Feel free to throw out ideas (I am sure people will address their good and bad features :)
There a lots of ways to curb cheating. Another technical but non-PC based solution would be to send a wireless video camera (or keyboard logger) to every user and then monitor them. It would be effective, but not economical. Another option is social. Make cheating "uncool". I am not a psyc so I have no idea how to do this effectively but I believe it would be impossible anyway. Unlike the real world, the internet is anonymous (well, not technically, but in reality it is for us plebs). If someone can't be punished for their behaviour there is no feedback to them to make them alter their behaviour. There is no dis-incentive to cheat. Also, you cannot tell the difference between a cheater and a non-cheater (not absolutely, they could always have an uber cheat...). Now, if the internet coupled people to ip's (don't laugh, people are suggesting this as a way of controlling piracy and p0rn), then you could excert some social control. But until them I believe you are doomed. You could limit the distribution of the game to only those who you can trust. That would make it safe. Problem is that it would really kill the sales of the game.... Ah, I have an idea. In the PGP world their is the idea of key-signing parties where you meet people and sign each others public keys. This provides a "web of trust" between you and someone who wants to verify your key. They can use a friends public key (which they trust) to verify that their friend signed your key, so your key must be kosha. How about implementing this idea in HL. Have a "web of trust" were people "sign" other players they trust and believe to be non-cheaters. Then you setup servers and you can seed it with certain "keys" that you trust. Then people who have been signed by that key (or by a chain of keys even) can get in. Cheaters will still exist, but they would be excluded from your server as (hopefully) no one will "sign" their identity as being good. This concept requires a "revocation list" as well, so people can turn "evil" and get away with it. How is that for out of the box eh? Tim Holt wrote: > I feel like the whole thread of this conversation is going the wrong > way. Ppl keep wanting to make more and more complex/technical > solutions to this problem of cheating. Signatures, IDs, etc. etc. etc. > It's very much like if someone breaks into your house - so you put bars > on the window, and then they get in the front door, so you replace it > with steel - and then they pick the lock - so you add an > fingerprint/retinal scanner - so they then come down your chimney - so > you close the fireplace - so then they use a chainsaw to come through > the walls - so you side the house with steel - so they use the chainsaw > on the roof - so you.... Well you get the idea. > > I have no "fix", but I do have a feeling that the "harder walls = better > security" is not the way to solve this problem. You're all thinking > very comfortably inside the box - need to think outside the box. > > IMHO. > > > > > Tom wrote: > >> we could have product activation like micrsoft with the phones personnaly >> manned by valve >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Ack Doh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> Sent: Monday, January 07, 2002 5:00 PM >> Subject: Re: [hlcoders] ogc required to play?? >> >> >> >>> i've always wondered why, during production, cd keys are not hard coded >>> >> onto >> >>> the cd-rom itself...instead of a machine that prints out stickers with >>> unique key's, have a machine that writes bytes onto a specific >>> location on >>> the cd-rom itself... >>> i know there are upsides and downsides to this...copying the cd = >>> copying >>> the key...but then it isnt immediately visible, and has to be viewed by >>> inserting the cd-rom itself into a drive...etc... >>> >>> /quit rambling >>> >>> _________________________________________________________________ >>> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at >>> >> http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. >> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, >>> >> please visit: >> >>> http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders >>> >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, >> please visit: >> http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders >> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, > please visit: > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders -- Alfred Reynolds [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders
