Hello everyone,

I’d like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We’ve been constantly monitoring the feedback you’ve given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we’ve decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.

It’s important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the desire to find ways to make our community areas more welcoming for players and encourage more constructive conversations about our games. We will still move forward with new forum features such as conversation threading, the ability to rate posts up or down, improved search functionality, and more. However, when we launch the new StarCraft II forums that include these new features, you will be posting by your StarCraft II Battle.net character name + character code, not your real name. The upgraded World of Warcraft forums with these new features will launch close to the release of Cataclysm, and also will not require your real name.

I want to make sure it’s clear that our plans for the forums are completely separate from our plans for the optional in-game Real ID system now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II. We believe that the powerful communications functionality enabled by Real ID, such as cross-game and cross-realm chat, make Battle.net a great place for players to stay connected to real-life friends and family while playing Blizzard games. And of course, you’ll still be able to keep your relationships at the anonymous, character level if you so choose when you communicate with other players in game. Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.

In closing, I want to point out that our connection with our community has always been and will always be extremely important to us. We strongly believe that Every Voice Matters, ( http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/mission.html ) and we feel fortunate to have a community that cares so passionately about our games. We will always appreciate the feedback and support of our players, which has been a key to Blizzard’s success from the beginning.

Mike Morhaime
CEO & Cofounder
Blizzard Entertainment

It took a few days, but the idea to have everyone post with their real names on the Blizzard forum has been rescinded. I assumed it would have been, given the huge outcry from the community at large. However, part of me was worried it wouldn’t be revoked. This was because it almost felt to me like it was something coming from higher up. But with Morhaime posting personally, it seems they have us in their interests at least to some degree. Though I bet they’ve already lost a lot of customers, given the queue for WoW account cancellations the other day.

Even with this development, I really think they need to take it a step further. This outcry should have definitely sent them a message that our privacy is nothing to take lightly.  The gaming community has vastly different stigmas when it comes to networking. It cannot be treated like a generic social network, which works with people’s real names because it’s based in real life. And most of what goes on there (or should go on there) is pretty much already in the public domain.

Gaming is much like a hobby. You often don’t tell a new friend, coworker, or acquaintance your every hobby. A 50 year-old man who has a train set and model town in his basement isn’t likely to reveal his hobby to anyone but the closest of friends and family members. Such a hobby is subject to criticism from prejudiced parties who don’t understand there’s nothing wrong with such an interest. So he shares it only with people he know will appreciate it and actually admire what he’s doing. Gaming is very much in a similar state. And it comes with even more complex stigmas based on which particular games you play. If you want my opinion? I don’t think MMOs will ever be socially accepted, as people who play them are ridiculed by even traditional gamers.

So what do we do? We tell only the people we trust, and hide behind our in-game and Internet aliases.

So Real ID definitely comes with concerns. I definitely like the idea that I can reach and contact my personal friends in-game. But I don’t like the possibility that if my friend who plays Starcraft 2 is friends with a coworker of mine, that they can see my name on my friend’s list and then makes assumptions about what games I play. And so I think people should be given the option to hide their names from anyone beyond the people they’ve already friended directly.

And with this new development, I  think it’s time they also set up a secondary system where you can use an alias to contact people cross-game. It’s a waste for people not to make use of such a great technology, simply because they fear revealing their real names to people they trust to a lesser degree. There’s a reason Steam has become so popular, and Battle.net could also become just as popular if Blizzard were to drop the real name requirement. So I also think they should add an alias-based cross-game system, in addition to the Real ID system.

As far as increasing the quality of actions from people, I have my ideas. I’m perfectly fine with people’s alts all being revealed, and even being connected to a commonly adopted forum alias. This does not put people in any real life danger, while also making people answerable to the community at large. I understand people like to hide from people they know in the game world sometimes, but I also dislike the lack of accountability when it comes to people posting on the forums or ninja transferring without telling their guildies (which I’ve had happen a few times in my time leading the guild). It would enable the community itself to identify ebayed characters more readily. It would allow guild leaders to run more adequate background checks, and for ex-guild leaders to warn future guild leaders of the past actions of former members, making people more accountable for their actions in-game.

But real names? Never, ever.

Anyway, thank you Mike Morhaime. I can call off my plans to protest at Blizzcon, which will allow me to cover it objectively and actually have some fun. I’ll also keep my Starcraft 2 pre-order active. But do increase our privacy options and security, please. I don’t think player-made add-ons should be able to return your Real ID, for example. And I’d like an alias-based system as an alternative for Real ID cross-game communication.

For the record, however, I am against rating forum posts. Sometimes opinions are valid, even if they are unpopular. And all unpopular opinions will be downvoted, no matter their validity. Voting simply allows people to state their opinion without actually contributing to the dialog. It’s like someone offering a rebuttal of “WROOOONG!” after another person proffers tons of evidence in an elegant argument. Instead, the person should be encouraged to write an well-written rebuttal.

And my opinion against forum post voting is grounded in reality. Yahoo News uses it. Comments posted on a conservative article that are liberal in nature tend to be downvoted, and vice-versa. It goes both ways. Valid arguments are often hidden simply because people disagree ideologically. Nevermind the validity of each side of the coin. So please don’t do forum post ratings. They may work for posts that are outright inappropriate, but not for anything sensible. Having mods is how we should be dealing with inappropriateness.

I’ve had a lot of people tell me Blizzard stands to make tons of money off its progressing Real ID policy. You know what I think? I think they actually stand to lose money off this proposition.

As it stands, there are millions of casual players who don’t have the same attachment to WoW as those of us who have played the game seriously for months or years. They may have guilds, but they only play maybe a few hours each week: casually leveling, running five-mans, doing a few BG’s, etc. Some of these players already split their time between WoW and other MMOs, which is why they’re casual in the first place. These players can easily move on to other MMOs or put more emphasis on the other games they already play.

As far as hardcore players go, we may be more reluctant to move on. We’re “entrenched,” so-to-speak. We have developed a lot of friendships. We have put a lot of time into the game. So it’s more difficult for us to just cancel our accounts and move on, as that demands leaving behind the communities we’ve joined or helped develop. We’re also aware of communities like Elitist Jerks, which will be a safe haven for those of us who still wish to speak about WoW on a forum without revealing our identities.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t make an impact. How many of you pre-ordered Starcraft 2 or Diablo 3? How many of you were planning on at least trying Blizzard’s next generation MMO? How many of you have second accounts?

I say: consider canceling your pre-orders and state your intention to boycott the next-gen MMO if this policy does not change.

What Do I Plan to Do?

I’m personally well-entrenched in WoW. I’ve been a part of the guild I’m in for over three years (longer, if you consider its first iteration). I made promises to people in the guild that we’d be doing hardcore battleground in Cataclysm. I’m developing a web site that will have WoW-based video content (I’m in the middle of filming the second episode that consists of 128 scenes). So I’m not going to outright quit or drop any projects I’ve already put a lot of time into.

But I will cancel my Starcraft 2 pre-order if the policy remains unchanged a week before its scheduled release. And I’m personally planning to boycott the next-gen MMO if the policy remains in place.

I’m also considering protesting at Blizzcon. I’m not willing to outright sell my ticket to someone else, because I’m still planning to meet with guildies and some other people I raid with. But the video site will be up-and-running before Blizzcon, and it’s a nice place for a soapbox. I’d like to cover the convention objectively, but how can you? I’m developing this site because I want to have an impact on MMO design and decisions. It would be criminal not to speak my mind about a policy that is so reviled by a large part of the Battle.net community.

And I should note moving on from WoW is not out of the question. Once the hardcore battleground portion of the guild is up and running, there’s no reason I can’t toss leadership to one of the experienced BGers that I’ve already invited. There’s no reason I and the person I’ve been working with on designing the new site can’t transfer our framework to other games. I’m greatly looking forward to The Old Republic and The Secret World, as it is. If they meet my expectations, I wouldn’t mind shifting my focus to one or both of them if the Real ID forum policy is still in place. Or even a traditional video game with a hardcore multiplayer experience that warrants extensive hardcore coverage.

Does Blizzard Know This?

Whether or not Blizzard knows they stand to lose money is not of issue. It’s a bad business decision either way.

If Blizzard knows, that means the company is willing to sacrifice profits for a personal belief that people in a video game community should not be afraid to reveal their real identities. Which, in turn, shows they don’t understand just how important forum communities are to the video game experience. It goes to show whoever is behind this policy doesn’t understand some of the stigmas when it comes to playing video games (especially MMOs) still exist and are actually true. As a result, this is not something a player should have to opt-out of if they simply want to protect their identities.

And, let’s face it, there are persons of questionable stature in every community. There are even some in my neighborhood, which is quite well-to-do. But gaming communities are of particular concern. It can get very passionate. It’s a competitive environment, afterall. While people have to reveal their names if they post on the forums, if they don’t post on the forums, you still never know if you’re playing with someone with a history of violence. But they can easily find your names, if you’ve decided you want to ask a question on the technical support forums. Or if you’ve decided you need to recruit using the Blizzard forums. These people can then discover your name. And, if they’re persistent, or you have an extremely unique name, they can find you.

So what do people do to protect themselves? They stop posting on the forums, even if they are upstanding citizens of the gaming community. This, in turn, removes valuable contributions to the community. So all you’re doing is trading one problem (anonymous trolls), for others (the reluctance of contribution from upstanding members of the community, and the dangers that come with revealing your identity).

And if we consider the other possibility, meaning Blizzard doesn’t know, it goes to show their lack of foresight when it comes to running a business. Which does not bode well for their profitability and the future decisions they make. Which would make people like me feel as though we could potentially be on a sinking ship, where the company’s executives and decision-makers don’t have a clue.

Either way, my confidence has been shaken. The hiring of Greg Canessa, who was CEO of PopCap Games before becoming the guy in charge of developing Battle.net, really made me wonder what they were thinking. What the hell would someone involved in a mini-games company know about developing a networking and community system for traditional games? Games that have vastly different stigmas and players than those who play something like Peggle? Very little. And given how Battle.net 2.0 is actually more like Battle.net 1.2 with additional flaws in design and policies, my suspicion is only reinforced. Either these ideas were his, or he didn’t push back against pressure from people higher up. And let’s not forget the merger with Activision. Two words: Bobby Kotick.

Going forward, my faith is a lot less solid. No matter the outcome of this whole Real ID debacle.

The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID — that is, their real-life first and last name — with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm. Certain classic forums, including the classic Battle.net forums, will remain unchanged.

Are you serious?

This is just asking for people to steal any B.net user’s identities. This is just asking people to resort to real-life harassment, especially for anyone with an extremely uncommon name. I don’t know if you know this, Blizzard, but it’s pretty easy to find someone using a background-check service like beenverified.com. If there’s only a few people with a specific name and their address just happens to be known by such a service, good game for them! They better be smart enough not to post on your forums.

I don’t think you guys understand just how serious this is. This is not some community store we’re shopping in to buy groceries, where pretty much everyone knows you already live in the neighborhood. This is a game with an entirely different social dynamic. People on the Internet are not easy to deal with, real name or not. Already, people have decried the friends of friends issue with RealID in the game itself. And you told us if you don’t want your name displayed, then just don’t add people. Oh, but then you can’t use a potentially great service, simply because you fear for your privacy.

But now we can’t even post on the forums? What if I have a technical problem, but I don’t want reveal my real name? I guess I’m shit out of luck, huh? I’ll have to sit in the hour-long phone queue for customer service. Or I’ll have to wait a few days for an email response to my issue. Because I can’t post where other players in the community can help me more efficiently.

I’m sorry. But this is not happening. I highly doubt even more than 10% of the playerbase is going to support this. Just like the friends of friends name issue was decried almost universally, this will be decried even moreso. And I fully expect you will even lose customers over this.

I understand trolling and flaming is a serious issue. So what. That’s the price we pay for privacy. And we’re willing to pay it. And for some people, if that means cancelling their accounts, I bet they’ll go that far.

So back off already! And pay attention to what people are saying about RealID! This isn’t like making a game decision where we can just grit our teeth and see if it works out or not. This is serious. This is nothing to experiment with. And I don’t know who is calling the shots on this, but please tell them to pay attention to what’s going on over at Facebook. Yeah, you can see people’s real name on Facebook. But there’s an option to hide it from people other than your friends (even from friends of friends). People were already irked with the subtleties of RealID. And now it’s about to get even worse.

Prepare for massive backlash, until you change your policies. Prepare for people to migrate to privately-run forums. Prepare for some people to cancel their accounts. Prepare for protests at Blizzcon, even.

And just so I can be constructive, let me offer my own idea to combat trolling: allow people to access a list of every single character tied to the character or profile from which someone has posted. It’s simple, without compromising a piece of someone’s real-life privacy. And you’ll even make money off  the hardcore trolls, since they’ll be forced to buy another account or game copy.

Edit #1

Most forum systems retroactively update (name changed characters apply retroactively, for example). Unless Bliz decides otherwise, its a safe bet that old posts will have RL names associated.

You can lookup each of your characters and delete their posts. Time consuming, but its what I did… (rag@WoW.com)

Awesome.

This makes me realize just how difficult it will be to recruit for a guild, as well. If you want to recruit for a guild, but you don’t want to have your real name plastered all over Google searches that return Blizzard forum posts, you’ll have to buy another account. But how many people want to give money to a company adopting stupid policies like this? I sure as hell don’t.

The more people point things out, the more annoyed I become. I dare not threaten to cancel my account, because most people who threaten don’t actually do it. And there’s a chance Blizzard could change their policy. But it sure as hell is pushing me towards it, because I really don’t want to support a company making terrible decisions like this.

Hell, when I think about it, I don’t even have to use my real name with my local newspaper. So I can say what I have to say without enabling job recruiters from seeing my name attached to any political viewpoints plastered in the reader letters of the op/ed section.

Edit #2

Larisa makes a damn good entry about the issue over at The Pink Pigtail Inn. It’s more constructive than my emotion-laden argument. And she’s also pointed out something I didn’t realize immediately: people who cried about it potentially turning into a slippery slope were right. I didn’t think Blizzard would take it this far. Boy, was I wrong.

Edit #3

We put a lot of thought into this change and have a long-term vision for the Real ID service and wanted to make sure that we communicated ahead of time and very clearly as to what will be changing and how. 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.

So if you’re looking for help in the form of technical support or information about the game (be it from Blizzard employees or other customers), but you don’t want to reveal your private information, don’t post. It’s optional, afterall.

Bad. Business. Decision. Full stop. Stop trying to dance around it. The whole Real ID thing is nothing so special that should warrant a sacrifice of privacy.

Or have you not seen God Mode’s blog entry where he takes the name of one of your employees (freely given by the employee) and proceeds to find where (he thinks) he lives, who he lives with, his Facebook page, his Twitter, etc.? I’d link to it, but I’m afraid of breaking something in the EULA. But the point is it’s possible and it’s fucking dangerous. Even if the address is wrong (and I suspect it is), it’s still dangerous. Dangerous to the person living there, regardless of whether or not it’s actually him.

Get your heads on straight, Blizzard. If you don’t, say goodbye to my Starcraft 2 pre-order. And don’t expect me to try your next gen MMO if this policy continues.

Edit #4

So it’s clear, your forums names won’t change retroactively. So I guess that’s one less concern. Doesn’t change mine or others’ overall opinions.

Edit #5

“what kind of society do we live in that we need fear our neighbors learn our names?”

Well.  For starters, what right do you have to know my name?  What if I don’t want you to know it (and I still want to use the forums to organize raids or recruit for my guild)?  Why do you want to know my name?  What possible use is it to you?

About that last one…  Sure, real names allow Good People to recognize previously encountered douchebags on sight and avoid them, but they allow Bad People to locate and torment the Good People.  The upside for Good People is approximately jack squat, because it’s already not that hard to avoid previously encountered jerks in-game without real names.  The upside for Bad People is far greater (e.g. zero social engineering effort to determine someone’s name).  It streamlines the harassment workflow and offers little in return. (Informis @ brokentoys.org)

Edit #6

Teamliquid.net, a popular Starcraft community, has posted a poll asking people “Will you post on forums under full name?” As of writing this section, 1973 people have voted “No,” 375 people have voted “Yes,” and 211 have said they “Will create battle.net account with false name.” That means only 15% of the playerbase will post when real names are enforced on the forums. This also means that 85% do not want to post under their real names.

Let me say that one more time with formatted emphasis.

That means 85% of people in the hardcore Starcraft community do not want to post under their real names.

Nevermind that some people on Team Liquid are professional Starcraft players and people already know their full names.

Edit #7

Over at Bashiok’s Twitter, discovered because he voluntarily revealed his real name:

@micahwhipple is there any hope if i dont want to share my real life information for me to keep playing any blizzard game?

@agcemo Choosing to post and show your Real ID on a forum, that is your real first and last name, doesn’t involve playing a Blizzard game.

You’re telling me the community experience is not a part of the game? You’re making a rebuttal with a literal interpretation that doesn’t reflect the reality of the gaming experience. Especially the massively multiplayer onling gaming experience. Communicating with other players is very much a part of it. Communicating with the staff is very much a part of it. And the company you’re working for is making it very difficult to do that.

Edit #8

InsideFacebook.com, a site dedicated to the social network, said meanwhile that Facebook’s growth slowed in the United States in June as it picked up only 320,800 new monthly active users last month compared with 7.8 million in May.

Inside Facebook said the slowdown in growth could “simply be a blip.”

“But in the years we’ve been tracking the demographic data, we’ve rarely seen a dip like this, so we would tend to favor the idea of a root cause,” it said.

“One possibility is that we’re finally seeing the backlash from heavy media attention to Facebook privacy issues — some of which were real, some the result of confusion and sensationalism,” it added. (Source)

Wake up, Blizzard! This could be a potentially serious issue for you. You’re already in the mainstream media over at BBC News.

Now that the Real ID feature has been implemented on the U.S. servers, I think it’s time people made their voices heard about the lack of privacy options for the Real ID feature. I think it’s tragic that such an awesome feature’s use is undesirable because of the risks involved when it comes to revealing your real name to perhaps people you do not wish to discover your real name.

While I understand the feature is meant to be used for your real life friends, sometimes even your real life friends can be associated with people you do not wish to even know of your existence on Battle.net

Furthermore, this feature is something people would like to use with their gaming and Internet friends, but not by using their real names.

With these concerns in mind, I propose at least:

1. Allowing people to adopt pseudonyms, if they choose.
2. Allowing people to block friends of friends form seeing them on their friends’ lists.

If you would like to join me in vocalizing your support for the addition of more privacy features to the Real ID system used in Battle.net, please make your opinion heard. Post on Blizzard’s forums. Make a blog entry about it. Do something to make an impact.

–Lume

Edit: I originally made a petition, but it doesn’t seem necessary with how many blog and news entries there have been about it.

I like the concept of being able to add people to see all of their characters and when they are on other Battle.net games. However, what I don’t like is this:

Real ID friends can also see who’s on each other’s Real ID friends list, making it easy for players to connect with other people they know.

I realize I can decline to add people who add me after spotting me on a friend’s list. But I don’t want to be subjected to people asking me why I haven’t added them, because I only like to chat with close friends when I’m playing other games.

I am willing to bet there’s a ton of people in the same boat.