[MUD-Dev] Re: Alternate UOL's

[Felix A. Croes]

Jason Goodwin <wgoodwin at iquest.net> wrote:
> At 02:56 PM 7/11/98 +0200, Felix Croes wrote:
>[...]
> >This sort of thing would be much more difficult if public key
> >encryption is used to authenticate the server:
>
> Yes, but someone _will_ break the code, and then it might as well
> not even be there since its only result is to slow things down.

Whoever is going to try to break RSA or ElGamal: good luck to them.


> Or even better, just reverse engineer the client to remove the
> check.  It is futile, and ultimately adds nothing to the game.

I disagree.  First off, requiring users to patch their client
(or download a new one) before they can login on a clone server
stops a large amount of them right there -- these are the same
people who don't know how to upgrade their BIOS for Windows 98.

Second, the UO client is not a static product that you have to
hack only once.  It is automatically upgraded to fix bugs and
track server changes.  Third-party hacks on the client either
have to track these changes -- which then have to be distributed
again -- or the clone muds would be left behind, causing them
more versioning problems.

Third, right now it is not clear if you are doing anything wrong 
by connecting to a clone server.  All you have done is make a
change to the login.cfg file.  Having to patch the client changes
that.


> >In any event, it would do much to stop the
> >casual use of clone servers that is now possible.
>
> But who are the clone servers hurting?

Taking the UOX source as state of the art, I'd say that only one
addition is needed to make a reasonably bug-free clone a blazing
success: player houses.  Alternatively, add combat, death and stat
loss/advancement.  In either case, monsters, spells, skills and
related objects are (initially) not needed.  Any successful clone
could take away marketshare from Origin.

It could all be a ploy by Origin to father the new Abermud and
supplant telnet & tinyfugue as the standard mud clients, but
somehow I suspect that they were caught unawares.

Felix Croes