Comments on: Poll: Yeah But Do You Still Like Real ID?

By: NPC Comic - #2 Most Commented on Comic and Blog Post of 2010

NPC Comic - #2 Most Commented on Comic and Blog Post of 2010 — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 04:01:39 +0000

[...] 60 comments, the #2 most commented on blog post is Poll: Yeah But Do You Still Like Real ID? Despite Blizzard going back on their earlier decision to make Real ID disclosure a requirement to [...]

By: Yup

Yup — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 05:55:30 +0000

REAL ID needs a feature where you can present yourself as “offline” for privacy or at least for those times when you just don’t want people bugging you to switch games.

By: Callyx

Callyx — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:49:22 +0000

I chose other.. I think it’s great, but would prefer a handle and a ‘hide’ button. If I’m on another server to get away from my guild, why would i want them to know I’m on?

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:03:25 +0000

While I plan to keep realID use for RL friends only I have enjoyed using it. It has allowed me to chat in game with a good friend of mine (who I rarely get to see in RL as we live on opposite sides of the state) without us needing to play on the same sever. I might also be persuaded to add other members of my guild’s officer team (we are all friends on facebook so they already have access to my name, e-mail, etc.) but at the same time its nice to be able to completely hide on an unknown alt from time to time.

By: Eirik

Eirik — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:41:10 +0000

“stand alone app” – you might post that to the WoW suggestions forum as more likely to be seen.

By: Eirik

Eirik — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:35:38 +0000

Before you get too far down “it’s no big deal” lane, I’ve read of an actual case of RealID stalking via Friend of Friend. Someone wasn’t too discriminating about who they /realfriend-ed. The anecdote’s victim was apparently the only woman on the guy’s realID friends list. With just a few more details apparently picked up from idle chatter during a Daily Random, this kid finds the phone number for where she works and calls her during work to harass her (in the petty ways a bored teen will do).

It’s not an “OMG RealMurder!” case or anything, but I know I for one would prefer not to get calls like that.

By: Mr. Mighty

Mr. Mighty — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:51:22 +0000

I’ve used it, but don’t like it much. I wouldn’t have, except for peer pressure from friends. There are times I just want to log in and not be social, just do a daily or level an alt. Now I’m signing in less, because I don’t want to get dragged into an instance.

Maybe I’m just to introverted to play a MMO.

By: Ian

Ian — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:11:15 +0000

And yet in the same breath as recommending that, they tempt us to trust the “friends” of friends. (Hmm. How’s about a Warcraft version of the Kevin Bacon game? Add someone well known to you friends list in under steps…)

RL fact – if you throw a party in your parents’ place while they’re away – or your kids do, if you’re my generation – whether it stays pleasant or spins out of control into the Battle of the Somme is pretty much down to whether or not “friends of friends” get in. Friends’ friends are not yours. They don’t know you from Adam;. They have no skin in whether or not the place gets utterly trashed, and by consequence it often does. Frankly, it’s my observation that the same goes for the internet in spades – if something *can* be abused by people, it will (and Blizzard are idiots if they don’t recognise that).

By: Ian

Ian — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:52:12 +0000

Real ID? Haven't tried it, and almost certainly never will until at minimum I have a lot more control over who can see me and when. I value the privacy of being on line without the world and his wife automatically knowing.

By: Jayeless

Jayeless — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:28:27 +0000

While I understand that Blizzard’s trying to create a social gaming network within their games, I for one don’t participate in social networking – they’re evil in that members are peer-pressured into revealing too much about their real lives on the web, and what happens on the Internet stays on the Internet.

So, while I’ve not gone and done the parental controls “workaround” to disable Real ID, features like Friends-of-Friends and the lack of invisible mode means I simply haven’t opted in to the service by adding any friends in-game. As long as participation in the feature remains optional and its features are social-networking-like, it’ll stay that way.