Patch 3.3.5 PTR: Battle.net Real ID system
by Gregg Reece 
May 13th 2010 at 1:00PM
After several tries at character copies, extended-extended downtime and Battle.net issues, we've been able to hop onto the public test realm and play around with the new Real ID features. We were able to grab a lot of screenshots of the new chat features.
Now, if you're not familiar with the Real ID system, I'll give you a quick summation. If you have a real-life person you know who also plays Blizzard games and you would like to keep in touch with them despite realm, faction or even game (Diablo III, StarCraft II or World of Warcraft), then you can now add them in a social media-type format with announcement, statuses and cross-realm/faction/game whispers. This is not something you want to do with someone you've only ever known in game. The reason you don't want to do this with just anybody is that you will be using your Battle.net email login.
If you happen to try out this feature on the PTR, please note that we're still in an early test realm build and there are still a lot of bugs in the system. This means you're going to get Lua errors off of the default interface, and the Battle.net server managing your friends list is often down as they're tweaking things behind the scenes. It's the test realm; it's meant to test things. So don't take its stability as a sign of what the functionality will be like when the patch hits the live realms.
Now, if you're not familiar with the Real ID system, I'll give you a quick summation. If you have a real-life person you know who also plays Blizzard games and you would like to keep in touch with them despite realm, faction or even game (Diablo III, StarCraft II or World of Warcraft), then you can now add them in a social media-type format with announcement, statuses and cross-realm/faction/game whispers. This is not something you want to do with someone you've only ever known in game. The reason you don't want to do this with just anybody is that you will be using your Battle.net email login.
If you happen to try out this feature on the PTR, please note that we're still in an early test realm build and there are still a lot of bugs in the system. This means you're going to get Lua errors off of the default interface, and the Battle.net server managing your friends list is often down as they're tweaking things behind the scenes. It's the test realm; it's meant to test things. So don't take its stability as a sign of what the functionality will be like when the patch hits the live realms.
Filed under: News items, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Ramco May 13th 2010 1:04PM
No Warcraft III?
Jamie May 13th 2010 1:08PM
I believe they said they might be looking into adding WCIII in there too but right now it's just for new releases.
Sithril May 13th 2010 6:23PM
It would be odd not having WC3 in, since its something you can also attach to your B.net account if I'm not mistaking.
dorondadruid May 13th 2010 1:05PM
Does anyone know if you can see / speak with your friends who are on the Starcraft II Beta with this?
Drakkenfyre May 13th 2010 1:05PM
I doubt very seriously, but I wonder if someone on the PTR can message someone on the StarCraft 2 beta servers? Be an interesting test. Since cross-game communication is one of the big features of it, and both sets of servers are in the same place.
Drakkenfyre May 13th 2010 1:11PM
Checking WoWWiki, in the undocumented features, it says the chat box for entering text is always visible, without having to hit enter. Ugh, I hope that's either a bug or there is an option to turn it off.
Coffinshaker May 13th 2010 4:44PM
/w Drakkenfyre, you're such a jerk
(thinks: hmm... maybe shouldn't say that... backspace backspace backspace)
/w Drakkenfyre, you're totally a cool guy!
send
[Drakkenfyre] whispers: WTF DUDE?!?!
/w what? I said you're cool
[Drakkenfyre] whispers: OH, I KNOW WHAT YOU REALLY SAID!
(drama ensues, there's a murder, lots of blood, end scene)
yup... I REALLY hope they fix that!!!!!! >)
Jamie May 13th 2010 1:12PM
It sucks that we can't create a "real id" aside from using our account email, it seems kinda shortsided not to add this feature.
Oh well, looks like this is just a push for people to buy authenticators...
Drakkenfyre May 13th 2010 1:14PM
Here is what I don't get.
If you add someone as a Real ID friend, you can see their email. At least, you could a month or so ago in StarCraft 2. Now, you may be friends with someone IRL, but that doesn't mean you want them to know your login address. But if you put them on your Real ID friends list, it will display it. You can also add Real ID friends using their email address.
Arturis May 13th 2010 1:59PM
I cant think of a single person that I am friends with that I wouldn't trust with my real name or email address. If you cant trust them with such basic information, the kind of info you would hand out freely on your business card, then you've really got to take a moment to question your choice in friends.
Michelle Madison May 13th 2010 2:05PM
Once again arturis, you may trust your friends, but do you trust all of the friends they befriend? And what if your friend, or one of their friends gets hacked? Now they have your battle.net login e-mail and real first and last name on the billing account.
There is no reason to insult the people who refuse to use the service, I don't think they need to "take a moment" to look at their choice in friends.
danawhitaker May 13th 2010 2:13PM
@Arturis
What's funny is, we're a small guild, most of us *already* know this information about each other. We've all exchanged e-mail addresses, many of us have friended each other on Facebook, and several of the people I've been friends with out of game for almost nine years and we have each other's addresses already. NONE of us are interested in using this system. NONE. Even though it would have obvious benefits for communication among us because we'd be able to contact people on Horde alts about raids and whatnot more easily. The chance of account compromise is too great for me to be willing to have that info out there, and on top of that, being female, I don't think every male gamer in WoW who's friends with any of my realID friends needs to be able to see my full name and such. I trust my friends, but not necessarily the friends of my friends. That factor, along with the inability to opt any characters out of being shown, is a deal killer for a lot of people.
Eternauta May 13th 2010 2:18PM
I trust my friends.
I don't trust their knowledge of computer security nor the safety of their PC's.
Lissanna May 13th 2010 2:34PM
I think it's a bad idea to give access to hackers everyone's first name, last name, & e-mail address. I don't see why the e-mail address has to be part of the system at all. I don't use my battle.net e-mail for anything except for battle.net for security reasons. I don't like the lack of privacy or security, since friends of your friends can see more than I think they should be able to see. We need an "only my friends can see XYZ" feature.
Arturis May 13th 2010 3:32PM
@Michelle Madison
I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to insult anyone. It was an attempt at humor that obviously has failed.
I still feel that my original statement is valid, though. It doesn't bother me that anyone knows my real name or email address. I have been using the same email address since 1992, so I'm pretty sure anyone that knows me already has it. And if their friends want to friend me, they can send the request and I have the right to accept or deny them. Does this compromise my WoW account in any way? No. Anyone that wants to target my account for an attack will have this information already through countless other sources. If my friends have a keylogger or trojan infecting their system, it is just as likely to target me though links or shared files as it is through datamining my email address. I honestly don't see this as the massive security risk that people are reacting so strongly to.
Arturis May 13th 2010 3:45PM
@danawhitaker
As a confessed and functional Altoholic, the RealID system is a dream come true. I own two active accounts, with 10 characters each on Elune (Alliance side) and Uldum (Horde side), plus several other characters on other servers that I rolled to play along with various friends. Being able to see when friends sign on to different realms/factions is going to allow me to make more informed decisions about where and who I want to play at any given moment.
Now if only they would add in a Mail Notification system so I don't have to sign on to each and every character to check for mail... >_>
Amaxe-1 May 13th 2010 3:54PM
Ugh. I use my wow account email solely for wow. I don't want it made public.
kittytrainer May 13th 2010 4:33PM
the thing people are missing is that as long as you have an authenticator, this info will not make you vulnerable to account hacks. they have to physically have your authenticator to access your account settings or to log in.
Kay May 13th 2010 4:58PM
Again, the problem with RealID isn't RealID.
It's that they tied features to RealID that there is simply no good reason to. (Cross-Game and Cross-Server friends lists and chat.)
Ragen May 13th 2010 5:14PM
I agree with Arturis.
Whatever email you use for your account (Be it the same one you use to comment here) has no consequences if someone you trust obtains it. Sure someone could theoretically attack your account if you add them, but there are many ways to secure against that (The authenticator some people vocally abuse is one of the best ways to save your investment).
I instant message people constantly on MSN, and by virtue of circumstantial logic I can conclude that this is likely the email they use for WoW. As far as I'm concerned, don't use the system if you don't trust people with it.
*As a side note, for those of us here who used our email as our login to comment; we are in significantly more danger to abuse than the in game tool.