No Real ID required on forums

Dear Activision/Blizzard,

It is with regret that we have read about the upcoming changes regarding the forums and the Battle.net Real ID. When the Real ID programme was released, it was announced as a way to communicate with friends you personally know, beit in real life, beit online buddies you trust sufficiently to show them your real name.

However, recent plans revealed by Vaneras in the General Section of the World of Warcraft forums prove a 180-degrees turn in this policy, and I quote:

"The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID -- that is, their real-life first and last name -- with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it."

This is something we do not agree with. We play this game for fun, as a hobby if you will. Showing our real name next to forum posts which regard a game is over the top.

The World of Warcraft forums are for example indexed by Google. With our real name next to it, anyone searching for us on Google would end up on the World of Warcraft forums, and be able to read our posts regarding a vide game. We would like to draw a distinct line between our private, real lives, and the game, or fantasy world.

Furthermore, two of the basic principles on the internet is that everyone is equal, and everyone is anonymous. To us, it looks like Blizzard has the intention of changing this, like some sort of internet superhero. You are a game developing studio, not some sort of internet superhero, and your actions should confirm Blizzard being the former, not the latter, as it is now. This measure will not stop trolling. You will not stop trolling. As long as people are anonymous, they will troll. One way or the other.

We are against this change, and would urge you to take the signatures below into account when making your final decision. An alternative solution would be privacy options to either disable te Real ID requirement on the forums fully, or partially.