Actually, Gear score does not read your RealID. Gearscore only shows you a score based on what gear you have. THat friends list window is the new friends list in WoW where it links your real ID and you can talk to friends across games.
you're both right and wrong, at the same time! you're right in what GS does and how RealID in WoW works, but wrong in what people are looking at ;p They are looking at the screenshot (proven to be doctored, by the way) where it displays a realid, presumably of the person it is targeting. For those uninformed: there IS a way to force the system through a script to display YOUR RealID by virtue of retrieving your index of known RealIDs (you are defaulted to be a RealID friend of yourself). However, you can not pull random people's RealIDs by any means.
Mike Morhaime, the CEO of Blizzard recently posted on official forums that your real name will not be required anymore for posting on the forums. They are "backing away" from it.
lmao, and after-the-fact the esrb displays an amazing amount of irony by (accidentally) violating the privacy of the people who were complaining to them about blizz's real-id violating their privacy! http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/12/esrb-accidentally-releases-email-addresses-of-real-id-complainan/
Indeed. I have to admit, I don't really like it much, considering most of the articles I have read, but I started playing WoW again last month when I was living out of a hotel because it was easy to pick up, and casual enough for my current work schedule. It is the only MMO I have gone back to repeatedly, mainly because I'm comfortable with it and been playing since launch. Aside from all of this, since I do not play with XoO due to my work schedule (afternoon/nights M-F), I do not play with RL friends (they all quit) and I mostly PUG. That being said, I don't have many, or really ANY, people on my friend's list / Real ID, so its not a huge problem to me, BUT if you are in a large guild, and have been for some years, then it is kinda cool to "share" that information with the people you have been playing with / growing with as a community the past years, or however long.