3rd party tools that analyze the combat log are incredible resources that allow users to reflect on and help improve their game play. However, there are some features of these tools that be used maliciously against other players. I propose an “Anonymous Combat Log” option for players to opt-in (or opt-out) of having their character name appear in the combat log alongside their actions.
Warcraftlogs and other 3rd party websites have become a mainstay in both retail and classic WoW. Within these sites, there are an incredible number of tools within these websites to analyze one’s performance. In addition, there are ranking systems for kills based off of the websites’ arbitrary conditions (add damage doesn’t “count”, getting PI/Tricks doesn’t “count”, “All Stars”, to name a few). These rankings can be a fun way to measure one’s performance against others, if you’re into that sort of thing.
However, due to the nature of how WoW handles its combat logging, a user can have their data uploaded to these 3rd party websites without their consent. A player could want their combat data not uploaded, or just want to keep it private for their personal analysis, but a single group member can undermine that preference without any agency or confirmation from the player. Suddenly your data is publicly exposed and websites are instantly comparing you to tens of thousands of other players.
Even worse, some players are completely unaware of this entire process. They can receive messages from other players about their “logs” or “parse” or “rankings” from these websites and have no idea what is being said to them. They didn’t upload any data, or even click the advanced combat log option. This information isn’t available on the armory or anywhere on Blizzard infrastructure.
Other games, such as League of Legends and DotA, face a similar issue: play data is exported to third party websites and then players can look up opponents’ (or teammates’) data and adjust their play accordingly. In order to combat this behavior, these games have implemented an “Anonymous Mode”, where data is still exported but it is deidentified.
I believe a similar option should be added into WoW. A player should be able to choose whether or not other players have the ability to export identified combat data. For implementation, an option should exist that when enabled, turns “Warchief’s Lava Burst” into “Shaman1’s Lava Burst”. In groups, it can still be rather easy to ID who’s Shaman1 on the damage meter, but at least for the permanent data that goes to WCL, it will be unidentifiable.
There’s a lot more to be considered regarding a feature like this such as opt-in versus opt-out, but overall I strongly believe that public character information outside of the WoW Armory should remain in the agency of the player.
