Petition to Bioware and Atari to re-instate the master server and gamespy services.

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               Hi all,
This is an issue that affects us all. Please consider signing this petition.
Laz

http://www.change.or...erver-for-nwn-1#

P.S. it takes 30 seconds.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Lazarus Magni, 07 décembre 2012 - 07:35 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               It's really good to see some of the comments people have been voicing. I urge you all to get involved and at the very least put your 2 cents in.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Sadira of Tyr]

               Glad to help. I would like to see the master server back as well.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Calgacus]

               I'm not too familiar with this issue but this seems like a good place for a brief overview of the problem - what exactly do we need the master server for now?  Is that the legacy forums and our old accounts with our product keys etc?  Do we need the server to authenticate anything anymore - or just the many product keys lost on the forums?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               This is the official thread regarding the issue:

http://social.biowar...9/index/8398695
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Shadooow]

               

Calgacus wrote...

I'm not too familiar with this issue but this seems like a good place for a brief overview of the problem - what exactly do we need the master server for now?  Is that the legacy forums and our old accounts with our product keys etc?  Do we need the server to authenticate anything anymore - or just the many product keys lost on the forums?

Ill second that. Also considering that many servers especially in middle and east europe never used master server in fact.

Shortly before the MS was shutdown, there were many downtimes and since at that days PWs werent protected with CDKEY/acc check, this lead to many craps from "hackers" or griefers rather.

Now every PW has this protection anyway so where would be difference with MS on again? Noone reasonable would removed this kind of protection anyway. Only difference that I can see is that players wont be able to log in with cracked cdkeys on PWs which uses MS. Now this is admirable and I dont like players that havent bought the game yet are there any such players anymore? After these years, I would like to believe that all players still left in NWN community have bought this game. (And certainly dont even want to know that some idiot havent!)

If you have issues with specific player Lazarus, MS server wont help you anyway. BANing as useless it seems gives message - you overexaggerated it. Most players understand this and they do stop - I had this problem with one player being really vulgar in game and forum and this helped. If this is some serious troll, MS will not stop him anyway - I know that these guys have multiple legit CDKEYs and know how to use proxy with NWN and also do know NWN vulnerabilities. You cant really stop them, though I never seen these guys (now I am talking about peoples like griefers) to do this stuff contiunously at one server. They will join your server, starts exploiting vulnerabilities you have unsecured and after some (if you start giving BANs, fixing vulnerabilities) time it stops joy them and they move on to the next unprotected server.


Oh and why are you posted this twice? I understand you want to increase number of peoples seeing this petition, but who, visiting these forums, would missed it general section?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               I have repeated this over and over again. I am grateful for the community submitted security systems, and indeed would not remove them even with the MS back, but they didn't fix the problem. They don't apply retroactively, and for PWs like mine that have almost 10 years of players in my vault, that really hurts.

And I most certainly did not over exaggerate the uselessness of bans. In the recent example I gave, the player had a new key, ip, and player name before the server even came back up after restarting to apply his/her ban. With the MS, this would be a lot more difficult for them. And eventually they will run out of legit keys. Sure they can keep buying more, only to have me ban them again, but it least it makes them have to buy a legit key. And eventually they will not think the cost to them is worth it. As it is right now... there is no cost to them. In other words, the bans are useless.

I posted in multiple areas for maximum exposure.

Also this whole situation just creates a barrier between PWs being something anyone can endeavor to do, and PWs only being able to be done by those with the technical resources/skills to be able to.

As I stated in another thread I consider a PW a work of art. When you have invested 1000's of hours into something you tend to get protective of it, and upset when someone tries to deface it. It might not be respected (yet) as an art, but it certainly is. We should be actively taking steps to preserve our art, and doing everything in our power to do so.

This petition just lets Bioware know, hey! There are people who still really care about this, and we would like you to be a part of helping to secure our art, which you made possible, for the future. Furthermore, the wall of silence from official Bioware representatives, and the failure to follow through on keeping the community apprised was a big slap in the face to us. We would like you to make it right by at the very least being up front with us about what happened, and moving forward, what is possible (if anything).

That is how I feel anyways.
Laz
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Lazarus Magni, 03 septembre 2012 - 01:12 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_BelowTheBelt]

               Nice job, Laz!  

Would love to see it come back for whatever incremental security that it may provide - possibly one of the biggest real advantages it may have is that when new online players try to join via gamespy, they don't get that disheartening "MS is not available, some multiplayer services may not be available" warning.  At the very least, I'd love to see some support such that the game pings Bioware and returns whatever the game needs to in order to prevent that message.

BTW, I know of servers who have never put in place security measures, for whatever reason.  Having the MS back would certainly benefit them.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_ffbj]

               Maybe we should just offer them cash.  Like in the Music Man.
Cash for hard goods, cash for the soft goods, Cash for the noggins and the friggins and the pickens.

               
               

               

                     Modifié par ffbj, 04 septembre 2012 - 10:15 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Lingering]

               I have only just re picked up NwN in many years, the master server seems to be up for me or am i missing something?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               PWs are still up, and gamespy still works (thankfully), but no the master server which validateds your CD key is not.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_FelSeero]

               i support this idea!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Deadlykate]

               I can go either way on this, Master server was secure to some extend and would be great to have up again, but I've heard that servers made more protective systems than the Master Server itself. CD Key and IP binds to the player's name to protect their account.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lazarus Magni]

               Having the master server back would not render the community made security systems defunct. It would just be the first line of defense, and for servers that don't have the technical expertise to install a custom system, the only line of defense.

As mentioned numerous times in the official discussion, systems like Funky Swerve's account security, although quite nice (if you can get it working), are not retroactive. Meaning for PW's like mine which have years worth of player accounts, only those that have logged in since implementing said system are protected. And there is no way of verifying if a returning player wanting their account restored is legit. Bans are also rendered nearly useless against a web savy cheater/trouble maker.

The likelyhood of the petition doing anything is low. Had this been done a year ago we probably would have 10x the signers, and perhaps that would have carried a bit more weight. But at that time, we were falsely mislead that something was being done about the problem. This petition may not do anything, but at least no one can say we didn't try.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Lazarus Magni, 10 septembre 2012 - 07:54 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Kato -]

               Nice initiative Laz, I just signed the petition '>


Kato