I agree his argument is a bit ‘whataboutism’ but... Critical Mass (I refuse to retype his l33t spelling) raises a fair argument: If the concern is gambling that targets children, why do we see candy/toy dispensers like this and not blink an eye?

So then if I name my child l33th4x0r it’s perfectly acceptable if they use a handle with the same spelling because that’s literally their name?

It’s the reactionary swing of the pendulum.

Honestly yeah... I can say those without blushing or averting my eyes. I don’t particularly think they are clever handles but that’s just my personal opinion.

So if it’s already a name it’s okay to use? How does that apply to new surnames?

The article discusses the impact that eSports would have if players opted out of handles (Stage Names) entirely. My argument is that not using your real name is pretty common across all sorts of entertainment industries for any variety of reasons.

What makes “Portia De Rossi” any more real or fake than if I named myself Human McHumanFace? Or if I legally changed my name to “Yummy Tacos”.

That’s what interests me about all of this. I’m in my mid-30s so like you I can recall the complete disparity between my online ‘self’ and my day-to-day.

Honestly I just find it an interesting discussion because what people are essentially saying is that these handles are not qualified to identify human beings because they do not meet a list of known (but not codified) rules for how we identify a name.

Is that a difference that has any meaningful distinction?

This is a very good point. To add to this I would also point out something I’ve touched on a bit in other comments: existing branding.

From a handle like CoolMatt69 I could infer that they think they are cool, their given name is probably Matt, and they enjoy sex or would like me to believe they are otherwise sexually active. That’s actually a lot more information than I would get from most any given name.

So if someone’s handle were the byproduct of a nickname assigned to them by a 3rd party... that’s better than if they made one up themselves?

i guess the question is... are they e”sports” players, or celebrities?

Yes but taken to its logical conclusion everyone would abandon their handle for “Bob” or “Greg” and the entire amusing defeat he suggests would be moot.

If you really stop and consider it... are handles really that different?

Someone who is that popular should have his real name known specifically for reasons like that.

If only there existed a means by which a person could submit a request for information and somehow (perhaps by magic?) a list of results that matched the parameters of that inquiry was presented, to allow the person to review the data at their leisure.

So if Woody Allen chose to use the handle Allen1935 that would be okay? Because you seem to be implying that as long as there is a direct connection to the real name any stage name they choose is fine.