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Changelog
Since we have lost the Master Server for NWN, and Gamespy as well, the player login name each of us uses to login to the server really has only the purpose of identifying you to other players on the server. There is now no security tied to it since the password you type in in the Neverwinter Nights UI when you connect to a Multiplayer game or Direct Connect is checked against nothing at all.
Logging in with a different player name typically only serves to simply provide anonymity, and is now super-easy to do as you can use *any* name you like (since there is not master database anymore to compare them to). Throughout the years I have been administering NWN servers, logging in with multiple different player names has often been a tactic used by griefers or players with less than noble intentions.
So I am proposing tying player names to a CD Key and limiting the number of player names that one CD Key (installation) of NWN can use to login to the server to a two player name limit per player. I believe that limiting the number of player names that can be tied to your CD Key *is* a good practice not only from a security standpoint, but also to ensure that when someone might blow up, act like a jerk, or do something they might otherwise regret, they cannot slip back into the anonymity of the Internet by simply changing their login name and coming on again with a ‘fresh slate’. That is, until they do something to mess that up again, possibly causing the same or similar problems for other players who do not rely on anonymity, and then do it all over again.
By tying player login names to CD Keys, I think this will help with accountability among players and help encourage people to be perhaps a little more civil and less...erratic...since they cannot simply go rogue and then come back again under a different pseudonym. I’ve long tracked what player names are tied to CD Keys, but unless a player has caused problems that have been reported to the staff, I’ve not shared that information. But I can say that we have had several players with upwards of 20 different login names throughout the years that Thay has been running. And sometimes I don’t even realize it until I look in my database and see that.
However, I am interested in hearing your opinion on this, and if you have any questions or concerns on how this would work. The biggest impact would be against players who already have 3 or more player names and they are actively using them (which I don’t *think* we have any active players doing that at the moment), AND it will impact people who have a wife/husband/son/daughter/roommate/uncle/dog/cat that plays in Thay on the same computer. As a result, for example, a 2 player login limit per CD Key would only allow you and your dog to play, which could leave your cat and all others heartbroken.
Please using the voting options at the top to weigh in, and post below with your thoughts. As always, I ask the conversation be kept civil and as positive as you can (even if you do not favorably view this idea). At least here on the forums we are mostly non-anonymous. ;)
Logging in with a different player name typically only serves to simply provide anonymity, and is now super-easy to do as you can use *any* name you like (since there is not master database anymore to compare them to). Throughout the years I have been administering NWN servers, logging in with multiple different player names has often been a tactic used by griefers or players with less than noble intentions.
So I am proposing tying player names to a CD Key and limiting the number of player names that one CD Key (installation) of NWN can use to login to the server to a two player name limit per player. I believe that limiting the number of player names that can be tied to your CD Key *is* a good practice not only from a security standpoint, but also to ensure that when someone might blow up, act like a jerk, or do something they might otherwise regret, they cannot slip back into the anonymity of the Internet by simply changing their login name and coming on again with a ‘fresh slate’. That is, until they do something to mess that up again, possibly causing the same or similar problems for other players who do not rely on anonymity, and then do it all over again.
By tying player login names to CD Keys, I think this will help with accountability among players and help encourage people to be perhaps a little more civil and less...erratic...since they cannot simply go rogue and then come back again under a different pseudonym. I’ve long tracked what player names are tied to CD Keys, but unless a player has caused problems that have been reported to the staff, I’ve not shared that information. But I can say that we have had several players with upwards of 20 different login names throughout the years that Thay has been running. And sometimes I don’t even realize it until I look in my database and see that.
However, I am interested in hearing your opinion on this, and if you have any questions or concerns on how this would work. The biggest impact would be against players who already have 3 or more player names and they are actively using them (which I don’t *think* we have any active players doing that at the moment), AND it will impact people who have a wife/husband/son/daughter/roommate/uncle/dog/cat that plays in Thay on the same computer. As a result, for example, a 2 player login limit per CD Key would only allow you and your dog to play, which could leave your cat and all others heartbroken.
Please using the voting options at the top to weigh in, and post below with your thoughts. As always, I ask the conversation be kept civil and as positive as you can (even if you do not favorably view this idea). At least here on the forums we are mostly non-anonymous. ;)
