Real ID is here in all of the Battlenet worlds now. Personally, I don’t believe I’m going to get much use out of it. As it is, I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook so I wasn’t really keen on the idea to begin with. When I logged into Azeroth after the patch was downloaded, getting some RIFs (Real Id Friends) on my list was the last thing on my mind.
Of course, I couldn’t deny Darthregis’s friend request. My 2nd request was from someone who I am friends with on Facebook already so I couldn’t really say “no, I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with it the idea of this list”. In the end, I decided to jump on the band wagon and then made my first RIF request to my good friend Hello Tauren.
At least this way, with these 3 test subjects I can see if I actually want to take advantage of the RIF benefits. Thus far, since my 3 RIFs are in my guild, all I see are multiple login announcements in both guild chat and REAL ID chat. Thus far, I haven’t seen any evidence of secret Alliance alts (Draeni DK, really??) or characters on other servers.
Thus far, after only 1 night of use, there is one thing that really bothers me. It is the fact that I see REAL NAMES. Perhaps I lean a bit towards a RP ideology but honestly, when I’m in Azeroth, I’m more likely to call my real friends their main characters name then anything else. Even when they might be playing on an Alt, I think of them as their main character’s name. And to see “REAL NAME has logged on” goes against everything I know Azeroth to be.
To imagine that my RIFs see “MY REAL NAME has logged in” bothers me. It bothers me deeply. In WoW, MY REAL NAME has no place. My REAL NAME should not exist! A couple of my old college friends got back in to WoW and started playing with me. I remember the first time one of them used my real name in guild chat. It looked so wrong. I was shocked. I had no idea how to react. It was a hilarious and crazy reaction because it’s what they have known me as for more than 10 years.
I’m not sure why I feel this way. Maybe a part of its because I answer to my REAL NAME all day long and Azeroth is where I can escape to. It’s likely that I just don’t like change. Okay, fine. I do have a touch of crazy in me. But please, call me Chawa. It’s my Real Identity in Azeroth and it’s one that I want to keep.
DarthRegis
Brokentree
Chawa
I tend to use real names for around half the guild anyway, at least when there are no strangers in the group, so this doesn’t feel very weird to me.
So I’m also fine with becoming Real ID friends with that group.
When they log on, what I think is more in line with the Real ID message than the /g message (except for the last names).
I think it’s seeing the last names that throw me for a loop too. Gives it a formal feeling rather then a friendship feeling.
[...] known by their real names, they want to be known by their character names. You can take a look at Chawa’s Post for an example of that [...]
I think there will be some changes to RealID as the crowd has out poured their hearts asking for change. The first one would be an option to change your name shown. The second will be an invisible option for those that really just can’t get away from people bothering them even when they are marked as busy.
As far as “Real” names in game, my hubs and I always call each other and talk about each other using our real names. Chuck and Rae is how we like people to associate us no matter which char we are on. However, when RPing we always use char name, but our real names are still attached to our chars. For instance, a friend sees that I am on “Laraeven” they automatically think .. oh, that is just Rae on her RP chick.
I think my ‘crazy’ attachment to Chawa is because this is my first character in a MMO game. She’s my 1st 80. She’s been my main since I’ve started this game. However, I do realize that my viewpoint on this is a personal one.
I’ll have to test out the busy option. I haven’t messed around with it enough to see it’s limitations. Not sure if it blocks messages from Friends (like DBM can for dungeons) or not.
I’ll be eager to hear more about your experiences with RealID as you go… it’s something that I really ain’t all that sure about, and what you think would be invaluable!
Thanks Bear! Since my toon playing is rather limited to one place, RealID isn’t something that I’m going to get much use out of. If I played in multiple guilds, on both sides of the Horde-Alliance fence, on multiple servers, then I might be able to identify the positives easily.
For me the jury is still out. Then again, with just a few tweaks to the system I think it oculd be the next best thing since sliced bread.
It just depends on what tweaks it gets, if any.
I’m not a fan of sliced bread. Unless that sliced bread was home-made and oven fresh!
Mmmm … fresh baked goods.
Once I found the “turn off logon/logoff notices” option, it became a bit more tollerable.
And I don’t mind so much with my real name being available, but it would be nice to have the option to drop it down to one name or possibly give someone their own nickname. Like if Unzy was on my Real ID list, I would change his name to show up as “No Pen”.
What’s funny is that with the majority of our guild, I’m real-life friends them anyway. So, it really only lets me know if someone’s playing outside of the guild stuff. I think it might have more of an impact when Star Craft 2 and Diablo 3 come out and people might be playing that. “Yo, dude…. we totally need you to heal this Death Wing fight…”
I have very little doubt that this was primarily introduced to prevent the Blizzard player base from scattering to the winds when SC2 comes out.
I think that I prefer BRIFF: Best Real ID Friends FOREVER!!!