Pager Ban Issues in BYOND Help

ID:293393
 
Dec 23 2008, 5:58 pm
BYOND Build Number:432.1007
Operating System:Windows XP
Video/Graphics Card:Integrated
Game Hub/Link: N/A
Internet Connection Type: Cable
Firewalls/Routers: None

Problem Description:
My problem is this, with the release of version 421, Their was a feature added that let you automatically log in as a guest account. This was wonderful on first appearance as it seemed to make life easier. Now I am having major issues as for they cannot be banned. I have tried banning the guest account directly by number and tried banning both the Keys Guest, and guest. I had contacted the game Admin looking for help but it was disclosed this was a problem with the Pager itself. This renders the ban useless as any spammer can just log in with guest account and attack the games offer here. Could I please have some help with this.

Thank you


Steps to Reproduce Problem:
#1 Dec 24 2008, 8:47 am
I'm hoping that you are hosting with Dream Daemon. If you aren't you should likely use it to host instead of the Dream Seeker.

What you'll want to do is make sure you use a "Sticky ban" when you ban said person, and it'll prevent them from logging into the game with their other keys. I'm not 100% sure how the Sticky ban works, however I'm hoping that it is IP based, which will prevent them from just logging in with a guest account, save for them using a proxy.

I couldn't find any Help articles on the subject, so I'm hoping this information helps.
#2 Dec 24 2008, 6:28 pm
In response to Mikau (#1)
Is there a way to fix this with out using Dream Daemon. Being that errors for me on different reasons.

I will try the "sticky ban" and see how that works. Hopefully that will get me some results.

Yeah I looked for something to help before posting this. But it seems the forums were void of the problem and I would like some attention brought to the subject. I mean it does seem to favor Spammers and Trolls that would ruin games just for the fun of it and hurt the community. Being I know there is other Programming systems out there besides Byond.
#3 Dec 24 2008, 6:34 pm
In response to AnthonyHawkina (#2)
Dream Daemon shouldn't be giving you alternate errors from Dream Seeker unless the way the game is programmed is trying to give some kind of 'host' powers to the first person to log in, which I'm not sure 100%, but I think whatever key you use to host should have them assigned, even though logging into the actual game with that key won't grant you said powers.

There is a lot more useful functionality when you use the Dream Daemon, so you should try to get more accustomed to using it. I'm not even sure why they still let people host with the Dream Seeker... Having the server rely on the host being logged in is silly in my opinion.
#4 Dec 25 2008, 1:37 am
In response to Mikau (#3)
Mikau wrote:
Dream Daemon shouldn't be giving you alternate errors from Dream Seeker

I fear I will have to disagree.
There have been Dream Daemon specific bugs and some games don't handle Dream Daemon all too well.
hub://Abra/Castle for example blunt out crashes Dream Daemon in nearly every single case upon the games end, while Dream Seeker runs it just fine.
I can't report this though, without having a test case or code and contacting the owner/co-owner didn't come out all too successful.


Mikau wrote:
I'm not even sure why they still let people host with the Dream Seeker... Having the server rely on the host being logged in is silly in my opinion.

While I agree with you that Dream Daemon is a mighty tool, I think you are forgetting the casual games and players.
They might not want to dedicate a computer/server to a game and they won't have to when all they want is a quick game of ... (e.g. Gotcha!, Castle, Wurms, Proelium,...)
#5 Dec 25 2008, 4:39 am
In response to Schnitzelnagler (#4)
You don't really need a dedicated server to host with Dream Daemon though. It's almost just as fast and easy to host a game with Dream Daemon than it is to host with Dream Seeker, and much more reliable in a sense that if you have a client related problem that crashes the game for the player and not the host, it isn't going to knock every player out of the game if the problem happens to the host.

I'd give you an example, but I'm just making it up as I go... I can see this happening though.
#6 Dec 25 2008, 4:58 am
In response to Mikau (#5)
Mikau wrote:
It's almost just as fast and easy to host a game with Dream Daemon than it is to host with Dream Seeker

For you, me and a bunch of others, yes, I agree.
For the average casual player, no, I doubt that.

The average casual player doesn't want to bother with additional software. I dare say that the pager and Dream Seeker already deter a good deal of people that would play flash games, just because they can open these in their "good old browser".
Yet, BYOND needs exactly these players in order to survive.
And these enjoy the fact that they can play their game and simply click "host" to challenge others.


Mikau wrote:
and much more reliable in a sense that if you have a client related problem that crashes the game for the player and not the host, it isn't going to knock every player out of the game if the problem happens to the host.

Normally, I would agree.
However, like I said, I realised some games have trouble with Dream Daemon (Castle, Tanks, Paradise City).
And I am talking about the bad crash kind of trouble, leaving Dream Daemon stalled (kill -9).

Though that discussion might lead a bit off topic, I confess. I just mentioned it as it is remotely related to the concern of the original poster.