RealID: Really No Big Deal

Earlier this week, Blizzard announced that at some point in the not-too-distant future, their forums are going to require something called RealID. This essentially means that a player’s first and last name will be displayed with every post they make to the forums. This has folks all different kinds of upset, and, in my opinion, all for something that is, essentially, no big deal.

To preface, let me start by saying: I spent three years in law school volunteering with victims of domestic violence. On one occasion, I came out of a law firm’s office with a client to find the target of a protective order sitting in the parking lot. I understand that there are a lot of people out there who have a legitimate reason to hide. More importantly, I don’t think a person’s desire to keep their name a secret needs to rise to this level before it is legitimate or worthy of consideration.

The reason I believe RealID is no big deal, however, and the bit of perspective that I believe the histrionic nerdragers are missing is this: it’s just a forum. It is not an integral part of the game. A huge number of people play World of Warcraft and Starcraft and other Blizzard titles without ever commenting on the forums. They’re just not that important. If you are concerned about your name being linked to your WoW account, the solution is dead simple: don’t post to the forums.

I think that there’s a lot that Blizzard can do to ameliorate the negative externalities of this decision, but even if they don’t, refusing to participate is an option. Take your conversations to different web forums, to in-game chat, or any number of other venues.

That’s the problem with virtually every screed, diatribe, and rant against RealID: they start and end with the risks of putting your name out on the internet, and they almost universally fail to assert and support the idea that the forums are somehow vital to the games.  That, in my mind, is the threshold issue: if the forums aren’t important, adding a restriction on their use, regardless of how senseless or capricious it may seem, the impact of the decision is minimal at best.

I’d also like to state, so that there’s a record of it, that I believe that Blizzard is engaging in a bit of gamesmanship here. I believe that it is more likely than not that Blizzard intends to roll out a much less invasive form or forum restriction, but one that — offered by itself — would have been seen as outrageous. When they eventually double-back, the same restriction will be seen as eminently reasonable; they’re trying to shift the Overton Window.

Tags: Blizzard, Privacy, RealID, Starcraft, World of Warcraft