cheating?

[Drilixer]

I\'m just wondering but - what will stop people from cheating since this is an open source game?

[sashok]

their honor and truthful nature. hahaha.

[Drilixer]

that\'s heart warming

[CadRipper]

Originally posted by Drilixer
I\'m just wondering but - what will stop people from cheating since this is an open source game?

I\'m concerned about this too.

But right now, what would people want to be cheating for ? (playing devil\'s advocate here) The only advantage they could get is more crystals, which is only a temporary situation and doesn\'t really harm anybody.

The real problem of course is that if they don\'t realize this and think short-termed ( \"I wanna diamond now\" ) and make some exploit to achieve their goal, they will show it\'s possible. This could ruin the current experience and be worst in the future when RP is getting a more important part.

Being open-source means it is not possible to go fully against that. Of course more protections can be implemented server-side (e.g. movement check, behaviour pattern check, correlation, ...).

This reminds me of people using bots for DM and those using the Asus drivers that allowed texture (hence wall in that case) transparency. Problems like that are as old as multi-player games (or as games for that matter).

Maybe we will need internal security moderators in-game ? Like guards, or operatives ? NPCs that could be borrowed by GM (like in this thread, courtesy of Kada). It sounds like an attractive idea to me.

What about usual moderation, too ? I wonder how it will be handled and by who.

[zaphar]

Open source does not mean unsecure. On the contrary. As long as most of the data is stored and manipulated on the server side I don\'t think cheating will be as much of a problem. Unless you are thinking of a Bot deal Like what happened on Ultima Online. But even that is harder on the kind of game PS is shaping up to be

[Moogie]

I\'m unsure as to whether this should be known yet and if Venge was talking in mIRC I\'d ask him. But I figure it can\'t do any harm. Delete this post if you feel they/you arn\'t ready yet.

Near the time Crystal Blue is to be released, the devs will announce the need for suitable ingame GMs. We\'ll be given all the requirements needed and you will probably need to complete a test of sorts to make sure you\'re suitable for the job.

I assume GMs will have the necessary capabilities of dealing with abusive players, or some way of tracking odd behavour or people using exploits in the server and be able to kick them out.

[Drilixer]

wow, I don\'t know what to respond to that beyond the fact that I\'d do anything to be a gamemaster for once - been a dungeon master before - but not quite the same thing I guess

[tangerine]

Originally posted by Drilixer
I\'m just wondering but - what will stop people from cheating since this is an open source game?

In every multiplayer game, client should not be trusted at all - data going to the client must be limited to what the player is allowed to know, and data going from the client must be checked or calculated directly on server. You should not count on that the software that runs on player\'s computer is the one you released.

This rule should be obeyed by both open-source and closed-source games, but in open-source games this is a necessity. Open-source makes it easy to create modified client. Closed-source doesn\'t make it easy but it also doesn\'t make it impossible. Because you can\'t rely on security-by-obscurity in open-source and you are forced to do things properly, the final security can be even greater that in closed-source projects.

[Moogie]

I can assure you that being a GM won\'t have many \'perks\' as being a Dungeon Master does. Sure, you\'ll probably be able to spawn monsters and run quests, but that will be rare compared to the amount of actual \'moderation\' you will be required to do.

Also, GMs will be kicked out if the admins discover them to be buffing their own character for an unfair advantage over other players. This includes giving yourself items or money.

So really only dedicated people who are serious about wanting to spend more of their time ensuring the server runs smoothly than actually playing the game should apply for the position. If you\'re in it purely to spawn yourself two Galkards and a million diamonds, you can forget the idea before you even apply.

[Drilixer]

I\'d still like to be a GM - although to tell the truth primarily for the ability to run quests and spawn encounters

[Moogie]

*is nervously waiting for Venge to delete her posts again* I feel like I\'ve said too much again, although, I don\'t see the harm in it...

[tangerine]

I don\'t think it would make sense to keep something so obvious in secret

[Drilixer]

yeah we\'ve been expecting (and hoping for) GMs welll... forever

[Drilixer]

but i dont think GMs are suffecient anti-cheating defence

[Moogie]

You could\'ve just edited your original post to add that one more sentence, Drilixer. Lazy boy!

I agree that it won\'t be enough in the future. But it will do for now. I think the devs will cross that bridge when they come to it.