[MUD-Dev] DGN: Random questions about griefers

[Soy weiser]

On 8/30/05, Ian Hess <ianhess at yahoo.com> wrote:
> --- Tess Snider <malkyne at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On 8/26/05, Mike Rozak <Mike at mxac.com.au> wrote:

>> IP Banning (aka "sitelocking") is usually used on a small block
>> of IPs, rather than a single IP. It has always been a bit
>> touch-and-go, since A.) yes, people do change IPs, and B.) you
>> always run the risk of blocking another innocent player by
>> accident. I found that it was most useful when there was a site
>> with a distinct block of IPs that was quite clearly a source from
>> whence you wanted no further connections, whatsoever. For
>> example, if you're receiving problem connections from a grade
>> school, it is entirely appropriate to block the range of IP
>> addresses belonging to that school, because it's highly unlikely
>> that there is anybody legitimately using your service from there.
>> I have seen this used very effectively, in such a case.

> I find myself wondering if its possible to collect MAC addresses
> of connecting network cards as well. The mac could still be
> altered by an end user, but if this blocking method wasn't
> published, it could be harder for an end user to work around.

I believe it's perfectly possible to collect MAC addresses (1), but
only if they connect to your machine directly. So you will only get
them from your isp, or your direct link to the internet. MAC
addresses are from layer 2, the data layer (2). Ip addresses are
from layer 3, the network. So sadly this won't work.

But you could try to reverse dns their IP address. And try to gather
data from this. I heard certain Ip addresses have only one dns
address. But I don't know how effective that is. And it's a lot
harder to do.

Perhaps you could also try to collect all the different ip addresses
a player uses for his accounts and check for overlap. (to gather
multiple accounts, or to check if multiple players use that ip range
and/or isp).

But I don't know if any of these methods are worth the trouble of
implementing them. Are there any studies about the effect of banning
grievers?

Source:

  (1): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address

  (2): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layer_2#Description_of_layers
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