Blizzard "listening to feedback" on Real ID

By Oli Welsh Published 8 July, 2010

Does plan to enforce use of real names.

Blizzard has said that it is "definitely listening to player feedback" on its decision to insist players use their real names when posting on its forums.

"[We] will be carefully monitoring how people are using the service," a Blizzard rep told Gamasutra this week. "Real ID is a new and different concept for Blizzard gamers - and for us as well - and our goal is to create a social gaming service that players want to use."

The move, which will force players to use their Real ID - the real name associated with their Battle.net master account - when posting, was met with a storm of protest when it was announced this week.

Blizzard explained that, although players can register any name they wish when signing up for a Battle.net Real ID, it will attempt to enforce the use of real names.

"We have multiple teams here who will be monitoring the forums and looking for inappropriate names," the rep explained. "When the situation does arise, our community and customer service representatives will investigate and determine if any action is needed.

"In addition, our Terms of Use agreement requires that players provide us with accurate information, as certain aspects of the customer service we provide (for example, addressing forgotten-password issues) rely on identity verification - if a player uses a fake name, it would ultimately impact our ability to provide him or her with timely service."

A Blizzard employee going by the handle Bashiok revealed his real name, Micah Whipple, on the forums in the course of the debate. WoW Riot responded by quickly finding and publishing Whipple's address, phone number, age, the names of his family, his Facebook page and lists of his favourite music and movies, to illustrate the privacy and identity theft issues raised by Blizzard's decision.

"It's important to note that both enabling Real ID in game and posting on the official Blizzard forums are completely optional," Blizzard told Gamasutra. "Players can continue to read the forums anonymously regardless of whether they choose to post in them, and their gameplay experiences will not change if they choose not to use the Real ID communication features in game."

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (48) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • TeaFiend #1 2 years ago

    As much as they are going to listen to feedback, they are not likely going to backdown.

  • ZeroAX #2 2 years ago

    I always like when corporations keep pushing a stupid policy like this, even if it's caused an over 1000 page uproar in their forums
    Edited by 1 at 08/07/10 @ 09:29

  • mingster #3 2 years ago

    We are listening to feedback but will ignore it and do what we want.

  • MiniAmin #4 2 years ago

    Internet anonymity contributes to much stupidity, but it also offers a cradle of security. I think the drawbacks of the RealID scheme outweigh the benefits, it's a shame Micah Whipple has been forced to learn that the hard way. We shouldn't be forced to reveal our real names on hobbyist websites.

    Sincerely,

    Mini Amin

  • Shakey_Jake33 #5 2 years ago

    I'd say that if the example demonstrated by WoW Riot doesn't prompt Blizzard to rethink, then nothing will. It seems pretty obvious to me, regardless of how well-meaning Blizzard were trying to be.

  • X3Entente #6 2 years ago

    but my name really is robert paulson

  • Fab4 #7 2 years ago

    Arent there unofficial forums for WoW that people can use?

  • Goodfella #8 2 years ago

    I'm just amazed Micah Whipple actually admitted that was his real name. It sounds like an ice cream.

  • levitate #9 2 years ago

    I'm not using Real ID in the game and I never post on their forums. I'm more concerned about being randomly knifed down in a queue in the supermarket or on my way to work.

  • geeza2020 #10 2 years ago

    I agree that its a stupid decision by Blizzard, and im quite shocked that despite the negative feedack they are still pushing ahead with it, BUT there are plenty of other forums out there for people to go to for info and discussion, with probably far less trolling and flaming than the official ones.

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #11 2 years ago

    RealID could be the best idea ever - however once you 'opt in' you have no control over who sees that data, the friends list would be better if you could turn off Friend of Friend - I trust my friend but I can't trust his 'friends', secondly there are much much better ways to 'deal with trolls' as many CM is using that excuse atm - like limiting everyone to one char for the forums nd or opt for EXACTALLY what SCII has atm 'accountname'.charname (account name doesn't mean your login just a core alias), works ok for CoX why not battle.net?

    My main core problem with the forums yes it's all well and good I can 'choose' not to use it however thats where all the techical support is - so Blizzard are basically saying that you can't get any techical support without either displaying your data or ringing up a phoneline to access them (thats if they don't forward you to the forums like the GMs do)?

    I very much dought it's actally Blizzard doing this it's probly you know who wanting to tout 'we're biggier then facebook!' considering the 'damage' farmville he thinks it's done..

  • sneetch #12 2 years ago

    Hi, I'm John Q. Tinkledink and I'd like to say that I won't be using their forum anymore, except to choose targets to stalk, of course.

    @Kremlik

    I'd go for that option too, you have an account name that is permanent and unique, if all your posts come from the account named "sneetch" then in many ways that's less "anonymous" than if your posts come from "John Smith #18231".
    Edited by 1 at 08/07/10 @ 10:21

  • Drone #13 2 years ago

    If the guy's facebook privacy was more locked down this wouldn't be so much of a problem. It looks like the info wowriot got on him was from there.

  • sneetch #14 2 years ago

    @Drone
    If the guy's facebook privacy was more locked down this wouldn't be so much of a problem. It looks like the info wowriot got on him was from there.

    It was from internet searches that included facebook not just from facebook although facebook itself was a huge source no doubt Whitepages and PeopleLookup provided the address and family information, however Micah himself probably put that information online so it wasn't a huge secret either way.

  • cw- #15 2 years ago

    I wonder if people who aren't logged in can view user names..

  • JahB #16 2 years ago

    I think this is great. Yeah i know many people are complaining, but hear this: having to use your real name will stop 99% of the bullshit. people are much less likely to post random garbage/troll/etc if their real names are attached to those posts.

    don't believe me? then imagine a DF Faceoff with a comments section that requires real names. 90% of the ps3xboxwiilol BS would be out of the picture immediately.

  • anomagnus #17 2 years ago

    They're not backing down, and nor should they.

    There is a core element on the those forums, that represent the smallest minority of the total player base, and through the overbearing, and nonstop whining on the forum completely distort the player feedback.

    It’s interesting to note that posting on the forums with the real id service is COMPLETELY voluntary, and yet people are still pissed of it about. If you don't want to have your name displayedon the forums, dont post there. The laughable thing is, that the majority of these cretins that are going on about privacy post on the mmo boards with their characters name, which lists their e-mail address, which can be used to get anything. In my guild, we had a top level boomkin who boasted on a regular basis on how easily he got peoples personal information. The fact is, a lot of people post using their toons id, which is most assuredly VERY unique, and have no clue on how to protect their so called privacy, which appears golden to them.

    And here is the biggest kicker. At the moment, on the EU forums, the replies on this topic are at about 9000. If I gave the anti real id brigade a favor, and say 90% of those are all individual complaints, and not replies to other peoples posts, and not other people defending the change (and let me be clear here, this is me going out of my way to be generous) that’s 8100. If all of those 8100 rage quit (and again, that won’t happen, because most of them can’t/won’t), does anyone really think blizzard, that measures its subs in the millions, gives a shit about 8000 people on the forums? Posters that constantly berate blizzard, belittle other members of the community and treat each other like shit.

    Being honest, you misght see a few hundred quit, and some of those will come back for cataclysm, and the net result will be ‘so what?’ Its one more storm in a tea cup forum rage event.

    I’d imagine that blizzard is more than happy to see the back of them. While I experienced burn out in wow at the lich king encounter, I did have, and still do have, serious issues with the community of WoW, which is dominated at the top end by self obsessed pricks. Even among my own guild, which at me departure was ranked third on our server, and was filled with dead on people, their attitude towards blizz and casual players was something I always took issue with.

    I’ll be disgusted with Blizzard if they back down, and if they do back down, I won’t be buying cataclysm.
    Edited by 2 at 08/07/10 @ 12:17

  • ignatiusjreilly #18 2 years ago

    A good illustration of why this is a bad idea: [link url=http://i.imgur.com/RG8Wl.png
    ]http://i.imgur.com/RG8Wl.png
    [/link]

  • login_name #19 2 years ago

    our goal is to create a social gaming service that players want to use.

    Sounds like you're doing the opposite.
    I've read a number of blogs about this issue and seen a few (scary) examples of how this can go wrong. Here's one such story:

    [link url=http: //seewhatyoudidthere.com/2010/07/07/realid-changes-the-very- real-ease-of-stalking-in-the-internet-age/
    ]http://se ewhatyoudidthere.com/2010/07/07...[/link]

    Even if only one person is affected by this in real life, it is one person too many. Bad idea imo.

  • jellyhead #20 2 years ago

    It's all in preparation for linking all your stuff into your facebook page. Not troll control or anything like that.
    It's not compulsory unless you want to post on the official forums at least.

  • Buran #21 2 years ago

    Looks as Starcraft II is worse than Starcraf in any sense except resolution. I will buy the fisrt game but probably not the Zerg and Protoss expansion, due I did't enjoy too much the beta. To the players that don't want to post in Battle.net 2.0 forums, sites as RTS Sanctuary -former DoW Sanctuary- could be a nice option.

  • gmjapan #22 2 years ago

    I see in the US thread yet another user posted their real name as a challenge of 'come find me, i dare u'.
    And someone did.
    But they arent teaching him a lesson about privacy, they are targetting his girlfriend instead...

  • Hypercube #23 2 years ago

    It’s interesting to note that the real id service is COMPLETELY voluntary

    Is this true? I thought the Real ID was compulsory - that's what all the people are complaining about. If it's voluntary, doesn't that just make it pointless?

    Also, I don't really see the validity of your other poins. When you say that a small minority distort player feedback throuigh whining on the forums, is that really the case? There have always been whiners on the WoW forums, from the very start, but I don't recall Blizz doing what they asked for.

    Your post is rational and all that - I'm not having a pop, just giving a response :)

  • sneetch #24 2 years ago

    @gmjapan

    And that's the problem here, you're exposing not only yourself but your friends and family to abuse from people you don't even know who take offence to an opinion you post on a board.

    The WoW boards themselves may become a more polite place but that doesn't mean the same internet rage and hate won't occur, it just won't occur on the boards. It'll occur elsewhere and may not even hit the correct target anymore. Remember that the internet is full of petty, vindictive people with too much free time on their hands.

  • jellyhead #25 2 years ago

    Korean Law driving Blizzard policies? - interesting article posted over on NeoGAF.

    Starcraft is big in Korea and Korean law requires that any site with over 100,000 daily visitors uses their Real Name System.
    Sounds perfectly plausible to me, i wonder if it will be overturned and exempted like youtube was? Doubtful as youtube blocked Korean IPs when the system was implemented and the Korean government relented and exempted the site.

    Blizzard however need the Koreans more than youtube does so i wouldn't hold your breath for a similar resolution here.

  • ignatiusjreilly #26 2 years ago

    @jellyhead

    Interesting new angle, thanks for the link.

  • Slipstream #27 2 years ago

    I don't buy this.

    Blizzard still have increasing issues of players being key logged/hacked and refuse to believe there is a hole in their system, yet they brush it off stating the obvious, of not sharing passwords, use PC protection programes and such...etc Having taking evey precaution under the sun with his PC protection, a friend of mine still got hacked, and when he e-mailed Blizzard trying to get his account restored they told him they'd investigate it and that he should use extra precaution because there is no problem on their end, to put it simply.

    In anycase, why they feel the need to enforce such a policy is absurd, at the very least make it optional, if you don't plan to use the forums you're not missing out, just browse them, it's rare that anyone has anything decent/nice/useful to say.

  • anomagnus #28 2 years ago

    Hypercube - good point, i wasn't entirely clear. Posting on the forums is optional.

    I also don't accept this point of people being selected as an exmaple of having their details found. By the nature of that exercise, they are high profile and an example. How will this happen on a day to day basis.

    Even excluding that, most people have no concept of how to protect their privacy anyway.

    What really gets my goat though, is the hyprocrisy displayed by some of these posters. If you were to take them at face value, you'd assume the WoW boards were their only output. When infact, the truth is, the real conversations take place on places like MMO champion and elitest jerks.

    The WoW boards have been in a state of decay for the past four years, slowly retaining only the worst of posters and the scaring of the rest. This fake protest is nothing more than an example of why blizzard need to do this.
    Edited by 1 at 08/07/10 @ 12:20

  • ignatiusjreilly #29 2 years ago

    @anomagnus

    Why can't they just ban the troublesome posters, linking the forum accounts to a Battle.net ID so they can't just sign up again?

  • sneetch #30 2 years ago

    @ignatiusjreilly
    @anomagnus

    Why can't they just ban the troublesome posters, linking the forum accounts to a Battle.net ID so they can't just sign up again?

    They are already linked, you log into your Battle.net account to post on the forums so they know who you are regardless of the name of the character you post as.

  • Spekingur #31 2 years ago

    So, are they saying that it makes it easier for them to spy on us?
    So Activision can gather data (consumer information) and thus make something like that illegal in quite a lot of countries?

  • witchdrash #32 2 years ago

    Good thing I don't play wow any more, this stuff is pretty stupid, having just googled my name the first 5 items on google are posted by me, or about me.

    Yes, anonymity raises the level of stupid on the internet to unbelievably high levels sometimes, however most people only gave their real name to Blizz so they could pay for wow, not because they ever thought that Blizz would force them to use it in a totally public arena.

  • Hypercube #33 2 years ago

    The WoW boards have been in a state of decay for the past four years, slowly retaining only the worst of posters and the scaring of the rest. This fake protest is nothing more than an example of why blizzard need to do this.

    Well, I 100% agree with your first point!

    Yeah, I misunderstood your bit about optional as regards posting on the forums - but isn't the RealID thing now mandatory in game for friends lists?

    Admittedly, I gave up WoW a couple of years ago, but this interests me in case it becomes a trend with other MMOs. I would rather not have my actual name known to anyone in game without me actually giving my permission. In other MMOs, people only know my name due to interactions outside of that game's world.

  • dingo75 #34 2 years ago

    What really gets my goat though, is the hyprocrisy displayed by some of these posters. If you were to take them at face value, you'd assume the WoW boards were their only output. When infact, the truth is, the real conversations take place on places like MMO champion and elitest jerks.


    The problem is that this could be the start only.
    How about the display of your RealID on the armory etc.
    We have to fight this before it really starts affecting us players!

  • sneetch #35 2 years ago

    @Hypercube
    Yeah, I misunderstood your bit about optional as regards posting on the forums - but isn't the RealID thing now mandatory in game for friends lists?

    No, The in-game friend list still works for WoW at least as in you can choose to add someone just as a WoW friend instead of a Real ID friend.

    To make my position clear, I like the idea of Real ID and sharing friend lists across Battle.net but using Real ID shouldn't require you to expose your real name, just your account name.

  • anomagnus #36 2 years ago

    ignatiusjreilly - the reason banning specfic people wont work, is because you're treating a symptom, not a cause. The abuse i have seen on those forums, and bile directed at both blizzard and the so called 'casuals', i.e. the people that pay for the game is literally, and i'm not using this word for hyperbole, horrifying.

    The belief that some of these people have, in their importance, is delusional. Banning one, ten or a hundred people will achieve nothing. The problem lies with the idea that you can go on that forum, and piss all over other people and blizzard themselves, with no punishment

    How many of those cowards would walk into a cafe, or shop, abuse the staff and and call everyone around them assholes that didnt deserve to be there? But this is exactly what happens on those forums.

    To be quite frank, and i got negged for this in another thread, why is no one asking WHY is blizzard doing this? Who has created, what is widely regarded as an internet cesspool? The posters themselves. I've read hundreds of posts on this, and i've yet to see somone stand up and say 'well, you know, maybe we brought this on ourselves'

    Instead, all i see is daily mail level hysteria.

    If it were up to me, and i worked in blizzard, i'd pull the plug on everything but the technical support fourm. You do not pay the sub fee for the forum. That is an optional extra, given to the community by blizzard, which is used day in, day out to abuse blizzard, its staff, and fellow players. Their patience on this so far, has been amazing.

    You can bet, that if they can't implement real id, their back up plan is to shut those forums down. And they'd be right.

  • jellyhead #37 2 years ago

    It's to more easily link all your social networking sites to their games and because the Koreans demand it for large forums.
    Nothing to do with trolls. It's all commerce.

  • witchdrash #38 2 years ago

    @anomagnus I agree with the sentiment, but I don't like Blizzards solution in this case, there are a rather large number of ignorant morons who post using sock puppets, with the sole purpose of causing trouble. I think a better way to shut them up, without harming those members of the community who are reasonable, but have privacy concerns, is link all their characters together, so clicking on their posting character will show their other characters, and the servers they are on, combined with only allowing active subscribers to post (excluding trial accounts everywhere but where they can post now), and then banning them from game (3 days or so) if they're truly offensive, because that will hit them where it hurts.

  • davisorle #39 2 years ago

    AS if I dont get enough freaking spam and phissing emails trying to steal my over a year or 2 frozen account, now Blizzard is trying toi make the consequences even more fucked up for those with stolen account since its a way too often phenomenon with their MMO. Congrats Blizzard. One way or the other all my RPG respect is gathered to another developer for a long time now. Called Bioware. Bioware > Blizzard. Thats for me and I dont care if Im alone in that. Thats what matters.

  • ignatiusjreilly #40 2 years ago

    Instead, all i see is daily mail level hysteria.

    Every time this argument is wheeled out - daily mail, angry internet men, nerdrage etc. It adds nothing to the debate. My concern is genuine, it is not just some desire to cause a fuss.

    The reason they are doing this has been asked and debated, and we can usually agree it's because of the terrible state of the Blizzard forums and the people who post there. I do not deny the problem, but I do disagree with the proposed solution.

    If you want to propose a counter-argument, there is no point just trying to convince people that there is a massive problem with trolls, flaming etc. - we have already been convinced of this.

    Instead, address the real issue that people are arguing about, which is the privacy implications of posting your real name on the internet. At the moment you are railing against a point of view that nobody seems to hold.

  • sneetch #41 2 years ago

    @anomagnus
    You can bet, that if they can't implement real id, their back up plan is to shut those forums down. And they'd be right.

    Yeah, because they're petulant children. This is a business they don't really care that a bunch of people on the forum are typical forumites who spew bile at everything, they know that's inevitable and is a price they're willing to pay in order to interact with the part of the community that is arguably the most involved in the game.

    I don't believe Real IDs will change the level of trolling and abuse on the forums for most people. They're just not that thoughtful. I might be wrong but only time will tell.

  • Acrid #42 2 years ago

    This shit is worse than DRM.
    It's fucking scary how quick someone can find you details

  • djcool3005 #43 2 years ago

    So basically they have listened and responded with "FUCK YOU! WE DO AS WE PLEASE!"

  • dwalker109 #44 2 years ago

    Good grief, you'd think Blizzard just murdered somebody looking at the bile present both here and on Battle.net. This makes me so, so glad I don't play WoW - hysteria solves nothing.

  • anomagnus #45 2 years ago

    ignatiusjreilly

    People are arguing about their privacy, but as i've said, if you want to protect your privacy, don't post. The only risk in this case is voluntary, not compulsary. I would understand if blizzard were forcing RealID on your character in game, as a title or something. That would unsettle me a little.

    But the forums are a choice, not a right, or an entitlement. The rage, and the arguments don't make sense. If you want to protect your privacy, well, congratulations, you can, just don't post. As i have said, its pretty easy already to get someones details. Take their avatar name, and google search. If i were to select 100 regular posters, how many of them will appear on MMO champion, and their e-mail address is available from there. From their e-mail, the world is open.

    Apart from that, how many guilds have open forums for recruitment, and peoples e-mails are there, right beside their characters name. The hypocrisy around this is fever pitch.

    I'm not railing against viewpoints around this particular issue, but rather the pathetic viewpoint of regular WoW forum users that they are right, blizzard is wrong, and only they count. That attitude is prevelent all over that board.

    As i say, the choice to post is voluntary. You have to choose to give up your privacy, in the same way you choose to have a public profile in Facebook. All of this rage, all of these tears don't stack up.

    And let me be clear here, if everyone currently complaining was an angel on that board, we wuldn't be in this stage.

    @ jellyhead

    Please don't go down the frankly inane path of saying this is comemrce driven from Korea. Blizzard as a multi national changes its policies on a country by country basis. Just because Korea has a big SC following does not mean changing the forum rules for all countries makes sense. Now, it may well be that they have seen the forums in korea are more open, and there is less abuse, and therefore they want to roll it out elsewhere, but there is nothing to even remotely suggest this is commerically driven, besides the usual internet paranoia about a software company making money.

    There are two indisputable facts here.

    1) The WoW forums are horrible.
    2) Blizzard is introducing real ID, and have stated that they want to clean up the forums.

    Everything else is conjecture, and paranoid hyberbole. I'm not looking to start a row, my belief is this is a good change, and in 6 months this nerd storm will have long since passed, and the 'legions' that say they are quitting will have long since returned to the game.
    Edited by 1 at 08/07/10 @ 17:17

  • gmjapan #46 2 years ago

    Arent the Tech Forums considered one of the tiers of Support though?
    Not much choice in revealing your identity or not participating there.

  • Cronan #47 2 years ago

    Activision are busy learning the real-world flaws with LiveId. Your name is a key, and it can be used to find information about you.

    Did you know that Bobby Kotick’s oldest child, Gracie, is eleven years old and likes to ski?

    Link to Activision/Blizzard personal info

  • cw- #48 2 years ago

    They've changed their minds .. http://ww w.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/64684