So you ARE saying that it is okay for the janitors at a company to suffer because upper management made a decision?
And you are also saying that the potential for a wrong makes other wrongs "rights", correct?

So Blizzard values it's employee's privacy yet they dont care about their consumers..
http://www.wow.com/2010/07/07/rumor-blizzard-employees-real-life-names-will-not-appear-on-th?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_wowinsider
Then there is addons that will expose names regardless of if you want them to know your real name or not....
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=13816898018&sid=1#0
..............

Sarcasm not appreciated. No, that's what you see me saying. What I'm really saying is that it's wrong both ways, and that while these guys are hypocritically doing what they say they dislike (revealing info), it might actually get the customers better results in the end. Neither side deserves their personal info to be revealed. My views on whether it's right or wrong don't matter, as I'm not involved. They've already made their choice to reveal the employees names. Having said that, wrongs shouldn't be used to make a right, but yes, sometimes they can produce positive results as well as destructive ones. Doesn't mean I always like it.

You said it was good that this was happening. Hence, you approve.
If neither side deserves to have their personal info plastered, what say we don't encourage it, hmm? While it is questionable as to whether or not Blizzard are in the right (they DID seem to have good intentions, but were also idiots...), there is no way anyone can say that these morons have good intentions.

Please read again, and stop assuming. I stated that it was sarcasm. Stop baiting.

Thanks for the links. Seems that more than one person feels that Blizzard withholding employee names is hypocritical.

Apologies. That post looked as though you were approving, and your subsequent refusal to deny that you were approving (and instead say why they deserved it) misled me.
Sarcasm is hard to spot :p

Seems that now they're saying that they've changed their minds, at least regarding forums.
Real Names Not Required

Wonder how many people would still use it

Victory!

For my part, I stopped playing WoW a long time ago, and would never return, but their considering this makes me even more resolute. If it's in Starcraft II, I don't think I'll be getting it, which is easy for me to say, because another person in this house already has it on pre-order. ;)

That was quick.

The most funny part of this whole fiasco was the huge outcry from people who were "afraid" of others to know that they play WoW. Its like, its shameful or something. I never realized there were that many in the closet geeks out there. Theres nothing wrong with playing computer games, people, just like there is nothing wrong with watching movies or collecting stamps.
Also, I heard about some incredibly extreme responses to this controversy, like people digging up personal information about Blizzard employees and their families and posting it on forums. I see this almost as a mild form of cyber-terrorism, and am kind of sad to see that Blizzard dropped the idea entirely.
Though, I do understand how some safety issues could involved. Still, I would have loved to see this integrated. It would have been a great experiment with internet social culture. Oh well, maybe in the future they will bring it back.

Actually, the funniest thing so far is how people are actually happy with the outcome.
Cross-game and Cross-realm chat still need this, and it is only a question of what else will need it. Hell, if Blizzard just makes every single new feature need this, it is effectively required (but nobody will bitch).
Don't believe this will work? Look at Stardock and GalCiv2. People were constantly running around and screaming how Stardock were heroes who fought against DRM and the like. These same people were perfectly okay with registering their keys and using a client to update their games.
This is why I always encourage people to think before they react.

If playing computer games would be like smoking pot, playing WoW would be seen as a crack addict. :)
Well let's see: if Blizzard enables a feature that allows something like this, then it's cool. If it's used by users with a Blizzard employees reviled name, then it's cyber-terrorism. Wait... was that George Orwell laughing?
As of today, internet social culture is a haven for soziopaths and data gathering businesses - if you're not willing to protect yourself, suit yourself.

They dug up info on Blizzard employees with the sole intent of harassing them. Blizzard was not displaying names so that people would get harassed. I think you can figure out the difference.