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Potential Barcode Solution

Forum Index > SC2 General
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Stabley
Profile Joined July 2011
United States90 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-05-07 03:25:55
May 07 2014 03:23 GMT
#1
Barcodes inhabit the StarCraft II ladder of all regions, and while are useful for professional players, are rather obnoxious.

Barcodes are when players replace their usernames with IIIIIIIIIIIII to hide their names. The purpose of hiding their names is to avoid having players looking at their information, especially in games, seeing builds and how things that this specific player is doing.

Taking a look at the North American Ladder, you'll see the top GM position has quite a few barcoders.

[image loading]



Now, barcoding is in no way a problem, and for professional players is very important. If other players were to find their timings, it could alter the competitive scene and allow players to adjust to what they expect from each other.

Is there a way to prevent barcoding while still allowing players to hide themselves?

I was thinking that it would awesome if there was an ingame solution to this problem, to prevent players from recognizing each other while in game, and preventing people from using the ladder to look up barcode info.

Why not two buttons under the privacy tab then?

[image loading]



One could hide your name ingame, probably by replacing it with "Player", and the other preventing players from looking up match details on the ladder.

This would allow players to represent themselves on the ladder without using barcodes, and show who's the best nerd baller around, and prevent people from looking up their information in games!




Battlenet thread, http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/12674208835#1

Reddit thread http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/24x85v/a_potential_barcode_solution/
Umami
Profile Joined March 2012
United States23 Posts
May 07 2014 03:32 GMT
#2
Yeah barcodes are rather annoying. I feel like only good players (High master and grandmaster) should really be the only ones using barcodes. I think its funny that some diamond and mediocre masters players use barcodes, I don't understand what their trying to hide. Or if it's just that they think they seem cool lol.
Rickyvalle21
Profile Joined July 2012
United States320 Posts
May 07 2014 03:36 GMT
#3
This is a good idea but what if you play them ingame. Like lets say I play MVPTails 5 times in a row and he cheesed me 5 times in a row. I can then tell other people hes an obnoxious cheeser and share his replays for builds orders.
people say practice is perfect but if nothing is perfect whats the point in practicing?
Stabley
Profile Joined July 2011
United States90 Posts
May 07 2014 03:47 GMT
#4
On May 07 2014 12:36 Rickyvalle21 wrote:
This is a good idea but what if you play them ingame. Like lets say I play MVPTails 5 times in a row and he cheesed me 5 times in a row. I can then tell other people hes an obnoxious cheeser and share his replays for builds orders.



as i said, it would change your name to "player" in game, instead of displaying your actual name
yyfpulls
Profile Joined November 2012
United States2185 Posts
May 07 2014 03:50 GMT
#5
People have brought this idea up since the beginning of the barcodes. Blizzard is too set in their ways and they'll never implement community driven ideas like this.
wongfeihung
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States763 Posts
May 07 2014 04:03 GMT
#6
I don't see what the point of this is. Is it really that big of a deal that someone wants their identity as a player to remain hidden? And do you really find it to be "obnoxious" behavior? I really don't see how replacing a bar code name with "Player" is going to solve anything; you'll just have a bunch of "Player[s]" on the ladder instead of bar codes. Also, I think most people find precise build order timings through replays, rather than looking at the short build order list in the match history, right?
hellokitty[hk]
Profile Joined June 2009
United States1309 Posts
May 07 2014 04:07 GMT
#7
On May 07 2014 12:23 Stabley wrote:
Now, barcoding is in no way a problem



User was warned for this post
People are imbeciles, lucky thing god made cats.
Stabley
Profile Joined July 2011
United States90 Posts
May 07 2014 04:11 GMT
#8
On May 07 2014 13:07 hellokitty[hk] wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 07 2014 12:23 Stabley wrote:
Now, barcoding is in no way a problem



It isn't. Why does something have to be problematic to be improved upon?
Spec
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
Taiwan931 Posts
May 07 2014 04:19 GMT
#9
Isn't the point of barcode so people don't recognize you DURING the game? Not out of game. People don't want to get meta-gamed because of their ID so they can have legit practice on ladder. You can't legitimately stop people from gathering information about you post-game.
Eye for an eye make the world go blind - Gandhi
Waise
Profile Joined June 2013
3165 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-05-07 04:28:27
May 07 2014 04:27 GMT
#10
OK, i had to read this thread several times to understand what the OP was saying. it seems he's not trying to change anything about the ability to hide your identity either in or out of game, if i understand correctly he's actually suggesting a tool for pro players to hide themselves without being forced to make smurf accounts or use namechanges. it was hard to figure out what this thread was about because there are a lot of people out there with the dumb idea that we should "ban" or prevent people from hiding their identities.

so i guess this is a decent idea... but the only people who should be giving feedback on it are the pros themselves. i'm not sure if it's a huge deal or not. but hey, it's an idea
Nakoz
Profile Joined July 2013
24 Posts
May 07 2014 05:05 GMT
#11
Terran players uses 'avilo' as their way to hide their identity. Whether its real or not, some opponent assume they are the real avilo and intends to all in his opponent to prevent long mech games. It could be a potential threat that the name avilo will be replaced with barcode for all the terran players.
StarStruck
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
25339 Posts
May 07 2014 05:25 GMT
#12
On May 07 2014 12:47 Stabley wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 07 2014 12:36 Rickyvalle21 wrote:
This is a good idea but what if you play them ingame. Like lets say I play MVPTails 5 times in a row and he cheesed me 5 times in a row. I can then tell other people hes an obnoxious cheeser and share his replays for builds orders.



as i said, it would change your name to "player" in game, instead of displaying your actual name


and what do you do about player's scouting out one another for tournaments? The point is one way or another people will find a way to smurf. It is unavoidable and this is just another bastardization of it and players sharing accounts.
gzerg
Profile Joined May 2014
6 Posts
May 07 2014 05:27 GMT
#13
the problems also ppl learn your style. barcodes just better overall and anyone who cares is just stupid

- make it so you never see a persons name in game only on ladder rankings. that would make more sense
ricecake
Profile Joined October 2010
152 Posts
May 07 2014 05:27 GMT
#14
On May 07 2014 12:23 Stabley wrote:
One could hide your name ingame, probably by replacing it with "Player", and the other preventing players from looking up match details on the ladder.


How is replacing somebody's name with "Player" different from them using a barcode in the first place? And if they are practicing secret builds on ladder they deserve to have them sniped....

This seems like a really pointless feature to me. Especially considering Blizzard already has quite a backlog.
Steak's hair gives him super strength!
igay
Profile Blog Joined November 2011
Australia1178 Posts
May 07 2014 05:57 GMT
#15
dw about it boys just the the barcodebutcher take care of them
MVP <3 MKP <3 DRG <3
dabom88
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States3483 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-05-07 06:39:27
May 07 2014 06:02 GMT
#16
I say make it so that everyone has a public, randomly generated, unique Serial Number attached to their account, regardless of what your account name is. That way, you can at least distinguish between which Terran/Protoss/Zerg barcode is on top of the ladder. Like, say, Terran "IIIIIIII" with Serial Number 198239874 is #1 on the ladder, while Zerg "IIIIIIIII" with serial number 857827838 is #2, Protoss "IIIIIIIII" with serial number 349857982 is #3, and Terran "IIIIII" with serial number 3287847 is #4 on the ladder. Meanwhile, Terran "Barcode Killer" with serial number 2343453546 is #5 on the ladder.

At least be able to track which account is which number.
You should not have to pay to watch the GSL, Proleague, or OSL at a reasonable time. That is not "fine" and it's BS to say otherwise. My sig since 2011. http://www.youtube.com/user/dabom88
Meepman
Profile Joined December 2009
Canada610 Posts
May 07 2014 06:23 GMT
#17
Blizzard won't even fix problems that need to be fixed, never mind something as superficial as this...

There isn't even really a difference between 'lllllllll' and 'player.'
yokohama
Profile Joined February 2005
United States1116 Posts
May 07 2014 06:42 GMT
#18
I don't think the names should be changed to player since there is no difference between that and a barcode. I do think being able to turn off the visibility of your match history is a good idea that should be implemented though.
Gamegene
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United States8308 Posts
May 07 2014 06:43 GMT
#19
On May 07 2014 15:02 dabom88 wrote:
I say make it so that everyone has a public, randomly generated, unique Serial Number attached to their account, regardless of what your account name is. That way, you can at least distinguish between which Terran/Protoss/Zerg barcode is on top of the ladder. Like, say, Terran "IIIIIIII" with Serial Number 198239874 is #1 on the ladder, while Zerg "IIIIIIIII" with serial number 857827838 is #2, Protoss "IIIIIIIII" with serial number 349857982 is #3, and Terran "IIIIII" with serial number 3287847 is #4 on the ladder. Meanwhile, Terran "Barcode Killer" with serial number 2343453546 is #5 on the ladder.

At least be able to track which account is which number.


For tournament registration this would be greatly helpful to organizers.

Otherwise, Barcodes are an elegant solution to being anonymous because it's extremely simple. Every player who spends 40$+ or so for an account has the right to name their ID to whatever they please. It's not a problem to those who wish to be barcodes, it's a problem to you and quite frankly you don't really have a say in what professional players and wannabes do with their accounts collectively or individually.
Throw on your favorite jacket and you're good to roll. Stroll through the trees and let your miseries go.
Dakota_Fanning *
Profile Joined January 2008
Hungary2368 Posts
May 07 2014 06:46 GMT
#20
On May 07 2014 15:02 dabom88 wrote:
I say make it so that everyone has a public, randomly generated, unique Serial Number attached to their account, regardless of what your account name is. That way, you can at least distinguish between which Terran/Protoss/Zerg barcode is on top of the ladder. Like, say, Terran "IIIIIIII" with Serial Number 198239874 is #1 on the ladder, while Zerg "IIIIIIIII" with serial number 857827838 is #2, Protoss "IIIIIIIII" with serial number 349857982 is #3, and Terran "IIIIII" with serial number 3287847 is #4 on the ladder. Meanwhile, Terran "Barcode Killer" with serial number 2343453546 is #5 on the ladder.

At least be able to track which account is which number.

But there is already a public, "randomly" generated, unique serial number for all accounts.
For example current #1 EU grandmaster:
http://eu.battle.net/sc2/en/profile/3224273/1/llllllllllll/
Terran "llllllllllll" with serial number 3224273 (in EU) is #1.
https://repmastered.icza.net
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