Public ID (Merged with DS's suggestion)

[Dark_Angel]

I can't help but notice that the vast majority of players are playing anonymously. (I.e their public profile isn't viewable when you click their in-game name). Edit 22/4 - Now we're later in the round there are far more people who have gone "public" - however this issue will presumably come about next round too.

The only reason I can come up with is that people are concerned that when attackers are vetting possible targets, they're worried these individuals will check their ID history to get an idea of their experience (and therefore don't want to reveal their public profile atall). Said attackers could also use information from a person's profile to get an idea of whether they're offline (based on their timezone).

Would it be possible to offer options, in ID preferences, that allows you to select and deslect what bits of your public profile are shown when someone clicks it in-game?

For example you can deselect every box apart from "User profile picture" - and the only thing that will come up when people click your name is your picture.

Atm this piece of functionality is being ignored/neglected by the playerbase - Yet a lot of people supported its implementation.

Thoughts?

 

[willymchilybily]

I think maybe some people are too lazy, and some people scared to identify themselves at the tsart because some people play in the same allies frequently and it would allow easy identification of an allie its members, and now its acreage, and score

though personally i like the option so have it enabled. and as a result Ram, realised it was me and recalled

ps. kind of similar but sperate issue. I know all id's are banned from being mentioned in irc, forums. but surely if you have your own id set to public, then there is no harm in posting your own id? or is it more a preventive step as once you let one person do it then others may. i assume its easier to have it that no one can post any id's than people allowed to post thier own. Or may there be some room for this to be reconsidered?

 

[Steve_God]

Could be a 'round start' thing... I know I turned mine off for anonymity at the round start to keep my id secret, although now the round has been practically decided I'll now change it

 

[pinpower]

Yeah, same as Steve...i didnt want everyone to instantly know my ID at round start.

BUT i agree with DA in a way, although i hadnt really thought about it...people that are active in the community will know alot of the more active players, similarly if they click on someone and they are unknown/have a poor round history they will instantly appear a better target.

x

 

[Azzer]

I'll have a think on more specific options, but I'm not sure specific options themselves would make somebody otherwise hiding their details, suddenly show them. Besides, if you don't want your ID's to be listed... you can hide them in your profile settings page... and if you don't hide them there, then what's to stop someone looking up your "full" account profile after seeing your nickname in-game?

But on the subject itself - I'd really like to see more people show themselves. I think the "anonymous" nature of alliances, and ID's, is holding the game back from mass-appeal... I could easily be wrong, but how many games do you play where you have no idea what guild/alliance/clan somebody is in when they attack you, or you have no idea who it is you're fighting against? I've already started making things a little bit more "public/community" with showing alliance scores/land etc. and the option for people to make their ID's "public", but I'd definitely like to push this further where possible... without upsetting all the current players who are so obsessed with anonimity.

 

[nopjes]

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Moderated by Pinpower
Reason: Im guessing the post was a mistake...as it contains only a fullstop

 

[Alcibiades]

My ID has been public for about a week; and frankly, the only 'bonus' so far is that people mail spam me saying 'OMG ALCI IT'S YOU' without revealing who they are, or without adding much in general to my game experience.

I've found that I switch it on and off as well. If i'm participating in an ally attack or something in which i wish to remain anonymous, i'll hide my ID and then later unhide it. mostly to avoid mail spam and people mailing me 'simply because they know my nick'. It also leads to random IRC PMs from people who 'noticed my ID in W1 and just thought they'd message me...' WTF?!

I like the idea of having public IDs, but so far I can't say my experience has been overwhelmingly positive. I do like that i'm able to hand out a whooping (or alternatively be whooped) and have people know who did it or who they killed. It's a little more public/prominent a fight.

 

[saint1d]

The problem with revealing your account is that people will know your timezone.

 

[Martin]

The problem with revealing your account is that people will know your timezone.

That's the main issue IMO, it's the only reason I am noting every username in my playernotes, so if they go private again I can go on their user profile and scope out their timezone, therefore to work out when they can't run.

It's up to people if they wish to have their ID public or not. I like having mine quiet for once!

 

[Alcibiades]

My online times are erratic enough that simply looking at my profile won't get my achilles heel outed. For those people with regular lives it would be a bit of a giveaway.

 

[harriergirl]

My online times are erratic enough that simply looking at my profile won't get my achilles heel outed. For those people with regular lives it would be a bit of a giveaway.

Same here, I started out private but set my ID public about a week -2 weeks ago. So far I've only gotten hate mail from those I attacked =

 

[timtadams]

My online times are erratic enough that simply looking at my profile won't get my achilles heel outed. For those people with regular lives it would be a bit of a giveaway.

haha, same here

I could be awake till 1 am or up at 4-5 to go to uni, and i could be on anytime there

And ive been public the whole round. But not many people know me anyway so its not really a problem for me

 

[Cyrus]

id get slaughtered, therefore im not ever making my id public

 

[No-Dachi]

My resoning for hiding my ID is much like Martin's: I enjoy my sleep. However Alci, I believe that kind of spam you are receiving would be lessened if every account was public.

I agree with Azzer that most games will show you what guild/ally players are in, but most games are also using longer ticks, meaning they are less vulnerable for mass incoming with offline/uncontactable members. I'd like to try it out one round, but I fear the solos are gonna receive quite a bashing =/

 

[Polo]

I only made my public because everyone thought I was Martin and it was annoying.

I think this feature is fine as it is and will probably be used more nearer the end of a round. But perhaps the tooltips could show whether an ID is public or not because, personally, I never click on an ID unless I'm sending them a mail so I'll never know if that ID is public.

 

[Max]

But perhaps the tooltips could show whether an ID is public or not because, personally, I never click on an ID unless I'm sending them a mail so I'll never know if that ID is public.

This is the thing for me, you see, I would like to know whether an ID is public or not without having to click on their name.

I mean, my ID has been public since the round start. I've actually been attacked by someone before who said 'you know, I think I know you from somewhere...' but didn't think to click on my ID and find out in 2 seconds

So, I would say that putting whether or not an ID is public would be a MUST HAVE for a tooltip

Apart from that, any serious players would be suicidal for making their ID public.

 

[pinpower]

i actually see alot of peoples profiles (or if they have them up at least) as this round i've made use of the change where if you click on someones name there is intelligence buttons there...to save you having to go to intel and input the ID (its useful for when playing from my phone).

I'll be making my profile public later in the round, but not atm for the reasons above!
x

 

[Alcibiades]

Apart from that, any serious players would be suicidal for making their ID public.

Definitely agree that it is made visible on the tooltip! Also, I've been using the tab option for my intel sweeps, and using the intel buttons which is fantastic, so I see every public profile of all the people i hack, which helps decide on targetting some days.

As for it being suicide, after the first week your ID is probably out anyways if you're one of those 'serious' players and so long as you are contactable and have a flexible activity schedule, you'll be fine

 

[f0xx]

"Public only" option on the search page.

 

[CLem]

i have had my ID public since the start and people don't need to even click on my ID to know it is me though i do agree with Max that it will be nice to not HAVE to click into someone's ID to see that they are public. Maybe a little [P] in front of their name.