Pop Quiz

by AstralFire - 05 July

If you were about to take on a horde of feral convict shapeshifting beast-people, what would your opening strategy be? Answer in 200 words or less.

Happy 4th of July, Americans!

Boycott Blizzard Gaming.

by AstralFire - 09 July

I am not anonymous on the internet. I maintain a thin veil at best between my online persona and my physical persona, and I've been aware ever since I began putting my name online that it is something that would easily tear were someone to poke at it. I am aware of this, and prepared to deal with potential consequences, inasmuch as one can be, anyway. I made this choice actively.

Activision-Blizzard wants to make this choice for you. Everyone can see exactly what you're doing in game, everyone can see what your real name is: on the forums, on their friends list, on their friends-of-friends-list. Even via addons, which can pull your name. I would bet money that goldfarmers, spyware creators, and virus producers are gonna make use of that by infecting addons. I would bet money.

I believe in accountability to a community. I also believe that what you do in one community should, for the overwhelming majority of instances, not affect what will occur in another community without your consent for that information to be shared. Pretend that I am not a two-bit author trying to become famous and write a (hopefully) amazing story. Pretend that I am still just a kid fresh out of college who wants to work a desk job. Just because I back political figure A in some quiet post somewhere, should I fear reprisal from the internet? Should I fear my employers can get a hold of all of this information? Because this is a very real issue.

This was a funny strip down at Questionable Content. Thing is, a lot of people do take your particular interests very seriously. There was a kid who was the recipient of a lovely gift-wrapped MURDER ATTEMPT over CounterStrike, a video game, not too long ago. Most people are normal; that is sort of the definition of normal, it is the way things usually are. Regardless of the commonality of normalcy, however, it only takes one absolutely crazy person to ruin your day. Here's a reality folks - in this day and age, with the physical and mental and social weapons we have available, Mutually Assured Destruction is how we protect ourselves. If someone wants to mess with your life bad enough, they will. The only x-factor is whether or not they'll get away with it. You throw six billion people all of your information, and the odds of one of those people wanting to screw you over becomes a lot higher.

The fact that you engage in this sort of thing at all is questionable to a lot of employers. If you want to 'come out of the closet' about your hobbies to people in order to help spread awareness that hey, gaming is normal - great. I think that really is great. But that should be your option, and not something forced on you by a company.

The first link in this post really says it all - read the whole page, not just what was linked, it's worth it. Nattie's commentary is exquisitely precise. If you would rather, watch Hitler say my post more succinctly. But whatever you do, don't give Blizzard your money if you care at all about privacy - if not for yourself, then for others. Cancel your World of Warcraft subscriptions - the Star Wars MMO due out next year looks good anyway - don't buy Starcraft 2, don't buy Diablo III, don't do anything for them until Activision gets the message that this is going to hurt them and their customers more than it's going to help anyone. Insider sources say that Blizzard doesn't like this, but Activision's holding the reins, so vote with your feet and vote with your wallet, people.