Real IDs on the Forums Rescinded; What Now?
Lume ~ July 9th, 2010 at 2:41 pmHello 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.
