Blizzard Entertainment has been gearing up recently for some major changes, most notably the release later this month of StarCraft II, and later this year World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

Along with those, Blizzard has started implementing the new Real ID system, a massive community communication system by which players will be able to communicate across realms and even games. In the last few days, there have been some important decisions from Blizzard that have gotten players tongues wagging.

There was a major announcement last week that beginning with the SCII forums, and later with the WoW forums, posters would be forced to show their Real ID names on their messages. Presumably, a player's Real ID name is their real name, the one they registered with Blizzard and Battle.net. This did not go over well with many of the players, who were claiming that Blizzard was breaking its own terms of service in releasing people's names, as well as going against common security measures.

After more than 50,000 posts in the forums, Blizzard co-founder and CEO Mike Morhaime announced on the forums a few days later that this decision had been rescinded. This has been a major relief to many, as Internet security is a valid concern in today's society. Not everyone wants others in the game to know their real name, and therefore be able to find out more information about them. Also of concern was that some people keep private the fact that they play these games, and by having this information on the forums, it could be discovered by friends, employers, etc. that they are gamers.

I believe reversing this decision is a positive move by Blizzard. However, I think there is still more that needs to be done. The Real ID system has what I feel are some serious flaws. When I first heard about it, I was pleased, hoping to add some of my friends who play on other servers, liking the fact that I could talk to them regardless of where they decided to play. My plan was to only add people that I know well, mostly those I am friends with in real life, and have known and trusted for years. But then, more information about this system was revealed.

When you add a friend to your Real ID list, you must have their e-mail address they registered with on Battle.net. On the face of it, that sounds fine, as it is recommended that you only use it with select people, not just anyone you meet in the game. Once you add them, their real name as registered with Battle.net is shown on your friends list, and you can see all of their characters on all servers, and across games as well. Now, if this is someone you truly trust, that is all well and good that you have shared your real names and e-mail addresses.

However, when it was implemented in WoW with the last patch, it was discovered that friends of friends can also see people's real names. So, if I add John Doe to my list, and he adds Jane Smith to his, then she can see my name and I can see hers. While this does not bother some people, it could become a problem. Just because I trust all of the people I choose, does not mean that I necessarily trust or even know all of the ones they choose. I have to admit that I am not terribly concerned about my name being known, but just the concept that I cannot control it bothers me.

Another current problem is that there is a security flaw that allows add-ons to be able to see your Real ID names. Right now, it is recommended that you don't use any add-ons that are not from trusted sites/authors (probably a good idea all the time, actually), as this information could be used negatively or perhaps sold. This is something that Blizzard should really fix, as many users would rather that information not be available in that fashion.

Looking toward the changes to the forums, while it will not be people's real names that are used, it is presumed that it will be our e-mail addresses that we registered with Battle.net that will be required for forum posting. While not as much of a security issue, this is a concern, because people will then be able to send e-mail to people much more easily, and perhaps harass those with whom they do not agree. It would also enable people to put together lists of addresses to be sold.

I have to think that these problems could be easily addressed, by simply having users create a user name by which they are known by Battle.net. Some people would likely use their real names, but many would create a name, perhaps selecting the name of one of their game characters. In this way, people could still communicate, without the worry of security issues.

Personally, I'd also like to see an invisible option to Real ID. I know many players who have one or more private alts that they don't share with others. This way, they can choose times to be alone and not be disturbed. Yes, people can choose to change their status to away or busy, but that does not stop people from being able to send them messages. Also, it takes away the rights of people using Real ID to have characters about which they choose not to tell their friends. This would definitely be a positive feature.

Hopefully, Blizzard will listen to its player community, as they have already apparently started to do. They have taken a first step toward rebuilding trust by reversing the decision regarding Real ID names in the forums, but it will take many more before the bugs and issues are resolved with the new system.