Server technologies suggestions and discussion

(fjavier) #1

Hi all:

I have some ideas about server technologies, here they are:

  • Avoid use of punkbuster, use a system as user login at centralised host.
    I think, buying the game, you can have access to a basic account in a centralised server, where your game statistics are stored and you can choose if other people can see or not (public shown or private).
    At another posts, is commented that the cheaters will be tagged with an special symbol on his head. Well, is a good idea. But how to know cheaters? Only we has to associate the user account with the cheating demo of the ‘autor’ and everybody can see how he/she was cheating.
    Server can store up to 5 or 10 demo files, since no one of the last games has been complainned by someone, that is, if no complaint about cheating is received for a user, the files are deleted. If a complaint is received in some game, the file keeps at server, and everybody can analize it and vote if was or not cheating, in case was cheating, automatically, the system, sends an alert to central admins or someone, including support tech (i dont know who) and he examines the demo and does the last judgement to it, giving a cheaters flag to the player on his head (as commented in another post). The flag can be for a week or similar.
    The account can too, keep 4 or 5 game demos of the best gameplays the player want to keep and allow to donwload or delete them.

  • Use of statistics to improve balanced gameplay.
    -For developers.
    Developers can know at any time, which machine or class is owning the game, and can release new improvements at next expansions or simple new binaries (I avoid the use of the word patch :wink: ).

  • For the users:
    You can go to a simple web page (low resources used at server) and to know where are you making mistakes, which is the better class for you and including, which areas you defend better (better range damage given/received). Which are the areas where you can deploy call airstrikes or call medical stations for better.

  • Avoid wallhack cheaters using a new server technology.
    Today servers, can deploy a higher computation rate than past years. I think the calculations of the client, can be done at server. Perhaps allowing 2 server mode: powerserver (high cost servers, but safer to dont cheat) and normalserver (low and usual servers and data transfers across the network)
    Similar to enable or disable punkbuster, but based on power of server.
    Here is the idea in another post:
    http://www.splashdamage.com/index.php?name=pnPHPbb2&file=viewtopic&p=147253#147253
    Some responses have been given in forum: http://www.splashdamage.com/index.php?name=pnPHPbb2&file=viewtopic&p=147299#147299
    Can be possible 2 classes of servers? Super and normal ?

Well, i think thats all, i posted all those ideas in other threads, but i think is a better idea to post all togheter.

What do you think about it?

Please, be patient with my poor English :slight_smile:

Best regards.

(Fab) #2

-Why not use punkbuster? it does what it says on the tin.
-Why not just ban them outright? putting a flag above their head wont stop them cheating, infact it may even encourage them to do it more.
-Central admins would have to be payed so i doubt they would be an option unless it was pay2play.
-How do statistics balance gameplay? i think that patches should fix problems not change the way a game is played ala bf2

(Nail) #3

why not retina scan when you buy game and scan to play or some other form of biometrics ?

:wink:

(Hakuryu) #4

How about linking your copy to one of those high tech Japanese toilets? The toilets automatically scan your urine, and can order vitamin suplements for you… so they should be able to authenticate you before playing…just pee and play.

(fjavier) #5

You are not giving solutions, your responses are not valid to me :slight_smile:

Well, the only thing i have to add to this thread, appart from the complete post is that perhaps the only problem is the admin pay, we can override him with a popular "level cheater " poll about some players.

The things i say are not difficult and are automatic things today at internet.

“The number of posted messages, does not indicate the level of poster.”

I think you will be more constructive in next posts. And not be as poor as those.

Thank you.

(B0rsuk) #6

Still waiting for an explaination why punkbuster is bad.

(Nail) #7

The things i say are not difficult and are automatic things today at internet

yes, they are

(Lanz) #8

Yeah same here. PB is not perfect but a hell of a lot better than what fjavier is suggesting which seems over complicated and needs some crazy review system for spotting cheaters. I buy games to watch demos to see if other players cheat, OH YEAH! Sounds fun!

(Nail) #9

hmm, “Spot the haxxor” could be a cool game, seperate software that lets you spec any game and look for cheaters :lol:

(fjavier) #10

Thank you all by your responses in first place.

I have not sufficient time at now to explain what i said, but i think, by your well argumented comments, that i explained bad my ideas.
I will try to be more clear in my argumentations.

(punkbuster in next post)

The main idea of auto-store the last 4 or 5 demos of a player is, if the server players put a lot of complaints or votes about that player at that played game about s/he is a cheater, the evidence is automatically stored at that player profile, visible by all people from internet,
the player is tagged as a cheater, and all people that plays against that cheater, knows that s/he is a cheater player and can see the evidence which demonstrates it.

The player has to buy a new license key or live forever with the BLACK tag on his player account…
Some servers can automatically ban those kind of players.
This is not based on punkbuster or his hardware bans.
This is based on popular declaration based on polls (perhaps in game fast poll).
I think with 3 or 4 cheater poll based tags, the player can be considered as a real cheater.

I don’t know how to explain it better.
You have not to see demos, the stored demo is to demonstrate to whatever around internet why the player ‘won’ a BLACK tag on his account by cheater.

It is only an idea, with punkbuster system you can change your (ip,mac, game data, etc.) to get unbanned. With this system the cheater is busted!
And all people arround the world can say: That player is a cheater, dont let go into our server…

Mmmmm Perhaps… this can be a complementation about punkbuster if you dont want to forget punkbuster and take profit of it… Some will be happy with this consensuated idea.

I think the dialog is the way to get far away.

Thank you again by your replies.

(Sauron|EFG) #11

Huh? Where’s the difference between your “license key” and the one used by PB? The problem with ET is that it’s a free game and that you can get a new “key” in a matter of seconds, but that’s not a flaw in Punkbuster.

That is a horrible idea. A system like that would just result in everyone wearing your “BLACK tag” after a week. :banghead:

(Sebultura) #12

Something I’m considering first before buying & playing a game is simply: freedom.

Yes, I agree: I hate cheating, it’s really something that makes me feel angry when I play a game online, either because you know there’s some cheat on the server & you waste your time playing with un-fair “gamers”, or because sometimes, I’m kicked because someone think that I’m cheating (which is false, anyway, I think that alot of people experience the same nuisance…).

Anyway, the most important aspect to me is that you can log on any public server and play as you wish as long as:

  1. you respect others and play fair
  2. accept that there’s human mistakes, but it’s the price of freedom isn’t it ?

So the idea of getting a centralised host & everything that comes around isn’t my “cup of tea”.