25 replies to this topic

[Durant Carlyle]

You're logged in, legitimately doing your thing in MW:O, losing to the House Marik forces that are trying to take your planet from you.

The game registers your smart phone or tablet logging in to assist you by displaying real-time in-game data like the map with friendlies appearing and 'Mech damage and such. It's going to do some market transactions and banking for you too.

...only, you didn't log your smart phone or tablet in.

After you've lost the planet to House Marik ( ), you go to the MechLab to re-attach the legs to your 'Mech. You suddenly notice that none of your spare 'Mechs or stockpiled weapons or equipment is there any more, and your C-Bill account has been cleaned out.

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This is what happens when you can have multiple devices logged into the same account at the same time.

Other games limit it to one device logged in at a time. That way, even if someone gets your login info, they won't always be able to use it right away. And maybe you find out that the servers were hacked in time to change your login info before anything bad can happen to your account.

[Kaemon]

Durant Carlyle, on 03 February 2012 - 10:37 AM, said:

You're logged in, legitimately doing your thing in MW:O, losing to the House Marik forces that are trying to take your planet from you.

The game registers your smart phone or tablet logging in to assist you by displaying real-time in-game data like the map with friendlies appearing and 'Mech damage and such. It's going to do some market transactions and banking for you too.

...only, you didn't log your smart phone or tablet in.

After you've lost the planet to House Marik ( ), you go to the MechLab to re-attach the legs to your 'Mech. You suddenly notice that none of your spare 'Mechs or stockpiled weapons or equipment is there any more, and your C-Bill account has been cleaned out.

-----

This is what happens when you can have multiple devices logged into the same account at the same time.

Other games limit it to one device logged in at a time. That way, even if someone gets your login info, they won't always be able to use it right away. And maybe you find out that the servers were hacked in time to change your login info before anything bad can happen to your account.

Please explain to me the mechanics of this, because allowing multiple ips/MAC address does not decrease or increase the probability of your account getting hacked, and this is not simply allowing more connections into your account.

Also the RSS feed (or a bit heavier XML feed) go from MW:O SFTP (please don't use regular FTP) server to the phone app server (ideally), which is isolated from any of the actual game servers (at least logically, if not physically) by a multitude of VLANS, firewall/ACL lists, etc...

So no, there is no increased change of hijackery of your account, because basically you're making changes into a copy of the game data, not the game data itself (at least in my example).

Now if we want to talk about extending the pay shop to the Phone App, well, now we're really getting into some interesting territory (but once again, seperate transactions handled independantly from your MW:O account, with just an update back to the MW:O account with what was purchased).

Edited by Kaemon, 03 February 2012 - 10:56 AM.

[Mchawkeye]

Riiiiggggghhhhttttt....If someone really wants to spend the time to hack my phone and or computer to remove my ERPPC...well then I don't know what, but I am pretty sure they need to find a life.

I am not going to deny myself some fun on the off chance someone might want to hack my account.

That is just paranoid nonsense.

[Durant Carlyle]

First, I wasn't saying that your mobile device would be hacked. I was saying that if your account info was gotten from a normal server hack and the hacker had the ability to log in on your account at the same time you were logged in, there would be more potential damage than if only one login at a time was allowed per account.

You can have real-time in-game info (like HTAL damage diagrams and maps with friendly/enemy positions) on your mobile device and still have it come from isolated servers with no danger at all? That's what people are asking for -- to have the mobile device act as a secondary monitor with extra real-time info (that would normally show on the full-size monitor) on it.

And anyway ... why would not having this real-time in-game stuff on your mobile devices be "denying yourself some fun"? You're already being denied on every single other game you're playing, if that's the case.

Edit: By the way, I'm sorry if my cautionary stance is raining on peoples' parade. If what people are asking for regarding mobile devices can be done safely, then I have almost no objection. My only remaining one would be fairness, as those mobile device accounts cost a lot of money per year, and there are a lot of people who cannot afford that. And no, that's not akin to having a joystick or a second monitor, as it's an ongoing cost rather than one-time.

Edited by Durant Carlyle, 03 February 2012 - 01:24 PM.

[Dlardrageth]

Durant Carlyle, on 03 February 2012 - 12:41 PM, said:

[...]
My only remaining one would be fairness, as those mobile device accounts cost a lot of money per year, and there are a lot of people who cannot afford that. And no, that's not akin to having a joystick or a second monitor, as it's an ongoing cost rather than one-time.

That matter actually is a bit "broader" than just personal costs. As on PGI's side some cost would occur as well (even if it is "only" one extra server, not factoring in extra development costs). It's not like someone there waves a magic wand and *poof* the info/data is available on any smartphone on the planet. So that cost has to be paid for. And how is that going to happen?

I see two possible models:

1. People who want to use their smartphone/tablet PC/gadget/whatever in the way outlined above in the thread are charged for that. Directly or via cash shop doesn't matter that much. Thus you pay for the service you personally make use of. No big problem with that, it's their money and as long as it cannot be abused to give in-game advantages...

2. PGI just takes the costs of that system/setup from the general income of the game. So basically everybody paying for anything in MWO would subsidize this. Which I am frankly quite opposed to. Why should the whole (paying) playerbase pay for the few people who use a smartphone applet? (And yes, on the international scale I expect it to be a minority.) Even those that possibly don't even own a smartphone?
And don't even think about the option to have all that run along on the game server as well, I don't care for any extra lag because someone totally has to use his iPhone or whatever as an ersatz Playstation.Apart from the fact that in that case sooner or later there would be attempts to lag the game out for ulterior motives. As the RoI for the development costs has to be factored into the price for using that applet as well, I can hardly wait to see the reactions of people having to pay perhaps 30$/month for it and its infrastructure...

[Alaric Wolf Kerensky]

I really do not understand where everyone gets these half-baked ideas. First, this means more streaming data, and as a result lower ping. Second, this pulls developer resources (even if the app is 3rd party, devs have to make it possible in the first place).

In addition, it would be almost useless because few people would use it, and those who do are fools for taking their eyes off the screen for even a moment to glance at their phone. I would be fine with it if it did not consume resources, but it will, and as a result I would vote no, but the decision is not up to any of us anyway (damn good thing too).