is there any support for separation of identities when joining community groups ?

[pinyatapalooka]

hi.
i have some questions about the 'groups' shown on the community page.
first, are they the same thing as the 'usergroups' that may appear in my user control panel settings ?

second, what happens if i join a community group (whether public, public by invitation, private by invitation)?
how much of my profile info is shared with other group members ?
i would be ok with all my game and karma ratings being shown, but may prefer not to share any information about my pre-existing 'friend' links, because other people i have played with on bga may not wish to be linked to groups i have joined (e.g. by appearing as participants in games i have played where they and i have used our login account names).

could i set my profile (or my group membership connection) to show (display) a different avatar and account name (i.e. an alias) when interacting with a group (i.e. on the group's membership page and chat windows) ?

the bga terms of service only allow me to register one account, which currently only supports (displays) one avatar and one account name.

[SwHawk]

first, are they the same thing as the 'usergroups' that may appear in my user control panel settings ?

BGA groups you belong to can be seen in your profile, under the groups tab. I believe the usergroups you're referring to in the user control panel are forum groups, which are only used in the forums (and there aren't that many of them...).

second, what happens if i join a community group (whether public, public by invitation, private by invitation)?
how much of my profile info is shared with other group members ?
i would be ok with all my game and karma ratings being shown, but may prefer not to share any information about my pre-existing 'friend' links, because other people i have played with on bga may not wish to be linked to groups i have joined (e.g. by appearing as participants in games i have played where they and i have used our login account names).

Your profile and all the information therein are already publicly available except for those settings you chose not to disclose to everyone (for example, your age isn't show if you don't enter your birthday, and city can be hidden or shown by clicking a checkbox). Otherwise, groups joined, friends, games are publicly available for everyone... So basically joining a group will not reveal information that is already accessible by other means.

could i set my profile (or my group membership connection) to show (display) a different avatar and account name (i.e. an alias) when interacting with a group (i.e. on the group's membership page and chat windows) ?

No