The IRL Maelstrom Continues, Blizz apparently is OK with it.

Note: In keeping this up to date, the end of the post will include quotes and a lot of links to threads, posts, blogs, and outside sources of interest to this topic. So be sure to check back down there for any updates and additions. And a huge “Thank You!” to Treesdiel, Jake, commentors and friends who have been pointing me to new content and helping me keep this updated.
More Izziebytes Coverage:
Day 1 : Initial Impact
Day 3 : Continued Damages

Alright, well, good morning America.

As an update to my post yesterday, since I went to bed last night and checked the forums in the AM briefly at breakfast, it would appear the madness of the General Discussion Forum hadn’t slowed down one bit. I replied and true to form, ended up three pages behind. By the time I got to work (now) posts have eclipsed 20,000 on the American forums, reaching 5,000 on the European forums, over 1,000 on the Starcraft 2 forums and thousands more comments across other WoW-related platforms.

One thing of note is that the OP in the American forums has been edited down to a brief summary and is now pointing to the Battle.Net / Starcraft 2 thread that has the full and updated explanation. I suppose they’re trying to push the flood over to Battle.Net, where Warcraft Players can’t actually post, but it hasn’t seemed to stop anything.

To be expected, right now most activity is coming from Europe as the work day hasn’t started in California yet, and they have actually been addressing some of people’s fears. Most importantly, they’ve made it pretty clear RealID is happening regardless of what players say, but that they are reading as much as possible and considering the reaction of the players. America -should- be seeing some replies coming in an hour or three. Some quotes of note:

We have been planning this change for a very long time. During this time, we have thought ahead about the scope and impact of this change and predicted that many people would no longer wish to post in the forums after this change goes live. We are fine with that, because we want to change these forums dramatically in a positive and more constructive direction.

…

There’s a lot of scare-mongering going on about the change, but there seems a need to make something very clear. The forums have always been an optional extra — something you can choose to participate in if you wish to. With our Real ID changes for the forums, this is still the case. The only difference will be, if you do choose to participate in the forums, then you will do so by using your real name. But only after you’ve been warned and accepted this in advance. [Source]

So there you have it, folks. RealID Forums are happening whether we like it or not. They go on further to explain that they feel the over-reaction of a few has lead to scare-mongering and wide-spread panic and confusion.

The saddest part about all this is that the fact that we don’t trust -each other- and that’s the problem. We’re not afraid of Blizzard, or the FBI, or anything like that. We fear each other. We’re afraid of having our personal lives targeted by fellow gamers.

The other sad part is that Blizzard would have -never- even dreamed of something like this before merging with Activism. Pig-Headed or not, stepping the bounds between gaming and something a little less desirable.

I’ll keep this post updated as more information comes along.

Special Super Links Section

Here I am keeping a close eye on as much relevant information as possible. Some of the links are of extreme interest to anyone that is deeply concerned with this development, while others are simply further reading. Feel free to add suggestions via comments.

• A disturbing rumor floating around finds itself all but confirmed on WoW.com. Apparently the plan to “show the danger” of RealID by revealing the brave Blue’s personal information has backfired: Blizz has apparently taken back their original statement that their employees names would be also be displayed, meaning theirs will be hidden while players would still be forced to use theirs. Thanks again to Trees for the update.

•  A wonderful thread post consolidates the most popular concerns as well as links of note from among the masses. It includes links to articles and quotes regarding Acitivsion Blizzard’s plan with intergrating RealID with Facebook, another issue that is likely to start more issues, especially given Facebook’s recent trackrecord of privacy breaches with its own users.

A great effort on part of this poster and others who have contributed.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=25552355289&sid=1

• A lovely piece of irony. Exerted form an interview about the integration of Facebook and RealID: [Thanks to Treesdiel for the link!]

Do you expect any push back from diehard Blizzard fans from the Facebook features?
We don’t anticipate any. We are going to be very clear and upfront with the user. Once they log in and create a Battle.net account for the first time, if they choose to participate in Real ID, it is of course, an optional set of features that you don’t have to participate in. Beyond that we are going to notify them upfront their names could be used to populate via Facebook and how their names could be used via this Facebook feature.

• A little too Conspiracy Theorist for me, but an interesting post here recounts the US Military’s interest in MMO’s and how they use these games to predict mob behavior.

• Those concerned and wanting to stay updated can join a Facebook group here, dedicated to those of us who are against all the changes. Big thanks to Naktab for the heads up.

• A quick recount on Blizzard’s plan to merge Battle.Net and Real ID With Facebook. Thanks to Jake.

• Annndd Activision’s official investor page announcement on said merge.

• Ctrl+Alt+Delete mocks RealID’s fail troll-spray in today’s comic, as well as shares their thoughts on what this whole system means. Thanks, again, to Jake for the tips.

• 4chan not surprisingly has a rather active thread on the subject. Caution: it’s 4chan. Read with care.

• For an epic reply from someone who’s name I cant even find:

When they offered race changes, some rose up and said, “This is a harbinger of things to come!”
I laughed. Silly, I thought.
When they offered faction changes, some rose up and said, “This is a harbinger of things to come!”
I laughed. Ridiculous, I thought.
When they offered pets and ponies in the store, some rose up and said, “This is a harbinger of things to come!”
I laughed. Optional, I spouted.
When they offered ReadID, many rose up and said, “This is a harbinger of things to come!”
I laughed. Uneasily, I laughed.
When they forced forum names on us, we all rose up and said, “Enough!”
I hung my head. I, and many like me, enabled this day to happen. I am so very, very ashamed.