Blizzard chalks up Real ID kerfuffle as a learning experience

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.