Player0110101101101000011000010110000101110011 has come online
RealID is here, and according to Blizzard reps it’s here to stay. There are of course many people who have a few misgivings with the service (myself included) but there’s also surely some people who just don’t want to hear about it and will consider any discussion of the topic to be whining, for those people, I recommend taking your own advice and opting out of the following post because it’s time for me to weigh in.
The Beginning of RealID
RealID isn’t new, the idea that you could stay connected with friends across servers or even across different games has been around for a while, programs like XFire keep you connected while letting you know what games your friends are playing. XFire also offers handy services like providing download mirrors for updates to your favorite games, custom game themed skins for the chat ui, streaming video service, even voice chat. So, it’s obvious that there are others who’ve done it, that have likely made some money with it. So, RealID has some real possibilities to make gamers and shareholders happy.
Overall I would say that at this point I was fairly positive about the inclusion of RealID.
RealID on Forums
This week there was a new chapter added to the RealID situation, Blizzard announced that anyone posting on the official forums would have their actual first and last name posted on said forums. This is the dilemma, I think most players see this as an uncalled for invasion of privacy. There are of course some notable knee jerks to one extreme or another, but the core of the debate is that people don’t want their real names displayed, but want to continue to post on the forums – or at the very least want the option to do this as they see fit.
Now, I don’t post on the Blizzard forums often myself and when I do it’s typically to update my guilds recruitment thread on the Bloodscalp forums. A large reason for this is that there is a bad noise to signal ratio on the forums as people have pointed out in various responses to the RealID situation. However, I also don’t post much on the forums because I can find better information (and easier) in other places: Elitist Jerks, Tankspot, and Pwnwear all offer the hard data I need in a palatable form.
So really, the only use I have for the forums now and in the future is technical support (rare, but it happens), bug reports, and recruitment threads.
The Good, The Bad, and the Fugly
The Good News is that Blizzard is promising new features and I can stay connected with people who aren’t playing WOW on Bloodscalp. Which I readily admit is pretty handy. Unfortunately, I have a Facebook account, not of my own choosing however. I kinda got suckered into it by a combination of my wife, my university, and relatives. I don’t like Facebook, I don’t like “Social Networking” sites in general. It’s a great way to meet hipsters, and find out what said hipsters are doing RIGHT NOW!
When I DO actually log on Faceboook I often find that my mother or some other person has sent me something on Farmville, so I get to delete/deny it and see that I wasted another minute of my life looking at Facebook thinking the email alert I got was something relevant. Now, I’m all for turnabout and fair play, but I really don’t care to spam my relatives with “Keith Jones has looted [Shadowmourne]“, ok I DID make my second post on Facebook in 2-3 years saying I got Shadowmourne. But I don’t want every single thing I do in WOW to go automatically to Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, or any other “Social Networking” site.
While we’re on the topic, it’s important to consider the possible unchecked harassment that can result from this. First, sites like Facebook and Myspace have never been what I’d call “safe” regardless of what kind of pie-eyed rhetoric Tom or anyone else wants to dish out. The fact remains, there have been death threats, prank calls, downright fraud perpetrated on these sites. I don’t think adding Barrens chat is going to make this any better…
In essence, I think it’s safe to say there are certain boundaries I personally do not want Blizzard to cross with their RealID Social Gaming Network. And I think it’s pretty clear I’m not alone at this point. And judging from the earlier announcement by Blizzard (link), they’ve finally caught on to what most of us have known for years – trolls are tenacious, resourceful, and bored. When you give them a target, they will not relent. They will not pull punches, they will not recognize any “boundary” they will absolutely continue to attempt to make your life worse, until they become bored with you…
The Future of RealID
I’m positive this isn’t the end of Blizzard’s attempt at further socializing their games, and I’m not completely against it either. It’s also likely there will be controversial moves on their part in the future, my own hope is that they will continue to listen to their customers (at least partially) because let’s face it, they’re trying to build a community. They’ve been doing that since they started Battle.net, and that community has come a very long way over the years. And over time, we’ve all become part of that community, in a way it belongs to us as much as to them. And so, we all feel invested in it’s future, I think that’s the heart of this whole issue for some.
There’s things we are all willing to accept, but please PLEASE Blizzard don’t let it end like this…
XOXO
Khaas the Insane
