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Nintendo Frowns On Sharing Friend Codes

Nintendo DSI'm trying to wrap my brain around this one and I just can't figure it out.  Maybe you can explain the rationale behind this to me.  Basically, what we have here is that Nintendo DS titles that can connect to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection allow for people to race against people they know through the use of Friend Codes.  These are unique twelve digit codes generated by the system.  In order for friends to race against friends, both friends must enter the Friend Code of the other player into their Nintendo DS.  Simply plugging someone's Friend Code into your Nintendo DS is pointless if the other person does not plug in your own Friend Code into their DS.

Now then, over on the official Nintendo forums it's been decided that forum members are not to post or swap Friend Codes in any way on the forum.  Isn't the whole idea behind the Friend Code to give out that magic number?  Keeping your own Friend Code a secret just guarantees that nobody will ever race against you in Friends mode.  Why the secrecy?  Why would Nintendo want people to keep these codes to themselves on the forums?  Keep in mind that it's not possible to communicate with other players during a game.  There's no danger of being able to seduce young children to the park with promises of candy and funny stories through the network.  Friend Codes only allow people who know one another to race together; no more, no less.  So, I ask again: what's the harm in sharing the codes?

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