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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 4 of 4)
pauls_13th_account Feb 8th 2012 10:55AM
This feature should be added. Considering the new system where I'd probably have most of my guildies on it, I don't feel like going through 30 people asking if they feel like doing something and having 20 of them tell me they are busy when they are probably annoyed already by having to answer the 20 others on their list.
Sure...they could remove me and others but whats the point in that? If a system has a flaw that makes it easier for someone NOT to use it...fix the flaw lol. I'd rather them not show up so they don't have to explain to me and a bunch of others that they want to level an alt or be left alone if they chose to. It really should be up to them, not me, they are my friends, not my property, I don't need to have them installed with Lo-Jack.
audehd Feb 8th 2012 11:09AM
The day they implement this real ID will die.
Unless you make it so that when you go ''offline'' you cannot see who is online on your real ID friends list either. Because you should not need too anyways, if you truly want to be left alone.
Because if you can, then it's going to end up just like MSN. Everyone will always be ''appear offline'' and wait for others to log in so they can selectively only talk to those they want to.
Personally it confuses me o.O, because no one on Real ID ever bothers me, and if I do want to left alone I just don't answer. And no one ever complained about it. Then again maybe i'm just lucky.
I would not use a feature like that, but I understand why some people may want to.
Philster043 Feb 8th 2012 11:48AM
Good point about MSN, but on MSN people tend to have a large number of contacts. I know that for myself, when I was a forum leader, I was juggling a zillion contacts and at any one time I would get more conversations than I could possibly be able to keep up with. Most would expect me to be able to help them with something. As such, unfortunately, I had to tag myself as "offline" just because MSN was not the place where I wanted to work on my forum, but many of these contacts were people I actually were friends with, they just happened to think it meant that they could ask me for help anytime they wanted.
On WoW, I have an easier time managing my RealIDs if only because I would only give my RealID to people I trust and know very well and actually want to play with anytime (it is my real name, after all).
Orestes Feb 8th 2012 12:46PM
Yes, it would end up like MSN, and that would be a marked improvement. The point of the system is, or should be, to facilitate communication between individuals cross character, cross server, and cross game. Why in the hell would being able to be selective in which individuals you wanted to communicate with at a given time be a bad thing?
Arrohon Feb 8th 2012 5:10PM
I really think that this will need to be implemented for battletags. If I want to play with someone again, but don't want them to have either my email or real name, I probably don't want them to talk to me at a whim. I doubt that most people would do that anyway (rude much?), but it's bound to happen. I don't want to keep my battletag list empty/small just for some privacy every once in a while.
Veyska Feb 8th 2012 11:20AM
That's been my biggest problem with RealID from the get-go. Even *Facebook* of all obnoxious web atrocities has an invisible mode. Mind you, what I'd prefer would be an option to hide selected characters, rather than a flat invisible mode, so that you wouldn't keep forgetting to de-toggle it when you went back visible again, but either'd work
doktorstick Feb 8th 2012 11:23AM
The "simple solution" of putting your foot down is naive.
It's about recreation and unplugging. You know, you don't have to answer your phone, you don't have to open the door, you don't have to respond to that text message. You are able to be completely untouchable and unavailable. Why should I have to deal with "the world" when I come home from a long day and I simply want to play a game I enjoy without any communication whatsoever?
Personally, I would like a system where I can be globally invisible and I can also create characters that are specifically not attached to real-id or permanently hidden on real-id.
This idea that I must be always connected with every character I make is the major barrier to why I do not use real-id.
Philster043 Feb 8th 2012 11:42AM
Yes, there should be a Hide option.
Right now I only give my RealID to people I consider "cool" - in that they are intelligent and sensitive enough to know when is a good time to have a conversation with me (and also people who I really wouldn't mind talking to any time when I'm playing.) I do not give out my RealID lightly.
jfofla Feb 8th 2012 11:59AM
I am just SMH at all you Nancys that don't have the spine to stand up for yourself.
Hiding from RealID friends is the ultimate definition of LOSER.
1kmonro Feb 8th 2012 12:00PM
Oh for God's sake PLEASE put in a hide option. LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!!
Berna Feb 8th 2012 12:55PM
Yes, I want a hide option for battletags. I don't use RealID (I'd do that only with people I know IRL), but I'd like to use a battletag - if there is a hide option.
Zamboni Feb 8th 2012 1:00PM
Yes. With cross-realm raiding, it's now possible to put together raid groups with people that only know each other through forum tags. They don't need to know my full name, they don't need to know when I log on or off, they don't need to know the name and status of every single character I have. Blizzard needs to recognize that we often play with people who aren't intimate soulmates.
Vanessa Feb 8th 2012 2:13PM
I'd actually prefer to have a hide option, though for a different reason.
I'm transgender, and have only been actively transitioning for about 2 years now. When I initially started playing WoW, I used my birth name, because at that time, this wasn't at all something I thought I would do. And it didn't matter when I FIRST came out, because people who played with me never saw my birth name
But now that realID shows my birth name, I have issues, because everyone I meet meets me as this person, but something I don't want people knowing at all is visible to them if I allow myself to add them. Couple this with the fact that Blizzard won't let me change the name on the account until my name is changed legally, and you have the makings of a lot of stress and anxiety for me
jfofla Feb 8th 2012 3:23PM
Have any of you considered what happens if you bump into one of the friends you are hiding from?
How much drama will that create when you have to explain why you chose to hide from them on RealID?
Honesty, not cloaked deceit is the way to go
JakeDaSnake Feb 8th 2012 3:24PM
I always imagined of realID as a way for me to be available to my friends that I like to do things with while still playing alts that aren't in the guild. I only have a few realID friends. For the most part, we don't bother each other very much. It's more of a convenience factor for me, rather than adding all my friends and their alts' names to all my toons.
An "off" switch would be nice for hiding my main character even from friends and guild lists completely sometimes though. Occasionally I am just signing on to get a quick task or daily towards an award I want done. Then I get the ninja invite and called to do some raid or help with some boss, which I don't mind sometimes. These are my guildmates though and they always understand when I explain my intentions to opt out of their activity, but an "off" feature could avoid it all together.
Brenda Archer Feb 8th 2012 8:09PM
I have a second account I use for privacy away from my main with RealID. But that's an extra expense of course, and I don't feel I should HAVE to be on a second account just to hide when I'm on. Sometimes I'm tired and I just want to run dailies/low levels and use the AH without getting summoned to do something I don't have the energy to do justice to. I actually got the second account to help set up my bank alt guilds, but RealID is why I kept it.
rkaycom Feb 9th 2012 8:05AM
How about this, you get some balls and tell your friends, "I want some ME time, leave me along, thanks!". If they are real friends they will understand...
Hairfish Feb 14th 2012 12:20PM
I know it's been said numerous times already, but the lack of a "hide" feature is why I refuse to use RealID.