"Server Side Characters" a feature promised back in 2014... "for the good of PUBLIC multiplayer"

Discussion in 'Starbound FAQs, Q&A, and General Help' started by StarScribe, Jul 24, 2016.

  1. StarScribe

    StarScribe Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Before reading this, please understand... the feature mentioned in this topic is intended to be "Optional" and you will not be enforced to it on all servers, the server owners are meant to be given a choice that affects their servers only.

    - - - - - -

    As a server host to me server administration tools are absolutely essential to run a successfull starbound server. Back in 2014 we have been promised an essential feature to be implemented during either BETA stage of development or upon release of the game.



    It is now 2016, the game has gotten it's official release, but the feature is nowhere to be seen, no signs of even talks about it from the developers on the internet.

    This concerns me and I am sure concerns many both players & hosts out there who would be interested in trying to play/host a PUBLIC multiplayer game for this feature would essentially eliminate majority of cheaters who would just cheat in single player then bring it to the servers.

    Also Terraria community has achieved fully functional Server Side Characters with no problems, I don't see how this would be a problem for the developers to do.

    - - - - - -

    """Quoted from Starbound FAQ page"""

    Is there an option to create server side characters?
    Characters are saved locally. Characters will be able to get saved server sided later into the beta or release.

    """Quoted from Starbound FAQ page"""

    Reference: starbounder.org/FAQ

    I would like to request people who are server hosts like my self and/or players who support this to help spread the word and get Dev's attention, so that it may be implemented during what little content updates we got left in the near future.
     
    Mitroll and OSJLPhil like this.
  2. Bughunter

    Bughunter Spaceman Spiff

    Server side characters would be a nice option so that I can use the same character, but not have OP stuff on every server.
     
    StarScribe likes this.
  3. StarScribe

    StarScribe Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Edit 1: Yep totally agree. I hope people will see importance in this. I also accidentally misread your post first time :p
    Edit 2: Hmn, perhaps add additional options like... Server Side Character, Server Side Inventory?
     
    Bughunter likes this.
  4. Garatgh Deloi

    Garatgh Deloi Master Astronaut

    "Little content updates"? As i understand it they are planning to continue updating it for some time. Hopefully it will be updated on a scale simular to terraria (but that can't be demanded off course).
     
  5. Torwad

    Torwad Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    I think the Multiplayer is "Just Broken" for now.

    You come to a server and don't like your progress.
    Type /admin in singleplayer. Get Anything.
    Return to Multiplayer server. :nurucool:

    Honest play with your friends? Forget it :nurutease: - I just found these 10K Titanium, while u where sleeping :nurutease:
     
  6. StarScribe

    StarScribe Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Yeah... some of my friends like to do that sometimes too xD Another reason we want SSC to be implemented!
     
  7. Giere

    Giere Orbital Explorer

    Rant:
    I would agree; leaving the gates open undermines an entire community of players for the first impatient person who joins and starts throwing loot all over the place.
    There is no true resourcefulness in a server that allows anybody to waltz in with a full inventory of loot to craft and conquer with.
    What you have, what you build, what you find in a server with no control over inflow is undermined by those who come in with everything with no effort.

    The perfect opportunity to implement server-side characters has passed, when 1.0 wiped every slate clean. Now people are playing legitimately and amassing loot, or cheating for it, and there is no way to differentiate the two without watching every person who comes on the server.
    In order to implement server-side characters now, you will have to take days, weeks, months of play when such an option becomes available and delete it. Everything, block the player file and wipe the server.
    Wipe the server? Why? Because people will stash what they aren't using.
    There is no guarantee that wiping the player files will have removed cheated loot. A player could build a base and fill it with what they have, either in duplicate or in excess, so just making them start over will be an inconvenience.
    They could (potentially) find their way back to their base and be at full strength again, or whomsoever stumbles upon it after them. Yes, I know the universe is a large place. I also know some paranoid cheats.

    Why not ban the cheaters? Because some of those cheaters are friends. I can give them a smack on the head, but that doesn't mean they will stop. Instant gratification is tricky like that when it is always an option.
    Allowing cheated items just creates an off-balanced and wasted world, no excitement for rare loot, no awe with finding a full llama costume set. It drains it all dry to dust.

    For a truly level playing field, as a server administrator I would have to destroy the entire universe in order to bring about a fair system. Everything my players have done and build, legitimate or not. All of their time and effort, and all their typing.
    And where will my players be after the world is created anew? Gone, because I destroyed everything they worked for, legitimate and not.

    TL;DR: Server-side characters are essential to a fair and balanced public server. What you make and what you wield you got from hard work and dedication, not a few lines of console commands when playing solo.
    Without it implemented in 1.0, I as the server administrator now have to incur the wrath of my playerbase if I ever do implement it in the future, having blocked them from their hard-won (or not) progress.
     
    StarScribe likes this.
  8. Torwad

    Torwad Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Faster implementation = Lesser Wipe-Pain

    Btw - some idea of impl - When client connects to server with SSC - after confirmation - server "rewrites" clients player from server storage.

    So - new player comes = server creates clean player. (Confirmation "Your current player will be overwritten" is displayed in login process)
    (player) Played 1 hour and exited - server stores "state after 1 hour"
    (player) Cheated or just played in single and returned to server - server overwrite players state with servers state. (Confirmation is displayed in login process)
    So when player connects to server and states (inventory) is synced - no confirmation needed.

    So, if the server goes down - player has his state in local - and can continue to play.

    Also - sync may be implemented on per player basis (added in settings), so admin can let some trusted players come with their stuff - and later change setting to store player on server.
    (Trusted player just finished some quests and want to play on server - no need to wipe him)
     
    StarScribe likes this.
  9. OSJLPhil

    OSJLPhil Orbital Explorer

    Adding server side characters as an option would benefit many players and many communities.
    Adding server side characters as an option would harm nobody... it's an option.
    Adding server side characters as an option is something Starbound Devs, as quoted above, have said they WILL be adding. Not maybe, or we hope to, but WILL be added later.

    Nothing else needs be said other then, 'That's great, can we please have an update on when 'later' is?
     
    StarScribe likes this.
  10. H4Mm3r

    H4Mm3r Void-Bound Voyager

    Bought this game 2 years ago and still waiting for that to play it... Star Citizen will be stable before I could play this game.

    So sad.
     
  11. Scival

    Scival Oxygen Tank

    BUT IT DOESN'T WORK!
    There is already a lot of mods that could be used for counter-SSC even without SSC, so imagine how disappointing a challenge SSC would be for modders. But besides that, there is more tied to a player than just inventory. Their matter manipulator upgrades. Their missions unlocked, their tech, their pixels, etc.
    But you can play the game, you just have to believe in yourse- I mean, you just have to stop waiting for the impossible. The devs are programmers, not digital magicians with ultimate power over the Internets. Buying a game based on one feature seems a bit impulsive anyways.
     
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2016
  12. Garatgh Deloi

    Garatgh Deloi Master Astronaut

    The thing about a server side character is that it wouldent be possible to use any mods other then the mods the server use. I mean its still probably possible to cheat somehow, but not through simple modding.
     
  13. Scival

    Scival Oxygen Tank

    Except if you enable assets mismatch.
     
  14. Torwad

    Torwad Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    You propose not-to develop SSC cause there is some counter SSC mods already?

    -

    Please read the thread.

    Any chance to counter this right now?
    """
    You come to a server and don't like your progress.
    Type /admin in singleplayer. Get Anything.
    Return to Multiplayer server. :nurucool:
    """

    This is not about server-client mods. They are controlled with assets mismatch settings.
     
  15. GammaNu

    GammaNu Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    For the mod issue, when you're log-in on a SSC it should :
    - inform you it's a SSC
    - store player status in a separate folder to not overwride your own
    - show you all activated mod on the server, there version, and there security confidence report (and a white-list, black-list of client side only mod)
    - ask you if you want to continue and download the server-ones (and if you want some not-black-listed ones)
    - then ask you to restart Starbound with only required and allowed mods to log in on the SSC.

    That's not few work, but if i was in the starbound dev team, i probably implement it that way.
     
  16. Mitroll

    Mitroll Pangalactic Porcupine

    Does anyone know if any devs have commented on this since Tiy said it would happen back in 2014?

    Are the devs just ignoring the issue?
     
  17. lazarus78

    lazarus78 The Waste of Time

    A proper permissions system would address most all the issues, and more, than server-side characters.
     
  18. EmissaryOfInfinity

    EmissaryOfInfinity Subatomic Cosmonaut

    How would that fix the problem of being able to import items and abilities from a single player world? Don't get me wrong, we definitely need a proper permissions system at some point, but I don't see how that would fix the most pressing issue here. Regardless of what permissions you have in place on your server, when a player goes to their own world, they have unlimited access to everything.
     
  19. Scival

    Scival Oxygen Tank

    But seriously, are you people afraid that someone is going to go into singleplayer, spawn stuff in, then go into a survival server and aggresively shower you, the ultimate legit player, with valuable ores and materials?
     
  20. lazarus78

    lazarus78 The Waste of Time

    And is that really a problem right now? Nope. If an admin finds someone doing that, then they can give them the boot.

    With games like this, having a wide open public server is just asking for chaos, even with server side characters. Just look at Minecraft. The real backbone of maintaining things is with permissions. These types of games favor small groups of people, so making sure no one is spawning in troll weapons or whatever, it not that hard to do. We could, however, also use better in-game admin capabilities to make things easier.
     

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