evileeyore:
I don't understand the desire for double anonymity so many seem to be enamored with on this site.
Honestly, I think there are a few reasons for this.
One, it preserves the integrity of the character in a game. The character is the most important thing, not the player behind it (I realize some people may think differently, but that's my opinion). For some people, it's quite difficult to have realistic (in-game realism, here) interactions with Big Burly Bob the Bruiser if they know that Bob is actually played by Little Mary Sunshine. (Or vice versa).
Two, it prevents players from being abused/ignored/not given a second chance. Sometimes, people play poorly in one setting and are entirely different in another. Sometimes, people go through rough patches, or simply learn how to be better players over the years, but knowing that Character X is being played by Player A that you had that big blowout fight with three years ago might keep you from giving Character X a chance. (As you stated yourself, by noting that you'd like to know 'who to avoid' in a game, despite the fact that their behaviour might not be the same in that game.)
This is why you can see GM names, and GMs can see applicants' names - so that you/they CAN avoid people that you/they know are "problem children" or don't play in a style that you/they like, because the GM-Player relationship is an OOC one. It's important for GMs and their Players to be able to get along, OOCly. There's no reason/need to know that as a player, about other players. Characters are characters, and their interaction with other characters can be solely IC, which makes it irrelevant who is behind them.
Obviously, your mileage varies, but I've encountered a lot of players over the years that play very different in one game than they do in another, or post very differently on the forums than they do IC in a game, or even play one character differently than another within games. It's important to keep things distinct, for the betterment of the games as a whole, to me.
This message was last edited by the user at 21:26, Thu 11 June 2020.