Breaching the 'magic circle'

This article seems pertinent to our discussions this week, it discusses the fallout of a declaration earlier this year by Blizzard Entertainment, the owner of the online game World of Warcraft. Blizzard declared that real names would have to be displayed on the official forums, in an effort to reveal “trolls” who disrupt the chatrooms, and in so doing create a better environment on the forums for the members. However this attempt to regulate and hold accountable the contributors to the forums was not well received in the WoW community.
In support of this change, a community manager, Micah Whipple, revealed his real name in a post. The backlash, however, was swift and soon information, photos and even his (supposed) home phone number were revealed and widely distributed. Perhaps in an effort to demonstrate the real world consequences that could arise if the use of real names became mandatory. It is hardly surprising that Blizzard backtracked and stated that it would not be compulsory to use real names in the forums.
Blizzard obviously thought that there needed to be regulation and accountability on the forums but the reactions were overwhelmingly negative. Apparently privacy was more important than getting rid of “trolls”. The way that some of the forum users fought this decision could also be considered cyber-bullying.