Priv direction that needs to be addressed now

[Tenchu]

First and foremost I'd like to ask why NJ went back to join passwords, when doing that in the first place caused a massive headache? Seems pretty pointless.

Wholeheartedly agreed. I absolutely hate join passwords on priv. This is exactly why I think a two-tiered priv system would work well.

Bottom line, new players shouldn't be "training" in the highest form of priv. At the moment because there's only one kind of priv server, we have to put up with it. The way I see it, either leave the current system be and put a connect password on priv and new players will just have to play in pub to get better (which is obviously not working as no one ever plays pub), or create two layers of priv and when people want to priv they can decide if they want to pub-priv with a join password (where newer players can connect and be given the join pass if the current players feel they won't screw it up) if they just want to casually play, or they can go to the elite priv that's either unadvertised or has a connect pass, where only real priv players (current priv players) have the pass if they want to play seriously. Can anyone find any holes in this idea?

[Zocker]

I haven't played for some time and I only read half of the thread but I have a suggestion, how to solve this matter differently. It would require some effort from the port devs but I think it would be worth it.

What if... there is more than one join/server password? This way, a server could have a certain range of passwords and only one password can be in use at once.
So you can't simply spread a password but instead get a personal password. If you give your password to somebody else and he joins, you can't join.
However, similar to the current system you get a personal password by signing up on a website. If you behave like an a$$hole, your password gets removed. Fixed

Also, from the server side you should see with which pass sby logs in and in case somebody still spreads the password to foreign/stupid people, you know who it is and if necessary, remove the password.
No password = no join = like a ban.

Have a nice day

Edit: Uh and before the password you should fill in a questionnair with 4 or so answers to chhose from. Stuff like "what is priv about", "can I join directly" and so. Would be a hilarious captcha replacement xD And also raise some awereness in case somebody really doesn't know what this is all about and simply wants to play some TDM so he signs up for priv.

[one_Two]

Yeah GV has a pw system like that Zock, I dunno how it works though.

[waterivesi]

Two-tiered priv system would be for the best. The public priv should be based on IRC with a bot that you message to add yourself to the player pool. Once the bot has enough players, you start voting for captains and the map. This is how pick-up games are played on basically every other game and it's odd that Doom doesn't use it. It makes getting a match going much simpler since you won't have to message a million different IRC channels and then sit around ingame forever waiting for players to show up. You just add yourself whenever you feel like playing some CTF then forget about it until the bot highlights you.

[Yellowtail]

Unless it's a constant thing, I don't see that being a good idea. Why? Simple. Let's say you entered the list while no one is on, and then you go and leave 7 hours later. Two hours after you leave, a group forms, but you're no longer there anymore, so they are lacking a person due to the fact that you have gone away/offline.

Not entirely a smart idea unless implemented properly, which might be rather difficult.

[waterivesi]

There are 3 common solutions to that that I know of:

1) Players are highlighted once every 30-60 minutes and have to type !add again. If they fail to do so, the bot removes them.

2) Active and trustyworthy players are given +v. A player with +v needs to start a match for people to be able to join. They can also cancel matches. If a player doesn't respond, he can simply cancel the match and make a new one.

3) When the match starts, every player has to type !ready or something similiar. If they fail to do so, the bot removes them.