Yep, they listened. Blizzard will no longer require the use of real names to post on the official forums. Looks like they didn’t think it through as well as they said they did. Good job to the seventy-thousand plus people who earned this victory. You’ve safeguarded yourself and, more importantly, you’ve sent the message that the internet is not ready to be as open as corporate America would like.
I think we should take this as a warning flare. This event gave us a peek into the Blizzard executive offices. They’re not just going to let their partnership with Facebook slide away un-exploited to its fullest. Blizzard still wants us to be a part of their open internet. That being said, I have to give major props to Blizzard for not just taking its position for granted. They could have pushed it through but they didn’t – because they listened to us. It took more people than any company could reasonably expect to respond – but we showed up at their door and they’ve sent us away satisfied and a with, if not more faith than we had in Blizzard last week, more than we had this morning.
This is a good way to go into a weekend. I hope you all enjoy yourselves. And, hell, post on the forums. You can. You’ve earned it.
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