Real ID is one of the most important new features for the new Battle.net. How will it affect you?

It looks like Battle.net, Blizzard's online matchmaking website, is getting all social network-ish. The new Battle.net will be a social framework for players of all Blizzard games, starting with World of Warcraft and extending to new games, like July's StarCraft II. Players of these games will gain access to an achievement system, a marketplace, a state of the art matchmaking system and more.

One of the new features Blizzard is buzzing about is its Real ID friend system. By choosing to become someone's Real ID friend you will now be able to see their real name right next to all of their character's names in all the Blizzard games they play. You'll be able to do cross-game chat with your Real ID friends, as well, and see what games and modes they're playing when they're online. So if you're trying to find a buddy to play StarCraft II with, you won't have to worry that your invite will be interrupting an important WoW raid.

There's also a new feature where you'll be able to post a "Broadcast" message that will go out to all your Real ID friends and check to see what messages your Real ID friends have posted. It sounds a bit like the "Bulletins" from Myspace. Kudos to Blizzard for adding simplicity and deeper social networking elements to Battle.net, and doing away with having to manage multiple passwords.

For more, or to make an account, check out the new Battle.net.