Nyx

Smart move on their part!

The players have spoken, glad to see Blizz listens at least some of the time to the playerbase.

must be Mr. Smoketusk's mojo. *bows* Xoott so admires you ((LOL))

It still doesn't address the original problem they were trying to address, the bug that allows mods in the game to see my real name and account email, and I still have concerns about the direction of the game in general. I don't like the direction it looks like they are going with Facebook and it looks like they are setting their users up for targeted advertising.nnSomebody said that what will kill WoW will be Blizzard (or Activision) eventually by making stupid decisions that drive off their customer base, not some fancy new game. Real ID just about put a nail in that coffin, but it's not time to start writing obituaries for WoW just yet. Blizzard did come to their senses after people complained. The fact that they even considered forcing us to post on their forums under our real names makes me wonder if they are actually thinking about what is good for the players and the game. It makes me wonder how long it will be before they make some truly boneheaded decision that will kill off WoW as we know it.

The bug does allow you to collect a list of real names, but there is no associated email that I can find. Once you use the email to make the RealID friend, it's gone serverside.nnSo, the real question is, what can you do with a list of real names and the character they were parsed on? I think we've already discussed that when we thought the forums were going to show real names. The difference is that you don't have the choice of whether or not your character name is visible.nnnEDIT:nI'd like to note that unless the real name was collected when that person was on a character, there is no character association. By making up numbers in my head, it 'feels' like it would take months, even for a dedicated bot player, to collect enough information to profit from.

Euwen wrote:The bug does allow you to collect a list of real names, but there is no associated email that I can find. Once you use the email to make the RealID friend, it's gone serverside.

nThat is a bit better than I thought. It means that my real name is only visible to the people I happen across in the game, and they have to deliberately make a note of my real name and my character name. Even so, I find that a little disturbing. I realize this is unlikely, but what if somebody has some grudge against me, gets my real name via this bug and then decides to go after me? There are reasons why we are told repeatedly not to give out real names on the internet. nnI'm not as alarmed by this as I was about having my real name associated with my characters and forum posts on the World of Warcraft forums. There is a lot less exposure. But it does bother me.

I am so ecstatic to hear they are canceling their plans for real names on the forums. That was going to be the deciding factor on whether I purchased Cataclysm when it releases, or dumped WoW for another MMO since I don't really like the direction Blizzard has been going since the Activision merger. For that matter I already despised Activision, although not as much as Electronic Arts. Publishers like them pushing the software companies to release early are why games that should be great games(CoD:MW2 comes to mind) end up releasing as unpolished turds until after the first month or so when the appropriate hotfixes get patched into the games.nnAlso as far as the in-game RealID goes, you can turn it off in the parental controls at the battle.net website if you so desire. So you're safe there. If you don't plan to use it, just turn it off completely. I leave it on since I don't mind people I decide to add, and friends of friends(which you can also turn off) being able to see my real name and chat with me cross faction/server/game. The forums on the other hand, are a completely different beast.nnI'd actually like to see RealID chat become available on mobile devices in the future, although knowing Blizzard/Activision it will end up being part of that paid Armory service if they do end up allowing it.

Loki I don't think they'd be stupid enough to make it pay for use as part of the armory, though they might make it part of the armory. MSN/Yahoo/Skype/AOL etc etc are all free and that would be a stupid move on their part (hurr hurr).nnAnd you can turn of the friends of friends feature? Where? I havn't been able to find it yet.

Because I had previously participated in a local Citizen's Police Academy, I sometimes get invitations to attend related talks and presentation. One of the most interesting I attended was by the regional field director of the FBI. He made it clear that there was no such thing as a secure server and any personal information on the Internet was accessible, given the determination and resources to do so. Although he has never made even a purchase via the Internet, he revealed that his wife ignors him and has done so. He said he at least got her to make her purchases with only one credit card that had a relatively low fixed limit to limit her exposure if her information was accessed.nnAn aside I already knew because of my supervisory experience, but the owner of a server has the right to access information stored on that server. More specifically, an employer has the right to access the e-mail of it's employees if it passes through its servers. Since many employees use their work computers for personal e-mail, and to forward the personal e-mail of others, there is a considerable amount of imformation available for perusal, depending on how a company's IT department sets up its systems. nnThe weakness I haven't been able to beat is if someone who knows me attaches my name to my email address in their address book. Then they send out a notice about something, and everyone who gets it sees everyone's name beside their email address. Useful when you are coordinating your grandson's participation in a soccer tournament, vulnerable when someone is mining for personal data.nnEyesore