Programming detection of dual accounts through trade capture.

[angriff]

I think this game will find that players have several accounts that create havoc on the single country player action.   The spy trick or the triggering of a disappearance of contacts if a large hunting fleet sets sail.   So I suggest that the devs program a routine that shows how much point to point sales / trades a player does with other factions (ships, mats and other perks).   Then the player can be rated on direct trades with an enemy in port so that their secrecy rating is lower than a player that does not have this type of activity.

 

This would be relatively easy to program with a simple counter and weighting of vessels and mat values.  The routine would not count open sales of ships in free ports.  But direct trades of mats and ships in Freeports would be counted.

 

Voila! everyone knows where you stand and your secrecy rating with the King of your country.. assuming you have a king.

[Jean Pual Vilvenue]

There is nothing against rules and conditions of the game to have multiple accounts. Maybe families have more than 1 person ???????????????????????

 

Edited August 20, 2016 by Juan Bautista de Anza

[Tonnerre de Brest]

I must admit that I do have more than one account. I use one for trading and crafting only and one for battles etc... Especially with the officer system it is hard to make do with just one. One officer has crafting perks on one account and the other is a warrior blessed with battle enhancing perks.

 

My kid has also an account in a different country than either of my characters and we sometime trade with each others and sometimes fight each other for fun (remember it's a game and things don't have to be so darn serious!!)

 

The dual account doesn't explicitly make me a spy unless I was going to actually spy (which if I was, would actually be one more interesting twist in the game by the way since there were spies in the days of sailing ships as there are spies in our modern world).

I'm not sure why this should be a problem for the developers if a person wishes to own several copies of the game (more money to them in fact).

 

And while I'm playing devil's advocate right now, just like you, I bitch and moan when I find out my plans have been foiled by someone listening in on nation chat or else. However it is part of the game (and probably many other games as well, I can't imagine this is the only place where this behavior is actually witnessed).

 

I think it is one of those issues that, if you find a way to enforce it by blackballing every player with a dual account will actually cripple more "honest" players than actual "spies". 

 

I'm personally more interested in naval battles and ships maneuvering but there's room for all kind of players, spies, pirates, honest and dishonest traders and crafters, now we're going to have also crooked politicians as well as honest ones, etc...

 

Personally I believe "sandbox" games need that diversity in order to be that much richer and fun as an experience.

 

By the way, one avenue to fight enemy intelligence is counter intelligence--More intrigue, hiding, etc... I'm sure more than one player out there in the mass of all in Naval Action has an interest in catching spies and it probably would be more fun to do as a player than having the software be the police for everyone to "behave".

[Sir Texas Sir]

Remember in real life there is spies and sabators that happen in every nation.  If you don't want them to know stuff keep it private and to TS or clan chat.   As long as your not using that char to cheat like tagging to keep out of fights or other things like that than there shouldn't be any issues with multi accounts.

[Skully]

Remember in real life there is spies and sabators that happen in every nation.  If you don't want them to know stuff keep it private and to TS or clan chat.   As long as your not using that char to cheat like tagging to keep out of fights or other things like that than there shouldn't be any issues with multi accounts.

You said they are cheating - Sabotage is not cheating. Cheating is hacking the code gaining unfair advantage. Sabotaging is different and IS NOT cheating. You called him a cheater. If he is a spy or an alt he is not cheating - he is a saboteur (if he is) and game does not give national officers tools to handle those people.

Tagging for whatever reason is not cheating.

If you don't like how a certain mechanic works, bring it up for discussion. Then we can analyze and see what tool might be needed and request it.

[Sir Texas Sir]

Tagging for whatever reason is not cheating.

If you don't like how a certain mechanic works, bring it up for discussion. Then we can analyze and see what tool might be needed and request it.

Actually hasn't the devs said if you pull flags so your nation can't attack your alt nations is cheat?  That type of tagging and doing things I do believe is cheating.  Taggin your alt to pull a team in to a fight to stop a PB I would say would be cheating too.   Many games allow alts as long as they don't effect there counter part in play.

 

I get the Sabotaging and spying stuff, but some things are prob crossing the line in play.

[_Vane_]

we pay for this accounts so we can use it, u never can chek if any play with 2 account or has only kids the play tp Naval action ..... haha

[Sir Texas Sir]

we pay for this accounts so we can use it, u never can chek if any play with 2 account or has only kids the play tp Naval action ..... haha

But some games do limit you to having those accounts on one faction per server.  I played many that if I wanted to play a diffrent faction I had to play them on a diffrent servers than my other chars.  Even if I owned two accounts.    Though normally it's hardly ever known unless you do something completly stupid.

 

I mean i had 5 accounts on POTBS and all of them but one was in Spain.  The one was French and he was low level and I only logged him in to make wine cause it was a production you could only really get in french ports.

[Skully]

The full rules are at http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/2346-forum-and-sea-trials-rules/

However we already had a case were somebody rightfully claimed ignorance. http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14983-flag-purchased-from-ally-to-avoid-enemy-attack/

So we need to see what kind of scenarios constitute exploiting and see what kind of tools we put in place to counter them.

As for the proposed solution in this topic, I don't really like it. But neither do I like the possibility of using an alt in such a scenario.

The one thing I don't like is that you can use an alt in this story and I find no method to prevent or detect it. Unless the ship racing away gets captured. (We also need to fix the dumping of cargo at sea.)

But still then it is a hard case to prove. He could have just dumped the goods on the market.

Then again that almost equals handing over to an alt in terms of mechanics and end result. So I'm not even sure whether we should even try to close this gap.

I think if we show all players present in a port, then the scammer (or alt) can either set sail or try to disappear into the crowd.

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/15842-who-is-in-port/

At that point you can start investigating who is the culprit.

Finally you need to bring it to the National Tribunal, not the NA Tribunal, to have the character punished as it doesn't constitute a cheat, but a sabotage.

[admin]

Having multiple accounts in a MMO or multiplayer game is a common tradition in many families. 

Steam allows having multiple accounts - the issue is outside of our control as we use their secure authorization system.

 

Unless the person is running 10-100 bots at the same time - then of course it can cause problems. But steam handles it.

There was actually a case (player wrote about it in support) who's second account was banned by steam because he used them on one computer.

[angriff]

we pay for this accounts so we can use it, u never can chek if any play with 2 account or has only kids the play tp Naval action ..... haha

There is nothing wrong with having many accounts.  Nobody said anything about cheating.  As you say pay for them.  What this feature would do would create a rating that is visible to other players.  Very simple method of letting those with standard methods of immersion an understanding of where a player stands.   The ability of a player to show loyalty to a faction would be up to other players and the individual players but it should not be a blanket harm to any players with multiple accounts.  

 

Player A only plays Danish.  Never has direct trades with other factions then has a trust of the king value of 1.

Another player has an alt and trades with his British alt over the course of time but only from time to time has a value based on monthly contact   Trust of the King = 1-((n/3000)f) representing a percentage of contacts over a 30 day period where f equals 1 (faction exchange )

A third player has two factions he directly trades with and his trust by the king rating has an f =2

 

A perfect example is the current voting going on is an obvious flag of who is who.  Players that battle for one nation but has alts attempts to skew the voting for a faction against his factions enemies and for his country in subterfuge.  Yet the player provides no assistance to that faction in efforts.  He may even be detrimental to the faction in conversation of pending activities.  Other players then only spread rumors and innuendos  degrading gameplay but a player with 1 for trust of the king would easily be recognized as a player for the faction.   A player who trades often with his alts would not have the kings ear but would have to produce other evidence of loyalties 

 

This still leaves true subterfuge i n the game  a player from never trading with an alt would be able to remain with a factor of 1.   This simulates 17th and 19th century court stratagem into gameplay and provides players with a political system with rumors.

[Wilson09]

Having multiple accounts in a MMO or multiplayer game is a common tradition in many families. 

Steam allows having multiple accounts - the issue is outside of our control as we use their secure authorization system.

 

Unless the person is running 10-100 bots at the same time - then of course it can cause problems. But steam handles it.

There was actually a case (player wrote about it in support) who's second account was banned by steam because he used them on one computer.

 

Yes, right.

 

1 account 1 ship sail at the time.

 

Another problem happens, if you have a system "running in the background" like labour hours.

 

If (like some want it) you would make them to costly that you could craft an except.

Santi only once per month because you needed to so much mats / hours, then the single "accounter"

is being pissed.

 

Right now, there is something positive about inflation:

You can achieve the best ship and mods with reasonable effort and reasonable input of time.

 

If only LV were sailing around in a "super-Santi" (because he has 4 Alts), no good idea.

 

Tricky balancing task with Pros and Cons, though.

Edited August 20, 2016 by Wilson09

[Sven Silberbart]

Dont know what the problem with this suggestion is. The Thread Opener didn't said:

"Everyone with an alt account on the other side is a spy"

he just said:

"Mark the players having an alt account or maybe friends in other nations to make it harder for real spies to beeing uncovered"

 

I like the idea and would like to see such an information ingame.

 

To interpret a player is a spy or not is the todo for the players.

Edited August 20, 2016 by Sven Silberbart

[Skully]

I don't see why the game should keep track of any backdoor dealings.

In fact with the story I linked it would work counterproductive. It would mark the British Rear Admiral as the bad guy.

[Jeheil]

My son has an account, when he isn't playing I use it for a toon that I craft with. Hard to rule against one and not block the genuine other tbh. Irrespective of any thoughts on the morality of two accounts. I happen to have mine in the same nation

[angriff]

A player that wanted to be totally without reproach could as I said not trade with his alts.   This would allow his character to remain as a pristine loyal subject increasing his odds for subterfuge.