Are you protective of your alts?

"Everyday we take the Massive daily posts and bring them to Dragoon discussions. We would like to thank Massively for their original content."

The other day I realized that EverQuest II's website makes my alternate characters viewable to anyone who knows the name of my main. SOE theoretically gives me the option to toggle the public access functionality on each of my characters, but they're viewable by default (and there's currently a website bug that prevents my profile from being edited).

Character lookups aren't unique to EQII of course. Titles as diverse as Lord of the Rings Online, World of Warcraft, and EVE Online pipe in-game information to external websites all the time. What is unique, though, is forcing players to divulge the names of their alts -- even though in this case it's unintended. Though SOE has been polite enough in support ticket communications, its insistence that it can't fix its own website (and thus allow me the option of turning off the public profiles), leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

For today's Daily Grind, tell us about your feelings on alt anonymity. Did you know (and do you care) that SOE broadcasts your alts for the world to see? What are your feelings on the practice as it relates to other MMORPGs?

TH