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?

<nvm>

Wait what?

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

Me like. GIMMEGIMME

I hear the autistic build servers calling

Bad idea

Very good idea! Well explained and thought out!

Wow, finally.. a GOOD suggestion.

@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.

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

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...

Holy crap, great idea, OP.

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.

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?

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.

:o

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

^That

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

Hi Corgi!

Them Tags.