StratFu
|
|
Add a comment (Comments: 10) |
Reference: RealID
Ever since I started playing WoW, "cross-server chat" has been the top item on my wishlist. EverQuest had this back in, what 1999? And I've continued to be disappointed that WoW didn't have it.
Fast forwards to Blizcon when I was elated to learn that Blizzard was finally creating a cross-server (and cross-game) chat. I've been anxiously following the news, hoping it would be released before cataclysm.
I have friends on many servers, as I have played on several and have friends who have moved around. I also have some very good friends I've met via StratFu and IRC (#stratfu).
I'm absolutely appalled by Blizzard's decision to not only make it so I can't choose a handle, but to make it so my real name is shared with all my friend's friends. So if I add just a single friend, I also have to trust all the people that they are friends with.
On Twitter, Facebook, LiveJournal, Blogger, etc., you have the option to use a handle -- many people do (looking through stratfu's subscribers there are almost no real names as handles on Twitter, and not many who fill out their actual name in that profile field.) Not to mention, those are explicitly social networking sites: it's okay for my college and work friends to connect to a facebook page with my name, because that's why I'm on that site.
I don't play WoW in order to get life updates from old college buddies.
Saying "it's optional, just don't add friends" skips the very key point made clear in the faq: This is the only way to talk cross server/game. So sure, I can continue to play in isolation, relying on IM and IRC, switching from server to server if I want to talk to someone. Or Blizzard could've picked a non-stupid implementation for their global chat system.
I haven't been this disappointed ever before by Blizzard. I'm very frustrated today.
In closing, here's a good explanation from Kazanir about how this should have been implemented:
Lying about your real name is a FUCKING STUPID IDEA for account security and billing reasons.Using an alias would be fine, especially if the games are integrated in such a way that you could pull up a list of a single Battle.net account's WoW/D3 characters and SC2 profiles. Here is how the system should work:
1. You have a Battle.net account. The overall account has a RealID Handle. This Handle defaults to being your real name, but you can easily change it (talking single-click retard easy here) to anything you desire. Mine would be [WGA]Kazanir, just like my Steam handle is.
2. Each of your games is attached to your Battle.net account and thereby to your RealID. Your RealID friends can see you when you are online in any of those games and message you cross-game, as well as seeing a list of your characters or individual game profiles. Your displayed RealID is the handle described above.
3. Each game contains either a profile (SC2) or a list of characters. A list of any profiles or characters attached to your Battle.net account would be easily accessible from your account management screen. Any of these characters can be "opted out" of your RealID by unchecking them from the list. Thus, my list might look like this:
X Kazanir.wga - SC2 Profile
X Kazanir - WoW - 80 Druid Mal'ganis
X Gidgiddoni - WoW - 60 Warrior Mal'ganis
_ Kazbank - WoW - 2 Hunter Mal'ganis
X Kazabarb - D3 - 97 Barbarian US East
_ Kazahidden - D3 - 45 Monk US WestIn this way I can play on characters (such as a bank alt or a secret D3 character with my e-girlfriend) without forcibly having their identity broadcast to my friends.
When I am online on any of the characters I have unchecked, my RealID friends will be able to message me but those characters will not be visible even to RealID friends. The messages will merely appear to come from my RealID and the "which character is he on" information will not be available.
4. Finally, the RealID messenger implementation in every game should be able to hide my presence from view just like any instant messenger application can right now. I shouldn't be forced to be present with my RealID just because I am playing a game -- there should be a universal "pretend to not be online" button available in every Battle.net enabled game.
These are the most basic functionality requirements that should be implemented by anyone with an IQ over 80 who designs a system like this.
This RealID system is just stupendously bad. Not even Facebook forces you to use a real name associated with billing data, and certainly no gaming network does.
I don't like to engage in conspiracy theory, but RealID is just so bad that I don't see how competent people could've come up with this. Possible ulterior motives are trying to expand into the "social networking" market and using WoW players as fodder to get it off the ground, or just trying to nudge us towards feeling public about our WoW time so that we rep WoW on Facebook. Or... who knows. But the system is just so bad that it defies belief. And it feels strangely like bait-and-switch, the bait being better chat features, the switch being this RealID junk, but why they'd want to do such a thing, I have no clue.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
1z0-047
JN0-100
1z0-042
HP0-J33
Above and beyond all the other objections, I'm not a big fan of handing out my battle.net ID to anyone, period. It's not the name of any of my characters, it's not an e-mail address I use for anything else (yay for mail forwarding). There's no reason for anyone to ever know my battle.net account name, period.
This RealID system is just stupendously bad. Not even Facebook forces you to use a real name associated with billing data, and certainly no gaming network does.
I don't like to engage in conspiracy theory, but RealID is just so bad that I don't see how competent people could've come up with this. Possible ulterior motives are trying to expand into the "social networking" market and using WoW players as fodder to get it off the ground, or just trying to nudge us towards feeling public about our WoW time so that we rep WoW on Facebook. Or... who knows. But the system is just so bad that it defies belief. And it feels strangely like bait-and-switch, the bait being better chat features, the switch being this RealID junk, but why they'd want to do such a thing, I have no clue.
The other possibility is that the budget got cut on the feature, and they know it sucks but can't do much else. Built-in voice chat anyone?
I sincerely hope Blizzard reconsiders this, otherwise the only folks using this system will be real life friends and family or the occasional, rare, incredibly close guild.
I've been playing WoW for a while and only *one* person knows my real name through all this. I like the anonymity. I like leaving behind important details from real life. At the risk of generalizing, several of my friends decided to reveal who they were in real life... And ended up regretting it. Recently a guildie had to deal with a somewhat unbalanced (to say the least) player who tried to track her down and visit without informing her.
It's one thing for me to say "I'm from this country and work/study at x location in real life". That's a nice little bit of information to get to know a fellow better, but still leaves a comfortable level of anonymity for me to work with.
It's quite another to have my real name (and possibly location/picture if they use that name on facebook) known to people I only choose to associate with on a virtual level. Does it also mean I'll have to start increasing privacy levels on social networking sites because I don't want overly inquisitive WoW players stalking me?
I might love raiding with you and think you're an awesome theorycrafter who I've had hours of discussion with. That doesn't mean I want to have you privy to details about my personal life.
I wonder what's next... After all, in China, WoW players were (are?) required to submit a picture of themselves to verify that they are the gender of their online character (since men playing female characters is dubbed inappropriate).
Is that where WoW IDs might go?
Wow. If they had done it right, something more along the lines of what Kazanir suggested, this would have been a nice feature. As it is now I will avoid it like the plague.
Yea, looks like you're right :( Man, that sucks.
"Can I use features such as cross-game chat, Rich Presence, or Broadcasts if I do not use Real ID?
Features such as cross-game chat, World of Warcraft cross-realm and cross-faction chat, Broadcast messages, and Rich Presence are only available if you use Real ID. For more information, visit the Real ID features page."
Here's a good FAQ if you haven't seen it.
http://eu.battle.net/realid/faq.html
It was my understanding from the Blizzcon and subsequent discussions that you would be able to add people you knew in real life under the RealID system, but that you would also be able to add people who you only knew within the Blizzard universe as your alias. Is this no longer the case? :(
Article author
The RealID page says that to use the new chat features, you need to be RealID friends, and to be RealID friends, you are sharing your name with every one of them and every one of their friends, as well as your online status on any character in any game with no invisibility feature.
They may have misstated something, but that's what the site said to my read.
Fully agree. I miss ;t mithaniel.aftathottxx Stop calling for Manaburn nerf, I like my Wizard! Just stick to your bard.
I mean, Sony did even better than that. You can now ;t eq2.servername.charname or ;t swg.servername.charname. Hell, you can send mail across servers in Sonyland.
(Also, EQ's LFG tool is STILL miles ahead of WoW's)
Hmm, my comments would have been more along the lines of ;t mithaniel.aftathottxx Thanks again for fading memories! Never mind the silly munx!
WoW still needs to add gnomeball and Seb AE runs somehow. :( There is a distinct void.