sorry this might be a stupid question
As Morpheus says: "Define `real'." :-)
They are "real" in the sense that they exist and are managed by FIDE. On the other hand, most players don't take them very seriously, or at least not nearly as seriously as "normal" OTB ratings.
When I was younger at least everyone knew the only rating that mattered was your national Rating or if possible FIDE Rating . Of course you can get an idea of what you can do by online Chess ... However Tournaments live Over The Board are different & many online players find out you sometimes spend hours gaining one rating point in an evening , Or play a weekend tournament live where you play so many hours & need patience
It's real and it's much easier to play or get a title compared to FIDE rated OTB events. It's their attempt to compete in the online space but being FIDE the implementation isn't great. People would consider online ratings here or on the big cheese to be more worthy.
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