Blizzard just made sure ...

[Zich]

I'm also seriously considering not getting SC2

Sadly I can't cancel my SC2 pre-order in protest, the removal of LAN-only play already made that a no-sale for me and at least 7 other people I know (On family vacations with the in-laws, SC is our "monopoly", link 3 laptops and kill time in the shade)

back to topic: this was repealed just in time, Tal stopped me from posting a 3,000 character diatribe.

I'm still scared, RealID's original intent goes against the very core of Fantasy RPG, and this post still claims RealID's forum implementation was being done ONLY to make the forums a better place for the players. This means that either the blues are truly and completely out of touch (certifiably-insanely out of touch), or the blues are under orders to try to play this down as a misunderstanding, because they can't talk of the full scope RealID had planned.

This goes so far beyond Forum names, I fear on many, many levels. Now corporate Blizz will just bury the rest of their 'big plans' and the masses will be happy we aren't getting called our real names on a forums. Most likely I see us each getting a "character code" tied to our account, so they can continue their plan to implement advertising and networking into the game.

Still, this is a victory, and not a small one. I think maybe, just maybe, the peons' mass anger gave the Blues (who do still seem to care) enough clout to push back against this storm of bad ideas. I hope they can keep enough ground to let the game be a game, and prevent whoever came up with RealID-for-forums from undermining the core of what has made WoW great.