Joystiq

Blizzard brings Balance and Battletags to Battle.net

Mike Schramm — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:00:00 EST

Blizzard Entertainment has been steadily updating the Battle.net online multiplayer service recently, presumably in anticipation of Diablo 3's release next year. Last week, the company introduced what it's calling the Battle.net Balance, a currency total stored on its servers that players can use to pay for Blizzard items -- from a World of Warcraft subscription to in-game items and plushies in the company store. This is where funds not translated directly into cash will go from the real money auction house in Diablo 3, whenever it arrives.

Today, Blizzard introduced the BattleTag system, which is a specific public username that will identify players publicly on Battle.net services (similar to Xbox Live's Gamertag name). This is likely the compromise Blizzard came up with over its controversial Real ID service, which was originally meant to utilize real player names.

BattleTags are not unique, but players will have a number in their public profiles that will let you identify just which "touchFuzzygetDizzy" you're talking to. BattleTags will appear first in the Diablo 3 beta, and get used in all of Blizzard's games and services sometime after that.

Blizzard brings Balance and Battletags to Battle.net originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Blizzard's Battle.net director on Real ID, cross-game integration and BlizzCon

JC Fletcher — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:00:00 EST

During GDC Online, Blizzard's Battle.net project director Greg Canessa presented a "postmortem" for the latest version of the service, which enables online play and discussion for Blizzard's titles, most recently StarCraft 2. Speaking to Joystiq before the talk, Canessa was happy to discuss the recent past of the service with us, and talk a bit about the future.

Battle.net is in use by all 12 million World of Warcraft players, three-plus million StarCraft 2 players, and other users, but it recently came to the attention of an even larger audience when controversy arose over Blizzard's decision to implement Real ID, requiring users to identify themselves by their real names on Battle.net. Forum users did not respond kindly to the sudden and mandatory attachment of their real names to their comments, flames and LOLcats, and that part of the plan was cut, with Real ID still being implemented in non-forum features.

"The vision behind Real ID," Canessa said, "was to maintain parallel levels of identity: we have that sort of anonymous character level of identity, and then that Real ID tier that spans games, and there are incremental features that you get for being part of the Real ID community. The vision for that spanned games, got into cross-game chat and so forth. In reality, the in-game social suite was very popular, the cross-game chat that we did, the stuff within StarCraft 2.

Continue reading Blizzard's Battle.net director on Real ID, cross-game integration and BlizzCon

Blizzard's Battle.net director on Real ID, cross-game integration and BlizzCon originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Blizzard chalks up Real ID kerfuffle as a learning experience

Griffin McElroy — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:20:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Though some might consider Blizzard's quickly retracted decision to adopt the "Real ID" system (which would require forum users to identify themselves using their real names) to be a failure, Blizzard exec Michael Ryder disagrees. "We were able to take that feedback, reconsider, consider all the factors, of which feedback was one," Ryder explained to Eurogamer. "Ultimately we decided we would not go in that direction for the time being, and see if there were other ways we could address the objective we had, which was to improve the forums generally."

Ryder later added, "So, all in all, the process worked. We put the word out. We got the feedback. We reconsidered. We made a change." We know exactly what he's talking about. Just the other day, we were planning on pressing our hand onto our sizzling-hot griddle, and then we told our friends about it, and then we put our hand really close to it, and then our friends were like "no, don't do it, you'll burn yourself terribly," so we didn't do it, and our hand didn't get burned. That's a victory in our books, as well.

Blizzard chalks up Real ID kerfuffle as a learning experience originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

ESRB issues apology for mass email blunder

Ben Gilbert — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Following last night's email gaffe, the ESRB has issued a statement today apologizing to the nearly 1,000 folks whose emails were unwittingly exposed. The software ratings board calls its "reply all" message, which revealed Real ID complainants' email addresses, a mistake made during an "effort to respond quickly to the thousands of gamers who wrote to the ESRB." Apparently, (and thankfully), the email did not include the addresses of all those who had contacted the organization, as the aplogy claims that only a "limited" portion of email recipients were affected.

Further, the ESRB statement places fault for the issue on "one of our employees" before promising to do "everything we can to ensure it will not happen again in the future." We've placed both the ESRB's public statement and its email to those affected just after the break.

Continue reading ESRB issues apology for mass email blunder

ESRB issues apology for mass email blunder originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

ESRB accidentally releases email addresses of Real ID complainants

Ben Gilbert — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:10:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

In an ironic turn of events this evening, it appears that the Entertainment Software Ratings Board has revealed the entire list of email addresses belonging to people who appealed to the ESA's rating group over Blizzard's recently proposed and then retracted Real ID implementation. According to our World of Warcraft-focused sister site WoW.com, the ESRB issued a response letter to the nearly 1,000 folks who had emailed with complaints about Blizzard's decision -- unfortunately, it seems that rather than hide everyone's email addresses, someone hit "reply all."

We've dropped the letter itself beyond the break, which, as WoW.com points out, concludes with a statement espousing the ESRB's "Privacy Online" program. Whoops! All that said, mistakes will happen from time to time. Unlike Blizzard, however, the ESRB can't simply take this back.

Continue reading ESRB accidentally releases email addresses of Real ID complainants

ESRB accidentally releases email addresses of Real ID complainants originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Real ID nixed from Blizzard forums, Morhaime explains

Ben Gilbert — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:45:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Well, that was quick! Just as soon as Blizzard announced sweeping changes to its forum policy, company head Mike Morhaime took to those very forums to say, "real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums." In a letter addressed to the Blizzard community, Morhaime says the company "has been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums," and thusly has come to the decision to not require real names.

Outside of that change, Blizzard will still be implementing all other forum changes (detailed by our sister site WoW.com right here). That said, the opt-in Real ID system will still be implemented in forthcoming Blizzard titles. Morhaime explains: "We believe that the powerful communications functionality enabled by Real ID, such as cross-game and cross-realm chat, make Battle.net a great place for players to stay connected to real-life friends and family while playing Blizzard games." Further, he adds that "you'll still be able to keep your relationships at the anonymous, character level if you so choose when you communicate with other players in game." Additionally, the Real ID system is set to "evolve" as time goes on, with Battle.net getting "new and exciting functionality" for those of you "who decide to use the feature." Could that mean incentivized Real ID use from Blizzard? We're not sure just yet, but it certainly sounds like it.

Check out the full message from Morhaime to the Blizzard community after the break.

Continue reading Real ID nixed from Blizzard forums, Morhaime explains

Real ID nixed from Blizzard forums, Morhaime explains originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Your real name to appear on Blizzard's official forums

Mike Schramm — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:30:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Long a source of rampant trolling and epic flamewars, Blizzard's official World of Warcraft forums will soon be a lot less anonymous. The company announced today that it will be using the Real ID system, which was recently implemented into Battle.net, on its forums. Once Real ID is in place, each catty remark and witty comeback on Blizzard's forums will have the poster's real first and last name attached to it. (Previously, posters could hide behind their in-game character names.)

Real ID will be rolled into WoW's forums by the release of the Cataclysm expansion later this year. Additionally, the system will be added to the StarCraft 2 forums before the game's July 27 launch.

Blizzard's eating its own dog food, too -- its community representatives, previously known only by aliases, will also be posting under their real names. Additionally, forum posts will be subject to a new ranking system, replies to forum threads will be grouped, and Blizzard posters will be able to "broadcast" messages out to everyone on the game's forums. Blizzard says its goal with these changes is to form "a new and different kind of online gaming environment -- one that's highly social, and which provides an ideal place for gamers to form long-lasting, meaningful relationships."

Your real name to appear on Blizzard's official forums originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Blizzard: More growth ahead for WoW

Mike Schramm — Wed, 26 May 2010 09:51:00 EST

VG247 met up with Blizzard Executive Vice President Frank Pearce in London to talk about StarCraft 2 and World of Warcraft. While it appears that WoW reached its peak with 11.5 million players, Pearce disagrees. "I don't think 11.5 million is a peak, necessarily," he says, "but there are certain things that we need to do and need to do well in order to see it go further." Those things include finally launching the Wrath of the Lich King expansion in China and bringing players back with the upcoming Cataclysm expansion in the US.

And while some have guessed that the release of StarCraft 2 might make a dent in WoW's player base, Pearce says he expects the opposite: StarCraft's Real ID social network system works across both games, and it may "potentially have a strong enough connection so that [someone playing StarCraft] may get a message from someone in WoW saying, 'Hey, come on over, we need a last person to fill our raid.'"

Blizzard: More growth ahead for WoW originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 26 May 2010 09:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments