Beyond the Void.

Enyetami
Level 2 Tauren Hunter
Realm: Bloodscalp

1. Why I cancelled my WoW account | 12/28/2004 6:51:57 PM PST


I recently cancelled my account on WoW, largely because of the violation of my right to privacy that is a built-in feature of the game. I expect that I'm in the minority in even thinking about this, but privacy rights are very important to me and I am unwilling to compromise them.

The "add friends" option allows any player in the game to trivially monitor the comings and goings of any other player. I enjoy meeting other players in the game, but I've played long enough now that when I log in about 30 people send messages saying hello. This is disturbing -- before I've even had a chance to sit down at my desk, everyone and their brother knows exactly what I'm doing in real life.

Blizzard provides a "do not disturb" flag that absolutely misses the essential point. It's irritating to be deluged with messages from friends, but they are after all friends and I can just ask them to leave me in peace. The greater point is that people I don't even know can monitor when I play the game. Indeed, they can monitor exactly where I go in the virtual world using the /who command! Going /dnd doesn't change any of that one bit.

I have a job, a family, and other obligations. I like to take a little time to play Warcraft, but I am quite sure that a lot of people would prefer I were attending to their needs rather than play a computer game. As long as those people can track my use of the game so easily, it just doesn't make sense for me to continue my subscription. I'll go back to reading quietly in real life cafes, where at least my privacy is under my own control.

This is beyond paranoid! I don't know what is going on in this persons life that has them afraid that someone might see them log on... but it doesn't make me unhappy that this weirdo is leaving.

On and if you read this Enyetami... I am watching you!