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.
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?
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
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?
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This "Enable players to see your name" would not resolve anything. As others noted, seeing "Player" instead of "lllllllllll" is no improvements at all.
The situation would be even worse: if players could hide their names without even having to use a name change or buy a new account, you would see a lot more "Player"s than you see barcodes currently.
Blizzard should forbid names which contain barcode segments and should change the UI font displaying player names slightly so the visual appearance of the small "L" and capital "i" would look different.
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.
On May 07 2014 16:09 Dakota_Fanning wrote: This "Enable players to see your name" would not resolve anything. As others noted, seeing "Player" instead of "lllllllllll" is no improvements at all.
The situation would be even worse: if players could hide their names without even having to use a name change or buy a new account, you would see a lot more "Player"s than you see barcodes currently.
Blizzard should forbid names which contain barcode segments and should change the UI font displaying player names slightly so the visual appearance of the small "L" and capital "i" would look different.
So let them hide their names.... If they are a no-name, nobody cares if they hide their name... it's no different from having a barcode, which even players that aren't at the top level are using. If they want to represent something, or show off their personality, then they will show off their name/tag etc. In other words, this doesn't actually make anything worse. Nobody cares if people use barcodes. Its something that will exist and should exist.
The point here should be that people can rely on their 1 account, and that 1 account would be visible on the rankings. People would be able to tell "Pro A" has X amount of wins and is ranked 1st on the ladder, rather than just seeing that IIIIIIIIII is ranked first on the ladder. It would allow people to see cool things like that, without hurting the player's practice.
Thus, it doesn't hurt anyone, and it does benefit people.
Edit: If people worry about being able to report trolls/BM players using this function, reporting those players after the game ends would still report that players account.... So this function doesn't protect bad people, only people's practice.
Blizzard should forbid names which contain barcode segments and should change the UI font displaying player names slightly so the visual appearance of the small "L" and capital "i" would look different.
That's ridiculous.
Why wouldn't all the teams just get together one day and agree to use all O00OOs or "x" as a name then? You could just as easily have a ladder with 4 dozen players named x on it. The barcode is just one way to use an anonymous name, there's a million other annoying ways.
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.
I don't think anyone understands what the OP means by changing the name to 'Player' in game. It doesn't even have to be Player. It can be lllllllllllll too. The idea is just to hide your actual account name during a match.
What is suggested is not to hide the name entirely, only during a match so your opponent won't know who you are. Therefore you can use your actual account in the ladder. That way we won't see barcodes on the rankings list. The only thing this option will help is cleaning up the rankings list.
Do not forget about Ladder Wildcard. This setting would help pro players - they could hide their names but on the "D day" they can use their account with no problems.
I totally understand barcode at topgm/pro level but in topM and lowGM, they make me puke. They only use barcode to cheese and use idiot strat everytime to get into GM, it's soooo annoying.
On May 07 2014 17:40 Eluadyl wrote: I don't think anyone understands what the OP means by changing the name to 'Player' in game. It doesn't even have to be Player. It can be lllllllllllll too. The idea is just to hide your actual account name during a match.
What is suggested is not to hide the name entirely, only during a match so your opponent won't know who you are. Therefore you can use your actual account in the ladder. That way we won't see barcodes on the rankings list. The only thing this option will help is cleaning up the rankings list.
Yes, this is the point:
Have a checkbox to allow you to "hide" YOUR name during a game Still show the real name on the ladder ranking
Plus Hide match history so that people cannot see that via the ladder
On May 07 2014 18:15 SatedSC2 wrote: Can I suggest two additional checkboxes..?
- Don't match me with people who are hiding their identity/are using a barcode account. - Don't allow people who are hiding their identity/are using a barcode account to message me.
With these 2 additional options it would be ok. I'm not hiding my identity, and I want to play vs someone who doesn't either. I don't care if someone hides his/her identity, but I don't want to play vs them.
Why are people so bothered by barcodes. Most of you are gold or whatever so you rarely see them in your ladder games anyway, and the people who actually are high ranked are people who aren't bothered by insignificant things and either want to use barcodes or don't care about them at all. Maybe you should reflect on your egocentricity if you think your irrational desire to see a random name rather than a few stripes is so important.
I like the Barcodes actually, because there were these Pro Player Alt hunters, that posted here every week about their findings, which got mildly annoying.
Everyone saying "player" in game is no different from barcode need to re-read the thread... maybe try reading all of it from top to bottom and looking at the pictures... seriously, the the lack of understanding is nothing short of flabbergasting...
On May 07 2014 20:07 Frankenberry wrote: I don't think Blizzard should address this at all. In my opinion it is not a problem, and they should not waste ressources addressing it.
On May 07 2014 17:40 Eluadyl wrote: I don't think anyone understands what the OP means by changing the name to 'Player' in game. It doesn't even have to be Player. It can be lllllllllllll too. The idea is just to hide your actual account name during a match.
What is suggested is not to hide the name entirely, only during a match so your opponent won't know who you are. Therefore you can use your actual account in the ladder. That way we won't see barcodes on the rankings list. The only thing this option will help is cleaning up the rankings list.
Yes, that is how I understood it as well, and I am equally confused by what most of the other posters are talking about.
And I think it is a neat little idea that could turn the top GM from "|||||||||||||||||, ||||||||||||||||||, ||||||||||||||||||||||, smurfLULZ, ||||||||||||||||||, otherSmurf" into "EG.jaedong, Liquid'Snute, SLK_Cascade, ...".* The top names will there with the highest ranking, but no one will recognise the accounts in game, and there is no history to be analysed.
On May 07 2014 17:40 Eluadyl wrote: I don't think anyone understands what the OP means by changing the name to 'Player' in game. It doesn't even have to be Player. It can be lllllllllllll too. The idea is just to hide your actual account name during a match.
What is suggested is not to hide the name entirely, only during a match so your opponent won't know who you are. Therefore you can use your actual account in the ladder. That way we won't see barcodes on the rankings list. The only thing this option will help is cleaning up the rankings list.
Yes, that is how I understood it as well, and I am equally confused by what most of the other posters are talking about.
And I think it is a neat little idea that could turn the top GM from "|||||||||||||||||, ||||||||||||||||||, ||||||||||||||||||||||, smurfLULZ, ||||||||||||||||||, otherSmurf" into "EG.jaedong, Liquid'Snute, SLK_Cascade, ...".* The top names will there with the highest ranking, but no one will recognise the accounts in game, and there is no history to be analysed.
*Some IDs may be more realistic than others.
Haha yeah i agree. It is really funny how people don't understand the op, is reading really that difficult?
Just once again for people who (for what reason ever...) don't understand the intentions of the op.
1. The reason people use barcodes is that they don't want to be recognized IN GAME cause that gives their builds away. 2. Therefore we have a ladder full of Barcodes, which just looks odd and nobody knows who is who (even though ladder isn't THAT important, it would be neat to see who is on top at the moment)
=> the op says why not give players an option to keep their id outside of games but change it inside of it violà, you have an environment where nobody can easily collect data about certain players on the ladder AND we have a real ranking.
MagnuMizer is yet another poster that was TL;DR and just assumed subject from title. If you read it, it has nothing to do about the name of your opponent. It gives the pros the ability to have one account, which they can hide their name during ladder practice (to hide their strat and not have opponents analyze builds/timings) but turn it on during tournaments so their name is visible to us.
I like it from a viewer side because sometimes I tune in on a tournament stream only to see lll1l1l1l1l vs 11ll1l1l1l1. It would be nice to know right away who is who.
Edit:
And it lets me see who is really topping the GM! It is important to me
2nd Edit:
I wonder how many people will make the same assumption again?
Anyone who isnt GM should be auto blocked from having a barcode name. Literally every single one of the lower leagues who use it are cancerous tumors who need to be purged from SC2. Not a single one doesnt BM and shit post everywhere they go.
Barcodes have been a strong reason why many people dont play sc2 as much anymore. It is boring to play IIIIIIII everygame which is why I stopped laddering on korea. Any player skilled enough to win a major LAN is distinguishable by their playstyle aswell and I can tell who it is within 10 minutes...still annoying though. Only upside I see to barcodes would be for hacking....
It's not a major issue, but mildly annoying. There's no reason for Blizzard to do this though as lots of people buy accounts for separate real names and barcodes for laddering on surely?
On May 07 2014 22:15 DonFonzy wrote: Anyone who isnt GM should be auto blocked from having a barcode name. Literally every single one of the lower leagues who use it are cancerous tumors who need to be purged from SC2. Not a single one doesnt BM and shit post everywhere they go.
based on this post i'm guessing that makes you a lower league barcode?
On May 07 2014 22:15 DonFonzy wrote: Anyone who isnt GM should be auto blocked from having a barcode name. Literally every single one of the lower leagues who use it are cancerous tumors who need to be purged from SC2. Not a single one doesnt BM and shit post everywhere they go.
based on this post i'm guessing that makes you a lower league barcode?
Im amazed. Permma banned from bnet for trolling and shitposting but not tl. Seems a bit backwards. Dont worry Waise, you stll rank higher on the cancer scale than barcodes do.
Right know you can use "set friend note" to tag some barcodes, but I would like to be able to tag non-friends and the notes should show during the loading screen, so you can tell if it is a known barcode or if he was cheesing/flaming/macroing last game etc.
On May 07 2014 19:28 mechengineer123 wrote: Why are people so bothered by barcodes.
You don't see it as a problem that the best indication of who the best players in the world are in a low variance environment, namely the Korean ladder, is completely useless to gauge anything from as 80%+ of players are barcodes?
Wombat, you are correct that lots of pros have two accounts. Because this gives Blizzard more money, I doubt it will change. However, I still see lots of barcodes in is some tournaments (mostly small ones) so it would still help some of the semi-pros that do want to hide their identity on ladder but can't afford a second account.
And to all those that say a second account isn't expensive; go talk to the struggling up and comers that really want to go full pro but can barely get by with other stuff in life. Even these guys need to hide their strats on ladder.
On May 07 2014 16:09 Dakota_Fanning wrote: Blizzard should forbid names which contain barcode segments and should change the UI font displaying player names slightly so the visual appearance of the small "L" and capital "i" would look different.
That only works if names are unique. People forget WOL Beta when everyone changed their names to ESPORTS in protest because they were mad that user names were not unique, to prove a point at how "silly" it is to let everyone have the same name if they wanted to. Funny how that turned out.
On May 07 2014 15:23 Meepman wrote: 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.'
Except with this system we'd actually be able to see who was ranked on ladder instead of just endless barcodes.
No one is proposing that players that use barcodes be punished, just that barcodes are bad for the purposes of GM ranking and were this system in place, much of the reason for actually using them disappears as players would be able to hide their identity and match history without them while laddering.
On May 08 2014 00:41 Amazonic wrote: Can somebody please, PLEASE explain to me why this is even an issue? Why does there even need to be a thread about this?
It's not an issue, it is something that can be improved upon . I fail to see why bringing up the discussion of something is problematic.
I liked the older system that Bnet 1.0 used, unique names etc. I think that would have been problematic with trolls reserving pro nicknames and whatnot though
On May 07 2014 17:40 Eluadyl wrote: I don't think anyone understands what the OP means by changing the name to 'Player' in game. It doesn't even have to be Player. It can be lllllllllllll too. The idea is just to hide your actual account name during a match.
What is suggested is not to hide the name entirely, only during a match so your opponent won't know who you are. Therefore you can use your actual account in the ladder. That way we won't see barcodes on the rankings list. The only thing this option will help is cleaning up the rankings list.
Yes, that is how I understood it as well, and I am equally confused by what most of the other posters are talking about.
And I think it is a neat little idea that could turn the top GM from "|||||||||||||||||, ||||||||||||||||||, ||||||||||||||||||||||, smurfLULZ, ||||||||||||||||||, otherSmurf" into "EG.jaedong, Liquid'Snute, SLK_Cascade, ...".* The top names will there with the highest ranking, but no one will recognise the accounts in game, and there is no history to be analysed.
*Some IDs may be more realistic than others.
Exactly my response. It seems as though people don't grasp what the OP is saying (seemed pretty straight forward to me) - or are just being negative for some reason that doesnt seem to make much sense (as OP has covered their issues in the original post...)
On May 07 2014 19:28 mechengineer123 wrote: Why are people so bothered by barcodes. Most of you are gold or whatever so you rarely see them in your ladder games anyway, and the people who actually are high ranked are people who aren't bothered by insignificant things and either want to use barcodes or don't care about them at all. Maybe you should reflect on your egocentricity if you think your irrational desire to see a random name rather than a few stripes is so important.
Because people are curious as to who the top 200 players are in each region... why is that difficult to grasp?
On May 08 2014 00:41 Amazonic wrote: Can somebody please, PLEASE explain to me why this is even an issue? Why does there even need to be a thread about this?
It's not an issue, it is something that can be improved upon . I fail to see why bringing up the discussion of something is problematic.
You say that it's something that can be improved upon, which means that it's not good right now, which means it's an issue somehow. I just cannot fathom why anybody would not want people to barcode, I just don't understand the thinking behind it.
I feel it's an absurd thing to make a thread about yet people somehow think it's something worth talking about, it's a complete non-issue to my mind and I was hoping someone could shed some light on why people care.
On May 07 2014 19:28 mechengineer123 wrote: Why are people so bothered by barcodes. Most of you are gold or whatever so you rarely see them in your ladder games anyway, and the people who actually are high ranked are people who aren't bothered by insignificant things and either want to use barcodes or don't care about them at all. Maybe you should reflect on your egocentricity if you think your irrational desire to see a random name rather than a few stripes is so important.
Because people are curious as to who the top 200 players are in each region... why is that difficult to grasp?[/QUOTE]
Imo that's none of your damn business. You see who the best players are at tournaments, the ladder is strictly a practice environment. However I wanna be clear with the fact that this is just my opinion, I'm uneducated in the matter and I don't understand the opposing side.
Plenty of people have shed some light, you're just being obtuse. Indeed in your post you're acknowledging what others see as the issue, you don't happen to share it but don't act like it's some mystery that nobody has filled you in on.
On May 08 2014 01:59 Wombat_NI wrote: Plenty of people have shed some light, you're just being obtuse. Indeed in your post you're acknowledging what others see as the issue, you don't happen to share it but don't act like it's some mystery that nobody has filled you in on.
So the whole issue is you're not given information you have no right to in the first place?
On May 08 2014 00:41 Amazonic wrote: Can somebody please, PLEASE explain to me why this is even an issue? Why does there even need to be a thread about this?
It's not an issue, it is something that can be improved upon . I fail to see why bringing up the discussion of something is problematic.
You say that it's something that can be improved upon, which means that it's not good right now, which means it's an issue somehow. I just cannot fathom why anybody would not want people to barcode, I just don't understand the thinking behind it.
I feel it's an absurd thing to make a thread about yet people somehow think it's something worth talking about, it's a complete non-issue to my mind and I was hoping someone could shed some light on why people care.
On May 07 2014 19:28 mechengineer123 wrote: Why are people so bothered by barcodes. Most of you are gold or whatever so you rarely see them in your ladder games anyway, and the people who actually are high ranked are people who aren't bothered by insignificant things and either want to use barcodes or don't care about them at all. Maybe you should reflect on your egocentricity if you think your irrational desire to see a random name rather than a few stripes is so important.
Because people are curious as to who the top 200 players are in each region... why is that difficult to grasp?
Imo that's none of your damn business. You see who the best players are at tournaments, the ladder is strictly a practice environment. However I wanna be clear with the fact that this is just my opinion, I'm uneducated in the matter and I don't understand the opposing side.
It might be of your opinion that this is non issue, and that the GM rankings mean nothing, but for myself including many other players, the gm positions are kind of a spot of desire, and seeing barcodes in it is disheartening.
On May 08 2014 01:59 Wombat_NI wrote: Plenty of people have shed some light, you're just being obtuse. Indeed in your post you're acknowledging what others see as the issue, you don't happen to share it but don't act like it's some mystery that nobody has filled you in on.
So the whole issue is you're not given information you have no right to in the first place?
No my issue is you acting as if people are demanding something with no rationale out forward, when it's clearly in many posts in the thread.
I don't particularly care either way, it's not breaking my experience of the game but the OP does outline some decent ideas
On May 08 2014 01:59 Wombat_NI wrote: Plenty of people have shed some light, you're just being obtuse. Indeed in your post you're acknowledging what others see as the issue, you don't happen to share it but don't act like it's some mystery that nobody has filled you in on.
So the whole issue is you're not given information you have no right to in the first place?
No my issue is you acting as if people are demanding something with no rationale out forward, when it's clearly in many posts in the thread.
I don't particularly care either way, it's not breaking my experience of the game but the OP does outline some decent ideas
On May 08 2014 01:59 Wombat_NI wrote: Plenty of people have shed some light, you're just being obtuse. Indeed in your post you're acknowledging what others see as the issue, you don't happen to share it but don't act like it's some mystery that nobody has filled you in on.
So the whole issue is you're not given information you have no right to in the first place?
No my issue is you acting as if people are demanding something with no rationale out forward, when it's clearly in many posts in the thread.
I don't particularly care either way, it's not breaking my experience of the game but the OP does outline some decent ideas
Yeah I see what you're saying, I agree I came across that way, I do apologize.
No problem folks, frankly seeing barcodes is solely annoying at my level because there is no point adding them as friends after games, gl navigating your friendlist without Real ID :p
Besides any technical aspect this may bring up, this sounds like an excellent idea! I suspect they would have to show the name after the game so any kind of contact/reporting can be still be effective.
On May 08 2014 03:19 Butterednuts wrote: Besides any technical aspect this may bring up, this sounds like an excellent idea! I suspect they would have to show the name after the game so any kind of contact/reporting can be still be effective.
The problem with that, is they could just check afterwards in the replay after they find your name out.
I think this would best work if it kept your name hidden all times while activated, and stayed on for match history/replays..
Then you could disable it and it would show your name again. Sort of like an incognito mode.
Both ideas suggested in the original post are bad ideas. Ladder system is only legit if match histories are available & players can be tracked. Hiding player names and / or match history would only be beneficial for abusers. It would be harder to be caught from hacking, cheating, MMR abusing, etc when the opponents could not track player's data / match history to verify the abuse & report him.
Hiding match history regarding ladder matches is not a solution (I would be pleased to see more information on match history of current web profiles). At the moment players already can hide their custom games from the match history if they want. One thing that could be considered is to have a privacy setting to hide build order tables from the match history, but not the match itself.
The current ladder system makes it also hard to deduce player MMRs. The visible ladder points & division ranks often do not reflect the MMR. At the moment there are ways to calculate close estimates of the MMR (see for example implementation of the MMR tool), but if ladder histories & player names would be hidden, it would not be possible in many cases.
On May 08 2014 03:41 korona wrote: Both ideas suggested in the original post are bad ideas. Ladder system is only legit if match histories are available & players can be tracked. Hiding player names and / or match history would only be beneficial for abusers. It would be harder to be caught from hacking, cheating, MMR abusing, etc when the opponents could not track player's data / match history to verify the abuse & report him.
Hiding match history regarding ladder matches is not a solution (I would be pleased to see more information on match history of current web profiles). At the moment players already can hide their custom games from the match history if they want. One thing that could be considered is to have a privacy setting to hide build order tables from the match history, but not the match itself.
The current ladder system makes it also hard to deduce player MMRs. The visible ladder points & division ranks often do not reflect the MMR. At the moment there are ways to calculate close estimates of the MMR (see for example implementation of the MMR tool), but if ladder histories & player names would be hidden, it would not be possible in many cases.
Okay, well make it so the information is still presentable and trackable on the ladder, but prevent players from checking out match details like player names & BOs
The issue isn't with barcode names, but simply any name that is the same as another. In fact I always thought it was strange/stupid that people "settled" on barcode names, since they can vary in length and the character(s) used, making it a far more unique identifier than it could otherwise be. People should just name themselves "zerg", "player", "anonymous" or something else generic, including existing popular names such as chris or john.
I think the idea that was given was good, but it seems like it would be problematic for reporting harassment or hate speech or hacking/abuse, or anything else.
100% sir, Just disgusting that other can see your history.
On May 08 2014 04:01 [UoN]Sentinel wrote: Keep them as barcodes if you want, just show their real names on ladder.
Why? Such barcode players don't want show real names on ladder. They even dont care about GM or TopMaster.
On May 08 2014 02:30 Stabley wrote: It might be of your opinion that this is non issue, and that the GM rankings mean nothing, but for myself including many other players, the gm positions are kind of a spot of desire, and seeing barcodes in it is disheartening.
I am sure they don't care appreciation by other people about ladder rank/results.
On May 08 2014 04:01 [UoN]Sentinel wrote: Keep them as barcodes if you want, just show their real names on ladder.
Why? Such barcode players don't want show real names on ladder. They even dont care about GM or TopMaster.
Right. But everyone else wants to see them. The problem is that when everyone adopts a barcode to hide their identity you get a slew of barcodes and nobody really has any interest in watching who's in GM or which pros/semipros are in their masters divisions.
We're saying, "Don't show who you are when you play. You have that option. You can play people who will not know your match history, or anything about you other than the game they just played against you on ladder and the corresponding replay. There will be no connection to your hidden name and your name in the actual GM spot. They will be unable to find you."
If you played Jaedong, you would never know you played Jaedong, you just know you played a barcode in X divsion. In GM you would know it's one of the 200, but otherwise it would be untraceable.
On May 08 2014 04:11 Dingodile wrote: 100% sir, Just disgusting that other can see your history.
On May 08 2014 04:01 [UoN]Sentinel wrote: Keep them as barcodes if you want, just show their real names on ladder.
Why? Such barcode players don't want show real names on ladder. They even dont care about GM or TopMaster.
Right. But everyone else wants to see them. The problem is that when everyone adopts a barcode to hide their identity you get a slew of barcodes and nobody really has any interest in watching who's in GM or which pros/semipros are in their masters divisions.
We're saying, "Don't show who you are when you play. You have that option. You can play people who will not know your match history, or anything about you other than the game they just played against you on ladder and the corresponding replay. There will be no connection to your hidden name and your name in the actual GM spot. They will be unable to find you."
If you played Jaedong, you would never know you played Jaedong, you just know you played a barcode in X divsion. In GM you would know it's one of the 200, but otherwise it would be untraceable.
Wow your last paragraph hit me. I guess they play with barcodes because everyone can see history (and buildorders!) without playing against that opponent. I think history is the bigger issue than barcode names.
If I was Blizzard, I'd force unique usernames. Why hide behind a name so you can execute your cheese/greedy stuff every game in a row? StarCraft is a strategic game. Blind counter is also a strategy. But what if you don't do your usual stuff, while the other guy tries to blind counter? You may actually be ahead. Another strategy. So, yes, don't take strategy away from StarCraft. Encourage variety for players.
On May 08 2014 04:11 Dingodile wrote: 100% sir, Just disgusting that other can see your history.
On May 08 2014 04:01 [UoN]Sentinel wrote: Keep them as barcodes if you want, just show their real names on ladder.
Why? Such barcode players don't want show real names on ladder. They even dont care about GM or TopMaster.
Right. But everyone else wants to see them. The problem is that when everyone adopts a barcode to hide their identity you get a slew of barcodes and nobody really has any interest in watching who's in GM or which pros/semipros are in their masters divisions.
We're saying, "Don't show who you are when you play. You have that option. You can play people who will not know your match history, or anything about you other than the game they just played against you on ladder and the corresponding replay. There will be no connection to your hidden name and your name in the actual GM spot. They will be unable to find you."
If you played Jaedong, you would never know you played Jaedong, you just know you played a barcode in X divsion. In GM you would know it's one of the 200, but otherwise it would be untraceable.
when you've the mmr to play JD you start to know which barcode belongs to whom in top gm. The problem would be account switching to be sure you played him.
I don't see how barcodes are a problem? Who cares about the name of the player you are randomly facing on ladder? Even if you are ranked high enough to consistently play the top pros you will know who they are just from play style/race/build order. And if Blizzard were to implement the two new options the OP talked about, what about replays? You could always figure everything out from that....
On May 08 2014 04:40 Stress wrote: I don't see how barcodes are a problem? Who cares about the name of the player you are randomly facing on ladder? Even if you are ranked high enough to consistently play the top pros you will know who they are just from play style/race/build order. And if Blizzard were to implement the two new options the OP talked about, what about replays? You could always figure everything out from that....
On May 08 2014 04:40 Stress wrote: I don't see how barcodes are a problem? Who cares about the name of the player you are randomly facing on ladder? Even if you are ranked high enough to consistently play the top pros you will know who they are just from play style/race/build order. And if Blizzard were to implement the two new options the OP talked about, what about replays? You could always figure everything out from that....
replays would be shown hidden names as well
and it is so we can see ranks on gm
Even if the names were hidden in the replay you could still figure out who it was and also have access to the BO. If you could see the name on the ladder page (instead of |||||||||| you have MKP or something) but the ingame name was hidden, wouldn't you be able to tell who it was by viewing their profile after the match? SC2 highlights the name on the ladder page if you view from profile.
I think there might be a technical roadblock to this idea.
I know for a fact, the name of both players is coded into the replay. If the name was to remain hidden, it would need to be encoded, and if someone's name is encoded it might increase the file size.
Now I don't know the specifics, but this might be an issue because Bliz likes to have the data as small as possible (reduce lag).
And even if it was encoded, smart programmers could find a way through it and determine the player names anyways.
Someone mentioned reporting hackers and cheaters, and this won't effect anything because the code would still have the players real id. You just couldn't out them on public forums like this.
My philosophy- Would it be cool to know who is at the top of the KR GM ladder? Absolutely! Lots of speculation has been made about the players who are at the top of the ladder, I think NaNiwa mentioned in his interview with Thorin that a few GSL champions have been #1 on ladder during their run, like Life and Dear, and so that would certainly be neat to be "in the know." But, if we have a good idea of who the up and comers are, it seems like people would begin to say "oh yeah well he's at the top of KR GM ladder so it's not really an underdog story" or "well this isn't surprising because he's been top 5 for a while on ladder". It detracts from storylines like that, the royal roaders and things like that. But, even so, that kind of mystery about the KR ladder primarily is a little bit motivating. Yes, I want to know who those players are, but does it matter to me at all? No, I'm not playing them, so why should I care? One day when I make KR GM, and get top 16 then I can start asking them for their names and I"ll be in the know. But until then, I guess I'll just have to only see lllllllllllll
On May 08 2014 06:05 banjoetheredskin wrote: My philosophy- Would it be cool to know who is at the top of the KR GM ladder? Absolutely! Lots of speculation has been made about the players who are at the top of the ladder, I think NaNiwa mentioned in his interview with Thorin that a few GSL champions have been #1 on ladder during their run, like Life and Dear, and so that would certainly be neat to be "in the know." But, if we have a good idea of who the up and comers are, it seems like people would begin to say "oh yeah well he's at the top of KR GM ladder so it's not really an underdog story" or "well this isn't surprising because he's been top 5 for a while on ladder". It detracts from storylines like that, the royal roaders and things like that. But, even so, that kind of mystery about the KR ladder primarily is a little bit motivating. Yes, I want to know who those players are, but does it matter to me at all? No, I'm not playing them, so why should I care? One day when I make KR GM, and get top 16 then I can start asking them for their names and I"ll be in the know. But until then, I guess I'll just have to only see lllllllllllll
eh.. why does everyone just say you have to be top gm to care about stuff.
On May 08 2014 14:06 AnonymousSC2 wrote: I don't understand what the OP's problem with barcodes is exactly.
My opinion: Barcodes aren't a problem and shouldn't bother you..
/Thread
I'm sure that your opinion clearly overrides that of everyone elses, and just because you fail to understand mine doesn't mean the topic should stop being discussed.
On May 08 2014 04:40 Stress wrote: I don't see how barcodes are a problem? Who cares about the name of the player you are randomly facing on ladder? Even if you are ranked high enough to consistently play the top pros you will know who they are just from play style/race/build order. And if Blizzard were to implement the two new options the OP talked about, what about replays? You could always figure everything out from that....
replays would be shown hidden names as well
and it is so we can see ranks on gm
SC2 highlights the name on the ladder page if you view from profile.
The only problem I see is that you don't like barcode IDs. Barcode IDs do not affect any aspect of the game. Sounds like you just want to know who they are . Anywho, I disagree.
On May 08 2014 14:06 AnonymousSC2 wrote: I don't understand what the OP's problem with barcodes is exactly.
My opinion: Barcodes aren't a problem and shouldn't bother you..
/Thread
You can't /thread a discussion because you think that your opinion is somehow more valid than everyone else's. Especially if you start your post with "I don't understand"
I always laugh whenever I see a player with a barcode and a clan tag, it's even funnier if you play like 2v2 and they both have a barcode and a clan tag.
I don't think barcodes are a problem, it's really no different than a player just making a smurf name like they did on the BW ladders. It just makes it harder for people to know what that smurf name is from sleuthing (that people on TL used to do) and then when you hit them on ladder, or try to find games, you know who they really are.
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.
How does your solution solve the problem? Let's say two pros play against each other on the ladder. RorO plays sOs, and they don't want each other to know who they are. Hiding the history changes nothing, they just played against each other and they know what happened, how they played, and they have replays. When they play with barcodes though, they don't know they played each other, and even if they save the replay, they don't know whose replay it is, unless they knew already whose barcode account it was, or they go through the hassle of analyzing hotkeys and such for every barcode replay they have to find out whose it could be.
There's also another aspect, some people don't want to be metagamed. RorO doesn't want sOs seeing his name instead of a barcode on the loading screen and thinking "Oh, RorO always goes hatch first, let me cannon rush him again".
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.
How does your solution solve the problem? Let's say two pros play against each other on the ladder. RorO plays sOs, and they don't want each other to know who they are. Hiding the history changes nothing, they just played against each other and they know what happened, how they played, and they have replays. When they play with barcodes though, they don't know they played each other, and even if they save the replay, they don't know whose replay it is, unless they knew already whose barcode account it was, or they go through the hassle of analyzing hotkeys and such for every barcode replay they have to find out whose it could be.
There's also another aspect, some people don't want to be metagamed. RorO doesn't want sOs seeing his name instead of a barcode on the loading screen and thinking "Oh, RorO always goes hatch first, let me cannon rush him again".
Your solution doesn't help with any of these.
How are they going to know that they are playing each other again? Their names are hidden.. thats what he said in the OP.
When loading the game it will say "Player", and, exactly like if it showed "IIIlllII" - they wont know who they are playing...
your idea will involve some other problems. for example , win/lose trades which is very common in SEA/CN servers. in comparsion, barcode problem is like an angel
Imo that's none of your damn business. You see who the best players are at tournaments
no you don't. when you combine the minor differences in relative skill level, add incredibly short series lengths which can kill someone's entire season due to map imbalances/bad draws, and sprinkle on top everything being in a daft groups into knockout format, every single tournament has so much variance that the "best" player probably wins less than 20% of the time. if you want to know who the best player is, you need to have a much larger sample size in order to overcome this variance, and this can only be achieved by either looking at the ladder, or tournaments switching away from groups>knockout towards round robin events, or Swiss formats if the field size makes that prohibitive.
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.
How does your solution solve the problem? Let's say two pros play against each other on the ladder. RorO plays sOs, and they don't want each other to know who they are. Hiding the history changes nothing, they just played against each other and they know what happened, how they played, and they have replays. When they play with barcodes though, they don't know they played each other, and even if they save the replay, they don't know whose replay it is, unless they knew already whose barcode account it was, or they go through the hassle of analyzing hotkeys and such for every barcode replay they have to find out whose it could be.
There's also another aspect, some people don't want to be metagamed. RorO doesn't want sOs seeing his name instead of a barcode on the loading screen and thinking "Oh, RorO always goes hatch first, let me cannon rush him again".
Your solution doesn't help with any of these.
If I understand this suggestion right while playing all they would see is "player" but the ladder itself would show there real name. Basically all this change would do is make the ladder more show who is really doing good and not a guess as to who is doing good while preventing any need for barcodes to hide anonymity. Im not really sure if making the ladder ranks look clean is important but it could work.
Honestly, this is a really good idea. I hope they implement it for LotV. I'd really like them to do their reports of the GM league like they did in Wings Beta. It was probably one of the best ideas that they had. Also, think about how great this would be for Nios.kr and SC2ranks to show actual names instead of barcodes.
It's not about the in-game experience, but enabling pros to hide their identity in-game without having a ladder full of barcodes. Is it that hard to actually read the thread?
On May 09 2014 00:37 FreeZEternal wrote: I don't really see the problem with barcode. If they don't wanna be known let it be. Why violate their privacy?
It is supporting an ingame function that does this, rather a barcode.
On May 07 2014 19:28 mechengineer123 wrote: Why are people so bothered by barcodes.
You don't see it as a problem that the best indication of who the best players in the world are in a low variance environment, namely the Korean ladder, is completely useless to gauge anything from as 80%+ of players are barcodes?
no not at all because being top ladder doesnt mean your the best in the world winning gsl, dreamhack, wcs does tbh ladder really means nothing its just practice. say someone just cheeses everygame with so gimmick build that would never work twice in a bo3 in gsl but gets rank 1 gm with it does that mean they are the best in the world. no not at all. and really if you dont know how the best players are watch some more tourneys not hard to find out. think about hitman was at one point(maybe still is) at the top of the ladder but does that make him the one of the best players in the world, IMO no not even close why cause he did gimincky build and people figured him out and probably wouldnt even get close to code A. really its not a problem at all. sorry you dont get to see whos rank 1 for the 20 mins your online
edit: before someone attacks me sayings this is not what the OP is getting at im responding to the person i quoted and most ppl here who dont like barcodes cause they cant see there favorite players rank, I think the OP idea is good for things like wildcard and stuff so players can use that instead of there main like what happened with QXC awhile back.but again this isnt a problem at all.
I dont mind barcodes at all, but I'd love the option to remove your own names and other people's names all together as well as an option to remove all chat.
On May 09 2014 00:30 Wombat_NI wrote: It's not about the in-game experience, but enabling pros to hide their identity in-game without having a ladder full of barcodes. Is it that hard to actually read the thread?
So... What is it to you? Are you a pro? Why would you waste time/energy worrying about something that doesn't effect you? How do you know the pros have a problem with barcodes?
On May 09 2014 00:30 Wombat_NI wrote: It's not about the in-game experience, but enabling pros to hide their identity in-game without having a ladder full of barcodes. Is it that hard to actually read the thread?
So... What is it to you? Are you a pro? Why would you waste time/energy worrying about something that doesn't effect you? How do you know the pros have a problem with barcodes?
Every pro says that it's a pain to know which person you're playing, SC2 is also a matter of rock paper scissors at pro level, say in a TvT Players like Polt prefer reaper openers, if you play Polt on ladder everyday, you can go for a direct counter by proxy 2 rax reaper or something of the like.
1. Build order consistency/habits within pros 2. Sniping those habits by build-order countering is a shit way to lose
and more, I think Catz had a reddit thread about it a while ago.
People just want to think they're good/have anxiety issues, changing their name prevents their ego from getting hurt, say you play as 420blazemaster, that's your ego right there, the blaze master, and you lose games continuously, not worth of your "name", people change into barcode until they're confident enough to use their actual name. It's an ego thing.
Yes, they suck and they're not pros, but they'll still do it.
On May 09 2014 00:30 Wombat_NI wrote: It's not about the in-game experience, but enabling pros to hide their identity in-game without having a ladder full of barcodes. Is it that hard to actually read the thread?
So... What is it to you? Are you a pro? Why would you waste time/energy worrying about something that doesn't effect you? How do you know the pros have a problem with barcodes?
Why the hell are there so many people focusing on being a pro in order to care about this?
That completely baffles me. Your level of play is next to irrelevant in whether or not you would agree with these suggestions to 'fix/modify' the barcode situation. Everyone from GM to Bronze will have an opinion on this for whatever reason - but saying you need to be a pro/GM in order for this to effect you is just stupid.
I'm gold league at best, and because of barcoding, I never even bother checking the GM rankings of servers cause I know there will be random smurf names and barcodes there. So it means absolutely nothing to me. The fact I will never play against them has nothing to do with my current interest level in the GM ladder.
If I could look at the KR ladder, and say... 80% of them are using their real name/account - it'd be interesting to see who are in the top spots, and the fluctuations throughout the season.
EG: if someone like Symbol doesnt make it in Ro16 GSL, then it'd be interesting to see if he suddenly becomes #1 on the ladder due to practicing on there a shitload (as having no team to practice with/team league with may give him much more time to do that)
On May 08 2014 00:41 Amazonic wrote: Can somebody please, PLEASE explain to me why this is even an issue? Why does there even need to be a thread about this?
It's not an issue, it is something that can be improved upon . I fail to see why bringing up the discussion of something is problematic.
Read the thread title, "Potential Barcode Solution" using the word solution implies that there is a problem. Maybe that's why people keep asking the same question over and over?
On May 08 2014 00:41 Amazonic wrote: Can somebody please, PLEASE explain to me why this is even an issue? Why does there even need to be a thread about this?
It's not an issue, it is something that can be improved upon . I fail to see why bringing up the discussion of something is problematic.
Read the thread title, "Potential Barcode Solution" using the word solution implies that there is a problem. Maybe that's why people keep asking the same question over and over?
I think its safe to say most of them are reading the thread title, and (at best) maybe a line or two.. then posting their opinion.
On May 09 2014 00:30 Wombat_NI wrote: It's not about the in-game experience, but enabling pros to hide their identity in-game without having a ladder full of barcodes. Is it that hard to actually read the thread?
So... What is it to you? Are you a pro? Why would you waste time/energy worrying about something that doesn't effect you? How do you know the pros have a problem with barcodes?
Why the hell is there so many people focusing on being a pro in order to care about this?
That completely baffles me. Your level of play is next to irrelevant in whether or not you would agree with these suggestions to 'fix/modify' the barcode situation. Everyone from GM to Bronze will have an opinion on this for whatever reason - but saying you need to be a pro/GM in order for this to effect you is just stupid.
I'm gold league at best, and because of barcoding, I never even bother checking the GM rankings of servers cause I know there will be random smurf names and barcodes there. So it means absolutely nothing to me. The fact I will never play against them has nothing to do with my current interest level in the GM ladder.
If I could look at the KR ladder, and say... 80% of them are using their real name/account - it'd be interesting to see who are in the top spots, and the fluctuations throughout the season.
EG: if someone like Symbol doesnt make it in Ro16 GSL, then it'd be interesting to see if he suddenly becomes #1 on the ladder due to practicing on there a shitload (as having no team to practice with/team league with may give him much more time to do that)
This is a very cancerous approach. You shouldn't judge by results (particularly meaningless bo1s) but by how well someone plays.
On May 09 2014 00:30 Wombat_NI wrote: It's not about the in-game experience, but enabling pros to hide their identity in-game without having a ladder full of barcodes. Is it that hard to actually read the thread?
So... What is it to you? Are you a pro? Why would you waste time/energy worrying about something that doesn't effect you? How do you know the pros have a problem with barcodes?
Why the hell is there so many people focusing on being a pro in order to care about this?
That completely baffles me. Your level of play is next to irrelevant in whether or not you would agree with these suggestions to 'fix/modify' the barcode situation. Everyone from GM to Bronze will have an opinion on this for whatever reason - but saying you need to be a pro/GM in order for this to effect you is just stupid.
I'm gold league at best, and because of barcoding, I never even bother checking the GM rankings of servers cause I know there will be random smurf names and barcodes there. So it means absolutely nothing to me. The fact I will never play against them has nothing to do with my current interest level in the GM ladder.
If I could look at the KR ladder, and say... 80% of them are using their real name/account - it'd be interesting to see who are in the top spots, and the fluctuations throughout the season.
EG: if someone like Symbol doesnt make it in Ro16 GSL, then it'd be interesting to see if he suddenly becomes #1 on the ladder due to practicing on there a shitload (as having no team to practice with/team league with may give him much more time to do that)
This is a very cancerous approach. You shouldn't judge by results (particularly meaningless bo1s) but by how well someone plays.
All I said is that it would be interesting... noone is saying the #1 KR Ladder player is the best player in the world. It just means they are playing on the ladder a lot... obviously.
It just adds further interest to the game, at no 'cost/disadvantage' to anyone (that I can see) - and generating interest in the game would be a good thing.
I don't agree with giving players the option to disable match history, to me that is worse than seeing a barcode. You could have a player doing 2 gate proxies every game, cannon rushing, 5 raxing, 10 pooling, smurfing etc...
On May 09 2014 02:48 GiveMeCake wrote: I don't agree with giving players the option to disable match history, to me that is worse than seeing a barcode. You could have a player doing 2 gate proxies every game, cannon rushing, 5 raxing, 10 pooling, smurfing etc...
Why do you have to know so much about your opponent? Is there a reason? I truly dont care about my and my opponent's history. History just gives too much (useful for progamers) infos, that's why we have so much barcode players.
On May 07 2014 19:28 mechengineer123 wrote: Why are people so bothered by barcodes.
You don't see it as a problem that the best indication of who the best players in the world are in a low variance environment, namely the Korean ladder, is completely useless to gauge anything from as 80%+ of players are barcodes?
no not at all because being top ladder doesnt mean your the best in the world winning gsl, dreamhack, wcs does tbh ladder really means nothing its just practice.
see the post i made later in the thread. as far as i'm concerned, no tournaments have enough matches to determine anything like that.
As far as match history goes look at dota 2 and steam. They have had "hidden" match history for along time now. It dosnt effect pubs thats much but inhouse training is pretty much under wraps. It would not be hard for blizz to fix this but they have to for before storms is out.
On May 07 2014 19:28 mechengineer123 wrote: Why are people so bothered by barcodes.
You don't see it as a problem that the best indication of who the best players in the world are in a low variance environment, namely the Korean ladder, is completely useless to gauge anything from as 80%+ of players are barcodes?
no not at all because being top ladder doesnt mean your the best in the world winning gsl, dreamhack, wcs does tbh ladder really means nothing its just practice.
see the post i made later in the thread. as far as i'm concerned, no tournaments have enough matches to determine anything like that.
Only a fool would judge how good someone is by their results.
On May 09 2014 02:48 GiveMeCake wrote: I don't agree with giving players the option to disable match history, to me that is worse than seeing a barcode. You could have a player doing 2 gate proxies every game, cannon rushing, 5 raxing, 10 pooling, smurfing etc...
Why do you have to know so much about your opponent? Is there a reason? I truly dont care about my and my opponent's history. History just gives too much (useful for progamers) infos, that's why we have so much barcode players.
I play in a scv rush tournament once a week. I usually look at my opponents match history (game length, build orders, etc,) for a few minutes before starting the match, as do the other players there... so yes it can matter.
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.
Making this easily visible on the grandmaster ladder AND in matchwould remove all my gripes with this system. Oh its 3224273 again, not some other Terran barcode. Time to get revenge on that whining cheesing no-gooder.
standard american internet police. barcodes are annoying to you, i fucking love them. imma go start a counter thread to encourage people to use barcodes. holy shit, this is the reason sc2 is in the state that it's in, everyone cares about everything else about it but playing the game.
On May 09 2014 05:05 Kabras wrote: standard american internet police. barcodes are annoying to you, i fucking love them. imma go start a counter thread to encourage people to use barcodes. holy shit, this is the reason sc2 is in the state that it's in, everyone cares about everything else about it but playing the game.
lol wtf are u talking about, can't you find bardcodes annoying while playing?
On May 09 2014 05:05 Kabras wrote: standard american internet police. barcodes are annoying to you, i fucking love them. imma go start a counter thread to encourage people to use barcodes. holy shit, this is the reason sc2 is in the state that it's in, everyone cares about everything else about it but playing the game.
Ok. How about just NOT have a GM ladder, if it's so disagreeable
Tales float around of ladder exploits, MKP getting 1-3 on Kr, Mvp getting in with his off-races etc. If it's infested with barcode why even have the ladder at all?
'I think this is a better solution' = 'American Internet police', wtf?
On May 09 2014 06:27 Incognoto wrote: Some people are going nuts for no reason lol, it's silly.
This is just a discussion about barcodes and people feel the need to get all haughty right off the bat, it's kind of bizarre.
lol, i know, i don't understand it either? i mean it's nothing new that people are angry and confrontational on the internet, but over this?
the only thing i can think of is that barcoding has a connotation that originally started with high level players, i.e. players who are better than "us" (most of us anyway), and when lower level players start doing it too then people's egos get hurt and they become irrationally angry over something meaningless because of insecurity about skill
other than that i can't work out how some people can become so heated and passionate over not allowing people to show up as a bunch of lines while playing a computer game
On May 08 2014 04:29 darkness wrote: If I was Blizzard, I'd force unique usernames. Why hide behind a name so you can execute your cheese/greedy stuff every game in a row? StarCraft is a strategic game. Blind counter is also a strategy. But what if you don't do your usual stuff, while the other guy tries to blind counter? You may actually be ahead. Another strategy. So, yes, don't take strategy away from StarCraft. Encourage variety for players.
so tell me how you're going to prevent people from making their names "abcfdfdsg" and "zyxeuig". what then? are we going to file blizzard reports over people with names that aren't memorable enough? lol
Yes, that's what's happening in this thread. It's more of a HANDS OFF OUR SACRED BARCODES and aggressive posting from those who disagree with the OP, those who like the idea he put forward are pretty relaxed about the whole thing.
It's just, STUPID. It's nothing game-breaking, it's no big deal to have a bunch of ||||||||| instead of 'Blazeit420's' on ladder, but you know what, hey I think barcodes just look stupid, I think seeing barcodes in my Platinum league looks stupid. Big deal, it doesn't even particularly bother me, if there's a better system I show agreement with a system I view as better, namely the OPs
On May 07 2014 12:50 yyfpulls wrote: 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.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ #blizzardpoliticians It's as if they cross potential ideas off their list if they see community members suggest it.
On May 09 2014 06:46 MattMannion wrote: barcodes are fine. if you don't like it thats your problem, not blizzard's.
'I don't think it's an issue, so other people can't'. Fantastic posting. I shall go around and follow your example in other threads.
you should, it doesn't affect the experience when laddering or anything. just do you, why does it matter if they have a barcode as their name. if they like it then let them like it. just because my opinion doesn't line up with yours doesn't make me a bad poster.
Sorry Op, you can't control people nor should you. If players want a generic anonymous name on the internet they have every right to do so. How dare anyone try to control another, unless the name is offense of course. These threads IMO are bit silly when they pop up.
I think people have deeper psychological problems if a anonymous barcode name makes you angry, or you feel its "obnoxious" I think you need to look up what that word means op, simply wanting to be anonymous is not obnoxious at all.
On May 09 2014 06:36 Wombat_NI wrote: Yes, that's what's happening in this thread. It's more of a HANDS OFF OUR SACRED BARCODES and aggressive posting from those who disagree with the OP, those who like the idea he put forward are pretty relaxed about the whole thing.
It's just, STUPID. It's nothing game-breaking, it's no big deal to have a bunch of ||||||||| instead of 'Blazeit420's' on ladder, but you know what, hey I think barcodes just look stupid, I think seeing barcodes in my Platinum league looks stupid. Big deal, it doesn't even particularly bother me, if there's a better system I show agreement with a system I view as better, namely the OPs
It's one of the most bizarre situations I've seen in the forum in months. I can't understand it. It's like people (who probably don't even use barcodes) are being suggested to have their testicles removed - so they come straight in with their sword drawn and unable to read the 30 odd posts before theirs that respond to their "MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY" post before they make it.
On May 09 2014 05:05 Kabras wrote: standard american internet police. barcodes are annoying to you, i fucking love them. imma go start a counter thread to encourage people to use barcodes. holy shit, this is the reason sc2 is in the state that it's in, everyone cares about everything else about it but playing the game.
The irony that you think SC2 is in a bad state because people are offering constructive discussion about a possible way to improve the game, whilst you come here with your close-minded and antagonizing mentality is comical.
I still don't understand the main issue. I'm well aware that pros use barcodes to hide their identities and builds etc... but I honestly don't think it's that big of a deal. The OP makes a good point about the two options but I think there are more pressing issues that are important to SCII's future(like game balance for ex) then whether pros should use barcodes or not lol.
I know the title is a bit misleading, but holy shit some people don't read.
We aren't arguing that people shouldn't be allowed to have a fucking barcode name.
We are just saying we would like to give pro players an easier (and cheaper) means to hide their identity during ladder matches, but still have their god damn mother fucking name seen on rankings.
How fucking hard is it to understand?
And Lightspectre, I don't know who is top 5 KR GM, but chances are one of them is barcode.
It seems the majority of people don't understand the issue here.. it's just about showing the name of the player in the rankings, nothing more... and that would just be nice to see and know!
On May 09 2014 10:56 [UoN]Sentinel wrote: How bout OP quotes that post and posts it boldface above the original? Maybe it'll catch someone's eye
People should be getting warned for blatantly not reading the OP never mind any part of the thread.
Like I said, it's not a big deal, can it be done better? I'd say yes is all. Go look at the Kr ladder, it's hard to spot any recognisable names on there. Pros are just protecting their practice and barcoding is the best solution for them, but if they could keep their IDs and have their match history and ID in-game hidden I imagine they'd be happy going for that, with the small added bonus that the fans can actually keep track of who is tearing it up on ladder
On May 09 2014 02:48 GiveMeCake wrote: I don't agree with giving players the option to disable match history, to me that is worse than seeing a barcode. You could have a player doing 2 gate proxies every game, cannon rushing, 5 raxing, 10 pooling, smurfing etc...
Why do you have to know so much about your opponent? Is there a reason? I truly dont care about my and my opponent's history. History just gives too much (useful for progamers) infos, that's why we have so much barcode players.
I play in a scv rush tournament once a week. I usually look at my opponents match history (game length, build orders, etc,) for a few minutes before starting the match, as do the other players there... so yes it can matter.
And this is reasonable? How about other situation: You dont play against him but you can see his/her match history. I am sure that many many people are looking (abnormally) the histories from GM players, that why we need a option to disable match history.
Wow, this sure has turned into a pretty heated discussion, lol. Anyways. . . I appreciate your input and your solution works for the problem you have described. However, the situation at hand isn't viewed negatively by most players. Most players, me included, really don't care who we're #facemelting on ladder. We have begged for more stats and more player info for years. We like being able to look up build orders and match history. It's give and take. They gave us a name change every season so ppl could just hide themselves anyway they please. I think things have came a long way and I'm pretty satisfied with the system in place.
On May 09 2014 10:56 [UoN]Sentinel wrote: How bout OP quotes that post and posts it boldface above the original? Maybe it'll catch someone's eye
People should be getting warned for blatantly not reading the OP never mind any part of the thread.
Like I said, it's not a big deal, can it be done better? I'd say yes is all. Go look at the Kr ladder, it's hard to spot any recognisable names on there. Pros are just protecting their practice and barcoding is the best solution for them, but if they could keep their IDs and have their match history and ID in-game hidden I imagine they'd be happy going for that, with the small added bonus that the fans can actually keep track of who is tearing it up on ladder
they'll just resort to an alias of somekind or do "anonymous". the reason why they hide their names is because people meta game on the ladder, and will blind counter someones strategy when they recognize their name. i mean this happens to me just on the NA master ladder as it is. what do you have to say about that?
On May 09 2014 10:56 [UoN]Sentinel wrote: How bout OP quotes that post and posts it boldface above the original? Maybe it'll catch someone's eye
People should be getting warned for blatantly not reading the OP never mind any part of the thread.
Like I said, it's not a big deal, can it be done better? I'd say yes is all. Go look at the Kr ladder, it's hard to spot any recognisable names on there. Pros are just protecting their practice and barcoding is the best solution for them, but if they could keep their IDs and have their match history and ID in-game hidden I imagine they'd be happy going for that, with the small added bonus that the fans can actually keep track of who is tearing it up on ladder
they'll just resort to an alias of somekind or do "anonymous". the reason why they hide their names is because people meta game on the ladder, and will blind counter someones strategy when they recognize their name. i mean this happens to me just on the NA master ladder as it is. what do you have to say about that?
I'd say read the post again... You really don't seem to understand what is being proposed. His new privacy options would eliminate the need for progamers to use an alias to hide their identity, as there would be an inherent option within the settings to do so. Of course individuals would still be free to use an alias if they wanted to, but such a system would be redundant in what is being proposed.
it would be cool to hide their names until the end of the season. Then when the season ends it shows their actual names or something so we all know whos tearing shit up.
On May 07 2014 12:32 Umami wrote: Yeah barcodes are rather annoying. I feel like only good players (High master and grandmaster) should really be the only ones using barcodes.
To be honest I think you only need to barcode if you're a proplayer.
Ladder rankings are generally not very relevant at the pro level - which is why we see all kinds of username shenanigans on ladder. But if they become relevant - like, when they matter for qualifying for a Blizzard tournament (let's suppose), then it would be funny if the organizers feel obliged to list the qualified players by their ladder name and the list contains a bunch of barcodes. I guess only in such situation Blizzard would be forced to do something about it. Of course, they would probably just not list them by their actual ladder names (barcodes), but by the names they are more famous with. Which would be a damn shame.
On May 09 2014 10:56 [UoN]Sentinel wrote: How bout OP quotes that post and posts it boldface above the original? Maybe it'll catch someone's eye
People should be getting warned for blatantly not reading the OP never mind any part of the thread.
Like I said, it's not a big deal, can it be done better? I'd say yes is all. Go look at the Kr ladder, it's hard to spot any recognisable names on there. Pros are just protecting their practice and barcoding is the best solution for them, but if they could keep their IDs and have their match history and ID in-game hidden I imagine they'd be happy going for that, with the small added bonus that the fans can actually keep track of who is tearing it up on ladder
they'll just resort to an alias of somekind or do "anonymous". the reason why they hide their names is because people meta game on the ladder, and will blind counter someones strategy when they recognize their name. i mean this happens to me just on the NA master ladder as it is. what do you have to say about that?
I'd say read the post again... You really don't seem to understand what is being proposed. His new privacy options would eliminate the need for progamers to use an alias to hide their identity, as there would be an inherent option within the settings to do so. Of course individuals would still be free to use an alias if they wanted to, but such a system would be redundant in what is being proposed.
no i get it, my response was to the person i quoted.
If you don't like this you would've hated Arcades back in the 90s. Everyone hiding behind the almighty AAA.
Truth is, using barcodes is a simple solution to a real problem for pro players, and if lower league players do it and are BM'ing the ladder, you can still report them like a normal account. I don't find barcodes particularly annoying and it doesn't really affect my game experience in any way.
It's a cool idea what the OP is suggesting, because it would allow "cleaner" leaderboards, but I like it more so a pro player can play some anonymous person just to find at the end that he was beaten by Jaedong or whatever, it's a cool concept.
On May 10 2014 06:32 Shousan wrote: If you don't like this you would've hated Arcades back in the 90s. Everyone hiding behind the almighty AAA.
Truth is, using barcodes is a simple solution to a real problem for pro players, and if lower league players do it and are BM'ing the ladder, you can still report them like a normal account. I don't find barcodes particularly annoying and it doesn't really affect my game experience in any way.
It's a cool idea what the OP is suggesting, because it would allow "cleaner" leaderboards, but I like it more so a pro player can play some anonymous person just to find at the end that he was beaten by Jaedong or whatever, it's a cool concept.
I remember a long time ago in SC : BW ladder there were still barcoders, it actually became such an issue with the II ll ||| ll II combinations of L , I and the symbol , | , and that was the reason that Blizzard decided to get rid of symbols in usernames in SC1, I wonder if they will ever do something to prevent barcodes as well, this is a good suggestion, we will just have to see what pans out.
everyone would turn your suggestions off. Im no way near gm but even for my clasn inhouse things id turn it off .. .then go on some bm spree with my name hidden . . if that ever got introduced you will see them unchecked for 98% of anyone who cares. the barcode i think is a nice clever way you can imagine ur playing a scarlett or Flash or <insert top guy here> and if u have them on ur friends list and they are offline . .the hype becomes REAL!
On May 10 2014 06:32 Shousan wrote: If you don't like this you would've hated Arcades back in the 90s. Everyone hiding behind the almighty AAA.
Truth is, using barcodes is a simple solution to a real problem for pro players, and if lower league players do it and are BM'ing the ladder, you can still report them like a normal account. I don't find barcodes particularly annoying and it doesn't really affect my game experience in any way.
It's a cool idea what the OP is suggesting, because it would allow "cleaner" leaderboards, but I like it more so a pro player can play some anonymous person just to find at the end that he was beaten by Jaedong or whatever, it's a cool concept.
You know that people report hackers/cheaters all day every day and Bliz does nothing about it right?
This is what I do. Everytime a korean player streams on KR, i search their barcode by rank and set them a note. Currently have almost 70 barcodes added :D
But seriously this seems like a great idea even though most progamers might disagree
On May 13 2014 07:38 Ravomat wrote: I'd like to see character codes on the loading screen. Then I'd know if I play the same guy 4 times in a row or not.
There is enough evidence that can reveal if you're playing the same person multiple times like Portrait, Level, # of I's and l's, and race, as well as checking their match history post-game.
Idk, bar coding seems legit for GM's who are hiding strats, but I always laugh and ask people in Plat/Dia that barcode because what is the point? You aren't hiding anything of worth and you're effectively restricting yourself from having an identity on battle net.
On May 13 2014 07:38 Ravomat wrote: I'd like to see character codes on the loading screen. Then I'd know if I play the same guy 4 times in a row or not.
There is enough evidence that can reveal if you're playing the same person multiple times like Portrait, Level, # of I's and l's, and race, as well as checking their match history post-game.
As you said it can reveal. It might just not which is quite unfortunate. Not knowing who I play against is one thing. Not knowing who I play against while the other guy knows me sucks. Well, I guess in this case I could barcode it up but if everyone does this then the whole ladder becomes faceless and, I feel, boring.
its such a simple fix. you dont know who you are playing unless they turn on "show name" and the leaderboards are always peoples real ID's and u cant click on them to find out any BOs or anything unless they have "show match history" on
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/s0MaxWg.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/VBOXcze.png)
. Anywho, I disagree. 
