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how will registered username bans work?

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 8:52 pm
by loophole
I was going to post this question to the announcment thread about the no IP-posting policy
JeffM2501 wrote:if your server is doing global auth, you'll pick up any username bans or removals automaticly
How will this work exactly? would a username ban only prevent people from playing with that username, or would you ban people from creating usernames from a certain IP or what?

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 9:32 pm
by JeffM
if a username is baned from here, then it's name, and e-mail address is locked out and can not be used. Servers that require registraton would not let those players authenticate, and they efectivly would no be allowed to play, regardless of IP.

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 9:59 pm
by loophole
So it would just force the offending player to re-register under a different callsign and email address.

I think that email addresses are even easier to get than new ip addresses, is there a mechanism in place at the forum registration level to deal with chronic problem players? If not, I can't see the advantage over traditional ip-based blacklisting.

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 10:01 pm
by dango
no, if will force the baned player to never play bzflag again unless he finds a server that doesn't use this method of banning cheaters

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 10:05 pm
by JeffM
yes they could rereg, but that takes time and they have to authenticate. so it is actualy more of a hastle then reseting a modem or redoing a dhcp lease. It has been rather efective in the past, most usualy don't stay after the second or third name removal.

some even just give up on being jerks and go play the game after a while.

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 11:32 pm
by mistake
Thank you Jeff, the "required to be global registered to play" policy sounds terrific.
It will make impersonating impossible, and cheating hard.
By removing the "forum topic for cheaters IP" you took away the cheaters hall of fame.
great work.

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 11:33 pm
by loophole
ok, thanks for the clarification.

So global registration really has nothing to do with IP-based access control. All global reg does is authenticate callsigns, and provide an additional hoop(registration) for the griefers to jump through on servers which require it.

Global reg is not a replacement for IP bans, even on the servers in the new private owners group. Requiring those server owners to use it for spawn/talk is really just a way to promote usage of the reg system.

i think i understand now.

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 11:46 pm
by JeffM
yes, it has nothing to do with IP bans.

the best things it does is provide a way for a player to keep an identify over multiple servers, let users manage there own user info and passwords with out the server knowing it, and provide as you say a "hoop" to go thru to play.

Going global reg only prevents many of the simple cheaters and abbusers, simply because they do not want to take the time to reg, or be tracked to a name. It removes a level anonimity.

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 12:53 am
by Teppic
One of the things I most liked about bzflag, the first time I ever fired it up, was the ability to 'just get this piece of software and then play'.
Think back to that time you came across that interesting piece of 'free software' that when used required you to fill in a three page marketing essay and submit an email address, that was then subsequently spammed to death. I appreciate this isn't going to happen when you resgister you callsign here, but how many new players will be put off because they don't know that?

I was around to remember when 'globally registered to talk' was introduced on Cosmos' Hepcat server, not all that long ago. Previously I was registered localy to the servers I frequented, for the sake of keeping my identity, and switching to global was a good idea 'cos I didn't have to try and remember loads of passwords, but for an example of now, Silverfox has implimented a tidy little script that removes SPAWN perms to non registered players when the server gets full above a certain point, and there are server messages to confirm this and invite you to register. So as a first timer you find yourself playing, not uncommonly, on one of the most poular servers around, then not playing anymore, then on trying to rejoin are told you have to register your callsign. If I was this first time player alarm bells would sound and the words make unistall would find themselves flashing across a terminal very quickly.

I appreciate that the situation where all the severs on the list are 'registered to play' is probably never going to happen, but but if the first three of four you try are then interest will fade rapidly, and I feel this will be detremental to the community as a whole over time.

I also feel that 'regged to spawn' is a quick fix to situations that can be easily handled by a place for sensible communication between server owners, admins and the like, and a little time and effort, but as 'this boards' stance on that kind of communication, and it's backing of 'reg to spawn' are abundantly transparent, this is clearly not that place.

With this in mind, once I have added a few new routines to the wrapper I use to run bzfs, coupled with the impending upgrade of the connection the server runs on, global registration will only be used to give rights to admins and cops on the server and nothing else.

I am sure there will be some, if only partially, who feel the same way I do. If you do, feel free to get in touch.

This is not an invite for a flame war, debate, or even discussion. These are my considered opinions, and we all know where the PM button is.

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 5:40 am
by Workaphobia
This is analogous to the master ban list, correct? I assume a player would not be blacklisted/banned/whatever unless he is incredibly problematic across many servers.

What mechanisms will servers have to exert their own discretion over the defaults handed over from the central system? Will a banned person need to locally identify on the servers that allow him, or can an account be marked without being deleted?

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 7:40 am
by JeffM
no it is not another masteban at all.

servers by default do not require any form of registration, and probably never ever ever will. ether global or local.

since it is not like masterban and does not lock people out of playing on every server and is not IP based, geting your global account baned is not as hard as getting on masterban.

it can be used in a smilar manner, providing a centeral list of disallowed players. but it is 100% opt in, and configurable. It also provides much more ( auth groups for admins as an example ).

Server owners can controll how much of it they use, buy deciding what permisons they want to tie to global login groups, as well as mixing and matching global and local logins.

We perfer global logins, but it is your server, and in the end you say how much of these services we provide you use on your server

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 8:26 pm
by loophole
I was just told about the /idban command. It lets you ban a registered callsign from your server.

Syntax: /idban <#slot|+id|PlayerName|"Player Name"> <duration> <reason>

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 9:22 pm
by trepan
Id bans are also added automatically when the
/ban <playername> or /ban <#slot> forms are used
(on servers that support idbans).

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 10:09 pm
by loophole
does /mute work the same way?

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 10:22 pm
by dango
with mute you just do /mute <player name|slot#>
no durration or reason

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 10:58 pm
by loophole
I meant does /mute automatically work with a registered id in the same way that trepan explained /ban does.

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 11:01 pm
by dango
everytime a player logs off s/he is unmuted AFAIK