UTrustedPlayer service

[UTrustedPlayer]

It's a little early but there is a banning thread ongoing (isn't there always?) and it seems like a good time to present this.

The mission statement

UTP is dedicated to the continuation and protection of Unreal Tournament online servers. We will give the everyday admin the tools to help defend their servers from cheaters, lamers, and those they would like to block from playing. UTP will also serve as a clearing house for those identified as cheating and those submissions will form the basis of a world-wide banning system. If you cheat and get caught on one server then all UTP network servers will be notified and you will lose rights on those too.

and a brief synopsis of the service

Background: UTP is a collaborative project among several coders with input and support from multiple UT server admins across just as many gametypes. In short we just got tired of cheaters and did something about it.

What does it do?

In short UTP provides an online, dynamic database of cheaters and compares all players joining your server to this database. If their data matches anyone in the DB they are forcibly removed from the server and given a case number. This number will correspond to a ban entry and is used to appeal the ban. Our site will be set up to deal with all global ban appeals so as to free up the server staff from this duty.

Bans entered into the DB are immediately live so emergency entry of players who attempt server hacks or crashing will also be used. Those players will receive personal attention from our staff.

UTP also has some player-scanning features that help plug the gaps that ACE currently has. This information is available to the registered admins who use our service and they will receive support in its usage.

How does it work?

Not telling. Suffice to say players can change names, IP’s, use a proxy, tunnel, or any sort of method to obscure their identity and they will still be seen as who they really are. UTP uses known and unknown methods to ID players and provide data on their true person. If you are in the database for cheating, you won’t play on UTP servers.

UTP is modeled directly upon the successful service that UTAN was and seeks to bring those same tools to the UT community. Multiple server owners have contributed to the development, some overtly and some requested anonymity. Suffice to say our database is now the most comprehensive (by far) cheater list that exists.

Every ban is backed up by either an ACE log, package scan or screenshot (sometimes all three) and those logs will be presented if the player appeals the ban. We do not directly ban anyone, we only gather submitted bans from known server admins and when they provide proof we will add those players to the database.

Like I said, it's a little early for the announcement but we are very close to doing full beta testing of the interface and you might see it beforehand on selected servers who are working with us.

[UTrustedPlayer]

We have now opened registrations for the UTP service. This is a release candidate but will be considered beta for a short period until feedback is returned from the various servers. Provided there are no major issues this will be the version used.

Signups and usage are free, the database is comprehensive, and we are very happy with the end result of all this work.

Please don't hesitate to submit your ACE catches even if you are not an adopter of the service. You'll only be helping your fellow admin.

To find out more please create an account at http://www.utrustedplayer.com/forum/ and one of the staff will walk you through the process.

Thank you for your interest!

[UTrustedPlayer]

The UTrustedPlayer service is now fully functional and working beautifully. We took a little bit longer finalizing it than we thought it was going to be, but the release product is something we are quite proud of. Among the improvements:

-Bans are immediately 'live' across all UTP member servers as soon as they are accepted
-Cheaters are now kicked much faster and they don't come back
-Emergency ban procedures protect all the UTP servers from someone trying to hack any one of them
-Identifying a cheater protects all your fellow UT servers and admins

If you value a clean game take a moment to consider our service. Installation takes moments, requires no upkeep on your part, and protects your server from hundreds of community identified cheaters, hackers, and malcontents.

[SC]-[LO]\[G_{HoF}]

I see not a soul here has anything to say out in the open or to contribute on this thread. Seems to me the service would be very beneficial for the UT server admins as I've read.

BUT to be honest....... I think that something of this nature not only coming from a newly registered user whom has no known built respect amongst UA community can expect not to totally intimidate many here since most server admins would want to know all who are involved in this UTP and whether they can really trust this service.

Just my two cents.

[Hermskii]

Really? You don't know who that is? I recognize this person from a mile away. He is meaning well I'm sure of it. PM him and ask who he really is or maybe he will to you. Then you will know whether or not you want to go with this utility. I'm pretty sure you know him or of him already.

[UTrustedPlayer]

Originally Posted by SC]-[LO]\[G_{HoF}

BUT to be honest....... I think that something of this nature not only coming from a newly registered user whom has no known built respect amongst UA community can expect not to totally intimidate many here since most server admins would want to know all who are involved in this UTP and whether they can really trust this service.

A couple of things to cover here. I don't expect much in the way of public discussion and that's perfectly OK. Most of the people who are involved with this have elected to keep their usage low-key to outside interests. In fact if you are not in the ban list you'll have no idea the server even uses the service at all. Requests for privacy have been honored up to and including the handling of the sign-up completely by email because they don't want a forum presence. I don't blame them, I'm not sure I'd want to advertise everything I do to keep my server secure either.
I post occasionally to this thread to keep people updated that message me but frankly yeah, I'm surprised someone responded here at all. If I were interested I certainly wouldn't.

As for the 'trust' issue, anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of coding can open the mod and see what's going on. We gathered bans (none of which are our own, those were discarded to prevent favoritism accusation) and built a banning system around it. The idea couldn't be simpler but the execution took some time to get right. About the only mistrustful thing there could be is a 'vengeance ban' entered into the database but that's not going to happen. If you receive a banID you will be given the proof of your ban, and that proof comes from servers other than the ones the staff at UTP runs. The user side may not be clearly seen by the general public but if you are in the database you have the right to see why and that information will be made available to everyone who asks, screenshot included .

Originally Posted by Hermskii

Really? You don't know who that is? I recognize this person from a mile away.

You make it seem like I'm trying to do something underhanded. Oi, I guess I probably should have created my admin account at UTP under another name then because it's quite clear who you are dealing with.
I expect to get some hater push-back like this but in the end I just don't care. I abhor people that cheat, everyone knows that because it's been a hot-button issue with me for years. If you dislike me personally that's fine, but let's try to separate the two issues. What you think of me has no bearing at all on the UTP service's validity. In fact it would be very easy for me to point a finger back and say "What are you doing to help your fellow admin?" Condemning the project without even knowing anything about it just because I'm involved is so incredibly short-sighted (but not unexpected). If you don't like the idea of UTP then don't use it. Pretty simple. Just try to distinguish what it is you dislike.

Every time a cheater gets denied access to a server is a small victory for UT online play. Oh and as to my true motivation, here is something for you to consider: I host and run a forum that supports several game groups and I also run servers myself. All my servers run UTP (as expected) yet some of my members can't play on my servers. You know why? They have valid cheat catches that I will not remove, friends or not. They can stay around and post on the board but they are done playing on UTP servers.

[The_Cowboy]

Ok now i am curious.Are you gopostal?

*nvm i got the answer.

[SC]-[LO]\[G_{HoF}]

Originally Posted by Hermskii

Really? You don't know who that is? I recognize this person from a mile away. He is meaning well I'm sure of it. PM him and ask who he really is or maybe he will to you. Then you will know whether or not you want to go with this utility. I'm pretty sure you know him or of him already.

Of course I know who he is Hermskii. I just think it would be better if he was more open about it so others here at UA would feel more likely to consider using the service knowing he is a known coder and is by far superior at what he can provide.

[Hermskii]

Simmer down folks. Nothing I said was negative. Nothing at all. Nor was anything negatively implied in what I said. Please note I clearly said in my post "He is meaning well I'm sure of it."

I think this concept/utility is great. I didn't know that you already knew who he was SC]-[LO]\[G_{HoF}. I wasn't giving you or anyone bad advice to contact him. It seemed at the time like a good idea actually. I'll be more careful next time I try to help.

[qwerty]

This would have been great like 10 years ago hehe

[face]

It still is great.There are still a lot of players around.

[qwerty]

yeah on a few select servers.

[[rev]rato.skt]

I liked it, would be a mutator free or paid something

[UTrustedPlayer]

I'll tell you something about the cheat situation that probably Anthrax recognized but I'm not sure if anyone else really sees. I know I didn't.

Once we began compiling cheat catches from various servers it became clear that you can see when each major public cheat release happens (or when ACE is adjusted to catch it if that needs done). Laying them out on a spreadsheet and plotting the 'when' of catch groupings was about as informational as it could be. There are clear times when cheaters are caught at a much higher frequency all across UT servers. This makes sense, duh. Public cheat releases are large events judging by the number of downloads at the cheat sites. These often far exceed anything publicly released for UT use and that says a lot. There is big, big interest in cheats.

What was even more surprising when we compared this data was how often the same players 'server-shopped' after such an event, often in the same day or even hour. If you go from server group to server group you'll find a LOT of the same entries. These guys are obviously hell bent on finding a server (any server!) that they can cheat on. Since ACE doesn't outright ban them they have no fear of probing all these IP's until they find one that they can use their new toys on.

UTP simply gives you a shortcut to stop them ahead of time. You don't have to spend the time you don't have posting ACE catches to your Hall of Shame forum, adding the bans to every one of your servers, and answering the "WTF U mad bro?!" emails from them. And you get to benefit from other admins taking the time to post their catches to us.

We've all had issues with each other over the years but to a certain extent that has to be put aside for the future. I read a post on one of the cheat sites the other day where one of the cheat makers said that "ACE saved UT, and you know it." Even they know that once UT reached a certain threshold of cheat users the game would just die in it's public form. In that same spirit I would work my ass off to help even Herm if he signed up for the service, even though we have very little for each other. It's going to take that if you really want UT to go as long as it can.

Originally Posted by [rev]rato.skt

I liked it, would be a mutator free or paid something

There will never be a fee. I've made things for people for years and never taken money from anyone. We debated a paypal donate link on the forum but discarded the idea since money shouldn't be involved. This is just a group of guys who want to continue to play the game we grew up with and not let cheaters ruin it.

[[rev]rato.skt]

This excellent idea and good hope your in a need that same!
thx..

[UTrustedPlayer]

Well, we are about a month in and the service is doing quite well. We had to tweak the player removal a bit because banned players were hammering the login but that problem is now fixed. Admin feedback has been wonderful and it has allowed us to fine-tune the mod into a very lean and unobtrusive player check.

As you admins take holiday this year I would ask that you keep us in mind if you go to do a yearly cleanout. We are especially interested in ACE catches from instagib servers and semi-vanilla servers since that seems to be the place bots are first tested publicly. We have a pretty good handle on the current situation but I'd like to keep an eye towards the future too. You don't have to do anything to the logs, just zip the catches and the screenshots and I'll arrange the transfer to suit you. We will do all the cleanup and handle everything from there.

Thanks to everyone and Happy Holidays!

[Hidden]

I can't think of a better way to unit all serious UT players and server admins.
A site where we all can go to learn more about banning the unwanted
and to see what unwanted were banned.
But I am surprised on how many "nonbelievers" (admins not registered) there are?
I'd hate to think that some admins could careless who plays their servers.

[qwerty]

the problem is only 10% of all servers actually get traffic. how many servers are there running? 1000? and only 10-20 out of those thousand actually have steady players.. not including communities who run 5 bt servers etc those are the few that could benefit from this. Im all about supporting this, but unfortunately my servers are dead as well as most of the others. so this is why I can see maybe 5-10 admins might actually sign up. just my opinion. im sure i opened up Pandoras box of flaming but that's what I SEE. I am also guilty of not playing UT anymore, but still run 3 servers. I don't have the patience anymore to sit on my servers till they get popular only to have other clans try to destroy us for being popular not mentioning any names but im sure they are reading this. anyway good luck with this, and ill try to help if I can

[maggi]

That mod UTP against cheaters sounds interesting for me, but i think the half of the bans on our servers have the reason of unsocial behavior, big mouth, advertising, recruting. Do you have a database against such freaks too?

[UTrustedPlayer]

Subjective bans (meaning bans resulting from breaking rules that may differ from server to server) are not enforced via UTP. We deal strictly in aimbotters, radars, cheaters, and server/player crashers. We do however offer a couple of options for server admins to add their own bans in addition to our service when players are checked. Upkeep of this is your responsibility but it's easy to add them and once you do it, it's done.