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Standalone Launcher Not Secure Enough

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Duplolas, May 22, 2014.

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  1. Duplolas

    Duplolas So Sad

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    What I mean by this is, is that the Standalone Launcher for Current is basically a haven for rule breakers

    They buy the game, get on the standalone launcher, and then get away with murder (well greifing/hacking). Yes, their accounts can get banned, but that doesn't stop them from buying the game again and doing it all over, which many of them do.

    When KAG was released onto steam some months ago, I thought that there would be way more steam integration, but there hasn't.

    Steam allows for easier punishment of players. Heres just a short list of what steam can do for you:

    When you join a server, your steam client automatically updates and gives you all of the player's names in game.

    Players are less likely to break rules knowing that their steam account may be flagged.

    VAC Integration is always a possibility.

    And getting a player's IP is 10x easier. Exhibit A: http://ganticresolver.comule.com/

    I do realize that KAG is an indie game and indie games always have a standalone launcher. But something really needs to be done about the insecurity of it.

    And in my opinion, more steam integration would do a lot of good.
     
  2. Leo

    Leo Haxor

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    503
    I disagree, how many times you are gonna buy the same game just to hack/grief ? And if they do it, well it's then good for developers.
     
    Noburu and Galen like this.
  3. yeah getis just gonna call Gabe Newell and be like "yo my man gaben u gotta bring us some of this steam integration stuff dude and vac yo u got me man"


    I assure you there are reasons why such a call has not been made yet :^)
     
    Noburu and 101i like this.
  4. Duplolas

    Duplolas So Sad

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    Its a $10 game. So I am sure they don't mind.

    And sure the more times they get banned the more times they will buy the game. But the more times they greif / hack and ruin the game for others, the more people leave and think less of the game.

    Example: WarZ a.k.a. Infestation: Survivor Stories. A game so riddled with hackers when you search "Infestation: Survivor Stores News" via google, it comes up with a website that sells hacks for the game first before their own official forum.

    And I am not saying Steam is the only option, it was just the off-the-top-of-my-head choice.
     
  5. Leo

    Leo Haxor

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    Don't think the hacking problem is THAT big yet. It's under control.
     
  6. Duplolas

    Duplolas So Sad

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    917
    It is being handled better than it was previously. But instead of issuing punishments for events that are against the rules, why not stop these events from happening before they actually do?
     
  7. Furai

    Furai THD Team THD Team Administrator

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    3,124
    Seriously, I sometimes think that you, Duplolas, just make the threads/posts around forums because you're bored.
    To be honest I don't see any issue. Even if we were banning it using Steam accounts - those can be done anew easily as well.
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2014
  8. Leo

    Leo Haxor

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    503
    True, the most important thing is that kag is NOT a free game. If you get banned you need to pay real money to be able to play again. This should be more than enough for the majority of players.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 24, 2014
    Noburu, Galen and Kouji like this.
  9. Duplolas

    Duplolas So Sad

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    917
    But creating a steam account takes quite a bit longer than creating a standalone account.

    Its not a free game, but take a look at the latest indie bundle. $10 for I think it was 9 games. When people get deals like that, they feel less of a responsibility to follow rules.

    All I am saying is having a bit more would be nice.

    Like for instance showing what player is using which launcher. Steam, Desura, Standalone, Etc. It doesn't just allow you to find the player's personal info with ease, it also makes people feel more "watched". The more people fear about being caught, the less likely someone will do it.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 24, 2014
  10. Geti

    Geti Please avoid PMing me (poke a mod instead) THD Team Administrator Global Moderator

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    3,730
    Ej knows what's what.

    I am actively and strongly against DRM of this sort. I don't want steam to be the only way to get the game. I don't want to have to run steam all the time to be able to play the game, and I'm perplexed at your reasoning for this - hacking/griefing is a minimal problem in the paid game, due to it being a paid game. I am yet to see people dropping fifty bucks to ruin games for a week.

    The guys that feel like they don't need to follow the rules get quickly flagged for their specific transgression due to reports, which is the equivalent of what would happen with VAC except we don't play second fiddle to valve on handling things and can have our own game-specific flags (griefing being the major one, VAC is only for hackers).

    Creating a steam account takes all of five minutes, and can be done ahead of time.

    tl;dr In my eyes being slave to valve just to sate unfounded worries about abuse is a disadvantageous tradeoff.

    /thread
     
    Noburu likes this.
  11. Geti

    Geti Please avoid PMing me (poke a mod instead) THD Team Administrator Global Moderator

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    Just to follow up on your specific points:

    Our own API already does this. That's how the search by name in server browser functions.

    This is only true with VAC.

    VAC would be a requirement for steam to even be involved in the "banning" process, and integration on that level would require complete integration with steam, which as I said above, I'm not interested in. I don't want to force people (or be forced myself) to use a specific gaming platform.

    lol ip4v address are not meaningful for identification, and ipv6 support on the client side is still very uncommon (and still more or less meaningless, though less likely to be shared).

    It's a requirement to have their IP address to facilitate an internet connection, that's where the name IP address comes from.

    The issue with using them for individual identification (outside of the time span of a given connection) IP Addresses are essentially "shared" and "shuffled" a lot of the time in countries with less-than-ideal infrastructure or in particularly crowded geographical contexts; a user's IP could change at the whim of their ISP, and might be shared by other people who share their ISP close to them - we don't ban globally by IP for this exact reason, it's unreliable.
     
    Noburu likes this.
  12. JPD

    JPD Shipwright

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    73
    Most greifers are a bunch of 12 year old's without a steady income. Don't know 'bout you but when I was twelve I didn't have $10 to throw away every few days let alone my own credit card.
     
  13. Duplolas

    Duplolas So Sad

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    917
    Well I am not going to argue with Geti

    /thread

    Edit:

    But steam trading cards though :wink:
     
    Aldarks likes this.
  14. Geti

    Geti Please avoid PMing me (poke a mod instead) THD Team Administrator Global Moderator

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    3,730
    I'm still trying to bring MM around on implementing achievements/cards/emotes etc but they're all really meaningless so I'm not trying too hard. We'll see.
     
  15. what do you mean achievements are "meaningless" ????????????????
     
    Vampire, UnnamedPlayer and Yagger like this.
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