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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPatch 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 3 of 5)
Sister Christian May 13th 2010 1:48PM
Oh I am sure there are tons of people who will use the system without thinking about it. They won't realize it's dangerous to give out their login information or that the name is pulled from your billing information. They won't realize that when your friend get's hacked the first thing the hacker will do is look at who they trust (RealID friends list) to see who to hack next. Just think that hacker now knows your full name and email and character information, but you could craft a very credible email from that friend or blizzard phishing for account information.
It's a great chat system, one I would love to use. Unfortunately the implementation is very dangerous.
Grimmal May 13th 2010 1:34PM
I knew I was missing something there. That's another huge reason.
snowleopard233 May 13th 2010 1:38PM
This thing looks kind of cool. I guess. Though finding my real-life friends on wow has never been a big issue. Usually if they’re on a character I don’t know about it’s because they want some time to themselves lol. The same can be said for me, which is kind of why I’m hoping there will be an “invisible” status. It’s not that I don’t love my buddies, but sometimes I just want to logon and do auction house stuff in peace.
This will of course be helpful for those who are also daiblo and starcraft players. Any word on whether or not voicechat is supported?
RogueJedi86 May 13th 2010 1:44PM
Why can't you just tell your friends "Sorry I don't want to do any dungeons tonight. I'm tired and I just wanna browse the AH and chill in trade."? If they're really your friends they would understand and be just fine with that. It's not like they're fellow employees where you're required to a work project with them. We all unwind in different ways, and we have to respect how our friends choose to relax, even if it clashes with our own relaxation ways.
Heston May 13th 2010 1:41PM
I can't imagine Blizzard not adding an offline feature.
Drakkenfyre May 13th 2010 3:18PM
Do we currently have one?
Do we currently have a "appear offline" feature? How many times have people asked for it? And how many times have they said "no" ?
Orkchop May 13th 2010 1:42PM
Holy cow there are a lot of people who don't get the point of the Real ID system!
Yes, they'll know your real name because you are supposed to know them in RL! They are likely to already have your personal e-mail address (and phone number, mail address, etc) already.
Yes you can't hide from them, because they're not supposed to be people you hide from!
You're supposed to connect to people like your cousin who lives a state over or your best friend that you go out drinking with on the weekends, not with a guild master who wants to contact you when you're on an alt.
Grimmal May 13th 2010 1:51PM
We understand that is the intent. We are just extremely disappointed with the current limitations.
My WoW login is not the email that my family / friends have and even if it was, it is still against Blizzard's own EULA to give it out. Sometimes you still want to just hang out by yourself and not broadcast your every move to people regardless of how close you are. Etc...
The biggest thing though is that this could be a amazing system for everybody with a few changes. Instead it is being aimed at a very small portion of the playerbase. I have dozens of friends (RL and Game only) I'd add gladly with a few changes like removing my real name and allowing me to still have a alt or two that was hidden. As it is, I'll never touch it instead.
Sister Christian May 13th 2010 2:02PM
And I am sure all the kids who play WoW are going to be that responsible. Get real.
Expect some wonderful story with a crying kid who was kidnapped saying s/he didn't know it was bad to give out their email address and didn't realize it was going to show their full name.
Michelle Madison May 13th 2010 1:54PM
And what if I wanted to connect with my cousin, but not all of the friends my cousin chooses to connect with? What if my cousin, or one of the many friends they choose to befriend gets hacked? Now the hacker has not only my battle.net login e-mail, but also my real first and last name.
What's the point or benefit to forcing us to reveal the real name on the billing account? Makes you wonder ..
Sister Christian May 13th 2010 2:03PM
Exactly Grim, it wouldn't take much to fix the system. Most people would be happy would be happy if the system didn't use your real name, didn't use your login and gave you some control over what information was shared with people you didn't know (i.e. friends of friends). Basically if the system wasn't dangerous to your accounts security or your personal safety.
Lissanna May 13th 2010 2:39PM
I have 3 e-mail addresses I give my friends. NONE of those e-mails is my battle.net account info. In addition, there are "friends" that I have in-game that I would love to be able to do cross-server communication with who I am NOT close enough with to give my RL info. So, I either have to say "sorry, I won't be your friend because I don't trust you", or I have to give out my RL account info to people I haven't met in real life. People you haven't met will have access to your Real ID info just from being friends of your friends, and the system really gives you zero control over the security of your personal info.
As a blogger who has gone through GREAT lengths to not reveal my personal identity to my readers, this "feature" is going to cause me really big problems in the long run, because it's designed to only be used for RL friends, but it WON'T only be used for that purpose, and it's really short-sighted of Blizzard to force us to use real names without any other option.
Eg May 13th 2010 5:38PM
Right, but I presume it will NEED to be your battlenet e-mail, since it is a battlenet feature. Consequently, if you have been careful not to give your friends your battlenet email, now you are going to have to. As a blogger trying to keep your identity safe you should be concerned.
Eg May 13th 2010 5:40PM
Erm... sorry. I read the last bit now. I'm too quick to react sometimes, and too slow to read.
/blush
baldywilson May 13th 2010 6:33PM
As others have said, people get the point of it: just not the implementation.
Just one scenario off the top of my head that could be actively dangerous. A woman has RealID and she had a bad relationship split up about a year ago. She 'friends' someone she trusts through RealID, but she doesn't know is that the friend she trusts has just also friended the person with whom she had a bad relationship. That man (or woman!) now knows he has a friend that knows his ex. I can think of a hundred and one ways that information may be exploited ("Hey, I see you know Sally. Where's she living now?").
Bad, and actively dangerous, idea.
Secondly, again as others have pointed out, it may be *promoted* for use with people you know IRL, but that cannot possibly be the point of it. If that was the point, there would be no need for the "feature" as real-life friends can use Vent, IM clients, Facebook or even that marvellous invention, the telephone. All of which are vastly superior to in-game chat, and most of which have all the appropriate privacy features in place (as in, "I want to appear off-line. I know! I want log in"). So with so many other ways of keeping in touch with friends, why does this feature exist?
Cheb May 13th 2010 1:43PM
I'm looking forward to this. My whole family plays on one server that my dad had randomly selected for him, and it seems like all the decent raiding guilds start raid at what is a normal time for them on the West Coast, but is pretty darn late for me on the East Coast. It will be nice to still be able to chat with family should I transfer off the server, feel like playing my Horde girl, or want to take a break to play SC.
One thing I'm confused about - is this replacing the friends list we have? Like, I have DudeGuy on my friends list now that I run heroics with, but I don't talk to him or know him outside the game. When Real ID drops, will I have to give him my email to still be friends with him on just the one server on one toon?
RogueJedi86 May 13th 2010 1:46PM
Nope, this is in addition to your pre-existing friends list. Your WoW-only friends will only see your current game information, but your RealID friends will see more stuff like your name and if you're on another server. Don't worry. This is building onto the existing friends list, not replacing it. :)
Cheb May 13th 2010 2:04PM
Ah, thanks for the clarification!
brin_adur May 13th 2010 1:49PM
so
solution to everything:
dont add people you dont trust.
huuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Magma May 13th 2010 2:00PM
Don't be daft. I have many people I'd trust with any in game item or task and sure even my first name. But I don't want or need many knowing more than that.