I’m generally rather enthusiastic about Blizzard’s decision to replace their “RealID” feature – where you have to give out your real email address and thus potentially your real-world identity to anyone you wish to cross-realm friend in their games – with “BattleTags”, allowing you to use a pseudonym.
But one thing will still restrain me from using BattleTags overly much – the fact that once you’ve friended someone with them, they can always see you when you’re on Battle.net. On any character. Always.
I’m not the only one. Today, Ironyca of Ironyca Stood In The Fire writes a fascinating piece about the role of the “secret alt”, the causes of guildmaster burnout, and the mystery that is Blizzard’s refusal to include an ‘invisible’ mode –
“In T.L. Taylor’s book Play Between Worlds – Exploring Online Game Culture (2006), she documents how experienced players found themselves spending increasing amounts of time helping out friends or dealing with guild matters than actually playing themselves.
Saying “no” can sometimes be interpreted very negatively as rejection. Think about how a friend might react if you say “No, I’m sorry, I can’t attend your party tonight, I’m not in the mood”. I’ve tried it and usually people will think something’s wrong and won’t let you off the hook that easily. Why do you think everyone’s always busy? (whether it be offline or online) – Because it’s the bulletproof answer to every request, every question, every invitation! We aren’t always that busy, but saying so, stops the questioning and lets us move on.
The decision to keep a certain character secret illuminates that perhaps the social obligations that are connected to f. ex being part of a guild or more broadly online friendships, can be either too demanding, or just too difficult for the players to opt out of.”
This is a great piece from a blog I’ve only just discovered, and it touches on a number of really interesting issues in MMORPGs as a whole, as well as Blizzard’s policies specifically. Her discussion of the RealID problem is a great analysis, and it would appear from reading that this isn’t just an opinion piece but actually part of a body of research she’s doing in the game!
I know very few MMO players who don’t have a secret alt or two. Sometimes, the point of an MMORPG can be specifically that it’s anonymous – that you don’t have to be you. And, as Ironyca demonstrates here, sometimes the attraction is that you can be in control of just how “you” you are.
Why do you think Blizzard don’t want an “invisible” mode in RealID/Battletags?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I think the invisibility option hasn’t really occurred to them because they feel the whole point of USING a service they built is to…not escape from it. It feels a little confrontational, honestly, and naive to how socializing works. Giving people more control over how much access people have to you makes people MORE willing to use something, not less. Looking at the Google+ fiasco, you can see how this has come into play. I feel BattleTags is a step in the right direction “persona”-wise but in terms of giving yourself the ability to cloak your identity for periods of time would be an even bigger value to most of us who are already hooked on RealID.
Ya ever look at the Blizzard folks? They’s almost all basically the same guy: a white, 30ish, geeky but not nerdy, friendly, outgoing, heterosexual, self-important, hardcore gamer. Is apparent, time after time, what they has a real hard time rememberin’ what not everybodies is just like them too. Is how they get blindsided by the original RealID, and CorpsegrinderGate, and the other times the community done screamed bloody murder. So, Morhaime, Bashiok et al is fine with what they’s plannin’, and nobody in the building (above menial flunky-level, anywho) is sayin’ “wait, mebbe this ain’t what our customers really want.”
One issue I see here in your description….”outgoing” Ya…NO! Generally speaking most geeks and nerds are in fact introverts socially. This is WHY they flock to gaming especially MMOs so readily. It plays to their psyche and the ability to be outgoing and extroverted while hiding behind a veil of anonymity.
I’ve been to the Blizzard campus. The most outgoing person was the security guard who escorted my wife and I plus our 3 kids off the premises. He did NOT fit the typical developer/game geek model to be perfectly honest.
End of day, the discussion went something like this…
-We can make it so they can see one another, real names, alts, servers, etc.
-Ok, but what of someone wants to NOT have anyone see them?
-Well, then don’t use RealID.
-Ok, but what if they want to use RealID but just “hide” from time to time.
-Um, then don’t USE RealID.
-Ok, but what if…
-NO! No what ifs! Its all or nothing. If they don’t want to be seen…don’t use RealID!
-I like it. lets go with it.
Honestly…its a black and white solution and perspective from a group of code monkeys who usually do see things in a black and white on/off manner.
@Ratshag – I’m a white, 30ish, geeky but not nerdy, friendly, outgoing guy too, and I’d quite like an “invisible” option on RealID. I’m not sure this one’s a demographic thing so much as a Facebook-like corporate culture thing.
@Hugh Hancock – I really want to share my real-id with friends and guild mates, but some times, I really want to do some pvp or play an alt and not worry about it. Like instant messanger, sometimes I want to set the ‘away’ tag.
Thank for featuring me, I’m glad to see some interest in this subject even though RealID has been around for a while now.
As you mention in your write up “sometimes the attraction is that you can be in control of just how “you” you are.” And control is such a key word here.
A reluctance to give more control to players is an issue that can be traced way back in MMO history, think of Everquest that originally only allowed the game to be run in full screen with a non-customizable interface. Players would download the app EQWindows to bypass it, although this was actually a bannable offense – all this would be considered utterly crazy today.
It goes further into the gaming machines even, where a lot are not open to user-configuration and modding, amongst others mobile devices and laptops.
Taking the EQ example into consideration, we’ve moved forward, but, I would argue, RealID is an example of where Blizzard could still improve.