| reply to IronChefMoto
Re: Another reason for Steam -- universal cheater bans 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. |
