My problem with Real ID (World of Warcraft)

I'll start off by saying that I know saying something about the real ID system is months late, but when that system first came around I wasn't blogging to begin with, I did have considerable problems with it however even then. This post will also ramp up later about the things that I think about the new World of Warcraft patch so far, but there hasn't really been too many previews released about it, nevertheless I do have a good amount of thoughts on the matter. Plus also on that matter, there was a recent update to the Real ID system that allowed players to join instance groups with each other regardless of what server they're on initially, while I do think this is a good feature and I think it's neat, it also brings back the issues with Real ID that I had to begin with.

Starting from the top, when I first heard about Real ID a very long time ago I thought it was a neat system, I didn't know at the time of course much about it, I don't even remember it having a actual title other than “the system Blizzard is working on that will let people from different servers communicate” and it was especially effective when thought of with Blizzard's other multi-server feature, the cross-realm Looking For Group tool. With all of that said, things have backfired since the days when Real ID was just a unimplemented system, when it first came to light that the system would use your real named tied to the account, I personally was very distraught about that because it required the sacrifice of one of the main reasons why people like the internet (this is of course, not the only reason) the reason of having constant anonymity unless desired otherwise, to make things worse apparently the system forced people to use their real names on the forums when posting as well. While both aspects of using real names with the system was met with heavy opposition by the player base, Blizzard intervened and got rid of the forced real name on forums, however the requirement for using real names on the in-game service is still there.

I really like being anonymous to people unless desired otherwise and even then only known by my in-game name except by a few people because I personally am very anti-social and I just like leaving those details behind when it comes to enjoying video games. To that end, requiring real names basically cut off all of my intentions to use the system, and left it in the dust. While I don't mind the way Blizzard shaped it out to be, I feel like if it was simply a more advanced friends list with all of the features that it had inside of it, it would have been more widely achieved. On the other hand, in a more aggressive stance, I don't really understand why you would need a social network for a singular company's video games; other companies such as Xfire, or even Valve with Steam are more set up to do that because they don't limit themselves to their own games. The Real ID method only serves and benefits people while they're playing one of two games and possibly three soon, and while it does do a good job at connecting people who play that, it won't have the longevity that normal social networking systems do such as Facebook.

With that aside, the system ended up being used in two ways, either people started to just add as much people as possible similar to most people's usage of Facebook, or they used it for people that they are close to them such as family members, which is more aligned to Blizzard's original statement on the system. I believe in fact, one of the first things that the system notifies you of is that you should be sure that you trust the people that you add to Real ID, but even when it's used that way it's not reaching it's full potential that it could have had if it were simply again, a normal in-game friend's list with more advanced features.