The online gaming world is incredibly entertaining and allows meeting people from different parts of the world. However, it also has its drawbacks in the aspect of privacy. Preserving your anonymity while playing the games you love is important to safeguard your person. Here are some useful tips that will assist you to remain anonymous in online gaming.
Use a VPN for Enhanced Privacy
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is an extremely useful instrument for keeping one’s identity concealed on the Internet. A VPN works by directing your internet connection through a server which then hides your IP address and encodes your information. This makes it almost impossible for hackers or any other players to follow your activities to your real life identity. When choosing a VPN, it is important to go for a reliable service provider with fast connection and good encryption.
Apart from gaming, a VPN helps you maintain privacy in all the other activities you engage in online. It conceals your history from your ISP and also stops websites from monitoring your actions. For gamers this means an extra layer of protection to make sure that your identity is not compromised.
Create and Use Alternative IDs
Coming up with the fake IDs, often referred to as the ‘alt accounts,’ is a realistic way of ensuring anonymity in gaming. Create a new username for a new game and do not use the main email address for the game account. However, it is advisable to create a new alt email for your gaming purposes only to avoid such incidences. This way, your gaming persona is completely different from your real life persona and thus, your privacy is protected from doxing and other related risks.
When coming up with your other IDs, do not use any part of your true name or any other information that can be traced back to you. When choosing your usernames, don’t be boring and make sure that you use a different username for each site. This practice is quite useful when it comes to anonymity and also makes it difficult for other people to associate your accounts in different games.
Avoid Sharing Personal Information
The first and perhaps the most obvious method of avoiding identification is to avoid giving out information about oneself. This may include your first name, last name, address, phone number, and even the social media accounts you use. There are many players in online gaming communities and most of them are potentially dangerous and have ill-intent. Maintaining privacy of your information is very important to avoid cases of identity theft and other related vices.
Also, do not fall for phishing scams. This is because fraudsters are always in disguise, either as game administrators or fellow players in the online games. Such requests should always be confirmed as genuine and the person should never disclose any sensitive information through such links.
Be Cautious with Voice Chat
Voice chat is a common feature in many games and it is quite useful, however, it is not anonymous. Your voice can be a very strong identifier especially if you are using it to make calls where you reveal your identity. To reduce this risk, it is recommended that one uses voice modulation software which changes the voice in a way that people cannot easily identify you.
Also, it is important to be careful of what you discuss over the voice chat feature. Do not speak of anything that might identify you in any way. Avoid discussing anything that is not related to the game and if there is an option to use in-game chat, use it. This keeps the identity of the participants somewhat concealed while at the same time enabling the participants to communicate with their team members.
Utilize Secure Communication Tools
To ensure more security, one should use encrypted messaging apps or platforms that support end-to-end encryption. These tools guarantee your conversations are secure and cannot be eavesdropped by any other person. For sharing with friends outside the game, one can use popular encrypted messaging apps such as Signal or Telegram.
Instant messaging systems that are integrated into games are easy to use but usually do not have adequate protection. If possible, use secure communication tools for the topics that need more privacy. This practice provides an extra measure of protection to your communications over the internet.
Manage Your Social Media Connections
Some of the gamers like to post their achievements and gaming experiences on the social media platforms. However, this can lead to the revelation of your gaming persona to your real life persona. To avoid this, open another social media account for the gaming activities so that your friends and family do not see it. This helps to avoid convergence of your real life and gaming life and also helps to avoid a situation where someone will connect you with your account.
If you are active on social networks, change the settings to ensure that only friends can see your posts and your profile information. Only accept friend or follower requests from people you know in real life; do not accept requests from strangers. This assists in preventing your identity from being revealed on the internet.
Regularly Update Your Security Settings
Another measure that should be taken in order to maintain anonymity is the constant updating of the security settings. Always look for new updates and patches for your games and the gaming platforms that you use. Such updates can contain critical security updates that help to shield from new threats. Where possible, allow the use of two-factor authentication to enhance the security of the accounts.
Check the privacy settings of your gaming accounts from time to time. It is also important that your profiles are set to private and that you do not reveal much about yourself on the social networks. Thus, by keeping you on the alert as to your security settings, you will be able to protect yourself from exposure in the online gaming environment.
