Freedom and Responsibility

If you haven’t been a PC gamer that has lived under a rock for the past several years, then you surely know the company by the name of oh I don’t know: Activision Blizzard?  Blizzard has been making phenomenal games since 1991, with their breakthrough hit being Warcraft: Orcs and Humans in 1994.  Ever since, the revolutionary gaming giant has released groundbreaking game after game, changing the online gaming community with their unique innovations and strive for the ultimate gaming experience.

With any online community however, there are almost always concerns over privacy, whether it be sites like Facebook, or Myspace, even online gaming forums are not exempt from such conflicts.  Recently, on July 6’th, Blizzard announced one of the most unprecedented changes they planned to implement on their online World of Warcraft forum – users would now be required to identify themselves with their real name when posting on the forums: Real ID.

This online dramatic episode caused massive uproar in the cyberspace community.  The blogosphere flared up with countless blogs and articles discussing the various nuances of the situation – some arguing that this was a violation of their privacy and freedom of expression, while others pointed that such a decision would inherently damage various aspects of the online gaming community.  The rationale behind such a radical idea was to prevent trolling.  But really, was that Blizzard’s true intent behind their words? And would such a decision solely prevent trolling without other unforeseen consequences that the company would regret?

Blizzard is certainly no foolish gaming corporation that has ignored the illuminated success of social networking sites such as Facebook.  It is obvious that Blizzard is trying to introduce a greater sense of community to their forums for the sake of adding a slight social networking flavor that the company has generally remained alien from.  Real ID would not only induce unwanted personalization onto the forums, but for Blizzard, it would also act as an opportunity for increased revenue from targeted advertising – can never have too much money right? Who cares about what your loyal customers think.

This is evidently a decision masked with the intent to create a friendlier online community by disabling the proliferation of trolls; but a decision made in poor taste by the company that will undoubtedly have severe consequences for not only gamers, but fundamentally the way in which users interact and communicate online.

So here’s what’s wrong with Real ID:

1. Privacy. This is the internet.  Is Blizzard crazy?  If they are indeed worried about trolls, have they thought about the characteristics of a person who is a troll? If one has enough time to troll another, do they not also have the redundant time to invade into the private lives of others? Let’s take a look at Facebook.  Without a doubt, online stalking, or creeping, is ubiquitous with Facebook usage.  It’s almost as if Facebook has legitimized stalking through bypassing the moral barriers that seem to only be present in real life.  Is this what Blizzard wants? Because that’s exactly what they will get on their forums – online predators (not saying there are many, but you cannot ignore their existence) will take advantage of Real ID for various purposes that are unhealthy for the online community.  One of Blizzard’s managers was audacious enough to reveal his own name on the forum in attempt to alleviate some of the propagating concerns – this resulted in his personal information along with other executives from the company being released online by players that were unhappy with Blizzard’s announcement
2. Harassment. This ties into the first one.  If you are unfamiliar with the gaming world, it is extremely easy to be harassed online, and having your real name exposed in cyberspace would only make matters worse.  I also hate to say this, but sexism and racism are native to the gaming community – with discrimination and prejudice culminating on the net on a daily basis.  Women are treated among the worst, and to have your gender unveiled through Real ID would instigate a wave of female harassment as this article comprehensively explains.
3. Safety. This ties into the first AND second one: without privacy, you become susceptible to harassment, and therefore you have no safety.  There was once a story which can be found here explaining how a video game fanatic tracked down a rival player for seven months when his rival killed his character online.  When the aggressor finally met his rival in real life, he proceeded to plunge a kitchen knife into his rival’s chest, just barely missing his heart.
4. Impractical. Does Blizzard honestly think Real ID will stop the flame wars on the forums? (That’s if that were their true intention anyway).  Like many other regulations on various websites, there is almost always a method to bypass rules and moderations if one chooses to do so, and Real ID is not outside of this realm of possibility.  Rather, Blizzard should spend their time focusing on increased moderation of the forums – that would actually aid in the gradual decrease of troll wars, along with a rating system for comments like the one found on YouTube.
5. Freedom. The internet is a place to express your ideas freely, because we have the freedom to speak without censorship or any limitation.  When you attach your own real name to your user ID online, there are immediately limitations placed on what you can say because of various reasons like the ones stated above.  One may argue that individuals must be responsible for what they say, and I agree, but this is the Internet, and I’m sorry, that’s just not how things work on the net.  The whole point to play a game like World of Warcraft is to escape reality – how on earth are you escaping into a fantasy when you can’t even become an imaginary character with a different name.

Blizzard has since repealed their decision as of July 9’th, but they have brought to light the importance of privacy on the internet.  The implications of Blizzard’s proposed but failed plans have demonstrated how tricky a situation can get when you have to balance freedom and responsibility in the 21^st century, but one thing is for sure, the controversy won’t be over for a long time – and perhaps, it never will be.