Alternatives to Bans

How would YOU like YOUR name to be "PrettyPinkFlowers"?

from Demigod Forums

We have issues with players, and will continue to do so.  One reason Stardock has to tread so carefully is that they have an on/off ban switch.  Some more options would go a long way to scold players for doing dumb things.  These options need to be easily implemented by Stardock - not Gas Powered Games - and should be discouraging, but not life ending.  My ideas:

- Rename them.  Change their username to "ILikePinkPonies" or "SometimesICheat."

- Drop a lot?  Reduce their game completion percentage so everyone can see it easily.

- Insult someone?  Add a note that everyone can see on their connection box saying, "If this punk gives you trouble, take a screen shot and let Stardock know ASAP."

- Reset their favor.  A small slap on the wrist, right?

- Lock their favor at zero.  Not so funny now eh?  If actually locking it is too hard, reseting it to zero every night shouldn't be.

- Exploiting?  Lock out their ability to chose certain Demigods.  While doing the actual visuals for it might be tricky, it wouldn't be hard to set a flag that changed their demigod choice.  For example, if they constantly exploited the Sedna/high priest glitch, every time they picked Sedna, when they launch they actually get Queen of Thorns.  (Whats worse than QoT?  A QoT with no favor item.)

 

All of these can be temporary (a week, a month) ways of discouraging bad behavior without flat-out banning them.

demigod
4,496 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from Demigod Forums Top

- Rename them.  Change their username to "ILikePinkPonies" or "SometimesICheat."
End of quote

Embarrassment isn't likely to do much against trolls and griefers. They do a pretty good job of embarrassing themselves already.

Reply #2 from Demigod Forums Top

Yes but it would annoy them enough to either quit or calm down so they can play their game.

I like this idea but I'd hate to see it turn into a game.

CursorFX - Customize your Windows cursor
Reply #3 from Demigod Forums Top

It really depends on the offense.  I think that someone who purposefully causes a "game state error" or something else pretty disruptive should be utterly banned from online play.  No questions asked.  However, someone who rage-quits habitually or gives inappropriate names to their games should receive a stern warning first, perhaps followed by a temporary ban for the next offense. 

Reply #4 from Demigod Forums Top

I don't see a different between rage quitting or invalid gamestating - both end the game prematurely, its just that one ends it at once, while the other leaves your allies with a loss.

If the stats actually kept track of wins/losses and meant something, I might feel differently. 

Reply #5 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting FutileEmotion, reply 4
I don't see a different between rage quitting or invalid gamestating - both end the game prematurely, its just that one ends it at once, while the other leaves your allies with a loss.

If the stats actually kept track of wins/losses and meant something, I might feel differently. 
End of FutileEmotion's quote

 

well what about somone like me on....when im at home i have 20 000kbps download and 5 000 kbps upload...but when im at sea im on telstra wireless wich can be running at 3 mb download and 650 upload but then all of a sudden drop out....seems a bit unfair as im a addict and try to play when ever i can...

Reply #6 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting MixMagic, reply 5

Quoting FutileEmotion, reply 4I don't see a different between rage quitting or invalid gamestating - both end the game prematurely, its just that one ends it at once, while the other leaves your allies with a loss.

If the stats actually kept track of wins/losses and meant something, I might feel differently. 
 

well what about somone like me on....when im at home i have 20 000kbps download and 5 000 kbps upload...but when im at sea im on telstra wireless wich can be running at 3 mb download and 650 upload but then all of a sudden drop out....seems a bit unfair as im a addict and try to play when ever i can...
End of MixMagic's quote

Maybe it is a bit unfair to the other players to play at all when you know you can drop out?

Reply #7 from Demigod Forums Top

well anyone can drop out at any time cant they? and i always inform my fellow aussies that i can drop out...and they know my state and they are more then happy to play with me.

Reply #8 from Demigod Forums Top

You can change your own name any time you want. Renaming wouldn't matter unless they have an easy way to disable that mechanic.

 

More importantly giving people warnings takes time. You need a database of who's been warned, you need a guy to review that data, you need someone to read complaints when people protest their warnings and subsequent bannings, etc. etc.

 

I'm not a fan of banning at all and I strongly dislike the schadenfreude around here, but I do undertsand if SD doesn't go beyond that basic service.

Reply #9 from Demigod Forums Top

"

More importantly giving people warnings takes time. You need a database of who's been warned, you need a guy to review that data, you need someone to read complaints when people protest their warnings and subsequent bannings, etc. etc."

You don't need a database, you need a column in a row of a table of a database that likely already exists.

ALTER TABLE Player ADD isBanned BIT NOT NULL

UPDATE Player SET isBanned = 0

Done.

The logistics of banning is considerably more significant than the implementation, which is a valid argument.

Reply #10 from Demigod Forums Top

Altering the database which contains all the player data (assuming it's one big database) seems like a risky prospect to me.

Reply #11 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting obscenitor, reply 10
Altering the database which contains all the player data (assuming it's one big database) seems like a risky prospect to me.
End of obscenitor's quote

Not really... I mean, how do you think the Karma reset was done?

UPDATE Player SET Karma = 150

Adding a column to a table is very simple and is done all the time when you add additional functionality to anything.The other possible option (it would be faster, I s'pose) would be the following:

CREATE TABLE bannedPlayers (

   playerId INT PRIMARY KEY IDENTITY

)

ALTER TABLE bannedPlayers ADD CONSTRAINT bannedPlayerRefPlayer FOREIGN KEY

INSERT bannedPlayers (playerId) VALUES (3557854)

(for me)

Of course, handling banned players through the DB is a less-than-optimal solution. But if SD is banning all of about 5 players a month, it shouldn't be too difficult. Plus, adding a new table to a database like this would be... rather stupid. really. Every time you wnated to use this data you'd have to JOIN on the table instead of just hitting Player directly.

Databases are surprisingly stable ;) Though backups and redundancy should always be maintained, of course.