You see, I don't really buy into the slippery slope argument. Oftentimes it strays into hyperbole, exactly like this.
I don't agreed with Blizz that RealID is the key to stopping trolling, but I don't think they'd implement it ingame other than for friending purposes either. It doesn't make sense, and gamemasters remain on staff just about 24/7 to deal with ninja looting problems. Additionally, ninjaing bears little resemblance to trolling. Both are forms of griefing, yes, but if anything ninjaing is an immediately more actionable offense, whereas trade/general trolling is a way of life for most servers.
The Facebook app was to update people on the status/achievements of their toons, so if it reports a toon's name in their FB, you'll automatically know that person irl name, independent of Real ID, which somewhat makes me skeptical of the uproar over Real ID's use in the forums. We do know that FB has had privacy issues, but nowhere do I see that Blizzard is beholden to give up anymore info than is already available to one's FB account. How long until playing WoW requires Facebook? I'm sorry, but that doesn't seem like a rational line of thought.
The truth is Blizzard is a company, and you are a customer, and I don't understand what the misconception is here. The relationship is not intrinsically changing, save that they've made a very misguided attempt to stop trolling and this can impact the way people socialize in a very big way. And I couldn't disagree more about the quality of their games--Cataclysm, Starcraft 2, Diablo, the new MMO, etc...if anything they care about the quality of their products more now than ever. I know there's been griping about the direction WoW, in particular, has been going, but I personally enjoy the current iteration (and look forward to future expansions) immensely. If the overhauls in talents & zones/graphics & gameplay in Cata is any indication, Blizz certainly hasn't stopped caring about their games, even if you feel like they've stopped caring about you (which, again, is taking it a bit personally).
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I don't agreed with Blizz that RealID is the key to stopping trolling, but I don't think they'd implement it ingame other than for friending purposes either. It doesn't make sense, and gamemasters remain on staff just about 24/7 to deal with ninja looting problems. Additionally, ninjaing bears little resemblance to trolling. Both are forms of griefing, yes, but if anything ninjaing is an immediately more actionable offense, whereas trade/general trolling is a way of life for most servers.
The Facebook app was to update people on the status/achievements of their toons, so if it reports a toon's name in their FB, you'll automatically know that person irl name, independent of Real ID, which somewhat makes me skeptical of the uproar over Real ID's use in the forums. We do know that FB has had privacy issues, but nowhere do I see that Blizzard is beholden to give up anymore info than is already available to one's FB account. How long until playing WoW requires Facebook? I'm sorry, but that doesn't seem like a rational line of thought.
The truth is Blizzard is a company, and you are a customer, and I don't understand what the misconception is here. The relationship is not intrinsically changing, save that they've made a very misguided attempt to stop trolling and this can impact the way people socialize in a very big way. And I couldn't disagree more about the quality of their games--Cataclysm, Starcraft 2, Diablo, the new MMO, etc...if anything they care about the quality of their products more now than ever. I know there's been griping about the direction WoW, in particular, has been going, but I personally enjoy the current iteration (and look forward to future expansions) immensely. If the overhauls in talents & zones/graphics & gameplay in Cata is any indication, Blizz certainly hasn't stopped caring about their games, even if you feel like they've stopped caring about you (which, again, is taking it a bit personally).