Suggestion:20110630 Character creation daily limit and Captcha

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20110630 Character creation daily limit and Captcha

#31 - TastyNougat ^TMG 19:45, 30 June 2011 (BST)

Suggestion type
Web site alteration (out of game)

Suggestion scope
All players.

Suggestion description

• Quick summary:

1. The character creation screen will include a Re-Captcha.

2. There will be a daily limit of 3 characters created per IP. An alternative would be 5 characters per 48 hours.

3. A message informing users of this limitation will be shown in the character creation screen. A more detailed warning will appear if a character has already been created that day/period by the IP, similar to the existing IP warning.

• Quick reasons:

1. While it would be impossible to prove that anyone has created characters automatically, this countermeasure is simple and makes sense.

2. Prevent zerging, meatshielding, and other abuse. Given the IP limit, new players would be hard pressed to make use of more than three characters in one day. The more flexible 5-in-48 hours option keeps the rate of character creation down while allowing a little more flexibility - at the cost of confusion.

3. Make sure everyone is clear on the changes and nobody feels misled. Makes sure that new players that are behind a NAT are informed about potential workarounds immediately.

• Long form:

• Potential and evidence of abuse: I think everyone has seen the sequentially numbered, dubiously named, level 1 characters stuffed into buildings or left to die in the streets when they didn't spawn in the right place. While zombie zerging is less visible, there is lots of anecdotal evidence that it exists. Creating throwaway characters and putting them in buildings is a viable tactic for survivors and zombies alike. Level 1 zombies can prevent building repair/reclamation, and level 1 survivors can take up zombie AP and prevent building ruination. One could easily create ten characters, find that five of them didn't spawn in the right places, and stick the other five into strategic buildings.

• Research into spawning locations: Some players may be curious how spawning locations are selected, and be conducting experiments in order to reverse engineer the algorithm. While these efforts are not in bad faith, I do not think the game should be structured to make these experiments easy. The in-game IP limit is not waived for people trying to determine search rates. If someone is determined to create many characters, they can find collaborators to work with, spread their research over a number of days, or use proxies/Tor to get around the limitation.

• But people will work around the limit anyways: Yes, there will be determined zergers who work around this limit. However, the technical limitation will deter many potential abusers -- they'd have to bother finding a proxy and re-configuring their browser. But the real barrier this change presents is emotional. Currently, there is no written text that discourages players from creating many characters. By informing people of this limitation, and forcing them to use a workaround, you're making them realize that they are doing something wrong.

Voting Section

Voting Rules

Votes must be numbered, justified, signed, and timestamped. # justification ~~~~ Votes that do not conform to the above may be struck by any user.

The only valid votes are Keep, Kill, Spam or Dupe. If you wish to abstain from voting, do not vote.

Keep Votes

1. Keep zergers can go suck it #31 - TastyNougat ^TMG 19:46, 30 June 2011 (BST)
2. Keepz i wanna suck on zergers--User:Sexualharrison19:48, 30 June 2011 (bst)
3. Keep I was actually convinced by discussion on DS I know, crazy. --Rosslessness 20:22, 30 June 2011 (BST)
4. Keep with fire Dirty zergs shall feel the wrath of our captchas! Now what about those spambits..       02:45, 1 July 2011 (BST)
5. Insert justification here. ᚱᛁᚹᛖᚾᚨᚾᛏ 07:09, 1 July 2011 (BST)
6. Yarp - making things more difficult for zergers is good, m'kay? I can't see this seriously affecting genuine players. ~~ Chief Seagull ~~ ^talk 12:11, 1 July 2011 (BST)
7. Keep - This is a great fucking idea that should be implemented immediately. --Paddy Dignam^{IS DEAD} 16:44, 1 July 2011 (BST)
8. Keep - If this starts getting kill votes I'm going to make a bunch of spam accounts to pass it. --Karloth Vois ^¯\(°_o)/¯ 19:33, 1 July 2011 (BST)
9. Keep - I like. -- Cheese 19:38, 1 July 2011 (BST)
10. Keep - Re-Captcha is annoying but I guess that's kind of part of the point. ~ _{19:42, 1 July 2011 (UTC)}
11. Begrudging keep - don't like making research harder but the end result would be a net positive. 19:45, 1 July 2011 (BST)
12. Keep - 3 Accounts per day is good, I remember the first day I played UD ever, I got bored of using my first character, made a second, etc. But still use those characters today. -- ϑ^anceϑ^anceℜ^evolution 07:19, 2 July 2011 (BST)
13. Keep - Dedicated zergers will find a workaround, but it will help to hold back the stupid ones. -- Spiderzed█ 15:42, 2 July 2011 (BST)
14. Keep - Solid. --Amber Waves of Pain 08:09, 3 July 2011 (BST)
15. Keep --^A_O^R_D^M_O^P_R^I _! ^T 13:53, 4 July 2011 (BST)
16. Keep - I like 3 characters per day more than the 5 characters per two days. Its much cleaner. Also, I've seen a few carbon-copied spraypaint advertizements for real-life zombie products, so I suspect that the corporate world has developed rudimentary spambot systems that use throw-away characters to do their promotional bidding. If so, the Captcha idea is a keeper as well, although it would be painfully inconvenient. --VVV ^RPGMBCWS 18:23, 10 July 2011 (BST)

    Keep - --Papa Moloch 00:47, 16 July 2011 (BST)after deadline -- ϑ^anceϑ^anceℜ^evolution 15:27, 17 July 2011 (BST)

    Keep - Sure, I can't see any legitimate problem with being limited to 3 characters per day.--The General ^{T Sys U! P! F!} 00:33, 17 July 2011 (BST)after deadline -- ϑ^anceϑ^anceℜ^evolution 15:27, 17 July 2011 (BST)

Kill Votes

Spam/Dupe Votes