Friends Lists & Player Privacy

First off, to any naysayers that may be reading this, my apologies for me "creating a thread when another thought came to my head." But this one is for a legitimate concern. If you don't like it, you can kiss off and put me on ignore. I really don't care.

Anyways, what bugs me is that you can put any player on your friends list within the game, without their consent. Which doesn't really protect their privacy, nor does that sit well with me. Just now when I logged into one of my alts in the game, I was immediately sent a blind group invite by a player that I have had absolutely ZERO INTERACTION with before. The last time I was playing on this alt, I was going through some missions and this player saw me, and tried to send me group invites a few times. Well, I have those on auto ignore, cause I hate blind group invites. (Don't get me started on those.) But what I don't appreciate is that this fool put me on his friends list, then sends me an invite the second that I come online. I realize that we have functions to ignore a person, to block invites for many things, but what this game lacks is something that protects a person's privacy such as being added to another person's friends list without prior consent. I would like to feel that I can come online, log into the game, without some random person sending me invites or messages the moment I log in, especially from someone that I don't even know.

Devs please, you need to fix this. There has to be some way that instead of just adding a person to your friends list, it instead sends a request which can be either approved or denied, along with the option to block any further requests if its denied. I cannot be the only player who values their privacy.

I'm sorry I should've sent you a tell before I sent the invite. I'll do that next time.

It's fun to pm someone that you have never seen in-game. How was lunch?

Three courses, cause im rich.

I how put lots of people in friendlist since 2011. People that i have never even spoke to.

Funny thing happened just few days ago. Person who i havent seen login since original servers, logged in. It is very rare to see someone that long gone.

I have changed my ign from those days, so i doubt that anyone with long pause regognize me in game anymore. However. Here is the funny part... Immediately after he logged in i sent him a tell "That was some long brb, mate". He logged off, maybe i scared him

Lol good one

Bit off-topic, but im wondering what _III after name means? Some of those long gones have that.

Ignore all invites in the settings.

/thread

As I recall that came when the servers merged. When the game first launched there were several servers and of course some people used the same name for their character. When the merge happened they added the underscore and extension

I could be wrong, but I can’t think of a server with that extension? Any other old heads know that one?

That just seems like someone wanted an extra space to add “the 3rd”...lol

I dont think there was ever a server called III. I had 3 characters with same name and two less played got _server initials after name.

There are quite few of those _III in my friendlist, maybe if you are gone long enough you become _III?

People use the upper case I's and the lower case L's before and after their name to make it different from others that are already in use. At least that's how I see it. I've seen plenty of names like that. I just assumed they were like that to make them different. Perhaps I have been looking at some names that have been in the game for a long time?

As I said in the original post, I am completely aware of the ignore functions, and I have been using them. All of those features does not prevent any unwanted people from adding you to their friends list.

I don't think there is any problem with this. Just tell them to either stop Nina inviting you and leave. Do it enough and people will stop doing it.

"Legitimate concern" I lol'd. It's such a concern, that Playstation long-ago made proximity identification a feature.


Because, see on Playstation you can click a button that says "players met" and it will show a list of all the players that you've been nearby, or in sessions with, in every game you have. The Devs have no control over this AT ALL. It's a Playstation feature, not an in-game feature.

Also, it's an mmorpg, strangers might talk to you. *gasp*

I did have a legitimate laugh though, so a legitimate thanks for that!

have you considered single player games?

There's a difference between randomly meeting players who just happen to play a game at the same time as you, and placing people on a watchlist and being able to observe their login behavior without them knowing or approving it. It's a privacy concern.

Thank you. At least someone gets it, and not feeling the need to mock the concern.

It would be one thing if the other person and I talked for an "X" amount of time. If we actually interacted in one form or another during the game, whether thats just talking in shout chat, or just happened to be in the same group during a raid. OR if we were in the same league together. That I can understand, and its bound to happen. But when its some completely random person, that you don't know, haven't talked to at all, where you don't know a thing about the person, and you're not in a league with them, as Crimson said it does become a privacy concern. Because in a way, it feels a little like stalking. Now I know that the other person wasn't meaning it that way, but it can still come off like that. Taking myself out of the equation here and out of the issue, I have seen first hand plenty of other pervs in this game harassing other people, including females. All it takes is one sick pup to add a player to their friends list without consent whether ignored or not, and that person may not feel safe anymore. When I saw that invite come up yesterday the second I logged in, from this person I didn't know, I couldn't help but to feel a bit weirded out from it. Its like "I don't know you. Why are you adding me?" Some people don't waste any time when messaging or inviting someone the moment they come on. Its like pouncing, and I'm not okay with that either.

And let me just say, if you're going to mock my concern on the issue, just move on and go to another thread. Don't bother replying. Because I'm really not in the mood for ignorance right now. (And that was speaking in general, not to any specific person. Though you know who you are.)

I will give the OP credit. This is the only online game I've played where a player could add you to their Friend List without approval. Now given I have only played WildStar and Hearthstone, but in both you must approve being placed on a Friend's List prior to it going through. You simply get a notification that says "Player's Name" has sent you a Friend Request." You can then click Yes or No. WoW works the same way essentially as well.

Seems that it would be a relatively easy thing to implement into DC and I don't see the harm in it.

I personally just add people as friends sometimes to use them as phasing destinations.