[MUD-Dev] TECH: Trusting Network Clients

[Crosbie Fitch]

From: Nicolai Hansen

> I would never trust any client to keep control of game sensitive
> things.  It WILL be hacked, and someone WILL give themselves
> unlimited hitpoints :)

Can we re-examine this dogma before it gets too entrenched?

What proportion of players don't want to play by the rules, and
would cheat given half a chance?

If the majority of players are cheaters, does this imply something
about players in general, or something about the particular game?
I'd be suspicious that players who felt slightly miffed at paying
for a game, may feel justified in rectifying their value for money
by cheating.

If the majority of players aren't cheaters, doesn't this then imply
that the client is not necessarily in the hands of the enemy?  The
enemy is not the 'fair player', but the reprobate, the bitter, the
immature, the cheater, etc.

Is there a way of creating a game (in the holistic sense) such that
an extreme majority (90%) of players are fully inclined towards fair
play, despite opportunities to cheat? Just like the problem of
creating a housing estate where an extreme majority of its residents
are disinclined to vandalise it, and even actively seek out and
reprimand vandals rather than silently tolerate them?

I'm wondering if all this talk of MMOG community building isn't
simply a better way of exploiting the players from a profit based
motive. If a community was truly involved in the game, even to the
extent that the community owned the game, then I suspect there'd be
far greater respect for fair play. How much do you think that
players feel peeved that their work in terms of play and socialising
(role play, guilding, etc.) is simply being sold back to them,
i.e. they're not just being sold the infrastructure and environment?

All a player has in a virtual world is their identity, the ability
to be recognised for their achievements, relationships, and
experiences. To a large extent, this is all we have in the real
world. When players find no value in identity, that there is more
value in disruption or introverted activities, then there's
something lacking in the virtual world.

If you can create a game in which at least 90% of players quickly
desire, and come to cherish their identity, then you have a game in
which the client is not in the hands of the enemy. You have a game
with a manageable amount of cheating. You can harness a tenth of the
power of all of the clients to fully police them all.

I find it difficult to believe that of the people who spend so much
of their time playing a game that it's only a few who believe in
fair play.

The player is not the enemy!


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