Them Tags.

Hi Corgi!

Oh look Kaede-chan still comes here. Hi Kaede!

^That

Well there you have it! Now we need PMs if we want to invite somebody who we don't know outside of AoS.

You can't as far as I know. But it's not like it really matters. We don't have personal stats here as of yet.

No way to know how many posts you've posted, how many threads you've created.... just a history.

@alex: I've already port forwarded correctly. I was able to get my server connected to the master server just fine, except nobody but me could enter it. It's dumb.

i support, and you cant delete your account :(
@Kaede-chan, have you port forwarded correctly, cause from the basic description your giving, it sounds just like a basic port-forwarding error, if its not that, you could always post in the support forums and give better details so the techno-wizzes on our lovely forum can help you :3

Umm... this will sound stupid, but how can I delete my old AoS Forums account? I can't find the option anywhere. I really want to continue to use this same name, but since Wordpress won't allow me to change my username I need to delete this account to do this.

:o

Kaede-chan, in 0.54 you can choose to not advertise your server on the master server simply by typing: "n" when prompt. It won't display on the servers list.

I'll try a few other things first, but I'll keep that in mind as the last solution.

Explain, please Lloyd.

Even if you host a server with the alt+0173 character as a name (so nobody can actually click the server to enter it), the server's IP can easily be found by right clicking the server list and pressing "view page source".

And how would you even go about hosting a server without connecting it to the master server, unless it is a LAN server?

You can already pretty much do this. Don't advertise your server on the master server, and give your friends you want to play your aos:// key.

Holy crap, great idea, OP.

1337101, try registering a completely new:
Email address. ((((((PREFERABLY GMAIL))))))
Forum account
Gravatar account with the email you just created and registered with.

@Kaede: I blame gremlins. They're also responsible for me continuing to be a bunch of pink diamonds here in the forums.

The problem is that right now the only admin on vanilla servers is the host, as far as I know.

I'd admin if I could host a server that actually worked. I can host, but nobody can join mine for some weird reason.

Goon Haven has a couple admins. We're trying to get the rest of our admin-base to play some, but they're not interested in playing Ace of Spades.

After hearing suggestions for many new ways to prevent trolls, griefing, etc, some good, some bad, I gave up and am now shouting from the rooftops the real way to stop the skiddies from ruining your server.

They're called admins. They're actual people who actually supervise things. They can make calls better than any software, assess a situation more accurately, and they're harder to abuse than a public votekick.

However, most server hosts don't monitor their servers very well. This is a problem. Some hosts check on their servers frequently or maintain their presence (or save and close servers when they're away) to keep things under control, and their servers are consistently the best I've been on. It's crucial to hosting a good server that you keep an eye on things to destroy the trolls and protect the people that just want to play a fun game without constantly having to votekick Deuces.

The only feature for vanilla AoS server software that REALLY needs to be implemented is a way for server hosts to appoint admins, and possibly moderators, with the power to kick and ban at will (or just kick and tempban, in the case of moderators). The exact features would need some consideration (can all admins make admins, or only the host? What about making moderators? Could other mods do it or not?), but the overall idea would go a long way to making a better game experience.

All a host would need to do is gather up a friend or two, give them the appropriate powers, and start a server up. This would also strengthen the community (players that have gained a positive reputation might end up moderators on a plethora of servers, meaning that they can play in a bunch of different places and still remain helpful to the other players. If every single member of the AoS community who was trustworthy enough for the job was given it, griefers wouldn't stand a chance. They'd be kicked by five people at once) a bit overall. Servers could potentially have a moderator or admin online at all times, making things very hard indeed for griefers.

So hosts, PLEASE supervise your servers better, and Ben, can we get a feature like this? The system doesn't even require registration to work... server hosts could set a password a la PySpades.

Casuals are fine. Hopefully if servers got to have optional protection it wouldn't be used all the time... if it got bad enough that casual players couldn't reliably get into servers then the feature could be de-implemented.

Actually, scratch that. This is a bad idea. I'm starting a new thread with my latest rant about all this stuff...

if this became popularized by all servers this game would become a mutant hybrid Call-Of-Duty-Minecraft game where no regular person could play without having to build something nice or prove they can actually aim well in silly gateway-non-password protected server while being reviewed by a panel of elders (12 year olds or some sort of teenager) hoping they can actually enjoy a game that was made for the public without having to suck someone's dick or have to go to hell and back or perform some stupid ass task to get there[See: Every fucking minecraft server there is just about you have to gain some sort of respect or know someone to even begin enjoying the game somewhat online; CoD Clans]

if you're going to use this then put it on some build server because any good structure will be taken down by griefers or the other team whether people want that to happen or not, the builder(s) cant fend off attacks from the opposite team forever (unless they have no life)

tl;dr someone doesn't want casuals in this game

@LazySwedishDeveloper: This is a bad idea because build-only server owners would use it?

Think that over a few times until you realize how petty and childish that was of you. Optional kypass protection would be a good idea.

Wow, finally.. a GOOD suggestion.

Very good idea! Well explained and thought out!

I hear the autistic build servers calling

Bad idea

Me like. GIMMEGIMME

Haven't heard that one before. That's actually a pretty good idea.

Wait what?

<nvm>

I've seen a lot of people making suggestions on how to stop griefing. Accounts, IP banning, additional build restrictions, more admin tools, ban lists, ect. Unfortunately, a lot of these suggestions are really easy to work around and they make the game a lot less fun and accessible for everyone else. No one wants to have a bunch of extra bullshit added to the game just to combat griefers.

However, there hasn't been a lot of discussion on implementing invite-only servers.

Here's how I think they should work:

1. There should be the option to make your server "keypass protected": password protected servers would require a keypass in order to access the map and play on the server.

2. Each individual player would have their own, unique keypass given to them by the admin. The keypass could either be randomly generated or be custom set by the admin at the request of the player. By giving each player their own keypass, there won't be a risk of a password leak causing a mass influx of uninvited players.

3. Only one person can play using the keypass at a time. If two people try to log on to the server using the same keypass at the same time, they will be rejected and the admin will be notified. This is to further ensure that there isn't a mass influx of uninvited players.

4. If the player breaks the server's custom rules and they are votekicked by the players on the server or kicked by the admin, their keypass is deactivated and they can no longer get on. Once deactivated, the player would have a chance to appeal their ban, and the admin could choose to either reactivate their keypass or not.

I feel like the game should remain free as possible, and the creation of invite-only servers would be the way to do so. The admins of these servers could come up with their own, unique ways to vet the people applying to join their server, and would thus be able to create a fun game environment for everyone on their server. Hell, if they wanted to, they could charge a small membership fee to join the server.

So what do you think?

Would you play on an invite only server or do you think this idea is doomed to fail? Also, do you have any ideas on how to implement this (admittedly rough) idea better?