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by Dan Desmond 
Feb 7th 2012 at 8:00PM
Personally, I'm a bit torn on the issue. On the one hand, I can identify with this situation, as I have been there many times before. My own friends would always want to level alts together, but our goals for those characters never quite lined up. I'd find myself creating secret alts on another faction, sometimes on another server -- not only to experience more of the story and lore than I had before, but to just be alone. Of course, this was all before the RealID system was implemented, because after its debut, I was not able to start a new draenei paladin or blood elf rogue without being flooded with questions and, admittedly, a little guilt.
On the other hand, there is a very simple solution to all of this: Put your foot down. If someone asks why you're on Area 52 rolling a worgen warlock (or why you're even rolling a warlock in the first place, yuck), I think we all can agree that the best solution would be to honestly and delicately state that you need some time off, away from all of your in-game obligations -- including those inquiring minds. But is confronting your pursuers really that easy? For some, this type of thing comes naturally, and I for one am extremely envious of these people. For others, confrontation of this sort is not something we want to deal with, and the option to hide from RealID becomes a safe, albeit passive-aggressive, option.
What do you think? Is this a feature that Blizzard should be working on, or should these players find other means of enjoying the game in solitary peace?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Arrohon Feb 8th 2012 4:59PM
Hahaha, he's a computer tech so I probably couldn't pull that off. Thanks though :)
DarkWalker Feb 7th 2012 9:13PM
Yes for a hide option.
jfofla Feb 7th 2012 9:18PM
So, because you cannot be truthful with your Real Life Friends you want the Game to Lie for you?
Harvoc Feb 7th 2012 9:28PM
Who said that your real ID friends have to be real life friends too? Maybe they're just friends from a past server of yours.
Al Feb 7th 2012 10:18PM
And I suppose you always answer your phone, instead of letting it go?
Dawts Feb 7th 2012 9:20PM
Big time yes. With blizzard encouraging people to add non rl friends to realid this is needed. I'm talking about cross realm rbgs raids etc.
cloudhopper013 Feb 7th 2012 9:21PM
There's really not a valid argument for why there SHOULDN'T be. Saying "just tell them to leave you alone" is simply a suggestion for another possible, and much less consistent and inefficient fix.
Liv Feb 7th 2012 10:31PM
Totally agree with this. I find all these arguments about how it shouldn't be a feature because 'we should just be honest with people' or 'we should behave like adults' quite bizarre. What, we want a useful feature not to be implemented because it's more character building to go without it? Since when is that the role of a game?
Secondly, if you don't want to talk to people because you have had a stressful or exhausting day and are feeling burnt out, it is actually even more exhausting to then have to explain that to multiple people. Then, being your friends, they get all concerned about what is wrong. It is not a problem I am having at the moment, but I have certainly experienced it in the past.
Spellotape Feb 7th 2012 9:32PM
Even calmly and politely telling someone you would really rather be alone right now can offend them - one of my friends is incredibly needy and takes anything like that as a slap in the face. I don't use Real ID because I don't want to be reachable by everyone at any time - even this caused some upset for the aforementioned friend (and, you know, most of the time they are lovely to be around but this is just part of their personality that is stressful to themselves and anyone around them who doesn't like to be 100% available).
I wouldn't consider logging in under a "hide" mode as passive aggressive, either. People who want to be left alone don't need to justify it to anyone - it's their time and it's meant for them, not someone else to question or get riled by.
Teleri Feb 7th 2012 9:37PM
Yes, of course.
Wellsee Feb 7th 2012 10:02PM
I opted out of real-id as soon as it was implemented for this exact reason - I often like to play alone/quietly and the system didn't have an opt-out.
yarf Feb 7th 2012 10:07PM
I honestly wish that you could have a separate battle tag or real id for each "account" on a battle.net. I for one have two, and anyone else who has multiple accounts because of minors that play, the real id conversations go to the wrong person so often. I've sent a real id whisper to someone on one toon only to be told in a whisper from my second account saying "Erin says:" to which I respond in the whisper to "erin" and then the cycle continues.
dannyflorida Feb 7th 2012 10:10PM
Yes! I've disabled RealID in the parental controls of my account at Battle.net. I don't want it and won't use it until my privacy is respected, meaning I have the option to be invisible on the system when I choose.
blissfire Feb 7th 2012 10:20PM
Yes, definitely. For some people (myself included) one of the major draws of hiding on an alt is just so you don't have to put your foot down and disappoint friends who may take it personally no matter what you say. (Plus, I'm not so great at putting my foot down to begin with ;)
Blazing Rain Feb 7th 2012 10:56PM
YES. That is all.
genly.dwi Feb 7th 2012 11:03PM
Add me to the "Yes." column.
Gorgon Feb 7th 2012 11:29PM
Guilt?
It's a game people, if you want to play solo.. Play solo. You owe no one any explanation of any sort. Play what you want to play, when and where you want to play it.
I can't believe people will avoid confrontation like this.. Dump your dates via text too? Or just turn invisible?
Dea ex Machina Feb 8th 2012 12:27AM
WE know that we don't owe anyone any explanation. However, our FRIENDS and FAMILY don't necessarily know that. If you are feeling isolationist and human contact is stressing you out, having to spend a portion of every solo session telling/explaining/reaffirming/seriously-quit-messaging-me-mom-ing the more clueless people in your life that it IS a solo session is completely counterproductive. It defeats the whole point. And NOT answering messages, or answering them once and briefly ("I'm playing solo and don't feel like talking") is a recipe for drama and hurt feelings from the people who simply cannot get the concept and WILL take it as a personal insult, or else assume they are the exception (after all, they are your mother/best friend/in the middle of a personal crisis and it's REALLY IMPORTANT) and ignore your request completely.
This isn't the equivalent of dumping your dates via text. This is the equivalent of, when you have an evening to yourself and want to keep it that way, turning off your phone for a couple of hours, or setting it to go straight to voice mail. For many of us, simply telling our loved ones not to talk to us doesn't work. You have to make it so they CAN'T.
Orrine Feb 7th 2012 11:44PM
Implemetation of this option is long overdue
Vinna Feb 8th 2012 12:02AM
Yes
I haven't used real id yet, and will not until It has some sort of offline or invisible mode.