Blizzard Implements New Battle.net RealID Privacy Options  | read this item

The way that players identify themselves in Starcraft 2 has changed a bit from the beta phases of the game. A lot of the changes were prompted by the advent of Battlenet 2.0, Blizzard’s one-stop social stop for all things Blizzard. The system is integrated in all aspect of Blizzard gaming. From World of Warcraft to Starcraft 2 to eventually Diablo.

One of the bigger changes has come with the partnership between Facebook and Blizzard that has given us the RealID system integrated into the lastest BattleNet system. The identification system that has become available has allowed players to find each other across all Blizzard games. The system, however, didn’t allow for much privacy. There was no way to become invisible to the system or to other players. On top of that, you basically had to be a part of Facebook at that point.

Well, Blizzard has answered that by introducing some new privacy options that should alleviate a lot of questions and concerns from the BattleNet community.

From the Blizzard Community Blog:

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.