[Worldforge-all-lists] Accounts Doc V 1.1 Re: [WF-General] Distinguishing Admin and Player

[Bryce H. <br...@ne...>]

On Tue, 17 Apr 2001, Bryce Harrington wrote:
> On Tue, 17 Apr 2001 aj...@ec... wrote:
> > I have some issues I would like to raise, but first of all I am having
> > difficulty following some of the points you make because you don't seem
> > to be distinuishing clearly between the terms Player, Account and 
> > Character.

I reviewed the doc, and actually was saying what I meant, but in the
interest of clarity have edited it to be a bit more explicit...

Bryce


PLAYER RANKS

The following sequential levels are available for players to gain.
This is not intended to necessarily be a "permissions ladder" to climb,
but it is expected that players in higher levels will have amassed a
large number of play-hours.

Each character the player controls is assigned one of the following
ranks.  A player account can have several characters at any combination
of ranks.  A GM-ranked player account could hold 1 character with
GM-level functionality, plus another at only standard functionality, and
a third restricted to tutorial-level.  It is important to understand
that these are _player_ ranks, but they also dictate what types of
characters can be created.  

Also note that each level is a superset of the previous.  A player
account with Mentor level permissions can create characters that have
tutorial level restrictions, standard level restrictions, or mentor
level restrictions.

The game world can exist in one of five run-states, corresponding to the
level of player rank required to be active in the world.  For instance,
if it is set to level 4, then only characters with Builder or GM level
permissions could operate in the world.  (Note that all levels of Admin
accounts are able to access the world, regardless of run-state.)

1. Tutorial
   An intro/training player account.  Character functionality is
   constrained to just the basics, and the player's character can be
   controlled and manipulated by mentors quite easily.

2. Standard
   Regular player account.  This is actually an extremely broad category
   and has a lot of fine grained permission variation from character to
   character, that are gained and assigned as appropriate through play.
   For example, they can build a house, but they must acquire the wood,
   get a blue print, carpentry skills, and devote time for their
   character to assemble it. 

3. Mentor
   Mentor player account.  Mentor characters have added capabilities to
   control tutorial-level characters, and are allowed a wider degree of
   freedom from normal game rules (but still subject to acting *within*
   the game rules).  E.g., they can teleport around within proscribed
   areas of the game world.  However, they have more stringent
   restraints on what they can do than standard player accounts, such as
   not being able to advance, not being able to pick up objects, or
   etc. as deemed appropriate by the system operator.  Mentors are
   typically given a semi-plausible in-game persona, such as the ghost
   of your uncle Henry, or a talking black cat, or a mote of fairy dust.
   Mentors are allocated a limited number of Circe points (or experience
   points) that they can award players for deserving activities of their
   character(s).

4. Builder
   This account is allowed to perform certain world-editing functions.
   Standard player accounts are allowed to do game world alteration,
   within a certain set of physical laws.  Builder accounts are allowed
   access to API's that allow working around those basic laws (or even
   create them).  This account would be able to create a new kind of
   tool, assign it unique new properties and capabilities, and name it.
   A builder could also "paint" an area of the map with houses, without
   having to individually and pain-stakingly build each of them
   plank-by-plank, or associate a certain glade with a particular
   musical theme.  Builders are not intended to interact with regular
   player characters in any fashion, and can be constrained to only
   operate within certain areas, as designated by the system operator.
   And as well, they still must act within a certain set of meta-rules.
   E.g., they can create a spring, but can't make water run uphill
   (unless they put an anti-gravity field there or something).  Builders
   can "vouchsafe" files uploaded by players as being legit (e.g., not
   infringing on copyrights, not "unacceptable", not submitted simply as
   spam or annoyances) and make them usable in-game.  Builders are
   allowed to have a higher scale view of the game world, and their own
   unique set of map editing tools.

5. Game Master
   Game masters have certain quasi-admin capabilities, and freedoms that
   allow them to design and control sophisticated plots, invoke changes
   within the game world (such as turning a castle invisible).  They
   also have the ability to shift into NPC's (or even player
   characters), and control them temporarily.  He or she could place
   artifacts in remote areas of the game map, populate dungeons with
   unique monsters, and so forth.  Game Masters can have whatever
   in-game presence they wish; for example, they could adopt the persona
   of a bald little wizard that floats about on a little cloud.  GM's
   can increment player's Circe points (or their characters' experience
   points, or whatever.)  They cannot reduce a player's number of
   points, however, but can add or remove posessions or apply bonuses or
   penalties to stats.  Like builders, game masters will have their own
   unique view of the game world, however it will be different than the
   builders'.  For instance, it will show dots for NPC's under the GM's
   control, plus different colored dots for active, dormant, and sprung
   triggers.  He or she can then hover over or tab to one of the dots to
   see details about it, or doubleclick on it (or hit enter) to make
   alterations or take control of it.


ADMIN RANKS

Admin accounts are completely separate from player accounts.  Admins do
not have characters, per se, and have no physical presence within the
game world, unless the game system has "DEBUG" turned on.  The admin
account can have one of the following ranks.  Higher ranks can do
everything that lower ranks can do.

Most of these ranks will not be employed in a typical game server
operation (where "typical" is defined as systems having "hundreds" of
player accounts, rather than thousands).  In particular, levels 1, 2,
and 4 would are provided only for "massive" use (multiple thousands of
player accounts).  In a non-profit volunteer oriented game system, there
will likely be one or two people with Administrator rank, and a handful
of people at Operator rank; no other admin ranks would be used.

Also, player ranks and admin ranks are "orthogonal".  ADMIN-1 should not
be thought of as PLAYER-6; admin accounts are completely separate
beasts.  A person with an admin account would need to log in with a
separate player account (e.g., with a new instance of their client app)
in order to do game mastering, as an example.  Admins connect through a
seperate port than players (we might allow ALL IP's to access the player
port, except IP's # a, b, c, whereas we would allow NO IP's to access
the admin port, except IP's # x, y, z.)

1. Debug
   Debug level accounts only work when "DEBUG" is turned on, and is not
   intended to be available at all during normal operations.  They can
   invoke any of the in-game functionality available, and receive a
   large amoung of debug info.  These accounts can also employ limited
   "cheat codes" available only to admins, allowing them to see exact
   contents of data structures, and etc.  

2. Support
   This level of admin account is able to make limited alterations of
   player accounts, including adding player permission levels up to
   level 3, editing player or character information, and limited game
   alteration capabilities (e.g., invoking garbage-clearance commands or 
   resetting triggers).  They are also able to place blocks or
   restrictions on naughty player accounts, although the more stringent
   punishments (such as banishment) require the concensus of multiple
   support folks.

3. Operator
   The operator level account is able to enact a wide range of low level
   operations on the game world.  They can make any change they wish to
   any player account, character, or game object, and are bound by no
   rules.  For instance, they could delete all houses that exist in the
   game with one command.  Operators can exact any punishment they wish
   on any player, without restriction, including total banishment.
   Operators can also advance players into the upper (4th-5th) level
   ranks.

4. Developer
   This level of admin account is able to make alterations to the game
   code directly, including loading or unloading dynamic libraries, 
   reprogramming interpreted scripts, and establishing intra-server
   connections. 

5. Administrator
   The administrator can do whatever he or she wants.  The powers unique
   to admins include editing config files, restarting the game server,
   setting permission levels, and altering security settings.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bryce Harrington     bryce @ neptune.net    bryceharrington @ yahoo.com


_______________________________________________
General mailing list
Ge...@ma...
https://mail.worldforge.org/lists/listinfo/general


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bryce Harrington     bryce @ neptune.net    bryceharrington @ yahoo.com


_______________________________________________
General mailing list
Ge...@ma...
https://mail.worldforge.org/lists/listinfo/general