The motivations for hiding one's identity are almost all bad (personal attacks, trolling, unpopular opinion) and far outweigh whatever legitimate (if any) reasons there are for a forum alt.
Practically speaking, whichever character on the computer has the most playing hours is most likely the main identity and should be the default forums identity as well.
If someone doesn't have the moral courage to be identified with their post, then it should't be allowed.
No, because steam. I don't use this account for anything but the forums, because it's much much easier than logging into steam and going through the authorization process whenever I try to access from a different device. (Desktop, laptop, phone.)
And honestly, does it really matter who posts what? As long as there's no sockpuppeting going on, I see no reason anyone's opinion on the forums should be connected to who they are in game. Posting behind a "mask" allows for more freedom to say what you really think, without having to worry about what people will say about you and how it will affect you in-game.
And... Did you just say that unpopular opinion is a bad thing?
If someone has been bullying you go and tell the teacher... game masters. I meant game masters.
SK accounts made through Kongregate cannot be used for the forums.
And it's fine if OP or anyone else wants to report malicious behavior to whichever authority figure is present. Please do not ridicule someone simply because they do not wish to take abuse quietly...
Report the player alt, then the GM's will check the IP and location of that alt. They will ban the person who created the alt and used it for trolling, etc...
Some people need to make forum accounts because they got steam and can't access their old account.
And it's fine if OP or anyone else wants to report malicious behavior to whichever authority figure is present.
Then OP should be ask for a REPORT BUTTON on posts for the forum. Not removing the ability to make alts because as other says this would affect them if they cant log in their steam account or if just they want to keep an account for the forum or whatever problem they would have.
I agree that malicious behavior should be stopped but removing the way to make alts isnt the right way to do that. IMHO a report button would work better than this idea.
-1
This also works under the assumption that everyone has it's own computer and they only access the forums with it.
What about brothers sharing a PC? What if I login with my smartphone?
This would hassle people who have a legitimate reason to have multiple accounts (sharing a computer with their family, for instance) while doing absolutely nothing to stop trolls. There's no practical way to enforce this. Most trolls already know how to handle web-restrictions through proxies, switching browsers, virtual machines and bypass any means by which this "ability" would be "removed".
Sockpuppeting is different from using one alt exclusively. I've gotten in trouble for using two accounts (Named Klipik and Klipik-Forum, mind you) on the same thread; if you don't try to support yourself and make it look like there are more people with your opinion, there is no reason to prevent this.
Oh ho ho ho ho...
I do have an alt. However, it's for story/spoiler/secret purposes. I intend to reveal who this alt is in the future. No, I haven't ever supported myself with this alt. As a matter of fact, I've gotten into arguments with myself! It's really quite embarrassing and I get very mad at myself. My naughty alt refuses to look at things my way! D:
Okay, maybe that only happens when I multibox in the game...anyhow, I barely ever post in that alt, and when I do it's either a mistake or on a thread which this current account never sees.
+1
Even better, how about under our profile pic, it shows the names of all our accounts in small print?
Unpopular opinion is a "bad reason"? ...Really?
By the way, a lot of people have "forum alts" for wiki access. If you're using a Steam-connected account, you can't do anything on the wiki...