Blizzard's Battle.net gets new social features

New social functionality comes to Battle.net, but be warned - it's enabled by default... here's how to opt out. UPDATE: Oops...

Blizzard has today rolled out a bunch of new privacy options for its Battle.net service, and they're worth paying attention to.

The company behind World of Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft sent out an email today to Battle.net subscribers explaining both what the new options mean and how to change them. But it's worth paying special attention to the fact that the new options - ‘Friends of Friends' and ‘Add Facebook Friends search tool' - are enabled by default.

Battle.net users will need to follow the below steps to opt out of the new options:
1. Visit http://www.battle.net/.
2. Log in to your Battle.net account.
3. Select "Settings" at the top of the page, and then select "Communication Preferences."
4. Under Privacy, you will find three checkboxes:
a. The first box enables Real ID. Un-checking this box will completely disable Real ID on this Battle.net account, preventing you from using any Real ID features and from sending/receiving Real ID invites to/from other players. If you've previously used Real ID, un-checking the box will remove all connected Real ID friends and remove you from Real ID friends lists you may already be on.
b. The second box enables Friends of Friends. Un-checking this box will prevent your name (as listed on this Battle.net account) from being displayed to your Real ID friends' other Real ID friends.
c. The second box enables Friends of Friends. Un-checking this box will prevent your name (as listed on this Battle.net account) from being displayed to your Real ID friends' other Real ID friends.
If parental controls are enabled on the account, then these features are disabled by default. Your parent needs to log in to parental controls to modify these settings.

Friends of Friends allows a player's Real ID friends to see the first and last names of their other Real ID friends, while the Add Facebook Friends option displays the full names of Facebook friends who are also on Battle.net.

UPDATE 12:48: It's just been pointed out to us that it looks like the Blizz-supplied directions are a touch... well, wrong. sub-steps b. and c. are identical - no doubt and unfortunate copy-paste error, proving that everyone makes mistakes (take note forum pedants!).

We've contacted Blizzard to find out what that elusive third step could be... stay tuned.

UPDATE 2:33: Okay, that third para is an editorial error of Blizzard's - that should refer to the Add Facebook Friends option.