If you have an authenticator (and if you don’t, you should probably get one! Here’s what they’re all about.) you’ll get a special treat in the coming days, as Blizzard changes the forums to require that, for players that already have authenticators only, that they periodically authenticate using their authenticator to the forums in order to post.

Essentially, all this means is that if you already have an authenticator, that level of account security will extend to your activity on the forums the same way it does to the community site and your Battle.net account.

The change is something of a non-issue and I would leave it there if there weren’t some needless confusion about the topic of authenticators and the forums. For example, over at the World of Warcraft livejournal community, one frequent poster took this to mean that if you don’t have an authenticator you can’t use the forums, which is absolutely false. (That same poster seems to have a resistance to authenticators in general, whose concerns I addressed in a column last year called Why the Resistance to Authenticators?)

So before everyone goes off terrified of authenticators and complaining that Blizzard is moving to a model where authenticators are essentially required to play the game (which frankly, I think they should considering the number of people who play and the economy around hacked characters, gold farming, and account sales – the problem is that if an authenticator is essentially required for Battle.net games, they should give them away to anyone who wants one free of charge…they’re already close by making the apps available for the iPhone and Android for free) keep in mind that this is a change that applies only to people who have an authenticator, and means nothing will change to the people who don’t have one.

And if you don’t have one, seriously, you should get one.

If you’re like me and you’re using a smartphone that’s running Google’s Android mobile operating system, you’ve been waiting for the day when Blizzard unveils an authenticator app for your platform as well as the iPhone app that’s already available. I have a Motorola Droid (like the one above) and even though I also have an iPod Touch, I keep my Droid with me at all times, so it’s probably a better tool to use to log in to World of Warcraft if I want the added security.

Yesterday, Blizzard announced that they were releasing an authenticator app for Android phones, and that it’s already available in the Android App Market for download – for free! Of course, Blizzard plans to continue to roll out authenticator apps to other mobile platforms in the future, but with the rapidly rising Android population and the already-massive iPhone population covered, and the fact that physical authenticators are still available for sale at the Blizzard Store, there’s no reason you shouldn’t have one by now. And yes, don’t forget – if you snag the new authenticator app, you’ll get a Core Hound Pup in the mail!