The simple way to prevent smurfs and easily identify people.

why all the smurf hate? 90% of the time i play pubs under my normal name anyways but that 10% of the time its fun to just go fuck around :D

Anything that limits what I can name myself (a la T2) is Gay, sry.

Basically you're a fag-enabler is what I am trying to say.

Actually that was from T1 originally.
yes i know, but like its been pointed out already, renaming someone on your own pc but not others will cause confusion.

Either way, my point was with having ZProtoss (ZProtoss) showing up all the time.
check my edit.

w/e though, i'm not big on smurf prevention, as long as there's a way to track buddies i'll be happy. nothing aginst smurfs, i like to go fuck around every now and then..

This is ENTIRELY on a client side basis. No one is forcing you to one name on any large scale. It's simply where if I see you on a server on may 30th as VinFox, then see you on June 3rd I'll still see you as VinFox if I mark it that way. It's the clients choice entirely to use this or not. If I want to know one person as a certain name forever, there's no reason to not enable that ability.

Not a bad idea.. But I think forcing people to be known as the name they originally were on the server is a little too harsh and confusing to the people who communicate with the renamed player.. Just keeping the ID of that person and having a normal "Smurf alert" for server owners would suffice enough..

Even in T2 people could change there name whenever they wanted, so this isn’t a drastic change..

It's not limiting what you can name yourself. You can change names every time you join a server. It's just the individual clients don't have to see you as a different name if they don't want to do so, if they saw you before.

Anything that limits what I can name myself (a la T2) is Gay, sry.

Basically you're a fag-enabler is what I am trying to say.

Hm. It was my understanding that even in games like UT2K4 cd keys get assigned certain unique numbers that don't change regardless. Which translate into 841841 blah blah blah, that could be the basis of the system brought up in this thread.

It won't work because the ID is never the same. If I join a server, it hands me an ID. If I quit and come back 5 min later it issues me an ID, but this ID is not the same as the previous ID. The only way to do it is to have the same guid system T2 has. Anything else will either put a burden on the server or client, or be easily bypassed.

Reading some of the other stuff towards the middle, I like some of the options brought up in regards to alternate ways of viewing players. Alot of ways are viable really, with no way being right or wrong per say, as it comes down to more of a preference issue in how you want it displayed.

As deli pointed out, the only one issue you could potentially run into is where the guy with the original name is smurfing, and you have a guy with an identical name on the server. Overall though that'd be a pretty rare situation I'd think. One of the alternate viewing methods described could get around it. Here's another idea to get around that though.

When you first pop up a name list, it shows the list of players in the game under what names they chose to be under, then readjusts to show the names you've bound their IDs with.

Smurfing is a license for people to act like idiots most of the time. Not to mention illegal uses in ladder and league play. The bad parts that come from people smurfing (impersonating, acting like total idiots, illegally playing in matches, stalking, etc) by far outweigh the good parts imo.

why all the smurf hate? 90% of the time i play pubs under my normal name anyways but that 10% of the time its fun to just go fuck around :D

So long as the ID you are basing this pseudonym on remains constant, I think it's an excellent idea. I'm sure a friends list could be implimented in this way, and that the issue brought up earlier (about your friend's pseudonym conflicting with someone else's actual nick) could also be easily remedied by the client. It seems to me that this could also serve the secondary purpose of being a swear filter.

To explain how the conflict could be resolved:

Your friend's actual nick: totallyAwesome
Your pseudonym for him: Bob
Someone else on the server is playing as Bob, thus shows up: Bob.1

When you type in "Bob," the client could catch this string and replace it with totallyAwesome, and then send the rest of your message on its merry way toward the server. By the same token, when you say Bob.1, your client can also parse this into Bob and send that to the server as well. Granted the system is a tad bit complicated, and typing out someone's full nick in this fashion would be a bit tiresome (perhaps we could get tab completion for the chatbox? :D ) but it would work.

I also really like this idea.

Hm. It was my understanding that even in games like UT2K4 cd keys get assigned certain unique numbers that don't change regardless. Which translate into 841841 blah blah blah, that could be the basis of the system brought up in this thread.

Usually that ID is only sent to the server or is only used to register the game and then never used again, ala T2 CD key. Now, it it IS sent to the server, then it is a simple matter of having the server scripts send it to all clients.

Yeah this is pretty much what I was thinking. In terms of raw data, your client would receive from the server "CLIENT: ZOD ID: 68125" instead of just "CLIENT: ZOD". But the player would only see ZOD has joined the game, or whatever name they might have marked you with earlier.

then it is a simple matter of having the server scripts send it to all clients.

When you type in "Bob," the client could catch this string and replace it with totallyAwesome, and then send the rest of your message on its merry way toward the server. By the same token, when you say Bob.1, your client can also parse this into Bob and send that to the server as well. Granted the system is a tad bit complicated, and typing out someone's full nick in this fashion would be a bit tiresome (perhaps we could get tab completion for the chatbox? :D ) but it would work.

I agree, it would be too complicated.

I really liked the modification to my idea by pyro.

Better to just change the color of people you've flagged as friends.

Then the client script coud just do a simple check, and if the names match nothing is added, but if they're different it gives you an indication of what they played as when you tagged them as a friend.

Though I don't even really think that addition is necessary.

The biggest problem I have with the client changing what I type is, I don't want to have to type "Bob.1" if I want to talk to the guy who named himself Bob. And if in a time-sensitive area I mess up and accidentally just type in "Bob" than the client has me telling my friend "TotallyAwesome" to do what I want "Bob" to do.

I really think highlighting is the simplest solution, and could be coded the quickest into the game (thus taking a lot less time and making it easier to do).

a simple

if( player.getGUID() == friend ) ((or whatever))
player.setFontColor(red);
else
player.setFontColor(white );

is much easier than whatever it'd take to actually redisplay the name and such.

I guess it doesn't have to be too cluttered, these are the options I'd go for:
- Highlight the name itself.
- Highlight the background of the name. (this would be good if we're allowed color customization.)
- Have a small icon next to the name.
Any of those are good in my book...

I really think highlighting is the simplest solution, and could be coded the quickest into the game (thus taking a lot less time and making it easier to do).


The system I suggested isn't all that complicated to code (complicated to visualize, maybe. Complicated in comparison to other ideas, sure.). Catch an input string, parse it through a switch statement, replace with another string on the way out. And like I said, tab name completion would solve the problems of names ending in .1, .2, etc. (though frankly I think it would be a rare occurance for this situation to arise).

I guess it depends on if you want something more like a friends list (or less intrusive smurf identifier), or a full-blown, easy to recognize smurf identifier. I (obviously, from my suggestion) want a full-blown, easy to recognize smurf identifier that could also double as a friends list, or a swear filter (as much as I dislike the idea of them).

The system I suggested isn't all that complicated to code (complicated to visualize, maybe. Complicated in comparison to other ideas, sure.). Catch an input string, parse it through a switch statement, replace with another string on the way out. And like I said, tab name completion would solve the problems of names ending in .1, .2, etc. (though frankly I think it would be a rare occurance for this situation to arise).

I guess it depends on if you want something more like a friends list, or a full-blown, easy to recognize smurf identifier. I (obviously, from my suggestion) want a full-blown, easy to recognize smurf identifier that could also double as a friends list, or a swear filter (as much as I dislike the idea of them).

I know your implementation isn't that hard. However, here are the steps, from my limited, still learning, understanding of programming.

1.You have to read the string and tokenize it.
2.You have to check the tokens for a certain name.
3.You have to check the "smurf file" for that name.
4.If you have a match, you have to read the GUID from the smurf file
5.You have to find the matching GUID (if it is a matching GUID) on the server
6.You have to read what name that GUID is using
7.You have to replace the name and write over the token.

8.Additionally you also have to find other instances of the name and where GUID doesn't match you have to add on a .1 to your display.

It works, but it could end up eating up valuable time.

my way:

1.You have to read the list of players.
2.You have to get the GUID for the players
3.You have to check the GUID against GUIDs in your "smurf file"
4.Instead of name replacement, you just change the color/add a symbol/highlight the name

Once the name is highlighted, you know the person is smurfing and/or you know they are a friend. You should be able to identify your friends by talking/playing with them. Otherwise, maybe there is a reason they're smurfing :) It also does the same job in half the steps. Though you don't get some extra info

The difference between what you're suggesting and what I'm suggesting is that yours is less intrusive and faster, while mine would be a total nick replacement (or augmentation, if you like) and slower. They're not really the same thing.

why add more useless shit to the game

we already have jump pads and repair turretsCyanide, go away and let me destroy all gaming in peace. All this ruining things is rough work, and with you making catty remarks all the time I barely have the energy to crush the will of all gamers.

Cyanide, go away and let me destroy all gaming in peace. All this ruining things is rough work, and with you making catty remarks all the time I barely have the energy to crush the will of all gamers.

While you're at it, can you add a quad damage pack to multiplayer that gibs models when they die? Oh and be sure to have the gibbed parts ragdoll and fly perfectly. I would also like to see the sniper bullets track heat signatures from players and all vehicles, and possibly turrets, generators and sensors as well.

What kinda bothers me when I read this thread is the onslaught of advertisements for buying smurfs in google bar. Where else could you get information on how to buy a benchwarmer smurf

https://www.billstoysandgames.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/BenchwarmerSmurf2.JPG