ESRB: Woopsie! [3 comments]
Brittney
I’m sure most of you are aware of Blizzard’s Real ID fiasco that has been taking place over the past week or so, but if not, let me give it to you in a nutshell. As a part of Real ID, users posting to Starcraft II and World of Warcraft forums would be required to use their real names. No longer would the security of posting anonymously under dragonXslayer45487878941594 be an option.
Blizzard pretty much stated their forums are becoming a trolling, flame war-ing haven and “Removing the veil of anonymity” is a way of curbing all of that inevitable nonsense.
Speaking of inevitable, people were NOT fans of the idea and immediately began flooding the forums with disapproval for Real ID, worried about their personal safety and exposure to the internet creepers out there.
As part of their protest, people were also sending complaints via email to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB).
Well, Blizzard listened, and ultimately retracted the Real ID policy.
And the ESRB, being the golden child that it is, proceeded to alert those that had emailed them that the Real ID biz was no more. Unfortunately, the ‘reply all’ button was pressed, and ultimately over a thousand email addresses were exposed.
Gotta love irony.
Tags: Gaming, NOOOOO!, THE INSANITY!!!, wanna date my avatar?, What were you thinking, WOW
LOL! That is priceless! I knew the ESRB folks had a sense of humor. I mean everyone knows they have zero commonsense after all.
If people would act with some sense of civility instead of hiding behind their veil of internet anonymity and using it as an excuse to be as rude and judgmental as possible, we probably wouldn’t have these issues to begin with.
I’m 99.9% sure that none of these forum flamers would ever start their brand of trouble in real life with real people. If they did, they’d have to face potential consequences, which was the whole point of Real ID in the first place.
That’s not to say that I supported the program, but I an understand the good intentions behind it. It’s a bit disappointing to know that anyone can go online and be a complete jerk to someone without facing any form of punishment for it.
that is severely ironic. the ESRB screwed up almost as bad as BP did. over a thousand emails? that is funny, and ironic. are you sure it wasn’t revenge? “hey, we don’t want Real ID” “Hey, lets expose all their emails” yeah, lets see how well this one goes over.