Facebook provides the means, but WoW could provide the motivation. If I go on Facebook right now, I can look up a hundred million people with mostly open profile information. What would I do, though? Why would I want to harass someone? Even if I did, who would I go after? Enter WoW. I steal an item, intentionally wipe a raid, whatever, and, I have a lot of angry people who want retribution. All of a sudden, there's a reason to go to Facebook, and a target to search for.
If you did those things and an angry person tried to find you, they could only do so if a) you post on the official forums, b) you turn on the option that displays your main character's name beside your real name in the forums, and c) you were playing on your main character when you did the foul deeds. I imagine most people would choose not to display their main character's name alongside their real name; that way there's no association between your name and your character.
If someone's going to get angry and track you down, it'll have to be over something you said on the official forums, not anything you do in-game.
EDIT - Also, there are a lot of people with the same character names across servers. Depending on whether your server is also shown alongside your character name in the forum, it might still be impossible to accurately find the person who screwed up your raid.
Warder to starry_nite
Chapterfish — Nate's Writing Blog
http://chapterfish.wordpress.com
Chapterfish — Nate's Writing Blog
http://chapterfish.wordpress.com
This message last edited by Nate on 08/07/2010 at 04:55:45 PM
Blizzard demand that people use their real names when posting on their forums (WoW, SC2).
- 08/07/2010 12:20:07 AM
1353 Views
I don't know how much to blame Blizzard
- 08/07/2010 12:43:08 AM
891 Views
Yeah, that'll work. I hope Blizzard enjoys lawsuits. *NM*
- 08/07/2010 01:08:58 AM
435 Views
I've heard that other places have been doing this without too much of an issue. iRacing, for one.
- 08/07/2010 02:34:49 AM
930 Views
Why should there be lawsuits?
- 08/07/2010 03:46:11 AM
897 Views
does something even need to necessarily be against the law to be brought suit against?
- 08/07/2010 04:07:15 AM
853 Views
Depends on how they implement it.
- 08/07/2010 08:54:31 PM
892 Views
There are parental controls to keep kids off the forums, if that makes any difference. *NM*
- 08/07/2010 09:22:45 PM
437 Views
Isn't that also much easier when they know which county he lives in?
- 08/07/2010 02:30:06 AM
930 Views
It depends.
- 08/07/2010 03:52:17 AM
888 Views
Oh well, there are thousands of people with my exact name, so I'm coo then.
*NM*
- 08/07/2010 04:27:31 AM
516 Views
*NM*
- 08/07/2010 04:27:31 AM
516 Views
I wonder how this works with prepaid time cards?
- 08/07/2010 02:48:17 AM
1026 Views
I'm sure if I used the forums I'd be more concerned...
- 08/07/2010 02:59:48 AM
922 Views
You should be concerned. Addons can also pick up your name in game from Real-ID *NM*
- 08/07/2010 09:23:57 PM
459 Views
I can understand why they're doing it.
- 08/07/2010 11:08:52 AM
923 Views
Exactly. As if this were a bigger identity threat than Facebook... *NM*
- 08/07/2010 02:46:18 PM
420 Views
In some ways, it is.
- 08/07/2010 04:40:22 PM
845 Views
Actually ...
- 08/07/2010 04:51:50 PM
919 Views
And *gasp* what if you did something to make someone mad on the "real life" server?
- 08/07/2010 05:13:57 PM
853 Views
- 08/07/2010 05:13:57 PM
853 Views
Facebook is a free service where you can control your privacy settings
- 08/07/2010 09:27:33 PM
886 Views
Guess I just found another good reason not to waste my time/life/money playing WoW.
- 08/07/2010 11:14:27 PM
1009 Views
Joining Facebook is also completely voluntary, as is posting on the forums is completely voluntary.
- 09/07/2010 12:13:51 AM
855 Views
Battle.Net is not voluntary
- 09/07/2010 06:20:55 PM
953 Views
Posting on the Battle.net forum is voluntary, as is the facebook feature.
- 09/07/2010 11:31:10 PM
1655 Views
Re: Blizzard demand that people use their real names when posting on their forums (WoW, SC2).
- 08/07/2010 02:47:02 PM
869 Views
mmo-champion might be a good place to look? *NM*
- 08/07/2010 03:07:51 PM
465 Views
I'll be cancelling my subscription if this goes ahead on 27th *NM*
- 08/07/2010 09:24:29 PM
460 Views
Also: I'm pretty sure that this is related to Blizz's social networking/facebok integration push
- 09/07/2010 01:26:36 PM
1007 Views
The plan has now been scrapped.
- 09/07/2010 07:03:52 PM
961 Views
Not surprising. That quickly and violently blew up in their faces. *NM*
- 10/07/2010 12:01:32 AM
488 Views

*NM*
Nate's quick as lightning.