RE: [Almonaster-list] Restricting joining access to longterms

[Max A. F. <ma...@co...>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: alm...@li...
[mailto:almonaster-list-
> ad...@li...] On Behalf Of Jerome Zago
> Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 14:30
> To: alm...@li...
> Subject: [Almonaster-list] Restricting joining access to longterms
> 
> It's rather easy to join a longterm, then check every once in a while
whether
> it has started. Unfortunately you might miss its start by a few updates
then,
> especially if it has taken months to fill up.
> 
> Therefore I suggest the following to reduce the amount of idling in
longterms.
> 
> When you join a longterm, and it doesn't start at once (because more
players
> are needed), the server checks whether you have given a private (else
public)
> email address in the profile. If that isn't the case, it says "You need
a
> valid email address (in your profile) to join this longterm, so that I
can
> warn you when this game starts".
> 
> If an email address was given, then a confirmation request is sent to
you
> (this is what happens when you subscribe to this mailing-list). If you
reply
> to this confirmation request, then you're in. This step is necessary to
> ensure that the email address you gave isn't obsolete.
> 
> Now, when a longterm starts, everyone but the last joiner gets an email
like
> "Game Artemis 12 on Prometheus has started. Please go to
> http://almonaster.sourceforge.net/ and log in as Wandering Loan to
update
> it".

I like this suggestion.  I already have a ToDo list entry to write an SMTP
library, so I've added the following two entries:

Feature: use private email fields to send game start notifications (Agt)
Feature: option to limit game access to empires with private email fields
(Agt)

Now, the bit that I don't think is realistic is the part that requires an
email confirmation to authorize game entry.  It would require hooking up
an email system to the game's core logic, and that would be a lot of work
for the gain.