I think this comment really nails it - any system that attempts to block a 'player' by blocking a steamid is doomed to failure.
The only way this could work, and only Valve has the info to make this happen, is to assume a (mostly) 1:1 relationship between players and their PCs, and then enable blocking of all steam accounts associated with a particular PC. IP address is not sufficient. It would need to be some sort of GUID for the steam install on the PC. Solve this problem, and many of the F2P issues disappear. -----Original Message----- From: hlds-boun...@list.valvesoftware.com [mailto:hlds-boun...@list.valvesoftware.com] On Behalf Of AnAkIn . Sent: Friday, March 16, 2012 1:47 PM To: Half-Life dedicated Win32 server mailing list Subject: Re: [hlds] New feature in TF2 Beta dedicated server update TF2 is free. You can just create a new account if you got blocked. 2012/3/16 Rich Kaethler <r...@valvesoftware.com>: > I think there is some confusion about how this works. > > > > First off, there is no "kicking power". The check is only made on > initial connection to the server. Once on the server it does not give > anyone power to kick anyone else. > > If while on the server, you discover people you never wish to play > with > again: you block them, then you are free to leave the server right > then or endure them until you leave and find another server that does > not contain people you have blocked. > > > > If the server sets sv_steamblockingcheck = 2 then only members of the > clan that "owns" the server may prevent people from playing on that server. > > Yes this is currently limited to checking the block lists of clan > members who are on that server, we will look at improving that in the future. > > Clearly it is best to use this feature with a non-public group, using > it with a public group would be silly. > > This can be improved by ignoring a blocking relationship between two > members of the group. > > > > If the server sets sv_steamblockingcheck = 4 then that stops a new > player from joining a server if one of the people already on that > server is blocked by the new player. > > The players already on that server will be totally unaffected. This is > to prevent a new player from ever being matchmade onto a server with > people they have blocked - in case of a race condition in the matchmaking. > > > > Lastly, this is primarily intended to be used on servers that have > minimal administration / running no admin mods. Servers that are > heavily administered already may not need to use this system at all. > > The sv_steamblockingcheck = 1 functionality is provided so that it can > be used in conjunction with existing mods for servers that want to > allow the general population to coexist with the servers preferred > clients. If your server has some list of preferred clients, you can > make them immune from blocking and still allow the general population > to block each other - and allow your preferred clients to block who they like. > > > > Please feel free to continue sending constructive feedback. > > > > > _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hlds
