| Another reason for Steam -- universal cheater bans If I remember correctly, the whole WONID database system that was the back-end of Half-Life's unique multi-player identification system is being migrated OUT of Sierra, where it originated when Sierra launched Half-Life from the Valve developers. Correct me if I'm wrong on that.
Anyway...by migrating the WONID database system back to Valve (???), I think Valve is aiming to make a universal cheater ban possible. Get banned on a Steam-enabled server, and you don't play your game/mod on ANY other server in the Steam system. No more jumping to a server other than the one where you were banned.
I think this would only apply if the Valve Anti-Cheat system caught you, but from what I've seen, it's sort of flaky anyway, even in its near Steam format. Also, I don't know if this universal ban system would resolve the fix of hacking into the registry and entering a new WONID from a key generator or WONID list.
IronChefMorimoto
[text was edited by author 2003-01-14 15:47:15] |
| Actually that would be a good idea to do a universal ban kind of system. I am tired of getting on the server and playing some fscking hacker with 200 ping and 60-5 score. On top of that, I once played on a server when a guy had been kicked 3 times, coming back everytime to screw the game for everyone.
And that idea is not new either, as Blizzard has this kind of system. Battle.net is free to use for everyone who purchased a copy of Warcraft II Battle.net Edition/Warcraft III/Diablo/Starcraft/etc. Plus they have ladder, global stats, etc.. great thing to make everything uniform and smooth. And of course, people who get caught cheating repeatedly (Blizzard monitors for this) have their CD keys permanently banned - the only way for them to play again is to buy another copy of the game (hee hee).
However, as some probably know this, that system is not bulletproof either, as it remains closed and tightly under Blizzard's control...people who attempted to create bnetd daemon under linux (successfuly, by reverse engineering the protocol) have faced legal issues from Blizzard and the project had to be shut down (although I believe it did receive some legal support and is now fighting back).
My point being...Universally controlled service is great..you pay a fee and you get to play on a bunch of closely monitored servers with no cheaters, with tournaments, etc... However, the use of the software outside of the subscription modem should still be allowed so people can host lan parties,etc...however, there is no guarantee as to hacking and other misuses otherwise not present in a subscription service. |
