[Freeciv] feature request againts pubserver cheats

[Horn Gábor <Horn.Gabor@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi!

I'd like to ask if it's a big work to implement that after setting
endyear a fixed time of countdown would start before the game actually
ends, which would restart if an other player changes the endyear. It's
very frsutrating to see these cheat games on pubserver w/ the nendy. Eg
now Fredo did it, it was a long game (4 hours or so) and after hard
fight he was about to loose the game. He set timelimit to 0, asked us if
we agree endy (while he's ahead...). We answered no (we had more prod
than him, and just turned the warin those turns in all the fronts), so
he waited while we press turn done, the suddently luxed and set endy...
It's pretty frustrating to end a game like this after a heavy fight. 'Of
course' he  'won', and will get not ban (which would be a good reward in
this case...) but many points for this nice action, which ruined our
game. The same happened yesterday, when pio did it againts zu (again in
a largepox game, after long hours of hard fight).

In my 200+ games i did it 1 time too, and don't wanna hide it. I did it
againts pio, who played under a newbie nick, and whom i consider an
unfair player anyway (of course it doesn't mean i had the right to do
it, i just get so angry because of his unfair play that i lost my mind
unfortunatelly). Everybody including spects then agree game was decided
(i had magellans+suntzu, and about double prod/pop than the second
player), and i asked him to endy (i generally feel unfair if a good
player plays under a newbie nick againts somebody who use his 'real', or
only in my case). He didn't agree, but organized a gang againts me w/
the remained players (it was 3v1 as i remember). This  behaviour made me
feel sick of the whole game, and i set the endy when for my 5th ask for
the others that let us play 2 the war was unsuccesful and they continued
the gang. Sure it was not the right way, now i'd simply leave a game
like this (as i did it some times already since that) and let them enjoy
their nice 'victory'. I felt bad after this case, i lost my self control
because of a game (as i realized it i stoped play for a month or so) and
sure i won't do it again, no matter how unfair the game is. But the best
would be to eliminate the possibilities for unfair games/behaviouirs.

This whole thing w/ usage of fake nicks, endy cheats makes the ranking
system almost worthless imho. This unfortunatlely makes some people
cheat and ruin others game for some stupid points. Now if a good player
reaches top10/20 he usually stops playing or start a new nick as i see,
particular because the problems of the ranking system. And because now
the system 'rewards' this behaviour, they continues. 

I hope u understand i don't have problem againts the ranking system
itself (in fact i find it's mathematical idea very elegant, and surely
would be glad to see a nice and cheat-proof implementation of the
mathematical model), or the fact now i've lost some points and became a
'worse' player. I have problem w/ the fact that a a good and balanced
game (which was REAL fun for some people) got ruined because of some
stupid points (which are neither real nor reflects much thing now as it
became a first prioirty to many players to find and exploit its
weakness). 

So in short, i'd like to ask u:

a, do the devs care about this? Or is it just me and a few other players
who feels sad to see where pubserver's 'morale' is going to?

b, is there a chance to implement that countdown (or any other solution)
to stop endy cheats?

c, is there a chance for implement client authorization on pubservers
sometime to stop the multi-nick cheats?

d, is there a need for feedback/suggestion for rethink the ranking
system to reflect the fact of alliances/gangs? (so if 8 player kills a
good one in a gangbang the 'winner one' wouldn't get even more points
for this than if he'd do it in a duel...which would be MUCH harder and
worth of reward than a stupid gang)

I think these would be a great help to get the players again play for
fun not because of the points.

thx, hirisov