real-id posts

Blizzard's controversial Real ID social networking system for games like StarCraft II and World of WarCraft has been modified to allow players of those games to turn off the system completely. Blizzard announced the changes in a new post on the StarCraft II web site today. Players who still want to use Real ID can still choose to shut off the ability to add "friends of friends" or Facebook friends using the system. Players can chance their settings by going to their Battle.net account page.

The Real ID system, which uses a player's real name to identify themselves in the game, got tons of head earlier this year when Blizzard announced that it would be used as a requirement to register and post on the company's official message boards for StarCraft II and World of WarCraft. Blizzard fans reacted with near universal outrage at this idea and Blizzard was forced to cancel those plans a few days after it was announced.

To say that there's been a lot of talk about Blizzard's Real ID feature in the past month is pretty much an understatement. The decision, and quick reversal, of Blizzard's plans to use its new social networking system as a requirement to use the developers' forums has been the talk of the interwebs ever since. Now Blizzard has decided to put more info on Real ID and how the company plans to use it in a new FAQ on the Battle.net forums.

The FAQ gives answers to a number of topics such as how Real ID will integrate with Facebook accounts, preventing third party add-ons from using Real ID and more. One interesting change is how players can choose not to use Real ID (i.e. their real first and last name) on StarCraft II friends list. Blizzard states, " ... we plan to include an option that will allow players to opt out of appearing on their Real ID friends' "friends of friends" lists. We're anticipating this feature to be available for StarCraft II shortly after release of the game, and World of Warcraft at around the same time -- we'll have more information for you in the coming weeks."

Earlier this week the Entertainment Software Ratings Board inadvertently exposed the email addresses of nearly 1,000 people in response to Blizzard fans upset, ironically, about the prospect of their real names being used as a requirement to sign into Blizzard's forums. The ESRB has now issued a formal apology to those people who got their email addresses caught in that mess.

According to WoW.com, the ESRB said the problem was, as expected, due to "an unfortunate error by one of our employees" and added that "it was never our intention to reveal this information and for that we are genuinely sorry." The ESRB said the organization is "doing everything we can to ensure it will not happen again in the future." We think that closes the case on this matter.

You really didn't think this whole Real ID issue was over, did you? Blizzard's decision late last week to pull back on plans to require the use of its Real ID system on the company's forums made its fans happy. But before that move was announced a number of Blizzard's fans protested the move to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) in the hopes that the US game ratings organization could intervene.

Late on Monday the ESRB emailed those people back. The message itself, which repeated that Blizzard decided not to use Real ID as a forum requirement, isn't the main thing. Unfortunately whomever at the ESRB sent the email didn't use the BBC input. As a result our sister site WoW.com reports that nearly 1,000 email addresses were shown to all the folks who got the reply back. We are sure that it was a simple mistake but it is very ironic concerning the topic of the email was online privacy.

Last week's biggest news story was Blizzard's sudden announcement that the developer planned to transition using its Real ID system, where players of their games like StarCraft II can choose to display their real first and last names, as a requirement to post on the company's forums. The massive outcry against such a move by the company's fans caused Blizzard to quickly back track on these plans just a few days later.

So exactly why were members of Blizzard's community upset about the prospect of having their real names displayed in the forums, especially since real names are used in hugely popular social networking sites such as Facebook? Gamasutra chatted with Edward Castronova, an associate professor of telecommunications at Indiana University. He believes that posting on Blizzard's forums are something of a sub-game for the company's fans. He states, "It's like a community that's somewhat tied to your in-game play; it's a place that's been part of the gameplay." Having real names displayed on the forums could have destroyed that roleplaying experience for many of Blizzard's community members.

Just a few days after Blizzard Entertainment announced it was going to make users of its StarCraft II forums use their Real ID name (i.e. their real first and last name) to author posts, the developer has backed off on those plans after a massive amount of protests from its community members

In a statement on the StarCraft II forums credited to Blizzard's CEO Mike Morhaime he said, "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." While he added that Blizzard is still "committed to improving our forums" with new features he said, "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."

Gallery: StarCraft 2 Screenshots

Earlier this week Blizzard announced that the upcoming Real ID social networking system, where people will have the option to put in their real first and last names to identify themselves online in games like the upcoming StarCraft II, will be a requirement to sign into the developer's new forums after the release of the multiplayer sci-fi RTS game on July 27. Since then there's been a ton of activity on Blizzard's official forums with many posters upset, for a variety of reasons, that their real names will soon be needed to post messages.

Gamasutra has quotes from a Blizzard rep stating the developer is "definitely listening to player feedback" concerning Real ID. The rep stated, "It's important to note that both enabling Real ID in game and posting on the official Blizzard forums are completely optional." While in theory people could use fake names, each Real ID name will also be tied into the game's unique CD Key. Blizzard states it will enforce the use of real names for Real ID, saying, " ... if a player uses a fake name, it would ultimately impact our ability to provide him or her with timely service."

Blizzard has been promoting the fact that the updated Battle.net online multiplayer service will be using Blizzard's new Real ID system for their social networking features. Real ID is supposed to display the real first and last names of the players of their games including StarCraft II. Today the developer revealed that the Real ID system will be extended into the official forums. After the launch of StarCraft II on July 27, players who wish to post on the RTS game's official forums will do so using their real first and last name as displayed on their Real ID listing. This will be extended to the release of Blizzard's upcoming MMO expansion World of Warcraft Cataclysm and presumably will also extend to Diablo III whenever it is released.

According to a note on the StarCraft II forums, Blizzard gives their reasons for such a move stating, "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." Blizzard team members will also post with their own real first and last names when this switch is made. There's already a lot of debate on the forums, both pro and con, about this upcoming change.

[Via WoW.com]