Blizzard: Real ID feedback proves "the process worked"

Blizzard's vice president of international operations, Michael Ryder, has said the feedback the firm received over the plan to implement Real ID proved to it the feedback process "worked".

Speaking with Eurogamer during the StarCraft II midnight launch in London, Ryder told the site the vocal backlash showed Blizzard how "privileged" it was to get feedback from such "passionate" fans.

"We weren't surprised to get feedback," he said. Ryder "That's something that's part of our culture. We know we're fortunate to have a lot of passionate players that care about what we do.

"So we always go out to the players and give them a heads up on what we're thinking about doing, and we look for their feedback. In this case we got feedback.

"We were able to take that feedback, reconsider, consider all the factors, of which feedback was one. 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.

"So, all in all, the process worked. We put the word out. We got the feedback. We reconsidered. We made a change. We appreciate the fact that we have such passionate fans.

"It reinforces the notion that we're privileged to have those players that care and give us feedback."

Blizzard had originally planned to implement Real ID on its forums, where real names of users would be posted next to messages on the StarCraft II forum when the RTS released, before eventually being required on the Diablo and World of Warcraft forums as well.

A couple weeks ago, Blizzard nixed the idea of real names being required, and instead offered an "opt out" option, where users wouldn't be forced to show their true identity.

StarCraft II is out now for PC and Mac.