Blizzard just made sure ...

[Zich]

Incidentally, this whole situation just made sure I won't be using the ESRB again.

Sweet, delicious irony.

I am on that list of 961 emails that got picked up in the reply-all. The Irony is even more poignant to me, as my complaint had nothing to do with forum-RealID implementation.. bad timing I guess >.<

Fortunately I used a throw-away address that doesn't link to my real life easily. The reply-all chatter that it fired off has been hilarious. I've gotten numerous delicious recipes, discovered pop-tarts are a globally loved food, and been invited to numerous groups and parties dedicated to this goof-up (I'm waiting for the inevitable in-game guild to form, though the server is up for debate atm). I have been quite entertained by the constant stream of replies and the tangents they go out on.

Back to the RealID issue: I've decided my biggest issue is that I am the consumer and I PAY Blizzard for a product. If they want to sell me, then there had better be realized gains on my behalf (opt-in for lower monthly fee?), otherwise that info I gave them to pay for their service isn't theirs to make an extra dime with. End of Story.

Also, every single implemented and planned RealID use I have seen, would be orders of magnitude better and more widely used with a gamertag. RealID is failure to respect the players, in its most pure form. How many 'voluntary' services can you add before you are simply just denying services to equal-paying customers?