IP Banning

[Nanobotdeath]

OF those who spam Money Selling! Its so annoying even if i can ignore. I still want FC to do something them self.

[Chrys]

Too easy to get around, too likely to harm innocent players.

[Nanobotdeath]

Perhaps. But FC would have to find a way then

[Megasis]

They are not going anywhere. GET OVER it. There is no SOLUTION to get rid of them.

All they can do is keep deleting there accounts. That is ALL they can do.

You can give suggestions to your hearts content. Nothing can be done.

Again all they can do is ban the accounts as they see them or reported.

If they take the free froob accounts away welcome to the death of AO.

This is hardly constructive.

They are like 1000000000 million f'en posts about this. Do search ffs and read them. There are enough posts to keep make you feel satisfied that all areas have been covered.

[styles999]

Honestly "It" technically could be done, but in doing so would mean a TOTAL re-vamp of the game mechanics as far as client side checks etc......

look at a company called Punkbuster(they do mostly fps game protection), its not the best, but not only can u ban by ip, you can ban specific hardware also...harddrives, ethernet controllers, etc..etc.. by the hardware id, because EVERY single drive or device is given a specific hardware id when it is hooked up

but yes there is work-arounds to EVERY measure, in my opinion its just to much work involved vs reward for busting 1 cred seller

personally i think that would be the best option to combat it tho, just too much time/money involved in implementing it... unfortuneate but true

and yes, punkbuster has its limitations also

[Krattonomic]

Funcom already has the feature to ban multiple computers and IPs.. but it is still to easy to get around... all they have to do is change their IP or Computer ID.. and well there they are again... I think in order to get this issue fixed Funcom needs to file "harassment charges against those that use this option" cause Funcom has all our IPs and more

[styles999]

Thats the beauty of banning by hardware ID :P

The computer id is alil diff, its a set numbers based on whatever fc wants to track (could be your player # or whatever)

lets say fc bans the ip, well there ARE programs out that in a matter of rebooting your pc and modem u can obtain a new ip, however the hardware ban is locked to that particular devices serial #, so only way around that would be to purchase a new device....

and yeah there are programs out that you can change hwid for some fps (but arent usually obtainable by an easy means), but those go extinct pretty fast when pb does an update, as they ban ip,hwid, and a personalized md5(kinda like md5 hash...a series of random numbers and letters identify's a set ip/hwid/and sometimes serial# for hd's,ethernet controlers, motherboards)

you could implement a personalized md5 for each account created(therefore when a toon on that acct is permabanned it locks the whole acct without messing up any static ip's) only prob associated with that is they can....OFC....create new accounts issuing a brand new md5....where the hardware banning came into play

so back to step 1 again

[Krattonomic]

as far as I am aware though the Hardward IDs can only be obtained if you have really really state of the art equipment to gather that information... the only information that most games Obtain is IP and the Computers ID.. which both are easly changable

[Ninj00]

why do you care if someone is making a little money?

just dont buy the credits and dont worry about it, its not hurting you so mind your own business

[styles999]

hmm, honestly i dont know exactly what they use to get hwid's, but from me playing some fps games myself that have punkbuster used, i thought it was a matter of just coding it into the game mechanics and when a user accepts it auto-tracks via whatever, pb is a totally seperate program that runs constantly via .dll files in memory and on your hd, captures screenshots along with detecting aimbots(of no use to a mmo tho, hell if u cant hit anyone u shouldnt play)

but they may have to get equipment, i havent the slightest there

but for economical/effort reasons it honestly wouldnt be worth the time/effort put into it vs the outcome, it would by far be the best tho

[Omutb]

lets say fc bans the ip, well there ARE programs out that in a matter of rebooting your pc and modem u can obtain a new ip, however the hardware ban is locked to that particular devices serial #, so only way around that would be to purchase a new device....

Thats what block bans are for.

An IP address is made up of 4 octets, a.b.c.d.

If you ban a.b.c.d, you ban 1 single computer or NAT router.

If you ban a.b.c, you ban 255 computers or NAT routers.

Since your ISP will only give you an IP address that it owns, you cant just get any random one you like.

Im sure that if FC really wanted to they could ban whole ISPs from using AO, but it really depends how many of those banned arent credit spammers.

[styles999]

Thats what block bans are for.

An IP address is made up of 4 octets, a.b.c.d.

If you ban a.b.c.d, you ban 1 single computer or NAT router.

If you ban a.b.c, you ban 255 computers or NAT routers.

Since your ISP will only give you an IP address that it owns, you cant just get any random one you like.

Im sure that if FC really wanted to they could ban whole ISPs from using AO, but it really depends how many of those banned arent credit spammers.

oh no, i knew this, thats why they implement the triple, single ip(as u do not want to affect 254 other potential customers), hardware(EVERY single pc component has a diff#, i havent found one that doesnt), and the md5(or unique id for that acct)

that way noone is affected but that person, they may be able to change the ip address but they cannot change md5/unique id, or hwid...(only way to change hwid is buy new crap

you would be amazed how many ppl they do truely keep from being able to ruin a game...(ofc they cannot Stop them ALL, because hacking games/cheating evolves just like pb does...but it could work for this instance/problem)
the process is kinda like this, pb updates to read diff cheats whatever...cheaters rely on coders to change/make new cheats...pb updates again, coders re-code/make new...and it goes on and on with fps cheating...

here is the link to anyone that wants to read
http://www.punkbuster.com/

[If6was9]

why do you care if someone is making a little money?

just dont buy the credits and dont worry about it, its not hurting you so mind your own business

I don't mind people making money. I mind people making money by screaming in my ear.

IP banning would definitely put a dent in sellers. Active/stealth banning of both buyers and sellers would be even more effective. Once the player base came to understand they risked permaban for either buying or selling creds then the market in its entirety would start to dry up.

The people who are buying creds care about their toons and will not want to risk losing them. The sellers don't give a crap about their toons or this game.

[Ninj00]

I don't mind people making money. I mind people making money by screaming in my ear.

IP banning would definitely put a dent in sellers. Active/stealth banning of both buyers and sellers would be even more effective. Once the player base came to understand they risked permaban for either buying or selling creds then the market in its entirety would start to dry up.

The people who are buying creds care about their toons and will not want to risk losing them. The sellers don't give a crap about their toons or this game.

I've heard that there's a great function they introduced back in 2001, its called /ignore

[styles999]

I've heard that there's a great function they introduced back in 2001, its called /ignore

Here's the thing, I do not want to /ignore 30 spammers and have that take away from my time, and yeah actually i do have a problem with ppl making money by doing something wrong.. not to mention its against the eula that they have agreed to before they started playing ... and it is actually the property of the game designer and not that of a 13 yr old trying to pay for his car so he can hopefully get some

now i dont know you, but if you dont have a suggestion other than the things you have posted pls leave this thread alone and post content thats alil more your age

[If6was9]

I've heard that there's a great function they introduced back in 2001, its called /ignore

Yep, I use it often. But then Hfhfhhhfhhfg changes his name to Hffhfhffhhg and I'm SOL, let alone the time I waste trying to parse out that keyboard slop for 3 different cred spammers every time I hit Bor.

[Ninj00]

Here's the thing, I do not want to /ignore 30 spammers and have that take away from my time,

how have they "taken away " from your time? it takes just as much time to type /ignore credsfursale as it does to read the messages , your wasting your own time by making this post

and yeah actually i do have a problem with ppl making money by doing something wrong.. not to mention its against the eula that they have agreed to before they started playing ...

who died and made you the sheriff ?

and it is actually the property of the game designer

it sounds like your just jealous that people are taking a shortcut to good equipment and your wasting your time farming credits to get it. Think of it this way, how many hours would it take you to make 1 billion credits ? How many hours would it take you to make $150? Even at minimum wage it would take 20 hours to make that money . I seriously doubt you could make a billion credits in 20 hours of gameplay.

pls leave this thread alone and post content thats alil more your age

and not that of a 13 yr old trying to pay for his car so he can hopefully get some

I suggest you take your own advice.

[Ninj00]

Yep, I use it often. But then Hfhfhhhfhhfg changes his name to Hffhfhffhhg and I'm SOL, let alone the time I waste trying to parse out that keyboard slop for 3 different cred spammers every time I hit Bor.

what channel are they spamming in ? OOC? shopping? I dont know about you but there is ALWAYS some form of spam in those channels. If its not some idiot trying to sell ql 2 health packs its a long winded argument between two people about weather or not hanna montana is sexy . I've got all of those channels in a separate chat window called "garbage" as well as most of the other text based communications through AO like messages about someones pet or vicinity chat.

Its almost always total dribble anyway, nothing has changed...

[haxi]

I thought everyone knew who Ninj00 was. He brought more anarchy to AO than any other player, ever.

[Ninj00]

I thought everyone knew who Ninj00 was. He brought more fun to AO than any other player, ever.

fixed it for you