Metaverse Privacy Concerns

As an aside, I just noticed that everyone posting on this message board after registering their games gets to have their real name disclosed too?

Well I have my real name shown and its fine with me, most of the fellows at the Metaverse middle-aged and doent have these problems of beeing shy or writing fake names

/Andreas

I'm still "Mythor" here? So that, at least, hasn't been dragged out of my ordering info?

The Metaverse thing might just be because it's mostly just the beta testers and such that are on there? I've not even looked at that yet.

~SDC~

Dammit! Mine shows Ken's name because I entered his credit card info! Dammit, I Kimberly am the owner and player of this game! Brad, I wrote support@stardock.com asking them to change that information back on Sunday night. Can you have them correct this information please?

Kimberly, annoyed to have the wrong name listed.

~SDC~

I agree - I really don't like posting my real name publicly on the internet, and have created this account (click on my name to see what I mean) just to post messages. There really should be an option to not disclose your real name when submitting metaverse scores or when posting here.

Unless I find out there is an option to hide my real name, I know I will not be registering and submitting to the metaverse at all. I just don't feel comfortable putting my personal information in the hands of people that have no regard to my privacy. Forfeiting the metaverse will not doubt degrade my gaming experience somewhat, so ultimately I will have to factor that into my considerations of a purchase.

Nidaros:

I am not so much concerned about my name being released as I am about it being done without consent, and these concerns would remain regardless of my age or shyness. If it turns out that Stardock would reveal my real name without consent, what is to say I won't see my adress being posted in public someday too for example?

Mythor:

Having examined a few more player profiles, I would venture to say that your real name is only extracted forcefully after you register the game for online updates and the metaverse. Notice that your profile does not mention player name/ID, score, empire, and metaverse rating yet. From what SvZurich posted, it might be obtained by order info too if you have purchased it directly through Stardock.

Do people in real life know your real name??????

~SDC~

TLamming:

People in real life know my phone number, address, birthday, and a lot more too, yet I don't see how that relates to an involuntary release of personal information on the internet.

What is your point again?

Frankly, I choose to not reveal my legal name either on this 'net. There is more than enough crap out there in the so-called real world, yet there is even more of it on the 'net.

Elf

Yay! Got my name corrected, but then I couldn't log in. When they corrected the name, the email address was changed and a typo made it in. Hopefully that will be resolved soon, and I can log in with the typoed information for now. Brad, thank you very much for your help!

Kimberly, feeling much better!

~SDC~

*shrug*

~SDC~

I understand this will seem like a REALLY stupid quetion, but how do I access the metaverse?

~SDC~

On the main GalCiv page, it is between Forum and Screenshots on the top.


~SDC~

God... I feel like an idiot... I found the link moments after I posted... but thanks for the response anyway Sv!

~SDC~

One other question... how do you upload your score/game result to the metaverse... sorry for all these questions, but I've been at work and haven't played the game yet...

~SDC~

At the end of a game you get to choose if you want to submit it or not. If you choose yes it sends the gamedata over the net to the server. Need to be hooked up the the internet obviously

~SDC~

Thanks Fredrik,

Not only does the game seem to be brilliant (based upon everyone's feedback), but the response of the community (to admittedly stupid questions :D)

~SDC~

To get this thread back on topic: is there any chance we'll be seeing a privacy option any time soon?

I have never heard of a game forum or online game requiring players to divulge their real names to all their fellow players. There could potentially be a lot of people who are going to be upset with this when they find out their personal info is being made public in this way.

Okay, I finally got to submit to the Metaverse. Currently ranked 17th as "Mythor", and my player details don't divulge my name either. So it's not pulling the name out of the ordering info, at least.
Wasn't there an option somewhere that you had to enter a nickname to use instead of your real name?

~SDC~

I really don't understand this fear of people knowing your name. It makes me think of what the phone industry did when they introduced "callerID blocking". It was touted as a protection for the individual telephone customers, but the only people it protected was the telemarketers.

~SDC~

I don't know where they are pulling my name from - but the only place I put it was when signing up for drengin.net. If someone could tell me how I could change it so that my real name doesn't appear when posting here or on the metaverse (so it would be like Mythor's account), I would be very grateful.

Internet gamers have come to expect a particular level of privacy and anonymity - even if these are based in nothing more than paranoid fears or vague feelings, I see no reason why Stardock would want to force people to divulge personal information that they would rather not (for whatever reason) be divulged.

I don't think they do. I just don't understand why anyone cares if their real name is available in some way unless they have nefarious intents.

~SDC~

I don't care if my real name shows. There must be thousands of people with my name out there. As long as my e-mail address doesn't show I'm happy. Now what I'd like to know is how did some of you get the state and country in your info sheet? For instance, Lucky Jack - when I click your name it tells me you're in OR. How do I get CO in mine?

~SDC~

Stevious: I think that comes from those of us who bought directly from StarDock, though it might be specific to Drengin.net users. I'm one, and my state shows up.

I think the point here is that some people simply don't want their real names to show up. They don't need to justify that to anyone else; their reasoning is their own, and it isn't anyone else's business what those reasons are.

*You* might not be concerned over the posting of your real name, but that's irrelevant. By your very admission the privacy concern isn't of any interest to you. On the other hand, this also means you have no right to question the motives of others in this regard, nor to imply that they're up to something 'nefarious'. This sort of reasoning is the same thing used in real life to destroy privacy, e.g., "only criminals and ne'er-do-wells want privacy - are you one of them???"

So the original poster has it right: privacy should be implemented for those who want it. Those who don't can continue with the current system. Both parties are satisfied and everyone is happy. The only people left unhappy are the ones who insist that no one has a right to privacy, and these rude, uncivilized folks are best ignored in any event.

Max