Real ID comes to WoW

[Azazel]

Heh. I remember that EQ1 would routinely undelete characters that people had deleted in their emotional tizzies.

 

[Lantyssa]

So today I got an official Blizzard Please Come Back We Reverted RealID mail.  I don't think I've ever had a please-come-back mail from Blizzard before.

All the links look legit.  Spoilered though and probably want to avoid clicking just in case.  I do like how they don't know who I am though.  Note they didn't actually address any of my concerns.  Their loss.

[Nevermore]

Huh.  I specifically spelled out the reason I canceled was due to Real ID as well but I haven't received any email like that.  Maybe because my paid time hasn't expired yet?

[proudft]

I do like how they don't know who I am though. 

Wait, the email actually said Dear UNKNOWN? That's hilarious. 

[Cadaverine]

I got one as well, and it does address me as UNKNOWN.  A bit better than An_ex_player01, I suppose.

Gmail filter didn't kick it to my spam folder, which it's pretty good about doing with all the phishing emails I've gotten from "Blizzard", so it's probably legit.  I don't care enough to call their CS and find out for sure.

[Azazel]

I wouldn't trust it. (Lanty, kill the links in your post, please?) My "faction transfer" phishing email didn't get caught by gmail. At this point I wouldn't trust anything from "Blizzard".

[Ingmar]

No real reason for her to kill the links, even if they were bad mouseover links in the original email, they're just the regular Blizzard ones now since cut and paste only copies the basic text (although the thread ones will go nowhere because of the line breaks.)

[Rasix]

Based on the amount of scary links in the previous poster's sig (post will be deleted), I'm assuming spammer.   

[Wolf]

Umm, the RealID thing? It's pretty awesome. I've been keeping in touch with some friends on different servers :)

[Selby]

Umm, the RealID thing? It's pretty awesome. I've been keeping in touch with some friends on different servers :)

And I don't because I don't want people knowing my real name or when I'm on.  Although I didn't give Blizzard my real name... and now I can't change it.  Hooray?  No proof necessary to CREATE it, but requires a court order to CHANGE it...

[Lantyssa]

No real reason for her to kill the links, even if they were bad mouseover links in the original email, they're just the regular Blizzard ones now since cut and paste only copies the basic text (although the thread ones will go nowhere because of the line breaks.)

Links in the e-mail were identical.  Also I've never gotten WoW spam and this places it a week after my sub lapsed.  I'm 99% sure it is legit.

The whole thing amuses me at this point, and I think this shows how unexpectedly hard they were hit by the move.

[Reg]

Perhaps now they'll realize that they aren't bullet proof and should try to avoid the kind of arrogant dickishness that made people cheer when EQ 1 lost it's popularity.

[Paelos]

Perhaps now they'll realize that they aren't bullet proof and should try to avoid the kind of arrogant dickishness that made people cheer when EQ 1 lost it's popularity.

No, they will just go about their business in a less hamfisted manner; see: slower indoctrination of their policies rather than sweeping changes.

[Nevermore]

Links in the e-mail were identical.  Also I've never gotten WoW spam and this places it a week after my sub lapsed.  I'm 99% sure it is legit.

The whole thing amuses me at this point, and I think this shows how unexpectedly hard they were hit by the move.

I got the email today.  Like Lantyssa, I never get those spam emails that other people seem to get so Blizzard must have really gotten a lot more backlash than they expected.

[Ingmar]

No real reason for her to kill the links, even if they were bad mouseover links in the original email, they're just the regular Blizzard ones now since cut and paste only copies the basic text (although the thread ones will go nowhere because of the line breaks.)

Links in the e-mail were identical.  Also I've never gotten WoW spam and this places it a week after my sub lapsed.  I'm 99% sure it is legit.

The whole thing amuses me at this point, and I think this shows how unexpectedly hard they were hit by the move.

Well, even the people who like RealID in general didn't like the forum thing. As long as they stay away from that they'll probably be fine.

[Merusk]

I didn't get one, I feel so left out. I was subbed from day 1, too.

I wouldn't trust it. (Lanty, kill the links in your post, please?) My "faction transfer" phishing email didn't get caught by gmail. At this point I wouldn't trust anything from "Blizzard".

That one almost got me today.  Hovering over links made me realize it was fake.  After hearing of a few folks with authenticators getting hacked I'm almost willing to believe that Battle.net itself is compromised in some way so I thought they might have gotten me, too.

[Morat20]

That one almost got me today.  Hovering over links made me realize it was fake.  After hearing of a few folks with authenticators getting hacked I'm almost willing to believe that Battle.net itself is compromised in some way so I thought they might have gotten me, too.

I've seen at least three or four phishing attempts blast past my junk folder and end up in my inbox. Pretty high-quality ones. I suspect the owners of www.battle-net-authenticator.com (I believe that was the phising URL) are about to have their domain yanked.

It was something pretty close to the correct domain name. I wouldn't be surprised if WoW doesn't suffer a heavy number of hacked accounts over the next month or so. The email was well done, the URLs were close enough to fool someone hovering but not paying attention.

You'd need a sizeable brain-fart for someone tech-savvy to fall for it, but it was good enough that I logged into BattleNet to check out my account, just in case. Just, you know, not through that emails helpful links.

[Ingmar]

Now that one probably IS a link worthy of editing so it isn't clickable.

[Morat20]

Thanks Rasix...I keep forgettig the forums automatically make links like that.

[Vision]

So, apparently now we can opt-out of Real ID.

We'd like to make you aware of the new Real ID-related privacy options we've introduced to Battle.net. These options provide Real ID users with additional tools for customizing the service based on their preferences, enabling the ability to opt in or out of the Real ID "Friends of Friends" and "Add Facebook Friends" features or to turn off Real ID altogether.

Real ID offers an optional, convenient way for keeping in touch with real-world friends you know and trust, whether they're playing World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, or one of our future games. The "Friends of Friends" and "Add Facebook Friends" features provide you with even more options to stay connected while you play by making it easier for real-life friends to locate each other on Battle.net. You can easily enable or disable these features through your Battle.net privacy settings by logging in to your Battle.net account at http://www.battle.net/.

http://i.wow.com/2010/09/30/real-id-and-battle-net-get-expanded-privacy-settings/3

[Reg]

I guess they realized it was going to cost them a lot of expansion sales.  I know I was having second thoughts about it.

[Paelos]

I guess they realized it was going to cost them a lot of expansion sales.  I know I was having second thoughts about it.

The people voted with their wallets. Blizzard fully believed they could push us all around because they had us by the short hairs, but as usual that only goes for small, steady changes. When people cancelled their subs in record numbers after the release, that struck the first blow. Blizzard had to realize that with more implementation of this RealID/Facebook bullshit, they were shooting themselves in the foot for no gain.

Then, in pure Blizzard fashion, they assessed the real situation behind the rampant bitching and adapt to the correct business choice. They didn't continue to force a stupid and unpopular policy because of previous sunk costs/plans/egos when it wasn't panning out remotely with their customer base. This seems to be the lesson that other developers haven't learned when trying to compete with them in the market.

[Dren]

To be fair, you could always opt-out using parental controls on yourself.  It wasn't easy or easily understandable.  It looks like they are just making it easier and straightforward.  I've been using the parental controls on myself and my kids accounts from the time they implemented this.

I've only run into an issue in game once with this.  While trying to expand my base of people to do raids and pvp with, I had a request for my real id.  I explained that I don't do that and it wasn't a big issue.  I do mostly guild stuff so it doesn't affect me much, but I can see that other people might be asked for their real id much more often if they do PUG's and cross-guild activities.  This probably isn't game-quitting stuff, but annoying just the same.  It is probably on level with, "Do you have Vent?"

[Paelos]

Absolutely you could opt-out that way, and I'm guessing many did.

Parental controls wasn't an option though. That was an intentional misuse of mechanics as a loophole to an unpopular policy change. Players will tell you when something is a terrible idea through action more than rampant screaming. My guess is Blizzard probably did a search after all the cancelled subs to see how many players suddenly had parental control changes on their accounts after the announcement.

[tmp]

Then, in pure Blizzard fashion, they assessed the real situation behind the rampant bitching and adapt to the correct business choice. They didn't continue to force a stupid and unpopular policy because of previous sunk costs/plans/egos when it wasn't panning out remotely with their customer base. This seems to be the lesson that other developers haven't learned when trying to compete with them in the market.

Makes you wonder what a "cancel your sub for appearance tab!" campaign could achieve

[Azazel]

So anyway, my (and my wife's) gamecards expired last night while we were playing (Monday, about 7-8pm our time). So I figure, we'll take a night or two off before resubscribing, instead of resubscribing an hour before bed, or on a night when maintainence is going to hit an hour after we log on. I figure we'll get on again tomorrow night, or hell, even on Friday night/the weekend.

So, after 24 hours, I get an email:

Greetings,
We'd like to make sure you're aware of the new privacy options we've introduced to Battle.net®. These options provide Real ID users with additional tools for customizing the service based on their preferences.
Real ID offers an optional, convenient way for keeping in touch with real-world friends you know and trust, whether they're playing World of Warcraft®, StarCraft® II, or one of our future games. The "Friends of Friends" and "Add Facebook Friends" features provide you with even more options to stay connected while you play:
 
 Friends of Friends enables a player's Real ID friends to see the first and last names of his or her other Real ID friends. This makes it easier for players to locate mutual real-world friends on Battle.net and invite these friends to join their own Real ID friends list.

 The Add Facebook Friends search tool displays the first and last names of a player's Facebook friends who are also on Battle.net and allows the player to send these friends a Real ID friend request.

The purpose of these optional features is to help players merge and expand their social networks of trusted friends on Battle.net by making it easier to add real-life friends to their in-game friends lists. By default, these features are available and enabled on most Battle.net accounts, but you can easily opt out of any or all of them by managing your Battle.net privacy settings. To modify these settings:

1. Visit http://www.battle.net/.


2. Log in to your Battle.net account.


3. Select "Settings" at the top of the page, and then select "Communication Preferences."


4. Under Privacy, you will find three checkboxes:

The first box enables Real ID. Un-checking this box will completely disable Real ID on this Battle.net account, preventing you from using any Real ID features and from sending/receiving Real ID invites to/from other players. If you've previously used Real ID, un-checking the box will remove all connected Real ID friends and remove you from Real ID friends lists you may already be on.


The second box enables Friends of Friends. Un-checking this box will prevent your name (as listed on this Battle.net account) from being displayed to your Real ID friends' other Real ID friends.


The second box enables Friends of Friends. Un-checking this box will prevent your name (as listed on this Battle.net account) from being displayed to your Real ID friends' other Real ID friends.


If parental controls are enabled on the account, then these features are disabled by default. Your parent needs to log in to parental controls to modify these settings.
As mentioned above, Real ID is designed to enhance your social gaming experience on Battle.net. However, we recognize that some players would like to use certain aspects of Real ID while disabling other aspects, or would like to disable the service completely, so it was important to us to offer these additional options as soon as possible. To learn more about the features and benefits of Real ID, visit http://www.battle.net/realid/.


Sincerely,
Blizzard Entertainment

 

[Hawkbit]

I got that too, but I'm subbed.  I think it's a standard mailing to all subscribers.

[Azazel]

Did you get it yesterday?

[Hawkbit]

Yep.

[Reg]

I just got that same REALID email and I haven't been subscribed for over a year. It's funny how they just can't admit that it was a bad idea and move on.