Like many, many, many of us, I am utterly nonplussed at having discovered that only through the magic of Facebook will we be able to utilize the cross-realm friends list coming out in 3.3.5.
I do not care for everyone to see my grown-up, official email address – you know, the one that was so secure you used it to log in to your account- just because they happen to be friends of friends of friends of some decent tank I ran with once and friended.
To avert disaster and maintain some semblance of privacy for those I friend and those who friend me, I have implemented a clever workaround (well, I think it’s clever; more likely everyone’s already thought of it and I’m the last one disembarking the short bus as usual):
- Create a new, anonymous email address from a fine establishment like Yahoo, gmail, or Hotmail
- Change your Blizzard login email address to the new anonymous one (and get an authenticator, yeah?)
- Create a new Facebook page with your new anonymous email address
- Amuse yourself by guessing what your main’s favorite quotes might be
The absolutely immense bonus of this, beyond the simple expedient of protecting your privacy, is that it is THE funniest thing ever to set up a Facebook page for your main character. That alone makes it worth the price of admission!
Those of you who wish to leave slavish messages of love upon Disciplinary Action’s Facebook wall may now do so by searching for ‘Liala Jenkins’.
Disciplinary Action 
Hmmm… Balthazario de Velen.
Perhaps….
That would solve 8some* of the privacy issues, but as I mentioned over ant Bang n blame, I like my in-game privacy sometimes as well….
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Oh, I think they’ll undoubtedly come out with a private session button when it’s implemented. But I can only think about one problem at a time, and to me the most pressing was personal privacy š
But of course it’s disturbing on multiple levels, which is why we’re all getting so het up over it.
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Can’t we just opt out? Ya know, not add anyone who isn’t a genuine rl friend who we’re already friends with on FB to the WoW cross realm friends list?
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I think, from what I’ve read, that because people will be able to utilize the friends of friends thing from Facebook, that if- for example- a guild leader is friends with two guild members, those members will be able to see each other even if they are not directly friends. Which would suck if you are a guild member being harassed by another guild member, just to pull one out of the air.
So even if you only add your RL friends, their friends will be able to see you too.
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I’m a great fan of privacy in the online world. I’ve seen too many people tracked down and harassed by miscellaneous fanatics. The whole RealID linked to your real name concept seems spectacularly stupid.
Admittedly I’m on the more paranoid end of the spectrum – I don’t even name my WOW characters on my blog. I have seen a fellow blogger identified in game from his blog and subjected to abuse in WOW because someone disagreed with a comment he wrote in a forum for a different game.
So I won’t opt in to RealD as it’s currently implemented and will leave the game if it’s made compulsory. The world at large has no need or right to know my personal information just because I play WOW.
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While I agree with you, I think you’ve misunderstood the Real ID/battle.net integration system. Real ID, your real name, is taken from the name on your battle.net account already – the one they use for billing and blizzard store shipping? And you can’t change it. That’s how the Real ID in game works
I’m not entirely sure how the facebook and ‘adding facebook friends’ integration will work – presumably there has to be some opt-in for facebook in order to connect the battle.net and the facebook account anyway.
You’re still screwed on the Real ID front thought. Only use it for people you know IRL who you trust not to add every idiot they meet as a friend.
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One of the things I hate about the whole thing is that is so obtuse- this is where I’ve been getting some of my info, but I’m all about additional sources if you guys have them!
http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/press/pressreleases.html?100505
It’s so convoluted, isn’t it? And I was using my personal email address as my login email- the same one that’s associated with my ‘real’ Facebook profile- and so I did the whole fake email changeover to prevent the two from getting mixed up. I’m not sure if it’s alarmism, or just being overly cautious, but I’m totally interested in checking out alternative sources explaining the whole mess.
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But you can definitely change the name and email associated with your battle.net and Blizzard billing account; it’s just under Preferences (or Account settings- can’t remember which!). It only takes a second and isn’t hard at all!
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Oh, and there is the ‘friends of friends’ function’- i.e., the two guild members being linked through a guild leader sort of thing (or two people being linked through a mutual friend, potentially). That’s from this blue post Blizzard thread:
http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/press/pressreleases.html?100505
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hmm, the changing the name on your battle.netaccount is new, I’m glad they’ve added that. It used to be only allowed if you got married, changed gendered, or the account was being transferred to a minor from a parent.
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Hmm, I can change my email address and my billing/shipping addresses, but not my name. I’m on an EU account, I wonder if that makes any difference.
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Dang, that *sucks*!!! I was able to change mine, but I’m on a US account. Boo!Oh, man! You’re totally right; I realized I’d just changed the other junk, not the name. It wouldn’t let me change the name, either. Luckily when I signed up I just put in my initials (how will people find me with a RealName ‘I.N.’?), but apparently that’s a no-go for EU and US. Double Boo!
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That’s a funny idea – especially making all the info your characters. But at the moment I’m not going to use RealID. I don’t want people to always see which character I’m on. Every now and then I like to hide on an alt and just play, not talking to everyone. And having them see me on RealID kinda ruins the whole idea of that *lol*
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Same here. I don’t play my level 12 hunter just because she’s cute- I love getting away from the (minor) guild drama and stress of raiding at the top of your game soemtimes. I so hope they address that.
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