Patch: password protected servers

[ai]

they are a bad thing, as UT shows.

Showing them in the server list - only if they're filtered out BY DEFAULT. If one click enables showing them, fine. But by default, they must be hidden to not turn this game into a passworded-servers-only game like UT99 has become.

I can agree with this.

[tundramagi]

Don't make it sound like passwords are a bad thing (even without encryption) cause that's not the case. Sure I know passwords and stuff can entice people to hack it, but this has yet to be tried before jumping to conclusions.
Don't rule something out before you've tested it.

So... how's telnet treating you?

[ai]

So... how's telnet treating you?

Not treating me at all, I don't use telnet or any other terminal like that. I'm an artist, not a coder/programmer. I'm not even that smart, I use Linux Mint as it suits me very well.

[TVR]

... Use your firewall to firewall all but the peeps you want playing, Done. No password needed. ...

Whitelisting is a two way exchange, their IPs must be provided back before they join, rather than just distributing the passwords.

... no experiance is required: ettercap and friends do everything. You do not need to know anything. The only thing that can ever save you is proper encryption of the datastream, sometimes. ...

Sniffing for IPs is easier than sniffing for passwords.

The only information that cannot be encrypted is the IP:PORT address.

... If there was an option to either create a server with password, or mingle with the firewall, ports, forwarding etc. of course people would choose the password route. ...

Whether the server is intended to be a 'pub' or private must be considered.

Anyone operating a server intended for everyone is already willing to forgo the existing measures of exclusion.

Anyone wanting a server that can easily be joined by certain people only, should not be deceived into allowing anyone to join the server due to bigotry.

... to not turn this game into a passworded-servers-only game like UT99 has become. ...

The only reason why UT99 possesses a passworded server majority is because there exist NO new players, the only explanation why there is no influx is because UT99 is obsolete in the wake of sequels, UT2004/UT3 in particular.

Nexuiz will always attract new players, it is irreplaceable as a FOSS Quake/UT arena shooter with pretty graphics and innate portability.

[divVerent]

Anyone operating a server intended for everyone is already willing to forgo the existing measures of exclusion.

Anyone wanting a server that can easily be joined by certain people only, should not be deceived into allowing anyone to join the server due to bigotry.

True. But there should be another way to make private servers easily joinable than by spamming the public server list with them to the annoyance to the majority of the players.

Possible better solutions I see:
- a link from a website that directly starts Nexuiz with that IP (in other words, we'd need someone to write an URL handler for Windows that starts Nexuiz with the given IP, and possibly transmits a given password)
- a name-resolve protocol that allows to find private servers by name (HEY, WE ALREADY HAVE THAT, "connect foo.dyndns.org")
- or, hiding them behind a checkbox to filter them out by default (and when it's clicked, only passworded servers are shown so they can be easily joined)

Actually, why not go for the website link option? There's already telnet://, so why not nex://?

... to not turn this game into a passworded-servers-only game like UT99 has become. ...

The only reason why UT99 possesses a passworded server majority is because there exist NO new players, the only explanation why there is no influx is because UT99 is obsolete in the wake of sequels, UT2004/UT3 in particular.

Then tell me why these servers are passworded, if there's no punks to worry about.

Also, Quake did not degenerate into this sorry situation - because Quake had no passworded server feature.

[alpha]

If we had some centralized server with user auth data then we could make awesome skill statistics and "experience" and medals and lots of stuff.

Just saying...

[TVR]

... Then tell me why these servers are passworded, if there's no punks to worry about. ...

Given an obsolete game played occasionally, it's more efficient to distribute passwords to the few occasional players than for an admin to watch the server.

There are still are instances of TK'ing, cheating, and other forms of grieving present in old online games, people are still being kicked from Q3 servers.

... Also, Quake did not degenerate into this sorry situation - because Quake had no passworded server feature. ...

The original Quake has degenerated into ~7 servers, I personally have never seen any players on those servers. Quake 2 is the successor to Quake, and has accreted the playercount.

Both Unreal Tournament & Quake 3 Arena were released during the same era, both games feature password protection, Q3 arena still has 'pubs' because there is not a similar, but improved arena shooter to succeed it.

[Alien]

Quake 3 is alive not because of oa, but rather it's comps are still held (cpma) and now quakelive.

[TVR]

Quake 3 is alive not because of oa, but rather it's comps are still held (cpma) and now quakelive.

I wouldn't expect anyone who already has Q3 Arena to play QuakeLive, the same game but with advertisements.

Q3 Arena still has a niche because there is no Quake 5 Arena.

[tundramagi]

If we had some centralized server with user auth data then we could make awesome skill statistics and "experience" and medals and lots of stuff.

Just saying...

And then anyone that whoever controls that server doesn't like gets banned from playing nexuiz. Ah, I see why some people like the idea.