even if 'enemies' of the realm do try to exploit the chat, wouldn't there be 'allies' of the realm to warn players of the former's intentions?
It depends on the community and what is comprise of so that is going to be rather dynamic, safe to say.
even if the realm chat does turn into a spammy chatroom, people arent forced to read it, they can simply hide the chat.
- certainly there would be an option to mute/ignore problematic players, at least on the user's end
- certainly moderation power can be delegated to the owners of the realm. it is their realm after all
The problem is if trolls spam the chat that it makes it a must to disable the chat, it destroys the purpose of the function of the chat itself. The muting can be circumvented by making alts. Some sort of moderation can be good but I am worried that if it is easy to make a realm, then someone that make realm just to make sock puppet voices.
isnt it the responsibilty of the player to know whether or not a player can be trusted? personally, I trust no one while playing this game.
It is and people can be deceived, but as stated above it varies depending on the community.
realm chat would enable
-instant question answering for noobs
-trade to some degree
-warning players about incoming raids
-hosting realm events
Hosting realm event might be a pretty good reason to keep interest in the chat and of the realm. That being said, it also seems like the function gravitating towards making a public chat for the game in general.