All it took for a Blizzard to start a firestorm was the suggestion that people be themselves. Apparently a lot of us have decided we’d rather be someone else … someone whose behavior is not our responsibility.

People claim to be increasingly bothered by rudeness. Nearly 75 percent of Americans responding to a recent online survey, conducted for communications and public affairs firm Powell Tate, said poor behavior has gotten worse in recent years. But when Blizzard Entertainment tried to curb some of that incivility by requiring participants in its “StarCraft II” and “World of Warcraft” forums to use their real names, the company received a blistering response. The idea was shelved within a week.

Oh well … maybe there’s no difference between being just anybody and being somebody.

What’s in a name?

James Lavenson had different ideas.

When he stepped in as CEO and president of the Plaza Hotel in the early 1970s, the New York landmark had been losing money for five years. What was the problem? It didn’t take Lavenson long to find out. Employees couldn’t be expected to treat the guests like family when they treated one another like strangers on the subway. But how could he bond 1,400 people responsible for 1,000 guest rooms, six restaurants, a nightclub, a theater, and three sub-basements of support services when they might run into each other in the elevator only once a week?

Name tags.

As Lavenson explained in “Think Strawberries,” his signature speech before the American Marketing Association, “It struck me that if our people who worked with each other every day couldn’t call each other by name, smile at each other’s familiar face, say good morning to each other, how on earth could they be expected to say astonishing things like ‘Good morning, Mr. Jones,’ to a guest?”

The boss pinned on his own name tag, distributed the other 1,400, then stood back and watched the magic.

Instead of passing one another with their heads down, employees started smiling, saying hello, addressing one another by name. Guests began addressing employees by name—and employees began asking guests for their names in return. They began to personally greet customers as they came and went from the hotel. People at the Plaza weren’t just civilized. They were downright nice.

Being anonymous doesn’t necessarily license people to behave badly. But as Lavenson discovered, being recognized does seem to inspire more of them to be polite.