[MUD-Dev] TECH: Trusting Network Clients

[Koster]

From: 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?

Of course.

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

Almost all of them. Or misbehave generally.

  http://www.business2.com/articles/web/0,1653,42521,FF.html 

A lot has to do with a sense of consequences.

> If the majority of players are cheaters, does this imply something
> about players in general, or something about the particular game?

About human nature. Psych studies have shown that a majority of
people will cheat even if only in small ways, if they have no fear
of getting caught.

> 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.

Yep.

> 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.

The statement "the client is in the hands of the enemy" does not
mean "all clients are in the hands of enemies." It means "of clients
available, some are in the hands of the enemy."

> 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?

Only by policing. Based on various studies, the most successful
policing appears to be capricious, unfair, harshly punitive, and
near-random. I'm looking for the link with the mathematical
simulations on this but can't find it offhand. But here's a
different yet related link:

  http://www.nature.com/nsu/020107/020107-6.html

-Raph

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