[Sarajo]

First of all, tread carefully when you start stepping into the territory of "telling other people how to enjoy their leisure activities". Even I'm tiptoeing because maybe you enjoy ranting for the sake of getting reactions.
Second: People /anon for a variety of reasons, just as people keep /anon off for a variety of reasons. Sometimes you're a professional teleporter but are in a group and can't keep declining your usual clientele who are begging for ports, so you make an arrangement of "Don't bother me when I'm /anon; it means I am not available"
Maybe you're camping a rare spawn for a rare drop for a friend, and it's a surprise gift, and you don't want to let them know where you are or what you're up to.
Sometimes you are hiding from high-level griefers.
Sometimes you are in and out of AFK and don't want to deal with the "What are you doing in _____ zone? " "Hello?" "??????" "y r u ignoring me" tells.

In a certain other MMO, there was no /anon mode, and their management even believed in global IDs that could not be hidden once you were on each others' friends list, so people could send you the tells like "Oh I see you're on X server playing your X level X class in X zone" - could it be any more stalkery?

I'm sorry others' desire for privacy somehow ruins your game experience.

Originally Posted by tristantio [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I wish more games had /anon and /role, have there even been any since EQ?

City of Heroes had some pretty good options, even letting you go so far as to completely hide from other player searches.

Originally Posted by Daldaen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

/anon and /role shouldn't exist at all. Worst addition to game well ahead of exp penalties for hybrids and such.

It especially shouldn't exist on PvP servers though. You should be able to hunt down whoever you want. Being able to anon/role on a PvP server is absolutely retarded.

I don't know how to put this any more diplomatically, but in working with terrorists and insurgents and sex offenders and other predators I saw this mentality a lot. It's called "rationalization" in the social sciences. Or was that the NSA's "If you have nothing to hide, why do you care if someone sees what you're doing on the internet?" policy? I am completely ignoring your PVP comment because I don't care what they consent to by playing on a PVP server, but here on a blue server a player should have the right not to be followed around virtually. EQ and other MMOs are escapism, right? We play to escape real life. Some players have similar pressures in real life (being followed around, feeling trapped and out of control of their own lives, being stalked by someone) that they're trying to get away from.

For any further reading on why you're not entitled to know what other people are doing at all times, refer back to that time Blizzard thought it was a good idea to attach real names to forum posts.

Originally Posted by SamwiseRed [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

anon/role are useful especially on pvp servers. how about instead of /who all'ing them you just send a tell and talk to them. this is a social mmo afterall.

I love it! In fact, the only time EQ live turned off was on Discord server (Hardcore PVP) because part of the hardcore-ness was not being able to hide, and perma-death. Unfortunately it degenerated into a hack-fest. "Who could have seen that coming?"
Discord was a great experience that deserves a whole 'nother forum post, so I'll stop here. /anonymous and /roleplay are classic.