What's The Better Free Premium Approach?

[Jaed Le Raep]

Hey guys, I'm developing a server in which the "Donator" status would be the Premium status. For this, I want to grant every new account 3 free days of Premium time.

I wanted to know what would be the best approach to this, as a means of preventing fraud. Would it be to execute a SQL Query that allows each new account to start out with 3 premdays? Should i try to edit my Znote AAC so that when you make a new account you get 3 prem days? Or should I code it into the firstitems script? The last of the 3 options would be my favorite option, but how would I prevent someone from being able fraud the system by making new characters over and over again?

 

[WibbenZ]

Well the problem with you posting things like this (firstly this is the wrong section) but also that people will find out how you did it.
Id most likely use the IP of the user, check if the IP has gotten any free days before, if s/he hasen't id give them the days.
In some cases this can be abused, since some have a non changable IP and some don't.

But that is the "best" way I guess.
You could also go to the extend of logging all IPs that have logged into that account via the website and then check them aswell.
IMO this should be done in PHP to not put any stress on the server.

 

[Shadowsong]

Well the problem with you posting things like this (firstly this is the wrong section) but also that people will find out how you did it.
Id most likely use the IP of the user, check if the IP has gotten any free days before, if s/he hasen't id give them the days.
In some cases this can be abused, since some have a non changable IP and some don't.

But that is the "best" way I guess.
You could also go to the extend of logging all IPs that have logged into that account via the website and then check them aswell.
IMO this should be done in PHP to not put any stress on the server.

Don't think that's a very good solution because IPs can be dynamic too (it's probably uncommon in america, but in europe it's very common for IPs to change every time you restart your router or connection).

Probably the best solution would be to assign free premium time to accounts upon creation in the database, and once the thing expires, it won't matter how many characters they make because they used the bonus up on that account.

 

[WibbenZ]

Don't think that's a very good solution because IPs can be dynamic too (it's probably uncommon in america, but in europe it's very common for IPs to change every time you restart your router or connection).

Probably the best solution would be to assign free premium time to accounts upon creation in the database, and once the thing expires, it won't matter how many characters they make because they used the bonus up on that account.

It seems like he does not want players to be able to enter for a second time.
And that is the only way to do it, since you can't add the hardware id etc to check for.

It's atleast the only way I can think of, maybe someone else can think of something else.

FYI it's pretty common in Europe aswell, mainly due to that we are running out of IPs to use.

 

[Jaed Le Raep]

I didn't think this was the wrong section because it's technical support related and I'm not actually requesting the script (php, lua, or otherwise).. But I do get the concerns of the security system I'll be using available for all to see.

In regards to your suggestion, @WibbenZ, I was wondering if there is truly no way to track hardware/computer ID, as that combined with IP was the path I was considering.

@Shadowsong Your suggestion is also good, and I don't know why anyone would bother making a completely new account and new character every 3 days, but I just want to 100% protect against this.


Honestly, thinking about it now, I might just have to offer a really cheap (less than 1 USD) package of 3 premium days, as a trial, for players to get a taste of the benefits rather than giving it to every single player that touches the server. It'll be purchasable 1x per account and would solve pretty much all my security concerns.

With this post this has moreso become a discussion, though, more of a technical one. What are your guys' thoughts to this approach?

Any thoughts/advice?

 

[Deleted member 49793]

Any thoughts/advice?

I like your position under your name ^_^

 

[whitevo]

attach premium status to character instead of account?

 

[jo3bingham]

I see no reason to try and prevent someone from making multiple accounts in order to gain 3 free days of premium per account, unless your premium is op. If your premium is op to the point where people abuse creating new accounts just for the premium then you either need to reevaluate your premium benefits, or limit what free premium accounts can enjoy.

e.g., "All new accounts can enjoy 3 free days of premium*!"
*Free premium does not include access to paid premium features x, y, and z.

 

[Jaed Le Raep]

I like your position under your name ^_^

Why the passive aggressiveness? I've done nothing but to be kind towards you. Stop being a dick and trying to G check me and focus on your own shit.

At least I try to assess and listen to community feedback.

I see no reason to try and prevent someone from making multiple accounts in order to gain 3 free days of premium per account, unless your premium is op. If your premium is op to the point where people abuse creating new accounts just for the premium then you either need to reevaluate your premium benefits, or limit what free premium accounts can enjoy.

e.g., "All new accounts can enjoy 3 free days of premium*!"
*Free premium does not include access to paid premium features x, y, and z.

The benefits of my premium would be all convenience and cosmetic-based, such as being able to use certain teleports back to town; and for free and premium players there'll be a waypoint system that helps alleviate certain travel inconveniences. Outside of this, the cosmetic would be based around outfits and their respective addons.

I do like your idea of limiting the amount features of free premium users.. And I could go about it with storageids.. That's really quality feedback; thank you Jo3.

 

[Deleted member 49793]

Why the passive aggressiveness? I've done nothing but to be kind towards you. Stop being a dick and trying to G check me and focus on your own shit.

At least I try to assess and listen to community feedback.

Oh, and if you're going to try to come for someone, don't be a fucking hypocrite trying to criticise my admiration for a lot of the latest TFS 1.1 releases as if you didn't use those exact same scripts, without changing a god-damned thing about it. Almost every aspect of Archlight Online is fucking broken, down to the cooldown and spellids for bards that you're too ignorant to know how to fix.

Every time you try to fix something you end up breaking it, and you're the type of ill-advised developer that would launch a major change to a primary system of their OT (changing tasks from being non-repeatable to repeatable), before testing it on a test server.




The benefits of my premium would be all convenience and cosmetic-based, such as being able to use certain teleports back to town; and for free and premium players there'll be a waypoint system that helps alleviate certain travel inconveniences. Outside of this, the cosmetic would be based around outfits and their respective addons.

Lol i wasnt being passive aggresive. I was serious. Youre going to do a good project cause you take it serious unlike most here. Its nice to see professionalism

 

[Jaed Le Raep]

Lol i wasnt being passive aggresive. I was serious. Youre going to do a good project cause you take it serious unlike most here. Its nice to see professionalism

It sure seemed passive aggressive as hell, because any time that I've tried to assess feedback lately it seems that all you seem to do is try and laugh at it.

But if you didn't mean it that way, then I apologize.

 

[Deleted member 49793]

It sure seemed passive aggressive as hell, because any time that I've tried to assess feedback lately it seems that all you seem to do is try and laugh at it.

But if you didn't mean it that way, then I apologize.

I didnt, ur chill we get along well. I know youll make a good project. You know what the community likes and wants.

 

[HalfAway]

I see no reason to try and prevent someone from making multiple accounts in order to gain 3 free days of premium per account, unless your premium is op. If your premium is op to the point where people abuse creating new accounts just for the premium then you either need to reevaluate your premium benefits, or limit what free premium accounts can enjoy.

e.g., "All new accounts can enjoy 3 free days of premium*!"
*Free premium does not include access to paid premium features x, y, and z.

Agreed.

 

[Codex NG]

I was wondering if there is truly no way to track hardware/computer ID, as that combined with IP was the path I was considering.

Yes but not in php or javascript, this needs to be done through the client as there is limited support for a browser where as its tougher but not impossible to spoof with the client, you could do it through a linux server but i'm sure that has its limitations as well.

 

[jo3bingham]

I was wondering if there is truly no way to track hardware/computer ID, as that combined with IP was the path I was considering.

Yes but not in php or javascript, this needs to be done through the client as there is limited support for a browser where as its tougher but not impossible to spoof with the client, you could do it through a linux server but i'm sure that has its limitations as well.

For what it's worth, the initial login packet the client sends to the server contains quite a bit of computer information that TFS doesn't (need to) parse; country string (USA), amount of RAM in MB, CPU string, CPU frequency in MHz, video card string, VRAM in MB, horizontal and vertical screen resolution in pixels, monitor refresh rate in Hz, and possibly more.

Note that this is for the standalone client only.