January 2002
- Toontown Koster, Raph
- FW: MMORPGs & MUDs Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- FW: MMORPGs & MUDs Skaei@aol.com
- DGN: Question about MU* acronyms Randolf Richardson
- DGN: Question about MU* acronyms Lars Duening
- DGN: Question about MU* acronyms J C Lawrence
- DGN: Question about MU* acronyms Frank Crowell
- ADMIN: I goofed J C Lawrence
- Pueblo MUD client info Bruce Mitchener
- Pueblo MUD client info Piotr Banski
- Pueblo MUD client info Bruce Mitchener
- Pueblo MUD client info Mathieu Castelli
- Pueblo MUD client info William B. Taylor
- The MUD Companion Derek Snider
- Game animations Jon Lambert
- Boys and Girls - was (MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #163 - 25 msgs) Joel Palmtag
- Quake II has gone GPL Frank Crowell
- Quake II has gone GPL Mathieu Castelli
- Quake II has gone GPL Valerio Santinelli
- Quake II has gone GPL Frank Crowell
- Quake II has gone GPL Vincent Archer
- Quake II has gone GPL Frank Crowell
- Quake II has gone GPL Andrew Hefford
- Quake II has gone GPL Frank Crowell
- Quake II has gone GPL ling@slimy.com
- Quake II has gone GPL Frank Crowell
- Quake II has gone GPL Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Quake II has gone GPL Frank Crowell
- Quake II has gone GPL Bruce Mitchener
- Quake II has gone GPL Brian Hook
- Quake II has gone GPL Frank Crowell
- Quake II has gone GPL Marc Hernandez
- Quake II has gone GPL Jeremy Noetzelman
- Quake II has gone GPL Frank Crowell
- Quake II has gone GPL Jeremy Noetzelman
- Quake II has gone GPL Frank Crowell
- Quake II has gone GPL Valerio Santinelli
- Quake II has gone GPL Frank Crowell
- Quake II has gone GPL Valerio Santinelli
- Quake II has gone GPL Noplex
- Quake II has gone GPL Jeremy Noetzelman
- Quake II has gone GPL Nicholas E. Walker
- Quake II has gone GPL Eli Stevens
- Quake II has gone GPL Valerio Santinelli
- Quake II has gone GPL Frank Crowell
- Quake II has gone GPL Dominic J. Eidson
- Quake II has gone GPL J C Lawrence
- Quake II has gone GPL Nicholas E. Walker
- Quake II has gone GPL J C Lawrence
- Quake II has gone GPL Frank Crowell
- Quake II has gone GPL Vincent Archer
According to Frank Crowell:
> From: "Nicholas E. Walker" <new@gnu.org>
>> I am a free software bigot. I am also a good software bigot. If
>> you keep the hit-points or item list of my character stored in my
>> client, then I can and may change it, with or without the source
>> code. "If you want it done right, do it yourself." comes to mind
>> for when thinking about designing a system. I don't mean to
>> imply that any programmer will ever do anything right. If you
>> want something done securely, you should do it in a secure place.
> A lot of that information is on the server (tucked away in some
> database or secure object) and not on the client. The basic
> problem with current mud worlds -- all of them-- is that the
> character is private to that mud. This is a subject for another
> thread. But anyway, it fairly hard to edit your character when is
> really defined outside your system.
At first, this would seem fairly obvious. But, of course, that
depends on exactly how much your client does vs your server.
Two examples:
For economical reasons, Everquest's client does a LOT of
processing. The results of that processing is sent to the server,
who uses it to update its own states. After some validation
checks. Some.
Everquest has these items that are flagged NODROP (bad choice of
words, they're in fact NOTRADE; other games use NODROP to indicate
items that do not drop from your inventory when you die). If an
item is NODROP, you can't give it to another player.
Of course people found out that, if you edited the item status in
the client, and cleared the NODROP flag, well, suddendly, the
client would allow you to trade that item. Because the checks were
done only on the "can or cannot put item in trade window" code of
the client. No need (well, no apparent need) to do verification
twice.
Another thing that is common to these 3D games is the fact that
movement is continuous, not discrete. It's thus totally impossible
to send your movement commands to the server, and wait for the
resulting coordinate upgrade to come back: the resulting physics
for a character are totally alien to your personal experience
(people start moving only after a while, resist a lot direction
changes and can't be stopped easily. This works for a space
simulation, but not for a walking simulation).
So the client process your movement, and sends a string of
position updates to the server.
Well, given the vagaries of the Internet, it's perfectly possible
for a client to stop sending updates for a bunch of seconds, then
resume connection. It's therefore "better" to assume that you can
get discontinuous updates.
And suddendly Joe Cheater has discovered two different variables
in his client.
The first one is simple: running_speed. The speed at which the
client assumes Joe can run in any direction. Touch that variable,
and suddendly Joe goes twice faster than a galloping horse. No
monster can catch him, if the combat goes bad, he runs away faster
than a speeding bullet. It's no longer Joe, it's the Flash :)
The second set is even better: character_x & character_y. Now
suddendly Joe's no longer speeding around as a red blur, he can
instantaneously teleport to any place (within the zone). No need
for a boring walk, here I go.
I discovered a milder form of this by accident. I was jumped by a
bunch of monster during a packet congestion storm on my local
network. I started to run, the monster stayed in place bashing me -
since from the server POV, I wasn't moving yet. Packet storm
subsided, the updates from the client managed to get in... and
suddendly, I was "warped" away from the ennemies.
With the head start I got, I survived. Had I ran under normal
circumstances, they would have killed me easily.
Those two examples show why "the character is on the server, there's
not much players can do" isn't exactly right. There's a lot of
cheating that can go in the client.
--
Vincent Archer Email: archer@frmug.org
All men are mortal. Socrates was mortal. Therefore, all men are Socrates.
(Woody Allen) - Quake II has gone GPL Travis Nixon
- Quake II has gone GPL Vincent Archer
- Quake II has gone GPL Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Quake II has gone GPL Valerio Santinelli
- Quake II has gone GPL shren
- Quake II has gone GPL Travis Nixon
- Quake II has gone GPL Joshua Judson Rosen
- Quake II has gone GPL shren
- Quake II has gone GPL T o F
- Quake II has gone GPL shren
- Quake II has gone GPL John Buehler
- Quake II has gone GPL Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Quake II has gone GPL John Buehler
- Quake II has gone GPL shren
- Quake II has gone GPL Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Quake II has gone GPL John Buehler
- Quake II has gone GPL shren
- Quake II has gone GPL shren
- Quake II has gone GPL T o F
- Quake II has gone GPL shren
- Quake II has gone GPL Vincent Archer
- Quake II has gone GPL shren
- Quake II has gone GPL Vincent Archer
- Quake II has gone GPL Nathan F. Yospe
- Quake II has gone GPL Vincent Archer
- Starting out. Joel Palmtag
- Starting out. Edward Glowacki
- Starting out. ghovs@plex.nl
- Starting out. Joel Palmtag
- Starting out. Lars Duening
- Starting out. J C Lawrence
- TECH: Managing all your code Eric Rhea
- TECH: Managing all your code Lars Duening
- TECH: Managing all your code J C Lawrence
- Boys and Girls - was (MUD-Dev digest, Vol 1 #1 63 - 25 msgs) Koster, Raph
- MOBPROG and other scripting languages William Murdick
- MOBPROG and other scripting languages Jason Gauthier
- MOBPROG and other scripting languages Acius
- MOBPROG and other scripting languages J C Lawrence
- MOBPROG and other scripting languages Christopher Allen
- MOBPROG and other scripting languages J C Lawrence
- MOBPROG and other scripting languages Eli Stevens
- MOBPROG and other scripting languages J C Lawrence
- MOBPROG and other scripting languages Lazarus
- MOBPROG and other scripting languages Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- MOBPROG and other scripting languages Matt Mihaly
- Two 'Mini-Series' Complete at Skotos Articles... Christopher Allen
- Replacement For MUD Acronym Luke Parrish
- Replacement For MUD Acronym Skaei@aol.com
- Replacement For MUD Acronym J C Lawrence
- Replacement For MUD Acronym Christopher Allen
- Replacement For MUD Acronym Matt Mihaly
- No bots allowed Frank Crowell
- No bots allowed J C Lawrence
- No bots allowed Alex Kay
- No bots allowed J C Lawrence
- No bots allowed shren
- No bots allowed shren
- No bots allowed Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- No bots allowed shren
- No bots allowed Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- No bots allowed Travis Casey
- No bots allowed Roy Trubshaw
- No bots allowed Colin Coghill
- No bots allowed Marc Hernandez
- No bots allowed shren
- No bots allowed Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- No bots allowed Frank Crowell
- No bots allowed Marc Bowden
- No bots allowed Paul Schwanz
- Boys and Girls - rayzam
- Issue of the "Experience" (Was MMORPGs & MUDs) Michelle Elbert
- Issue of the "Experience" (Was MMORPGs & MUDs) J C Lawrence
- Issue of the "Experience" (Was MMORPGs & MUDs) Michael Tresca
- Issue of the "Experience" (Was MMORPGs & MUDs) Nathan F. Yospe
- Issue of the "Experience" (Was MMORPGs & MUDs) Michael Tresca
- Issue of the "Experience" (Was MMORPGs & MUDs) Alex Kay
- The use of virtual reality in the assessment of spatial skills J C Lawrence
- Boys and Girls - rayzam
- Boys and Girls - Marian Griffith
- Commercial web based MUDs Azeraab
- Commercial web based MUDs Peter Tyson
- Commercial web based MUDs J C Lawrence
- Commercial web based MUDs Peter Tyson
- Commercial web based MUDs Matt Mihaly
- Majestic and Failure of Episodic Games Christopher Allen
- Majestic and Failure of Episodic Games Dan Hon
- Majestic and Failure of Episodic Games Matt Mihaly
- Majestic and Failure of Episodic Games Talies the Wanderer
- [TECH] Eiffel and Assertions... Adam Martin
- [TECH] Eiffel and Assertions... Brian Hook
- text MUDs' character longevity (The Two Towers) Val Trullinger
- [TECH] PS: Eiffel and Assertions... Adam Martin
- GDC (was Majestic and Failure of Episodic Games) Sellers, Mike
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day John Buehler
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day Travis Casey
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day John Buehler
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day volstoff@brutele.be
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day John Buehler
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day Sasha Hart
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day John Buehler
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day rayzam
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day John Buehler
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day Sasha Hart
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day John Buehler
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day Koster, Raph
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day John Buehler
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day Sasha Hart
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day John Buehler
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day Sasha Hart
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day John Buehler
- Finding What a Gamer Lacks in Their Day Sasha Hart
- TECH: What about Perl flavored MUDs? James Edward Gray II
- TECH: What about Perl flavored MUDs? Nicholas E. Walker
- TECH: What about Perl flavored MUDs? Luke Parrish
- TECH: What about Perl flavored MUDs? James Edward Gray II
- MUD statistics Elia Mörling
- MUD statistics Sanvean
- MUD statistics Matt Mihaly
- Secure distributed operation (was: Quake II has gone GPL) Nicholas E. Walker
- Economic Growth: NPC pricing Adam Martin
- Economic Growth: NPC pricing Jason Murdick
- Economic Growth: NPC pricing Paul Schwanz
- Economic Growth: NPC pricing Timothy Dang
- Crafting in MUDs Neil Edwards
- Econ paper on EQ Koster, Raph
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Jeff Freeman
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Travis Casey
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Michelle Elbert
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Travis Casey
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Matt Mihaly
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORP Gs & MUDs) Freeman, Jeff
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORP Gs & MUDs) J C Lawrence
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORP Gs & MUDs) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORP Gs & MUDs) Paul Schwanz
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORP Gs & MUDs) J C Lawrence
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORP Gs & MUDs) Cynbe ru Taren
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORP Gs & MUDs) Travis Casey
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORP Gs & MUDs) Freeman, Jeff
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORP Gs & MUDs) J C Lawrence
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORP Gs & MUDs) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORP Gs & MUDs) Travis Casey
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Miroslav Silovic
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Matt Mihaly
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Matt Mihaly
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Michael Tresca
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Travis Casey
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MU Ds) Koster, Raph
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Dave Rickey
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Dave Rickey
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) John Buehler
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Matt Mihaly
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) J C Lawrence
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Matt Mihaly
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) J C Lawrence
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Matt Mihaly
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) J C Lawrence
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Tamzen Cannoy
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Matt Mihaly
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Travis Casey
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Matt Mihaly
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Travis Casey
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Matt Mihaly
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Travis Casey
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Miroslav Silovic
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Matt Mihaly
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Marian Griffith
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Ola Fosheim Grøstad
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs) Jon Lambert
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORP Gs & MUDs) Christopher Allen
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORP Gs & MUDs) Matt Mihaly
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORP Gs & MUDs) Christopher Allen
- Creating a MUD - Overview of design Neil Edwards
- Creating a MUD - Overview of design Edward Glowacki
- Creating a MUD - Overview of design Amanda Walker
- Creating a MUD - Overview of design Bruce Mitchener
- Creating a MUD - Overview of design J C Lawrence
- Creating a MUD - Overview of design Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Creating a MUD - Overview of design Valerio Santinelli
- Creating a MUD - Overview of design Shane Gough
- Creating a MUD - Overview of design Sean Kelly
- Creating a MUD - Overview of design Daniel.Harman@barclayscapital.com
- Creating a MUD - Overview of design Adam Dray
- Some random thoughts on balance Azeraab
- Some random thoughts on balance Matt Mihaly
- Mud-Dev FAQ part II Marian Griffith
- Worlds of Carnage ( WoC ) blobule@hotmail.com
- Worlds of Carnage ( WoC ) blobule@hotmail.com
- Worlds of Carnage ( WoC ) Blobule@hotmail.com
- Simutronics' premium server Matt Mihaly
- Simutronics' premium server Christopher Allen
- Simutronics' premium server Michael Dekker
- Simutronics' premium server Matt Mihaly
- Simutronics' premium server Martin
- Enforced log out aka "real sleep" Brian Hook
- Enforced log out aka "real sleep" Michelle Elbert
- Enforced log out aka "real sleep" Michael Tresca
- Enforced log out aka "real sleep" Freeman, Jeff
- Enforced log out aka "real sleep" Paul Schwanz
- Enforced log out aka "real sleep" Travis Nixon
- Enforced log out aka "real sleep" Brian Hook
- Enforced log out aka "real sleep" Amanda Walker
- Enforced log out aka "real sleep" Sasha Hart
- Enforced log out aka "real sleep" fred@clift.org
- Enforced log out aka "real sleep" Marc Bowden
- Enforced log out aka "real sleep" Christopher Allen
- Enforced log out aka "real sleep" Matt Mihaly
- Enforced log out aka "real sleep" Skaei@aol.com
- Enforced log out aka "real sleep" Alex Kay
- Enforced log out aka "real sleep" rayzam
- Boys and Paul Schwanz
- Boys and Caliban Tiresias Darklock
- Boys and Girls Marc Bowden
- Chess ("Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs)) James Edward Gray II
- Chess ("Advanced" use of virtual worlds? (MMORPGs & MUDs)) Cynbe ru Taren
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? rayzam
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? Travis Casey
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? rayzam
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? Travis Casey
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? rayzam
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? Travis Casey
- "Advanced" use of virtual worlds? Jon Lambert
- BIZ amusing idea (Enforced log out aka "real sleep") Nicholas E. Walker
- BIZ amusing idea (Enforced log out aka "real sleep") Valerio Santinelli