BioWare Mythic says "Never!" to Real ID

The problem here is the REAL part of it. Just having communications between their games isn't the problem, its just the fact that it displays your real name without an option to not show that.

So, yes, she may be stating something true in that they won't have a RealID system, but they could still come up with some form of IM between games that doesn't require or show a person's true name but uses a specific username.

We know that Activision has plans to connect all of their games. It's only a matter of time.

We do? News to me.

I dont think Carrie Gouskos has much say about what EA - Bioware do. She was the last resort to take over WAR when pretty much everyone else had left. She was 5th Producer in 2 months ? Something like that.

You can qoute my dog and claim he is talking on behalf of EA/Bioware. His Woff Wooff would be as big news as Carrie Gouskos opening her mouth.

But they could have done it without using your real name. Paragon Studios' City of Heroes has had Global Names for years, allowing you to see who is on what character on what server, and also has 'advanced' features such as the ability to hide globally, from local friends, from searches, etc. Impressive for a team of, at the time, 11 or so people. Blizzard is a giant and can't even get in-game options to disable RealID and forces you to go to log into the website.

Yes, the idea behind it is great, see who is on, what they are playing, etc. It's the implementation was poorly done, almost like they weren't thinking (or were rushing it out to meet the SC2 launch). As the BioMyth GM stated, "for a group that is so close to their community, it was amazing that they misread it that poorly." This is why I am waiting to see what their plans are with ReaID before I buy any more of their products.

I think it goes way to far to compare Hitler with Blizzard! And you are right its a old game and the 1-60 content of WoW did not age well that's why they redoing most of the 1-60 content. Blizzard did keep WoW alive all this years like they did keep adding content. They keep opening the door for more people to play it. Sure months may go by sometimes that noting is added to the game but there Blizzard teasing marketing going on.

Also the RealID news that was so bad was that they gonna use RealID for forum post and you was not able to post without reveal your Real name... However they did understand the huge problem after some time and 100000 of post all over the internet. And they did take it back.

The RealID in the game is clearly only for your true friends! they remember you every single step you need do to add someones RealID to be careful.

Ah, the Hitler comparison. Thus any chance at rational debate gets thrown out the window.

Developers do NOT have the ability to deny what their parent wants.

If EA says something is to be done like Real ID, then it will be done.
Mythic-Bioware can't stop it, they can only quit. Game developers are not hard to replace, just a little above average in difficulty to replace.

If Bioware wants something they need EA's approval.
If EA wants something, then bioware has no choice in the company.

Guild Wars has been doing that since release, and it didn't need to show real names for that. You add one character to your friends list and you are able to see when he's online even if it's on another character at that same account.

That's the key of the issue - showing real names. It would perfectly fine if it worked like Steam, no need for real names.

I think Scott summed it up the best -

Scott Jennings @ Broken Toys

"The debate by those in favor of Blizzard’s actions have been largely to the degree of “well, I don’t mind if my real name is out there, so what’s the big deal?” As noted by the fact that these blog posts are authored by Scott Jennings and not Lum the Gnome Warlock, I don’t particularly mind, either.

However, I made that choice. One should not deny others the ability to make choices regarding their privacy simply because you did not find them necessary."

EA absolutely owns Bioware. SOE has nothing to do with the Star Wars MMO in development by Bioware, I have no idea where you got the idea SOE is involved in this title. Lucasarts owns the IP.