RealID vs PlayerID

The debacle over RealID has been covered extensively by just about everyone so there's no need to rehash the same things that others have said better. Blizzzard's backflip over displaying player's real first and last names was probably inevitable. It couldn't have gone ahead.

In all fairness, every indication is that the initial decision to do so was made by Activision (who own Blizzard) and Blizz was just as unhappy as anyone else.  That being said, the reasoning behind it was not a bad thing and here's why.