Apple’s Game Center wants your real name

Apple's Game Center has just made itself a few enemies, through a simple change to their Terms of Service. Now, whenever you send a friend invitation, your real name will be attached as well as your Apple ID.

IMPORTANT NOTE: We have changed the Game Center terms and conditions to provide you notice that if you send a friend invitation, the full name associated with your Apple ID will be shared with the recipient. If you accept a friend invitation, the full name associated with your Apple ID will be shared with the sender.

According to TouchArcade, real names are only displayed on the push alerts that accompany friend confirmation, but nobody's sure if Apple will stop the introduction there or not. Other alerts and notifications could be included in future updates.

It's not yet known whether this change will mean your previously-added friends can now see your real name, or if the information is just for newcomers.

Now, as shown when Blizzard tried a similar move earlier this year, gamers tend to get a bit protective when it comes to personal details. What will this mean for Game Center and iOS gaming?

(Image courtesy TouchArcade)

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6 Responses to “Apple’s Game Center wants your real name”

1. Android OS news » Apple’s Game Center Shares Your Real Name says:

   December 1, 2010 at 1:21 am

   [...] through a simple change to their Terms of Service. Now, whenever you send a friend invitation, your real name will be attached as well as your Apple ID.” Apparently they didn’t learn from the poor reaction to [...]

   Reply
2. Tweets that mention Apple’s Game Center wants your real name « GamePron -- Topsy.com says:

   December 1, 2010 at 4:05 am

   [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Nikhil Menon, GamePron. GamePron said: GamePron: Apple's Game Center wants your real name http://bit.ly/hgs1I2 [...]

   Reply
3. GamePron News Season 1, Episode 12 « GamePron says:

   December 3, 2010 at 11:23 pm

   [...] sneaking into the tail end of 2010, and details on just how Apple is upsetting gamers through a simple change to their Terms of [...]

   Reply
4. » Diciembre 2 Cibermania.TV says:

   December 7, 2010 at 10:14 am

   [...] Apple Game center comparte tu nombre de usuario ademas de tu apple id [...]

   Reply
5. doing says:

   December 22, 2010 at 9:55 pm

   Both systems have their own unique strengths. But from a technical standpoint, the PS3 has much more horsepower and support for a wider range of high resolution video and audio. But despite becoming a year older, the Xbox 360 remains surprisingly competitive in some locations.

   Reply
6. Game Center Games says:

   September 29, 2011 at 6:15 pm

   I am really loving game center myself. I just hope they continue to push the envelope with it. I do not see anything wrong with using our real names myself. I mean, why would someone have a problem with that anyways?

   The one thing I would really love to see is one of the features that xbox live has. On xbox live you can go into Facebook and choose to find your Facebook friends that have xbox live, and then add them. It would be awesome if game center had a feature similar to this. It would make finding my friends so much easier.

   Reply

Article Details

• published: November 30th, 2010
• by: Jessica Citizen
• in: Company: Apple, Company: Blizzard, Game Center, Real ID, Real Name
• comments: 6

Author Bio:

I like video games, fishing, Depeche Mode, long walks on the beach, writing discussion papers and cups of tea. Not necessarily in that order.

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