What do you do when someone asks you for personal information?

How much personal information are you willing to give out in the game? I've had players ask me for Skype, my personal Facebook account, what city do I live in, what do I think about politics and religion, and what I do for a living. I've been deflecting the questions when the talk has turned personal and at one point said, "I'd prefer not to talk about personal stuff." I got told off by a returning player from P99, who told me I came across as unfriendly and uptight.

I'm fine sharing some personal information with guildmembers I've known quite a while, but someone in a pickup group? Not a chance. You can be plenty friendly and outgoing in EQ without giving near strangers your Skype address or access to your FB friends list.

Just say "It ruins my immersion man, I was born in East Freeport among a bunch of necromancers doing laundry. I will ruin your lands".

That should placate them.

I roll male toons, so nobody ever asks.

Tell em to go take a flying leap. Nobody is obligated to share any personal information. The vast majority of players won't ask for anywhere near that, you obviously met a creep. Put em on ignore and forget about em.

Personal facebook is definitely weird for a stranger... but I had someone refuse to tell me what time zone they lived in. I was just curious and was fine with it... but talk about uptight. Maybe they were only 12??

/ignore
give them the name of a saint "Peter / Paul / Mary / Anne / etc
say you're 70 and looking for someone to take care of your financial needs... Oh do you have some money? I'll let you buy me a plane ticket to come meet for lunch, I can't believe I met someone so fast on this server, it usually takes a couple of months....

Honestly if you can play this game you should be well aware of what is reasonable.

If they ask where you live... a major city or state should be fine. Address probably not so much.

Ask your name, first name is good. Whole name and social security not so much.

Fb, phone number, skype... I guess if you're thirsty, then sure.

Sounds more like a stalker or someone with bad intentions.

Never ask people personal information in games, unless they come forward themselves. If they wanted to tell they already would have. It's for them to share if they want to, it's not for me to ask.

I never ask people what they do for a living or about their personal family situation. Often...not always, but often...people play games to get their mind away from that stuff to begin with.

Skype is a no-go. It may have changed, but at one point it exposed your IP address which could open you up to a ddos attack.

Otherwise, I really don't mind talking about personal info. It's not like I'm going to give my full real name. I don't use facebook anyway and have a dedicated twitter just for gaming. Closest thing to social networking I do.

They person who said I am too uptight is on ignore now.

This is a taste of how they acted...

Monk: "It'd be useful to have you in my groups. When do you play?" (My wife and I play a cleric and enchanter)
TT: "I don't know. My play times are random."
Monk: "You could add me to Facebook messenger and Skype and we can plan groups through there."
TT: "No thanks."
Monk: "LOL. Don't want people to see who you voted for? Don't worry. I don't care if you voted for Killary."
TT: "LOL. I only add people I know in real life."
Monk: "My Facebook page is fun. Your loss."
Monk: "Would you like to group on Sunday?"
TT: "I can't. We have church."
Monk; "Which faith?"
TT: "Brell."
Monk: "I'm Baptist. Do you look like your character?"
TT: "LOL."
Monk: "I look like a dwarf. I can send you a photo on Skype. Want to see?"

Sounds like you were just getting trolled

Tell the creeper to buzz off. Seriously, that stuff is impertinent at the least, and rude if they don't stop when you ask them to.

It has in fact changed. You have the option to use non-direct connections now. I believe it is now the default setting.

THAT'S MY PURSE!!! I DON'T KNOW YOU!!!!!!!

Ok, this is an easy one.
Tell them (and anyone you don't know probing for information for that matter) that you don't give out personal information to strangers on the internet....because your not f-ing stupid.
End of conversation.
If they persist, add them to ignore.

I will let you in on a secret. My name is not really Bob Jones. He's my alter ego on the internet and in game in the event people want to get friendly. I have a whole back story and everything.

If I meet someone I want to group with again I might ask them what time zone they are in and if they usually play around this time but would probably start avoiding people who ask me more than that. There are quite a few people I know in game that I am now friends with outside of game but that takes months to develop and not something anyone reasonable should expect when first meeting.

reason 742 you know EQ is an old game, everyone still thinks people on the internet are these dark and dangerous people you must not interact with outside of the game

Taliefer please, I don't even want to interact with these people in game