| Image by Katayun |
My local paper had an article on a similar effort where online forums for newspapers are struggling with whether to allow anonymous posting or not.
That article got me thinking about my web activity in general, including WoW, and I have to say that I'm firmly in the anonymous camp on this issue.
My Online ID
When I play the game, I'm my character. I'm referred to both in game chat and in Ventrillo chat as "Peashooter" or even a nickname of "Pea". Yes, my avatar even has a nickname. See how developed his personality has become! I've shared on this site how I actually become the character in how I interact with players and approach the game.
That approach spans both my in-game and blogging experience. This blog is really Pea's blog. The posts are heavily influenced by his experiences (or the experiences I have had while playing him). I'm kind of like the puppet master: I'm seeing the stuff that happens, yet it's not actually happening to me. I'm even toying with the idea of following Ratshag's approach and having guest posts from Alts (Galertruby's intro is still the best guest post ever!).
Safety in Anonymity
Blogging, as other bloggers may or may not attest, feels risky. You're offering up an opinion or a thought or an observation to the Internet. I feel safer knowing that despite the fact that I'm writing the content and publishing, it's got Pea's name on it. I can hide behind Pea from any backlash. I imagine this is why some authors publish under a pseudonym; if your work sucks, you can blame some other guy for being a fail writer.
Anonymous protection extends to comments or forums, as well. See, when folks disagree, that same level of anonymous protection exists for the trolls to rip you to shreds in the comments for all to see. There is no repercussion and the anonymity protects the poster from real consequence. And sometimes, trolls can be vicious. I encourage disagreements. Much of the allure in blogging is actual dialogue between the blogger and the readers. But, personal attacks are pointless and messy. The lack of consequence may embolden the troll. When someone does decide to personally attack me, they are opening up on my avatar, not me personally. I'm in turn shielded by my avatar. Pretty convoluted, eh?
Taking the Step to Real ID
I'll continue to decline to share my real ID with my gaming friends. Part of it is the separation I've imposed on keeping WoW distinct from my family / friends and work. Part of it is security where I just don't want my personal details online. But mostly, it's the element of escapism. I enjoy WoW because I can slip out of my real life for a while and become a virile Hunter. I'm leery of mixing that fantasy with the reality and then somehow polluting one with the other.
How about you guys? Have you tried out RealID? Have you shared actual identifying information about yourself with your WoW pals?
Logging you in...
red cow · 733 weeks ago
The reason I had a huge problem with the initial proposal for RealID was that there would be no way to control the distribution of your information without choosing to silence yourself. That's not a particularly good option.
I think your anonymity protection is contradicted by your own admission that you hide behind your avatar Peashooter. Yes, you as FirstName LastName, resident of Country, employee of Company, relative of Family, etc etc won't ever be publicly connected to your avatar without your consent, but your avatar still has a reputation and can suffer consequences. One of the suggested alternatives to RealID of the forums was for posters to associate their posts with one character/account name. That way they wouldn't be able to troll with level 1 draenei hunters without losing face on their level 85 paladin.
I do agree that when someone attacks you, they are attacking your avatar, because that is the only aspect of you that they know about. Likewise, if you attack people, your avatar can get a bad rep. You can step away from a hairy situation and distance your meatspace life from your WoW one, but if you continue to post as the same avatar, your reputation will remain. Even now I'm thinking of bloggers that have developed their own reputations, and I know varying degrees of details about their personal lives!
My recent post Angry Cow