cut the contracts and close down the company.
- The rumors were true; Blizzard no longer has any real "independence" since the merger. Everything is filtered up to Kotick, one way or another.
- SC2 is an experiment in how much they can bleed out from their customers, as well as in-game advertisements.
- The SC2 split was not done so that each episode was more "complete". (I was ****ing right god dammit!)

Activision CEO Robert Kotick has briefly mentioned his company's plans for maximizing profit from Blizzard's upcoming PC strategy sequel StarCraft II.

- Kotick has begun having delusions that he their actions/games alone influence how consoles are made.
- LAN support for SC2 was removed so that people who wanted to try the game are forced to by it.
- SC2 "premium" maps are the next cash cow with a "portion" going to makers. (I'm thinking it's going to be some insulting 10% share).
- New ToUs, which most don't ever read, clearly state that your "private" info is no longer private and can be distributed however they see fit once you accept the ToU.
- Developers are not to have fun making games, but instead live in constant fear of losing their jobs. (I feel sorry for them now!)
- CoD fees are strictly for profit, nothing more.
- Games that were previously approved by Vivendi pre-merger can/will/have been rejected by Activision due to "lack of interest".
- Blizzard is now constantly hinted as just being another source of money for them and must be overlooked by their own company members.

according to Massively and the L.A. Times put in charge as COO (Chief Operations Officer) of the "Blizzard business unit", with Mike Morhaime directly reporting to him

- The quality of games, and more so the work environment in general, mean nothing. Instead, money is pumped into "additions" (read: micro-transactions)
and advertisement rather than trying to keep employees happy.

Disgusting is still an understatement. I thought politics were bad, this is just plain ludicrous. Don't get me wrong, the game is fun and all, but now every time I log in I'm going to have that voice in the back of my head reminding me of the backstabbing and pure greed that my money is going to.

Sythalin · 07-07-10, 10:39 AM

Originally Posted by Petrah

Phone techs have to answer the phone. The forums techs do not have to answer posts.

You do understand that this can easily be reversed at any time, right? By no means are they required to offer phone support. It, too, can be recognized as a "secondary" option, considering that 90% of the time they blame your hardware/software/OS instead of accepting their own flaws.

Error 132 anyone?

Petrah · 07-07-10, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by ChaosInc

You do understand that this can easily be reversed at any time, right? By no means are they required to offer phone support. It, too, can be recognized as a "secondary" option, considering that 90% of the time they blame your hardware/software/OS instead of accepting their own flaws.

Error 132 anyone?

Let's deal with the facts and the here and now, and not the what ifs, maybes, or possibilities. You do understand that part of your subscription fee helps to pay for support, right?

Has Blizzard overstepped the boundaries where our privacy is concerned? Oh, most certainly. There is no doubt about that one. Are people tossing in falsehoods without accurate knowledge of the facts to justify why they won't post on the forums? Same answer. Most certainly.

You need to understand what those errors messages were created for. Those messages tell you that there is something wrong with your machine. Yes, once in awhile it is caused by the game, at which time the forum techs turn those errors over to the game developers. People also need to understand that when you deal with tech support, you are dealing with techs who help you with client side hardware/software issues only. Client side means end user, as in your computer. Game issues are handled by a completely different department.. the game developers. The devs, as a general rule, do not ever post on the tech support forums just as the server techs do not post on the tech support forums.

For issues experienced that are not represented in this thread, please consult our Bug Report forum (for in-game issues) or our Technical Support forum (for client-side concerns).

voodoodad · 07-07-10, 10:57 AM

Well, it's a new day... The thread linked by the op here is now well over 1200 pages long... Thousands of people protesting this move by ActiBlizz with no real new information being supplied by anyone from the Blizz side of things.

In the first page or two of that thread a blue posted his real name in an (very foolish, in my opinion) attempt to show how harmless just posting your name is. Of course within minutes a blog was posted somewhere with ALL of the poor man's personal information... Home address, phone (cel and landline) numbers and several other pieces of info that had no business being revealed.

Again, within minutes, links sprouted like weeds to the original blog, so now everyone reading those posts has access to his information.

Whether or not this information is correct is irrelevant... If it belongs to the Blizzard employee, then his private life is (or soon will be) in a shambles... If the info ISN'T his, then it belongs to someone else... Someone innocent no doubt of this entire fiasco and probably wondering at this moment why he's suddenly getting threatening phone calls and emails and.... you get the picture...

To anyone posting in the O-forums thread; I appeal to your better judgement... Yes! Protest this move on Blizzard's part to your dieing breath!

But at the same time, let's not become what we hate the most and what we're all fighting against in the first place.

I posted this here as opposed to the O-forums as I know it won't be lost in the massive waves of replies being posted there in the hopes that the better judgement of the people who read these posts may have some influence on some of the people posting there.

seebs · 07-07-10, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by Petrah

Let's not make this something that it's not. Phone tech support isn't going to answer the phone and say, or have a message telling you, that they no longer take phone calls and to go to the forums.

Actually, they do this fairly often right now.

You may be right that they might stop once people can't just go to the forums and post safely, but right now, they do indeed do this, and they even have an automated message to tell you to post to the forums, then hang up on you, when the lines are too full.

Petrah · 07-07-10, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by seebs

Actually, they do this fairly often right now.

You may be right that they might stop once people can't just go to the forums and post safely, but right now, they do indeed do this, and they even have an automated message to tell you to post to the forums, then hang up on you, when the lines are too full.

Which is exactly what I said. =)

Let me clarify. No one on the phone for tech support, or in any autmated message, is going to tell you that they have stopped taking phone calls and will never again give you tech support over the phone. What they will tell you is that they currently can't take your call. There is a huge difference between will not and can't.

Flarin · 07-07-10, 11:32 AM

I am worried for the kids that play. They will post in the forums without regard for their safety. One guy becomes helpful and convinces them to divulge just one or two more pieces of seemingly meaningless pieces of information - and then you have nefarious people stalking your children at school. THAT is not right.

If I was a spammer I would create a wow account and scrape email address off the official forums. THAT is not right.

So - what am I missing here? Threat to one's ID and possibly safety of your person and / or worse than that safety of your children? Seriously? What is there to debate this point.

Sythalin · 07-07-10, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by Petrah

Which is exactly what I said. =)

Let me clarify. No one on the phone for tech support, or in any autmated message, is going to tell you that they have stopped taking phone calls and will never again give you tech support over the phone. What they will tell you is that they currently can't take your call. There is a huge difference between will not and can't.

And no one has stated as such. Words are being completely misread or twisted around. Now that everyone is done waving theirs around, let's get back on topic (myself included).

Petrah · 07-07-10, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by ChaosInc

And no one has stated as such. Words are being completely misread or twisted around. Now that everyone is done waving theirs around, let's get back on topic (myself included).

It was certainly implied, which is why I posted to begin with. =)

I feel the same way as everyone else in this thread. It's an outrage and very upsetting that Blizz has forced this change. I hate it along with the rest of you as I am extremely anal about my privacy. However, if I see misinformation that I personally know not to be true because I've had personal dealings on the matter, I will post and try my best to add links to back up my statements where I can. Which I have done to the best of my ability when I can find appropriate links.

seebs · 07-07-10, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by Petrah

Which is exactly what I said. =)

Let me clarify. No one on the phone for tech support, or in any autmated message, is going to tell you that they have stopped taking phone calls and will never again give you tech support over the phone. What they will tell you is that they currently can't take your call. There is a huge difference between will not and can't.

So players in Australia have the following choices:
1. Multiple international calls, up to an hour or more, some of which will end in being kicked off and told to post in the forums.
2. Get harassed in real life by bored forum trolls.

Sounds classy.

Petrah · 07-07-10, 01:35 PM

Originally Posted by seebs

So players in Australia have the following choices:
1. Multiple international calls, up to an hour or more, some of which will end in being kicked off and told to post in the forums.
2. Get harassed in real life by bored forum trolls.

Sounds classy.

And they can't email tech support....... why?

[email protected], [email protected]

They can't chat live online via Battle.net with tech support...... why?

There are too many avenues for contacting tech support. The forums and phone are not the only options offered.

As Voodoo just told me via whispers in game. There are too many other valid reasons to hate this decision. Let's stick to those.

seebs · 07-07-10, 02:02 PM

Originally Posted by Petrah

And they can't email tech support....... why?

Because email tech support tends to say "please post this in the forums". And takes days to answer, while forum posts often get answered in under an hour.

They can't chat live online via Battle.net with tech support...... why?

I have no idea how to do such a thing.

As Voodoo just told me via whispers in game. There are too many other valid reasons to hate this decision. Let's stick to those.

Heh. I guess you have a point there.

But as long as the phone system hangs up on people after telling them to post on the forums, that's a serious flaw in this scheme.

Petrah · 07-07-10, 02:09 PM

Originally Posted by seebs

Because email tech support tends to say "please post this in the forums". And takes days to answer, while forum posts often get answered in under an hour.

I call BS. I would have to see a forwarded email with full headers in tact.

This is getting just a tad ridiculous. It's like that idiot that passes you on the freeway doing 90 MPH. A bit up the road, you get to wave and giggle at the poor bastard while he is pulled over getting a ticket simply because he had to get there now now now. /rolls eyes

Shadowed · 07-07-10, 02:31 PM

Don't forget to keep it civil guys, or you'll make Cairenn sad and nobody wants that.

voodoodad · 07-07-10, 02:32 PM

There are SO many other reasons to fight the good fight against ActiBlizz's new RealID policy. In-fighting over the whole tech support thing is just pointless. If people start disagreeing and fighting over WHY it's a bad idea, then how will we deal with the fools who think it's a GOOD idea? A bad idea is a bad idea. Once we've agreed that it is indeed a very bad idea, then the differences we have over the why's cease to mean anything.

We need to focus on the problem at hand; getting ActiBlizz to reconsider this policy. All of us have valid concerns and fears of why they should reconsider, so any arguments should be saved for them... If they ever respond at all.

This issue should be uniting us. We're all (at least from what I've read here, anyway) against this policy change. We need to keep this in mind, and take the battle to the enemy, in this case ActiBlizz, NOT each other!

C-can't we... C-can't we all just get along?

Sorry, just trying to lighten the pretty tense atmosphere...

Petrah · 07-07-10, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by voodoodad

There are SO many other reasons to fight the good fight against ActiBlizz's new RealID policy.

We're very much in agreement.

Sythalin · 07-07-10, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by voodoodad

Sorry, just trying to lighten the pretty tense atmosphere...

Tense? Who's tense? I, for one, am quite enjoying myself.

I assure you, it's been brought to their attention. If the 65 pages on the battlenet forums, or the 1369 pages on the actual WoW forums hasn't grabbed their attention, nothing will.

(page counts are as of this post)

Astrocanis · 07-07-10, 03:15 PM

Originally Posted by ricks322

Come on, people are going to Stop Playing the Game, stop writing addons just because of a change on the WoW forums!!!

Give me a break. If you don't like the changes on the forum, DON'T post there!

There is way to much name calling and crap on those now you can hardly find any thing usefull. Any questions are answered by 20 different people with 20 different answers.

Identity theft, come on from having your real name listed with a post on a web forum, get real.

As stated I only go there to find Blue posts.

I hope I'm wrong, but I believe you are unbelievably naive. Do you really believe it will stop at the forum? Really?

Do you really believe that they have seeded this infrastructure as a means to stop trolling on a forum? Really?

In your own words, "Give me a break."

voodoodad · 07-07-10, 03:33 PM

Another attempt to lighten the mood. This is just too good to pass up. Take a look.

ikathma · 07-07-10, 03:50 PM

Originally Posted by Dridzt

I have to 100% agree with you.
Not sure if I will stop playing the game but that's the end of official forums for me.

For those that intend to stay in-game (at least until such idiocy is forced upon us there too)
feel free to file a complaint here:
https://www.esrb.org/privacy/contact.jsp

I already did.

Just an FYI, I literally just posted this link over on the general forums, hit post and received a 72hour ban for "Spamming and Trolling" the forums. I think I've posted a total of four times or so in the last few weeks. And the post was gone in seconds.