Real ID Impressions

The Ice Stone has melted, patch 3.3.5 has dropped, and the servers have blown up.

Real ID is the new completely optional feature which lets you add your real-life friends to your list.  You can see which Blizzard game they're playing (Warcraft, Starcraft or Diablo), what server they're on, what character they're playing, race/class and what zone they're in.  You can set a Twitter-like status which your other Real ID friends can see.  You can also list yourself as available, busy, or away.

It seems like implementing a better friends list is a much bigger feat of engineering than you would think, but when I was able to get into the game, I liked what I saw.  It wasn't until late in the evening that the servers came back up, and logging in was perilous at best.  This morning, I wasn't able to log into my main server, Steamwheedle Cartel, at all.  But trying a few alts, I found my way back to Azeroth.

Within a few minutes, I had added my son and my wife - my son is on the other side of the country, so I never know what time or what server/character he's on.  We got to chat for a few minutes in-game and we could see what each other were doing.  I could link items to him.  I could also look at his friends list, and see if there's anyone on there I want to add.

This is where some folks have a problem with the service.  To me, it's not so much a problem.  When folks on my son's list look at his, they'll see my name, but they have no idea what characters I play or what my email address is, so I doubt I'll be bothered.  To add someone, you need the email address associated with their account, which could be a bit of a security concern, but I use an authenticator, so again, not much worry associated with that for me.  A lot of people can find your email address on Facebook or forums, etc, but if I get a Real ID request from someone I don't know, I'm not going to accept it.  I can decline it, and they'll never know.  Being totally optional, and intended to be used with people you actually know and want to have access to all of your alts, it's not meant to share your personal information with the general gaming population.

Supposedly, we'll be able to integrate Battle.net with Facebook, and import friends from there as well as set our status message.  I've not poked around with any of this yet.

So, I'll use it, and I think it's a big step forward.  Hopefully the servers will stabilize soon so we can get back to the Fire Festival!