Blizzard kicked up some dust last month when it revealed players would be forced to use their real first and last names to post on the official StarCraft II community site. Enraged gamers flogged the developer into submission and it abandoned plans to display users' true names only a few days after making the announcement. Stepping in the opposite direction today, the company actually wants to be sure you're happy with your name.

Blizzard will let StarCraft II owners change their in-game name once, free of charge. "In some cases, people chose character names that don't represent their usual multiplayer nicknames, as they were unaware of how the character names were being used," the company said. "It's important to us that everyone is represented by a name of their choosing in their multiplayer games, ladders, and on the forums and community site."


The post didn't say exactly when the option will be available or how you'll go about making the switch, but more details should follow soon. In addition to that notice, Blizzard mentioned plans to provide a paid service similar to the one offered for World of Warcraft, which lets gamers swap their name as often as desired -- for a fee. It's $10 per change on WoW, but no pricing information is available yet for SC II.