onetimesilence Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. -Wernher von Braun

Thoughts on RealID

I've spent the last few days very excited about the new features of the Blizzard and Battle.net network. It is something that I think has been missing. Period.

Even though the Battle.net world includes World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft (and also an unknown in-the-works franchise), WoW is the one that is being impacted today. So that is where I will begin.

When it all falls to the floor, World of Warcraft is a social game. Those who solo their way through the game tend to be the first ones to complain about the game or, even, quit.

Any long-time WoW player will tell you that this game is many times the fun when played with friends and people that soon become friends.

That being said...

One of the biggest complaints I've heard over the last few days concerned privacy. I think this is bogus. There are no more privacy issues now than before.

On any day in the last 5 years, you could freely give out your name or email address to a fellow player and they could easily find you on Facebook, send you spam, or whatever they would like. You could give your phone number out as well and txt back and forth to your heart's content. Nothing could stop you.

And nothing could stop you from keeping that information secret and to yourself either. And now, NOTHING HAS CHANGED.