Real ID!!

Okay, so I was thinking about trying to salvage my widely unpopular "Starcraft 2 Impressions" post when suddenly -- bam! Blizzard hands me this topic on a silver platter (is that the right way to use that expression?) Instant controversy, which is a poor writer's best friend.

So what 's the deal, exactly? If you haven't heard yet, the thread is right here. If you don't feel like wading through that, here's the Cliffs Notes version: all Blizzard forums will use RealID, starting sometime before the launch of Starcraft II. What does this mean? Well, any post that you make on those forums will show your real name, the one you gave when creating your Battle.net account.

What are the pros?

Blizzard's official statement is that "The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players -- however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before. "

I can certainly understand Blizzard's desire to root out misbehaving users--the official forums have been a haven of spammers and trolls for more than a decade. Now, the ramifications of this change are in two parts: first, posting now requires a Battle.net account, and second, your real name will be shown. Requiring a Battle.net account to post is a move that Blizzard should have made a long time ago, and I wholeheartedly agree with it. But, it seems to me that revealing people's names has very little benefit. I've seen some people argue that people will be more likely to behave when they can no longer hide behind an account name. This might be true--for example, if, say, Ababmer was posting with his actual name instead of his account name, maybe he might tone down his rhetoric a little (or maybe not. Ababmer, if you happen to be reading this, sorry if that's not true!). Alternatively, he might simply create a new account with a false name.

Some people have theorized that Blizzard will put some system into place to prevent people from putting anything they want for a Battle.net name (in preparation, I have created an account in which I am named "WWWWWWWW WWWWWWWW"), such as tying it to a credit card or something like that. I don't see that as being likely, but we'll see. At the moment it hasn't been announced, so I'm going to assume they're going to leave the current account system as is. Therefore, I cannot claim any additional prevention of trolling as a pro, as such trolling occurred even on the SC2 Beta forums, where posting privilege is already linked to your Battle.net account.

If Blizzard does manage, somehow, to prevent people from using false names, then it is possible that we might see a decrease in obnoxious trolls and spammers, especially the shock factor ones. That would be a solid positive, but, again--isn't most of that accomplished just by linking posting ability to Battle.net account? As far as I know, keygens or other traditional ban-bypassing techniques don't work with Battle.net accounts, so they would already cut down on the worst offenders.

Blizzard's extremely open-ended second reason is to "connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before." I don't know exactly what kind of ways they might have in mind, but it sounds ominous, in a more-than-vaguely Facebook-like manner. Well, one good thing this might bring is to make people aware of the importance of keeping your stuff private on the Internet, whether it be on Facebook, Twitter, or wherever you might go.

What are the cons? Well, many people are extremely worried that having their posts linked to their real names will result in repercussions, either from angry posters or other Internet lunatics. Other worries include stalkers (especially for those of us who happen to be female) and perhaps employers doing a name search on Google or other sites. There are also legal concerns about distribution of private information, especially in certain countries (I heard Canada's laws mentioned, for example). In addition, revealing your name makes you slightly more vulnerable to e-mail spammers. I saw at least one person say he is in the military and is not authorized to give out his full name, but I'm not sure what the deal with that exactly is, so I can't comment on it. Other than that, I'm going to address these issues one by one.

About employers turning you down or forming a negative opinion of you because they see that you post on a gaming forum, somehow, this seems a little paranoid. I just don't really see this happening much at all. Of course, I am no employer, and, to my knowledge, nothing like this has ever been done before, so we'll have to see what ends up happening.

I think the concern about real-life stalking might be...slightly exaggerated--unless a stalker lives extremely close to you (or is exceptionally unstable), you won't really be bothered in real life. I'm not saying it can't happen, but it most likely won't. Of course, the unlikeliness of it happening is offset by the seriousness of such a threat, and I'm not really willing to bet my safety on it, so this is certainly a valid concern.

More worrisome to me, though, is Internet stalking, say, via Facebook or other communities or something like that--those threats are very real and have happened before on numerous occasions. Furthermore, posters on these forums have shown a distinct tendency for viciously attacking people for relatively unimportant offenses. An obvious example is what happened to Bashiok after he gave out his real name. The hounding he received was hellish, although it's not necessarily indicative of what will happen to regular users. After all, he was the only target, with thousands and thousands of vengeful forumers out to get him. Still, it only takes one determined person to harass you and make you miserable.

Any female gamer knows that you generally want to keep your identity a secret. The consequences of revealing your gender are occasionally amusing but mostly negative. I think girls in particular are more prone to worry about stalkers, online or otherwise, and for good reason. Many people on the forums know my name, as I am not very protective of it. Fortunately for me, it's a pretty generic name, and no one has yet found personal information about me from it. Still, the choice to reveal it was mine, and I'm pretty sure it was unwise on my part. I don't like the idea of someone making the decision for me.

E-mail spam is hit-and-miss. For those posters who use their real name, or some variation thereof, for their e-mail address? You're probably in trouble. But I don't know how common that is, and it's probably a good idea not to do that, anyway. Using a different e-mail will make you safer in general, and immune to this security problem in particular.

Legal problems...eh, I'm no lawyer. I have no idea about this portends legally with respect to online privacy. I don't think Blizzard is doing anything illegal with this (at least, not in the United States), but I'm really not sure either way.

What should Blizzard do instead? If not RealID, how else can Blizzard prevent the forums from being...well, what they are now? If there was a way to discourage trolls and spammers without compromising security, perhaps they would take it. The latest news seems to indicate that, unlike originally intended, Blizzard employees will not be using the RealID system. This indicates that Blizzard comprehends that there are possible security issues with revealing people's names. If this is not important to them, well, there's nothing that can be done. But lets assume that they do care about this.

Well, what's the number one thing which keeps spammers, etc. going? CD-keys. An infinite supply of CD-keys. Blizzard has not addressed this issue until now, which is what has enabled the continued presence of even the most blatant offenders. Simply requiring a Battle.net account with a valid game attached to it would remove the ability to dodge or circumvent bans, meaning that banning offenders would actually work. Wouldn't that be enough? There were a fair number of miscreants (I hate that I just used that word) on the SC2 Beta forums, but that was mostly because forum access was free, granted by one's ability to get into beta. I doubt that people will be so nonchalant about CD-keys which they actually bought (or, if they are, they will be gone soon enough).

Is there anything else to be done? In general, making bans stricter seems to be the right answer, though I'm hesitant to offer that as a solution because Blizzard's system is fairly capricious. Still, making forum bans longer, or perhaps apply to ingame privileges as well, would be preferable to revealing everyone's real name.

The obvious solution would be better forum moderation, both in quality and number of mods, but Blizzard is apparently unwilling or unable to do this, so I have counted this out as an option. However, in combination with the Battle.net account system, this would effectively prevent spammers/trolls from being too much of an annoyance.

What can you do now? If you don't like the changes, there are a number of things you can try, with varying degrees of effectiveness. First of all, you can post on the official forums (dubious). Second, you can post about it and tell people about it and comment about it all over the Internet (also dubious). Third, you can call Blizzard or contact entities like the FTC. I don't have a clue on how effective that will be, but it's probably your best bet. Just get the word out, and express your discontent (or, if you do like the changes, express your contentment).

If the RealID system goes through, though, how can you protect your privacy? The obvious answer is to post on a Battle.net account which does not have your real name attached to it. Make it a pseudonym, your current account name, a fake name, random gibberish, whatever. Hide your identity and keep it safe.

If you, for some reason, don't wish to do this, or cannot do this, then search yourself up on Google, or Veromi, or Whitepages, and see if you can find yourself easily. If you can't be found, chances are that you are relatively safe. If you can be found, try and secure your other online identities that might use your name or information, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google groups, other message boards or online communites, etc. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, try not to have an e-mail address which could be easily guessed from your name. Try to minimize the damage a potential stalker or harasser is able to do.


Time will tell what comes from this. Will negative feedback cause Blizzard to change their mind? Will forums actually become a security risk? Or is Blizzard correct in assuming little or no negative consequences will arise from this decision? I can't rightfully say, though I have a fairly negative opinion of their actions. We'll see. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.