2 techniques to prevent double or smurf-accounts

[V1ntage]

How about implementing a system to prevent or seriously diminish the use of multiple accounts per person.

2 ideas: "hardware ID" and "e-mail"

E-mail
A very simple approach. Just add the requirement of an e-mail address, much like forum software. Activate the account by a link sent to him/her in an e-mail.


Hardware ID
is commonly used to prevent software piracy.

For instance, use the MAC address of the main network card. Or create an ID from several parts of the system (processor, gfx card, network card, ...)

A Spring account can change its hardware ID, but this ID has to be unique in the Spring DB.




I'm aware that completely removing double or smurf-accounts is pretty much impossible. These techniques will just help discourage the creation of several accounts by one person.


[EDIT] prevent piracy, not protect it :)

[Petah]

+1
I agree smurf accounts are lame, people should be known by one account only.
Smurfing only encourages noob bashing, team stacking and ban evasion.

The only problem with hardware ID is when you upgrade from one system to another, or use your account on another computer (eg a friends or a company computer) it wont recognize you.

[Regret]

prevent piracy, not protect it

You mean "prevent privacy, not protect it".

Also, this topic has been debated so much that your contribution to it is nil.

[luckywaldo7]

privacy

You mean "anonymous trolling".

[lurker]

1. You're going to have to give a reason why email requirements are worth the hassle.

2. You want to use hardware ids to block multiple accounts or just publicly associate them?

You haven't really brought up anything new so far.

[Neddie]

The people who abuse the mechanism, not the mechanism, are the problem. Thank you for your input.

[NOiZE]

I think smurfs are a GOOD thing

[Licho]

You can hack the client to send whatever HW id you like to the server.. Its pointless, especially with open source software..


The only reasonably relaible remote solution is to charge people money to create account :)

[Gota]

Start by making smurfing an offense,than start kicking and banning people.
I'm not saying moderators should invest all their time into it but when it's in front of their faces they should deal with it.
All you need are a few temporary bans and there will be much less smurfing...
Allow moderators to smurf so they get less hate in games.
This will not make everyone stop smurfing but will reduce it to only a small amount of people who can be dealt with individually.
Allow 1 rename per x hours of play and if someone made a spelling mistake with his account and is really desperate he can always ask a moderator to allow him to rename beyond the limit.

[Auswaschbar]

Start by making smurfing an offense,than start kicking and banning people.

Guilty. I do even join the same game with my main and my smurf account.

[MidKnight]

I make lobby bots. These bots make people's (or at least my) life easier. My bots run on the same computer I play and chat on.

Under your proposed policies, will me and my bots be banne for this? Will I have to buy a new computer/internet line per each bot I wish to run? Is the $20 surcharge for making valid bot accounts payable with credit?

Thank you, I look forward to your reply.

[lurker]

Bots could be exempt, there are better arguments for you to use, go get one.

[aegis]

I make lobby bots. These bots make people's (or at least my) life easier. My bots run on the same computer I play and chat on.

Under your proposed policies, will me and my bots be banne for this? Will I have to buy a new computer/internet line per each bot I wish to run? Is the $20 surcharge for making valid bot accounts payable with credit?

Thank you, I look forward to your reply.

yeah and $20 extra for providing the bot source for you to use

[Andrej]

You know i was sitting in front of my computer and just staring blankly for a few moments before it hit me. Yes i actually found a sensible use for this chatlog i couldnt believe it either.


Ready?

Code: Select all

[11:36:31 PM] * CommitBot ====> trepan committed revision 6113 <====
[11:36:32 PM] * CommitBot Deleted:
[11:36:32 PM] <CommitBot>     trunk/game/LuaUI/Widgets/camera_ctrl.lua
[11:36:32 PM] <CommitBot>     trunk/game/LuaUI/Widgets/cmd_factoryclear.lua
[11:36:32 PM] <CommitBot>     trunk/game/LuaUI/Widgets/cmd_givemobile.lua
[11:36:32 PM] <CommitBot>     trunk/game/LuaUI/Widgets/cmd_savequeue.lua
[11:36:32 PM] <CommitBot>     trunk/game/LuaUI/Widgets/dbg_debug.lua
[11:36:32 PM] * CommitBot Modified:
[11:36:32 PM] <CommitBot>     trunk/installer/sections/luaui.nsh
[11:36:32 PM] * CommitBot Log:
[11:36:32 PM] <CommitBot>     - removed some widgets which might lead to confusion  (non-gui types)
[11:36:33 PM] <CommitBot>     .
[11:36:37 PM] * BuildServ * New revision available (hit "!rebuild" in #buildserv to build it): r6113 (committed by trepan on 2008-07-05 23:17:25 +0200)
[11:38:36 PM] <[7uP]lurker[KoT]> dbg_debug?
[11:39:00 PM] <[7uP]lurker[KoT]> we need a lua repo
[11:50:42 PM] <MelBot> (iamacup   ) General di -> The life and lies of AF       : http://tinyurl.com/6hlr7k
[11:51:09 PM] * CommitBot ====> trepan committed revision 6114 <====
[11:51:09 PM] * CommitBot Modified:
[11:51:09 PM] <CommitBot>     trunk/installer/sections/luaui.nsh
[11:51:09 PM] * CommitBot Log:
[11:51:09 PM] <CommitBot>     - not present, not installed
[11:51:10 PM] <CommitBot>     .
[11:51:12 PM] * BuildServ * New revision available (hit "!rebuild" in #buildserv to build it): r6114 (committed by trepan on 2008-07-05 23:32:03 +0200)
[11:56:42 PM] * CommitBot ====> trepan committed revision 6115 <====
[11:56:42 PM] * CommitBot Deleted:
[11:56:42 PM] <CommitBot>     trunk/game/LuaUI/Widgets/cmd_doline.lua
[11:56:42 PM] <CommitBot>     trunk/game/LuaUI/Widgets/hook_copyqueue.lua
[11:56:42 PM] * CommitBot Modified:
[11:56:42 PM] <CommitBot>     trunk/installer/sections/luaui.nsh
[11:56:42 PM] * CommitBot Log:
[11:56:42 PM] <CommitBot>     - more 'confusing' widgets
[11:56:42 PM] <CommitBot>     .
[11:56:45 PM] * BuildServ * New revision available (hit "!rebuild" in #buildserv to build it): r6115 (committed by trepan on 2008-07-05 23:37:35 +0200)

[11:57:07 PM] <[7uP]lurker[KoT]> not doline!
[11:57:45 PM] <trepan> requires typing, not good for noobs
[11:57:52 PM] <[[ITER]]Satirik> pfff
[11:58:02 PM] <[[ITER]]Satirik> trepan you're acting like a kid
[11:58:13 PM] <[[ITER]]Satirik> the eye widget
[11:58:14 PM] <[7uP]lurker[KoT]> what.
[11:58:18 PM] <[[ITER]]Satirik> is agressive for noobs
[11:58:21 PM] <trepan> it's gone
[11:58:24 PM] <[[ITER]]Satirik> it doesn't mean you have to delete everything
[11:58:25 PM] <trepan> no longer an issue

[12:07:42 AM] * CommitBot ====> trepan committed revision 6117 <====
[12:07:42 AM] * CommitBot Deleted:
[12:07:42 AM] <CommitBot>     trunk/game/LuaUI/Widgets/gui_game_setup.lua
[12:07:42 AM] <CommitBot>     trunk/game/LuaUI/Widgets/gui_loadscreens.lua
[12:07:42 AM] * CommitBot Log:
[12:07:42 AM] <CommitBot>     - these 2 weren't even being installed ...
[12:07:42 AM] <CommitBot>     .
[12:07:46 AM] * BuildServ * New revision available (hit "!rebuild" in #buildserv to build it): r6117 (committed by trepan on 2008-07-05 23:48:37 +0200)

[12:10:51 AM] * CommitBot ====> trepan committed revision 6118 <====
[12:10:51 AM] * CommitBot Deleted:
[12:10:51 AM] <CommitBot>     trunk/game/LuaUI/Widgets/gui_clock.lua
[12:10:51 AM] <CommitBot>     trunk/game/LuaUI/Widgets/gui_fps.lua
[12:10:51 AM] <CommitBot>     trunk/game/LuaUI/Widgets/gui_tooltip.lua
[12:10:51 AM] * CommitBot Modified:
[12:10:51 AM] <CommitBot>     trunk/installer/sections/luaui.nsh
[12:10:51 AM] * CommitBot Log:
[12:10:52 AM] <CommitBot>     - the engine ones are good enough
[12:10:52 AM] <CommitBot>     .

[11:58:39 PM] <[[ITER]]Satirik> disabling it by default it enough
[11:58:47 PM] <[[ITER]]Satirik> or make it more simple
[11:58:50 PM] <[[ITER]]Satirik> nothing moving
[11:59:09 PM] <[7uP]lurker[KoT]> disabling what, eyes?
[11:59:09 PM] <[[ITER]]Satirik> it's harder to read when it's moving
[11:59:19 PM] <trepan> but removing it cleans up SVN from unneeded chaff
[11:59:23 PM] <[[ITER]]Satirik> pfff
[11:59:27 PM] <[7uP]lurker[KoT]> once you know how to turn eyes off you're done with it forever
[11:59:30 PM] <trepan> it's really not such a big thing to removing this junk
[11:59:39 PM] <trepan> *remove

Read between the lines.

cheatsheet:
The Issue = there are entities complaining about smurfing
The SVN repo = spring user base
The widgets = the complainers
The <trepan> = forum mods
The changes made in The commits = what mods should do to resolve The Issue
The <[[ITER]]Satirik> = the trolls trying to confuse the mods

Stage is set for a beautiful play ;please watch warmly until ready.

highlight:
[11:58:21 PM] <trepan> it's gone
[11:58:25 PM] <trepan> no longer an issue

[hunterw]

how about bring back !smurfs

[Licho]

Bring back? Its been taken away? Afaik smurfs database is still filling with data..

But lobby server could handle it much better, i was hoping for aegis new server.

[[TS]Lollocide]

Apart from making games unbalanced (Which, to be honest, they need just for abit less boring thanks to people copying tactics or just being dullards), I haven't actually found smurfing to be a big problem in games.

Its the 'knowledgable noob' who TEK2NOOK on three t1 mexes and acouple solars that fuck games more than a smurf pretending to suck.

Also, haha, yeah lets do email validation, so....moar free email accounts/hacked clients plz?

[lurker]

Can you reclaim their nuke when they're not looking?

[[TS]Lollocide]

Can you reclaim their nuke when they're not looking?

You can try, but the noob is usually watching it build and ignoring the battlefield. So he tends to notice and reclaim your reclaimer.

[MidKnight]

Can you reclaim their nuke when they're not looking?

You can try, but the noob is usually watching it build and ignoring the battlefield. So he tends to notice and reclaim your reclaimer.

SURROUND THEIR BASE WITH NANOTOWARZ!