[MUD-Dev] Gearing up against GEAR

[Vincent Archer]

According to Travis Nixon:

> You're trying to catch a lying client, but you're trusting that it
> will tell you the true time.
 
> I'm guessing a geared client doesn't actually have a choice about
> telling the truth about time.  I'm guessing it has no choice but
> to lie. :)

Ahah.

It's probably still covered by NDA and all that, but at Nevrax, we
call our detection system for "unnatural clients" the "police
service".  Chiefly because it tracks what you are saying, and once
it detects inconsistencies, you're suspect. And once a suspect has
too many problems he becomes a culprit :)

You see, the client needs to lie. And lying leads to
inconsistencies.  For example, you can ping the client. You have a
RTT (measured server side, so assumed valid), so an accurate
relationship between the time *reported* by the client and the
server. You can do the same spot check at any time (classic police:
repeat the question multiple times; when the suspect starts giving
out differing answers, he might be lying) to measure the drift.

Your client now has to lie about the time (time must elapse
normally), but also has to lie about when his actions occur (they
must be separated by "enough" time to be correct). Sooner or later,
he will trip himself on one consistency check. Two/three consistency
checks tripped in a reasonable timeframe, and your player is now
under investigation (at that point, you force a disconnect, or you
put the player under GM investigation list. The GM does police work
too; he'll follow the player. If he's GEARed, it soon becomes
apparent).

--
	Vincent Archer			Email:	archer at frmug.org

All men are mortal.  Socrates was mortal.  Therefore, all men are Socrates.
							(Woody Allen)
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