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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBattle.net preview: Real ID
by Robin Torres 
Feb 9th 2010 at 8:00PM
Blizzard mentioned this new cross-game social aspect of Bnet at last year's BlizzCon. Real ID is an optional system for chatting with and keeping track of "real life" friends in any Battle.net game. You invite friends with your Real ID. If they accept, you can find out what game they are playing and on what realm and character. You can also chat across realms or games. You won't have to remember the usernames of your Real ID friends and family, because you will see their real names on the interface. And you will also be able to broadcast messages to all on your Real ID friends list, rather than just chatting one at a time.
I cannot wait for this to be implemented for WoW accounts. I would love to be able to chat with my friends who are scattered across many realms and who defect to play StarCraft. I really think this is great for more hardcore players (I'll be on my Alliance alt until you Hordies can get your act together for the raid) or very casual, chatty altoholics.
Will you use the Real ID system?
Filed under: Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
Ziberious Feb 10th 2010 8:22AM
I've been waiting for this forever! I can't wait!
Syme Feb 10th 2010 10:07AM
I will be unlikely to use this. I don't play any other Blizzard games online, and I'm not interested in Starcraft. When I play my characters in WoW, part of the choice is which chat channels that character is in. The RealID system seems to be very open, and I prefer more flexibility in controlling my leisure time.
Hoggersbud Feb 10th 2010 10:32AM
What, I can't figure this Real ID thingamajigabobber out, sorry dudes.
Clbull Feb 10th 2010 11:50AM
But the real question is... when?
Neirin Feb 10th 2010 12:10PM
Wow, I'm surprised how many people are saying no. This seems like a great feature. It's one more way to communicate without the hassle of logging on alts and looking for friends who may or may not be on. Think of it like guild chat, but with fewer limitations.
People asking for an opt-out are even weirder. It's already an opt-in program. If you want out, don't accept people's invites. If you don't want to talk to them, you're not forced to.
Blacksabre Feb 10th 2010 12:23PM
You know, Robin, I don't doubt you, and what you're saying is demonstrably worse than what I said, cause even using vent, it'sa pain swapping servers and ports and passwords, to get together.
Ah, well...I don't PvP very much. No biggie.
Nolls74 Feb 10th 2010 12:59PM
as others have said, as long as there is an "invisible" option and its usable with the standard chat window so I dont have to alt-tab, then I will use this, as I just recently transferred realms and left alot of good friends behind who I would love to be able to keep in touch with.
Utakata Feb 10th 2010 12:45PM
Well that's very problematic. There's a lot of players I know and who are fiends with that do not know my real name, and I prefer to keep it that way. Unless Blizz allows me to change my real name to my handle/avatar name in my account, then this is a no deal for me.
This also begs the question: Why is Blizz so resistant of players having user names of late? Is some sort of security issue they're percieve that we don't know about?
Utakata Feb 10th 2010 12:49PM
/ignore this. Replied to the wrong post.