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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Real ID or Real bad IDea?
by Zach Yonzon 
Jul 7th 2010 at 8:00AM
Sure enough, when Patch 3.3.5 was implemented, I had a lot of fun hooking up with my real friends on other servers, and it was truly awesome to be able to chat with them even if we weren't on the same faction or even realm. Of course, after a while, it became clear that there was just no way to turn it off -- I always knew what my real friends were up to, from running dungeons to putting up auctions on an alt or griefing lowbies on a character previously unknown to me. This also meant it was impossible for me to jump onto a low-level alt on some low-population server for some mucking around without their knowing. Not that my friends were ever going to intrude or anything, but there just wasn't any real personal time with my Real ID status always being broadcast.
Yesterday, it got even stranger. Blizzard suddenly announced that the new forums would display everyone's real first and last names if they chose to post on them. For some reason, Mark Zuckerberg's idea of opt-in privacy is becoming the norm. The Facebook founder has said that when people share more, the world becomes more open and connected. It's a maverick notion, and people always have the option to keep mum on things, after all. In many ways, it works for social media. And there's the rub.
It has become apparent to me that Blizzard's big plan for Real ID is for it to become some form of social media, and Real ID statuses work in the same way as tweets or Facebook status messages. Blizzard defends its stance on yesterday's announcement by stating that removing anonymity from the forums will eliminate trolling. That argument definitely has merit, and Blizzard stresses that it's always the player's option to post, hearkening to Zuckerberg's argument that it's the user's option to "share," anyway. You don't have to if you don't want to.
It's definitely a bold direction on Blizzard's part, and it will shape their gaming environment for years to come. Whether it's a step in the right direction or not, only time will tell. What do you think? Real names aren't such a big deal, right? I mean, don't most folks have Facebook or (once upon a time) MySpace? This is just kind of like that, right? Or is it? Why don't we get an official tally and settle this like civilized people ...
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Account Security
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 27)
Ethena Jul 7th 2010 9:46AM
Bah, hit the wrong button
Comment is a few pages down:
http://www.wow.com/2010/07/07/breakfast-topic-real-id-or-real-bad-idea/comments/29124007/
Alex Jul 7th 2010 10:01AM
Thanks for the clarification Ethena :)
And I agree with you completely. I have nothing against the game, but revealing your personal information is everybody's decision to take for themselves.
Elmouth Jul 7th 2010 10:43AM
Identity thefts and what 4chan might start doing to anyone on the boards are enough to convince me to not ever step foot there again.
And you can bet its gonna keep people who would actually need blizzard employees' help from posting as well.
TR Jul 7th 2010 11:25AM
@Kevin
"Also, they have said the real name display will be opt-in. As in, you can turn it off."
Hmmm...
Blue post: "All posts in the future on the new forum systems will be an opt-in choice and ample warning will be given that you're posting with your real first and last name."
Blue post: " Keep in mind that posting is optional, and we recognize that some players will choose not to utilize the Real ID feature in game or post on the forums and support everyone's individual choice on using or not using it."
Sorry, I don't see anywhere in there where it says I can turn it off other than /in the game/. Now why is it optional IN the game, but not on a publicly viewable website?
TR Jul 7th 2010 11:52AM
@037
"I was temp banned from the official forums for pointing out that in China it will soon be mandatory to link your real name to forum posts."
Interesting. Never occurred to me until I just saw your post. It's because they use software to monitor and collate data on their citizens' web activities. Something they would not be able to do in the game (where the opt-out still exists to protect gold sellers apparently) without Blizzard allowing them access to records only GMs have.
Hmmm... I don't think I'm going to be all that shocked if were to soon hear news that the Blizzard's woes with the Chinese goverment are over.
Sorcha Jul 8th 2010 4:13AM
@Deb: I'm sorry, but that's not true. As a European player, our EULA specifically states that disputes are governed by the law in the country of residence of the player.
TR Jul 7th 2010 12:18PM
@Jennifer
"My understanding is that the system will be "opt in" because you can choose not to post on the forums. IF you post on the forums, your full name will be displayed. No ifs, ands or buts."
Yet this is not the case in-game where most trolling (and gold selling/scamming) goes on. Odd, isn't it? Why protect player's privacy IN the game, but not in a public space?
Kira Jul 7th 2010 12:54PM
Canadian privacy laws override US laws in regards to Canadian citizens. Unless the the US government wants to deal with a shitstorm from the Canadians.
ash Jul 7th 2010 3:00PM
I never considered that by signing the EULA contract I would make null and void my rights to privacy or whatever. If this is the case then I guess I just have to stop playing the games? That doesn't seem like much of a choice for opting-in or opting-out.
It's not like we get to edit the contract like anyone is supposed to be able to do. This seems totally one sided and if Blizzard does persist in this mentality then may be it would be best to stop playing their games.
Zanathos Jul 7th 2010 4:38PM
Man, the blue who posted in that thread has an awesome avatar.
stickangel Jul 7th 2010 8:08PM
My guess is that they'd be able to get around this by sticking by the fact that it's optional and that they're not retroactively applying names to previous posts, although it does pose a problem that it's not optional for everyone, it's discriminatory against thoes of certain residents who may very well would have wished to participate but couldn't because doing so would require them to break the law. This in and of itself may not necissarily hold as illegal in a court, but dang, it sure is an aweful business decision. My guess is Irvine didn't do it's homework.
Alex Jul 7th 2010 9:08PM
The guys at Team Liquid did a great job in providing this info for us:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=128252
So it was the slippery slope after all.
With the pets, the horse, etc they were doing free surveys on their playerbase.
Actually they even made money making surveys. Robert A. Kotick is a selfish, greedy, manipulative, if intelligent bastard in charge of a large company. A dangerous combo.
tomteboda Jul 8th 2010 7:46AM
@crschmidt
According to the US Department of Justice, a full name is indeed personally identifiable information.
"Personally Identifiable Information (PII) –
Information which can be used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, such as their name, social security number, biometric records, etc. alone, or when combined with other personal or identifying information which is linked or linkable to a specific individual, such as date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, etc. OMB Memorandum 07-16, Safeguarding Against and Responding to the Breach of Personally Identifiable Information, dated May 22, 2007. "
Alex Jul 7th 2010 8:06AM
Whoops, wrong link
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=13816898877&sid=1
This is the real one.
P.S. Something's wrong with the posting system.
Tempes Magus Jul 8th 2010 6:51AM
Even your "wrong link" you posted was very enlightening.
Holy Crap! They just seem downright evil!
I'm really really not surprised at all about this Real ID pile of manure now.
I don't know why anybody supports this clearly money-grubbing jerkwad infested company anymore.
I'm mortified by the severe lack of humanity, or possibly too much human greed.
I am so glad I quit WoW months ago and was never a customer for very long anyway.
Kurtzilla Jul 7th 2010 8:08AM
Well, I don't think it's too great of an idea (The forum part), but I don't think it is such a terrible idea that the whole thing should get scrapped. Maybe an invisible status, or something. And maybe as facebook does, say how much information you want to make public. I mean, first names are peachy fine. Maybe even last initial. Looking at my name, it's not too hard to figure out what my first name is.
Personally, I don't want about 6 new friend requests (On facebook) from creepers every time I post on the forums.
shkss Jul 7th 2010 8:31AM
I agree. I think it's a good idea, but maybe a bit too extreme.
I was thinking it would be more logical to kind of meet in the middle. Keep character names, but display the main character of the poster's account. Or at least the highest level character.
That way people will still know who the poster is, but only in game.
Also, using real names won't always stop trolls. I mean, only my real ID friends know my real name. If I chose to post something along the lines of "NERF LOL WTF" a thousand times, to the readers I'd just be another guy.
Liam O'Connor Jul 7th 2010 8:40AM
I don't get this. The concern, sure; but not the logic. First of all, how are they going to know it's you specifically on Facebook? Is your name that unique? Secondly, why even have your Facebook so randoms can find it if you're that concerned. It's easily turned off in the privacy settings.
I say this generally rather than aimed at you specifically, everyone seems to be enjoying some melodramatic hyperbole in regards to all this. The difference with Facebook is that they were going to give your information to third parties automatically and without your consent unless you opted out. They also went out of their way to hide that information from users.
Blizzard are simply saying that if you want to post on their forums, you're gonna have to use your real name. There's a big difference.
Additionally, people are overestimating just how interesting they are. As someone who pretty much uses his real name on most places he posts (I find that it means I watch what I say), I have never once received any kind of attention from it, negative or otherwise. In fact, people were more likely to try and "expose" me if I used a pseudonym.
For someone to think that people are suddenly going to harass them because they are using their real name on a forum is not only being a tad condescending to the human race, but it's also being a little narcissistic.
People stalk interesting people. We play WoW. It's a pretty mundane hobby. ;)
godess_raven Jul 7th 2010 9:00AM
To the person who says are they going to know its you specifically on facebook.... Yes my name is that unique, and yes I have the extreme end of privacy settings on facebook. However, I google searched myself and found some very disturbing information about myself, all actually me in the first 5 pages. Things that are beyond my control.
As a woman playing this game I have been harrassed in game already. Yes Bliz helped to take care of those issues. Now they are making it so that I cannot post on their official forums for anything.
They say it has always been an optional service, so why is it that they have always encouraged the use of the support forums as the best and in some cases only option.
I am extremely against this in many ways.
Liam O'Connor Jul 7th 2010 9:09AM
@godess_raven: To be honest, it's easy enough to "stalk" you just under a pseudonym. About 5 minutes on Google told me that you like Hello Kitty and your birthday is in May.
It probably wouldn't take much more to figure it out, but I stand by what I say about the effort involved versus the point. (That is, no offense, I really don't care.)
I wonder how many people really know how anonymous they actually aren't.