Real ID

You know, I have to wade in on this.

Its not too hard to figure out who I am. I have a Facebook fan group...and I started it.

That being said, very few of you know that my alt is DK tank extraordinaire Reginamorte. Oh wait, did I type that out loud?

I don't worry about stalkers. I'm a shape shifting ninja...I can pretty much handle anything that comes at me. I should point out that the reason I'm in a hurry to log off after raids is so I can go and fight crime, not surf porn! (I am a *good* shape-shifting ninja...not like my twin brother Hashiro, who is evil (I wear red, he wears black...we're easy to tell apart).

Anyway...

The Real ID thing is more than about privacy. It is about Blizzard losing touch with their users. There is a definitive move towards making Battlenet like Facebook.

The blue post announcing this speaks of how Blizzard employees are 'enthusiastic' users of social networking services. They speak of how they noticed how real life friendships were forged at Blizzcon.

That's nice.

I know tons of WoW players who despise social networking. The wouldn't go to Blizzcon if Blizz paid all their expenses and offered free dancing girls. (I'd go for the dancing girls!). They do not play to "forge real-life" friendships.

They play WoW to play a game. Yes, they've made some friends along the way. But that doesn't mean they want to be their friend outside of the game, or even know who they really are.

For Blizzard to think that because they are enthusiastic users of social networking, that that means everyone must be is well...naive.

When I started playing, I was a woman. It wasn't deliberate. I was playing on an RP server. I rolled a Night Elf because I thought she looked hot. I got my friend to play. He rolled a female human for the same reason. We joined a guild, we got to know people. I didn't discuss my non-game life *at all*.

My friend however, discussed my "real life" at length with my guildies. He talked about how I was 40, professional, despised men, had a string of broken relationships...and oh yes, I was a woman.

That didn't last too long, we eventually fessed up and we all had a good laugh.

My point in telling this story?

World of Warcraft is a game. For many (myself included) this is an escape. Here I am not a frazzled, overworked, stressed computer programmer. I am "Moo", laid back, funny, and oft distracted healer. I like being "Moo".

When I played on the RP server, I played a character, fully. It was my choice. I was active in the forums, active in game, and I had a good time with it.

I see a time coming when Blizz will casually announce that RealID will be mandatory to chat in game....and you have the option of Opting out, by merely not chatting.

If RealID goes past the forums, and into the game itself (outside of its current incarnation, which I have turned off), I will leave World of Warcraft.

It will make me sad to do it...as I said, I like being Moo. But there are other games and new adventures.

Thanks for listening. I needed to babble.

A real Ask Moo will be along in a day or two...I'm out of ideas right now.