Opinions: what consequences can we expect from the identification of gamers in Russia?

Valentin Merzlikin, evangelist of Creative Mobile publishing
Development scenarios will strongly depend on the requirements of a particular bill.

I don’t think this initiative will significantly hit the players. Game developers who do not support this social functionality will have the least problems. The rest will have to adapt.

Most of the companies operating in the mobile market these days already identify players on social networks. The transition to mandatory authorization will be quite simple. If Facebook resolves the issue with the Russian authorities by July 1, 2018, then authorization via FB, VK or OK will be enough. Developers of browser-based and client-side games may have to make additional gestures and integrate third-party authorization solutions.

It is curious how console platforms will solve this issue – terrorists in the minds of security forces negotiate exclusively using PS4, and not exchanging directs on Instagram.

In a scenario where developers themselves will have to integrate third-party solutions for player authorization via SMS at each start of the game, I think many will simply prefer to do without part of the social functionality in their games, or simply leave the market.

This will not scare the leaders of the Russian MMO market, it’s just that the costs of supporting these mechanisms will again have to be shifted to users.

In the Russian market, no one will benefit from this measure, except for the political group represented by the “siloviki”. They score points before the elections, and everyone else has to take the rap.

As for MMO operators and developers: even if some of the games are banned as a result of this initiative, it is unlikely that it will not work to organize the flow of players to other projects. Unless major game operators, by agreement with telecommunications providers, will start redirecting traffic from some browser projects.

Evgenia Alexandrova, Business Development Manager at CreaGames
This regulation will create certain difficulties for Russian gaming companies, because many players do not like to disclose their personal data.

They are used to entering the game through a social network, at most to indicate the mailing address. For this reason, I believe that the need to link a phone number will entail a dump of users even at the time of registration.

Of course, account protection using two-factor authentication has already accustomed modern users to SMS codes and confirmations a little — we all understand that account security is a priority. But it’s still a minus that will definitely cause negative users.

Another difficulty: players will not be able to create more than one account. In a situation where not all games support the possibility of creating multiple characters on the same account, we may face a situation where fraud with virtual SIM cards will begin.

A separate point within the topic is communication in games. The fact is that today gamers are more likely to use voice chats from the TeamSpeak, Discord, Raidcall or Skype series to communicate, rather than exchanging messages within a closed ecosystem of applications.

Therefore, it is not clear to me what result the authorities are pursuing in this case?

The situation becomes even more ambiguous against the background of the fact that in Russia you can buy a SIM card without a passport at any metro crossing. Perhaps identification would make sense if, as in Asian countries, a SIM card could be purchased only by providing your ID or passport.

From a legal point of view, the following question arises: to what extent are gaming companies entitled to access user data from the database of mobile operators and should they duplicate and store this information at home?

We will receive more accurate information on this topic only in the summer of 2018, which will give gaming companies enough time to prepare for such changes.

Also on the topic:

• Identifying Gamers in Online Games: Why It’s Bad for UsersIn Russia, the identification of gamers by phone number will be introduced
• Cover photo:

 Anton Porsche