Exactly that. It seems their new vision is to supplant Facebook. In an incredibly daft way (handing out email + rl name to 'random strangers' -queue dramatic emphasis- is not the most smart of things to do on the internet), but still. 400 pages of complaints in 6 hours of time won't do anything to stop this, I fear.

Actually read a response in the over 300 pages of the thread on the officials that really made me smirk, as it shows how people have started to regard Blizzard since their Activision adventurers: "Just wait, soon they'll offer a $15 programme where you can post without your real name showing again".

I think you are misreading it.

You opt-in to post. And reveal your name. If you do not opt-in, you do not get to post.

He's not saying sharing your name while posting is optional, he's saying posting at all is optional, and you'll be warned that your first/last name will be there when you post.

I don't see why they would want to 'supplant' Facebook. I would imagine one of their main goals with this is to get people to link their RealID profile on their Facebook(or whatever other social networking site), to potentially draw-in more customers, and make their games appear more mainstream. IE: " I can see some of my friends are playing WoW, maybe I should ask them about it/give it a try."

I hadn't really considered the notion of Armory being linkable to my real name... but then again I had also never considered the notion that my forum posts could be linked to it either.

And that's just not a chance I can afford to take, as it could very well destroy my professional career.

I've seen this objection from a number of people now, and I'm curious: what sorts of careers would be destroyed by someone finding out you played WoW? I'm not doubting that such a career exists, I'm just having trouble coming up with an example personally.

Because from a business stand-point it doesn't matter who doesn't want to use the service, it just matters who does, the people willing to use it are what they're going to focus on, and from those people they can attract more people and make more money.

A good example is that Celestial Steed, $25 for a mount is absolutely ridiculous, I could probably buy about 5 games off of Steam that are on sale for that amount, so I didn't get it, however there are a bunch of people who will happily shell out $25 for a mount, and the opportunity across 11 million subscribers for a huge profit is there.

My suspicion is that a lot of the people who don't outright cancel their subscriptions and boycott Blizzard in disgust (which is the tone of a lot of the vitriol coming out of the community) will flee to non-official community sites like EJ/Shadowpriest.com/Maintankadin to get their gameplay support. The trolling on the official forums will die out, and in that case it'll be a success, but I think the sites that allow players to maintain a sense of anonymity will see a large increase in traffic as a result of this.

But isn't it exactly the people *posting* on the forums that are supposed to use this brand spanking new spiffy Blizzard toy? The silent majority that doesn't post... well, they didn't post to start with. As such, they fall out of the scope of implementing that change. Even MVPs are stating they do not appreciate that change and those are the ones that are using Blizzard's forums for its main purpose.

Any career where the employee represents the seriousness and trustworthiness of the employer. Sales being one, law being another. For people in these fields, everything they post with their real names should be about their field, on well-known and well-respected blogs and review sites. If an employer _knows_ that their clients will Google representatives, they cannot hire someone who does not have a squeaky-clean and "serious" online image.

Heck, I was _almost_ found out because I had an article covering statistical analysis published in a online webmag. Was I proud at the time? Of course. But the webmag was about a hobby that is usually not considered "serious" or "professional." Good thing it was noticed after I was hired. In the competitive market I am in it could have sunk my chances.

And that was a published article with solid math and favorable feedback. Just think of standard PvP trashtalk or guild recruitment posts. Not a chance.

EDIT:

Most employers want work-a-holics. They say they don't, because eventually their productivity suffers. But they do. For example, most employers, if they could get away with it, would discriminate against someone that was married and has children. Single guys won't complain about dental coverage, can stay later more often, won't be distracted because of XYZ home issue, whatever.

If an employer finds out that you have a hobby that you do for many hours each day, that is scheduled in such a way that it might interfere with working late, that _might_ occupy your time with non-work issues, well.... what do you think they would do? Unless they really want YOU and ONLY YOU, they will move to the next guy. They can't pry into your personal life in an interview - it's against the law. But they can google you.

Anyone working in a contract service industry. The most obvious of which is the legal industry but it could apply just about anywhere.

Let's pretend I'm a lawyer and I play WoW for fun on the weekends and post on the RP forums. Now anyone who uses search engines to look for a lawyer or check my references will see someone with my name posting as a drunken Dwarf hanging out in a bar. Do you want me to be your lawyer now?

And of course Antiphonal's edit.

Well here's a humor thread I made, associating the Twilight Cutter ability with Twilight and razor blades:

World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> Twilight Cutter! Omg! (Strat included!)

I'd never post that under my real name. I can't say it would "destroy" my career, but it could only cause harm.