Impersonation Prevention

Started by asdfqwerty123, Sep 27, 2007, 02:32 PM

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asdfqwerty123

Having problems with players trying to impersonate staff?

The easiest way to prevent this is really very simple.

Step 1:

Create an account with a descriptive login name "stopimpersonators", "nogmfraud", "nofakestaff"... add numbers 2,3,4,5... etc for multiple.

Step 2:

Think up all the possible ways to fake a GM name (including ililili-like names) that may be similar to current staff members.  Create dummy novices to act as name holders because if a character name exists then people can't use it.

Step 3:

Ban the accounts so that no one can log in as those character names.  Since it's not an IP ban, you can still play your regular account.  It doesn't matter which staff member does this because they will be locked accounts.

Step 4:

Repeat steps 1 through 3 when a new staff member is added.

Arcenciel

Wouldn't it be easier if all the GMs were wearing the official GM suit? To make this effective, players should know that real GMs have the official GM suit.

Guest

Arcenciel you make a good point but the problem with that is some ppl fake being GMs through PMing ppl

asdfqwerty123

I personally hate the GM suit because it's like a feminine robe dress.  I hate it.  I prefer using Monk because it has a hoodie type clothing, even though Champions are technically a higher ranking class.  Also, I have other staff members that are not "GameMasters", but are still part of the staff with titles such as "Intern", "Helper", "Mediator"... etc.  That can cause problems if people try to impersonate them to steal players' money, password, account, or otherwise.

SakuraX

Quote from: JJJ on Oct 22, 2007, 06:54 PM
Arcenciel you make a good point but the problem with that is some ppl fake being GMs through PMing ppl

well then i suppose ask/force the (fake) GM to teleport to you and PROVE he/she is a true GM (such as telling him/her to jail you and log you off)

Guest


Mewi

It's always a good idea to have various symbols disabled on your server.  Only stick to basic alpha numeric letters.  :p   

Also it is a good idea to make a rule stating that no party name, guild title, guild or charname can have the acronym "GM"  This will help prevent confusion and possible abuse.


Becoming a GM means you sacrifice a part of your soul forever, be prepared.

Itakou

I disable all symbols or numbers for normal players and manually add (GM) to all my GM characters. I tell players to look for the brackets and imposter's can't mimic the name.


Itakou
People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.

asdfqwerty123

What typically happens is people don't want to consider the fact that some random novice with "GM" in front of their title is asking for their password, which is somewhat of a "duh" moment, but it's good to try taking up as many names as possible to reserve them from being used.

Ambrose Merle

best way I found to prvent these things is what Zairik said, and to make it so GMs all talk with a specific color. Plus, there are ways to script it so things like asteriks, or symbols appear next to the name of any speaking GM (personally witnessed this a few times). Although I don't know how, I'm pretty sure I could if I looked hard enough.

P.S. No there actual name didn't contain the symbols, nor could any regular name, THUS why the symbols were used.

Zone

Hmm... Zairik raising a good idea, but you can change a name alot more than it is worth making said characters and banning the accounts.
Personally, I am not a fan of the gm suits either, but our spriter is spriting custom gm uniforms, so they look a lot more different, also, that is also why their names, and text are in yellow.

Mamimi

I've never seen any problems with GM impersonation. x_x
Every server I've been on, they all speak in yellow text and wear GM suits.

Edit: Oh poop, is threadmancy allowed here? sorry :x

Mewi

Quote from: corpsechan on Aug 03, 2008, 05:13 AM
I've never seen any problems with GM impersonation. x_x
Every server I've been on, they all speak in yellow text and wear GM suits.

Edit: Oh poop, is threadmancy allowed here? sorry :x

X3  Threadmancer! :O  The reason why you've probably never seen it is.... Because they get banned fast >:3


Becoming a GM means you sacrifice a part of your soul forever, be prepared.

~~T~~

It really doesn't matter to me, if they really want to do it there is very little that can be done agaisn't it.
The fact is that if someone is impersonating your staff, there must be a reason, nobody do something for no reason. Most players will threat you as you threat them, if you talk like you were god and disrespectful with everyone, they will react the same way with you.
Although, some people don't have any reason to do it so, or very little reason, those that wants just to see the people angry or sad(AKA Agent of Chaos), so yea, those you have to IP ban or simply ignore if he found a good way to be unbanned.
(Why would a clown act if there is no one seem to care about him, he'll just bore out and stop.)

But if you're really being abused a lot of times, Zairick option is really the best, but I wouldn't ever do it, Too much working ( I'm lazy, sue me).

Auroraâ„¢

#14
Well, the only problem with this step-by-step prevention is that a lot of people can think of ways to get around it. I see people thinking up new ways to evade systems daily.

Aside from that, I think it's a nice idea. But, beside the point, a good idea for rules is "GMs will never ask you for account information, for items, zeny." stuff like that. If players read the rules, they'll know not to trust people who do that. Plus, it's just common sense, in my opinion. x_x; Every time that's happened to me, I've asked them to prove they were a GM, and always gave excuses like "This is a secret character," rofl.


» Coming Soon! «

Poki

Hence why you should never trust anyone on the internet and why GMs should not have legit characters.

Guest

Quote from: Poki on Aug 18, 2008, 03:46 AM
Hence why you should never trust anyone on the internet and why GMs should not have legit characters.

i'll agree to half that statement =P

Auroraâ„¢

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with having a legit, if you're a GM.

It's just as easy to impersonate the legit than it is to impersonate the GM. XD


» Coming Soon! «

freakyred

well ... it's almost easy to spot impersonation because they talk different than the person(if you really know how the impersonated person talks)

Poki

Quote from: Auroraâ,,¢ on Aug 18, 2008, 03:28 PM
Yeah, there's nothing wrong with having a legit, if you're a GM.

Everything is wrong if a GM has a legit. The world dies and explodes.

Auroraâ„¢

Not really. xD

GMs deserve to play too.


» Coming Soon! «

Poki

They deserve to play too, that's why they should play on another server, not the server where they are GMs.

Auroraâ„¢

That would be kind of pointless, to me. O_o

Either way, I, personally, think GMs should have legits on the server they GM. Not only does it give them a chance to experience things as a player, including possible bugs, glitches, and even things that are overpowered, but it gives them a time to relax when the friends that they have on that server.

That's my own opinion~ Anyways, back with being ontopic. XD Impersonation, at any time, will be hard to prevent, like I already said, systems or no systems.


» Coming Soon! «

Guest

ehem we already have a topic about if GM's should have legits or not XD lets take this convo there~

Poki

Sure, back on to the topic; Whoever falls for the trick deserves it. I believe it's not the ascreen:dministrators' or the GM's fault if the player falls in to the trap of another player impersonating. Pretty much your fault for being so gullible. Prevention would be simple as a rule on the rule screen:

"Do not give your account or items to anyone, even the GMs"

All the administrator needs to do is just ban whoever breaks the rule about impersonating. They don't need to give back the items. Plus... I haven't really seen any problems with impersonation within servers.

Littlechan

topic says it XD

I know that long time ago, someone said that we need to make many characters that have similar nickname with our name. but that doesn't help really much, as there's always someone who got tricked o.o


*Thank You very much for Azurene*

The world is getting more and more broken everyday...

The truth about me
I am 17 ;D
[close]

Cielte

Use names that you can only make editing it in the database.
Make sure every player knows who the real GM's are.

Would be the two good ways I suppose. I strongly doubt some idiot'll go as far as typing the same as a GM. Which means you could probably tell them apart if the names allowed.


Littlechan

Quote from: Zone on Feb 04, 2009, 06:20 AM
http://www.ratemyserver.net/forum/gamemaster-talk/impersonation-prevention/0/

that topic is the one I talk about on the first post D:

@azurene

there will always be players who got tricked because he/she is too lazy to checking around staff's pages D:


*Thank You very much for Azurene*

The world is getting more and more broken everyday...

The truth about me
I am 17 ;D
[close]

Guest

^^ im going to merge the two posts together since there about the same thing =3

but as a normal tip its recommended that you regularly tell people that GM's won't be asking for account info

Littlechan

Quote from: JJJ on Feb 04, 2009, 09:45 AM
^^ im going to merge the two posts together since there about the same thing =3

but as a normal tip its recommended that you regularly tell people that GM's won't be asking for account info

I did, but when all GMs not online, that's a chance for the impersonator o.o


*Thank You very much for Azurene*

The world is getting more and more broken everyday...

The truth about me
I am 17 ;D
[close]

cheesestix

On our server, I think we just made it so people can't make characters with names that start with GM, BH, spaces, symbols, etc. Of course, there are a few people who came up with some "creative" ways to try to scam. But, those methods just don't work too well =P
Don't worry, be happy =(

Guest

well the best way is to keep your users informed so they know who they can, and cannot trust

asdfqwerty123

Quote from: JJJ on Feb 04, 2009, 06:44 PM
well the best way is to keep your users informed so they know who they can, and cannot trust

The best way to do this is to tell them to trust no one, not even GM's with their password or account information, and that GM's will never ask for their account information or password. Also this is another reason why it's important for GM's not to be involved in playing as players once they become a GM.

Guest

x3 thats part of being informed though ^^;

Descent

We don't use GM Sprites on our server, so Staffers are identified by a Staff-Only "Solstice-Wing" to differentiate. They're untradable, and GMs are monitored closely, are only allowed to have ONE GM character(any other instances will be deleted) to prevent confusion.

A posting of the Staff List is a must on any server's forum or Rules so players know exactly who to look for. The case on Solstice is that none of my GMs talk like twits, so any impersonation would be easy to catch, since 90% of the impersonators are illiterate and can't communicate clearly, such as in cheesestix's example. There has only been one impersonator, and he or she made a BIG mistake PMing my Admin, assuming it was a normal player with...

solstice-GM : hay player u wan donation item?
Descent : Are you giving them away?
solstice-GM : ya
solstice-GM : i am owner of this serv
Descent : Really.
solstice-GM : ya i am owner of this serv
Descent : How exciting! You're taking time out to talk to me?
solstice-GM : giv acct plis
solstice-GM : n i giv donation item
Descent : Okay, write this down.
solstice-GM : ok
Descent : My account info is as follows...
solstice-GM : ok
Descent : Username : Your donkey
solstice-GM : ok
Descent : Password: Is Banned.
solstice-GM : ei
Descent : Bye bye. @ban 999d

Jumped into the files to IP ban the little turd. Haven't seen him since. What was humorous was that I had a few players hanging out in Prontera to watch this, laughing up a storm as the 1/1 Novice attempted to tell people he owned the server.

Cielte

Quote from: Descent on Feb 19, 2009, 11:38 PM
We don't use GM Sprites on our server, so Staffers are identified by a Staff-Only "Solstice-Wing" to differentiate. They're untradable, and GMs are monitored closely, are only allowed to have ONE GM character(any other instances will be deleted) to prevent confusion.

A posting of the Staff List is a must on any server's forum or Rules so players know exactly who to look for. The case on Solstice is that none of my GMs talk like twits, so any impersonation would be easy to catch, since 90% of the impersonators are illiterate and can't communicate clearly, such as in cheesestix's example. There has only been one impersonator, and he or she made a BIG mistake PMing my Admin, assuming it was a normal player with...

solstice-GM : hay player u wan donation item?
Descent : Are you giving them away?
solstice-GM : ya
solstice-GM : i am owner of this serv
Descent : Really.
solstice-GM : ya i am owner of this serv
Descent : How exciting! You're taking time out to talk to me?
solstice-GM : giv acct plis
solstice-GM : n i giv donation item
Descent : Okay, write this down.
solstice-GM : ok
Descent : My account info is as follows...
solstice-GM : ok
Descent : Username : Your donkey
solstice-GM : ok
Descent : Password: Is Banned.
solstice-GM : ei
Descent : Bye bye. @ban 999d

Jumped into the files to IP ban the little turd. Haven't seen him since. What was humorous was that I had a few players hanging out in Prontera to watch this, laughing up a storm as the 1/1 Novice attempted to tell people he owned the server.

I'm sorry, but this made me laugh...

Zone

Quote from: Kozua Nekiem on Feb 19, 2009, 11:44 PM
Quote from: Descent on Feb 19, 2009, 11:38 PM
We don't use GM Sprites on our server, so Staffers are identified by a Staff-Only "Solstice-Wing" to differentiate. They're untradable, and GMs are monitored closely, are only allowed to have ONE GM character(any other instances will be deleted) to prevent confusion.

A posting of the Staff List is a must on any server's forum or Rules so players know exactly who to look for. The case on Solstice is that none of my GMs talk like twits, so any impersonation would be easy to catch, since 90% of the impersonators are illiterate and can't communicate clearly, such as in cheesestix's example. There has only been one impersonator, and he or she made a BIG mistake PMing my Admin, assuming it was a normal player with...

solstice-GM : hay player u wan donation item?
Descent : Are you giving them away?
solstice-GM : ya
solstice-GM : i am owner of this serv
Descent : Really.
solstice-GM : ya i am owner of this serv
Descent : How exciting! You're taking time out to talk to me?
solstice-GM : giv acct plis
solstice-GM : n i giv donation item
Descent : Okay, write this down.
solstice-GM : ok
Descent : My account info is as follows...
solstice-GM : ok
Descent : Username : Your donkey
solstice-GM : ok
Descent : Password: Is Banned.
solstice-GM : ei
Descent : Bye bye. @ban 999d

Jumped into the files to IP ban the little turd. Haven't seen him since. What was humorous was that I had a few players hanging out in Prontera to watch this, laughing up a storm as the 1/1 Novice attempted to tell people he owned the server.

I'm sorry, but this made me laugh...
I did too.
There was a kid who tried this with me before, except the admin was my friend.
I just so happened to be over at his house. :P
So he and I got the chance to toy with this guy, gave him a 1/1 novice account, he logged in and was like, ei why dun u hav ny itams, r u new?

Re: Hmm, neither do you, as I can see you just made the account you are on, and you have another account by the name of xxkamo***xx

his re: wahhh?
Re: oh yes, I forgot to tell you, I am quite close friends with the owner and admin of this server...I just so happen to be sitting right next to him ^^
*scammer logs out*
*ip bans permanently*
Ahhh, I love it when people try to impersonate GMs.
They are so entertaining. I hope I have a few on my server once I open to the public.

Orange

GM impersonators are lolworthy, If someone gets scammed they are to stupid to deserve what they lost imo, I've never known anyone that got scammed by a fake GM.....

And damn Descent, what a stupid person 0.o
:3

Descent

Quote from: Orange on Feb 22, 2009, 12:52 PM
GM impersonators are lolworthy, If someone gets scammed they are to stupid to deserve what they lost imo, I've never known anyone that got scammed by a fake GM.....

And damn Descent, what a stupid person 0.o

Sometimes, the threat of a ban is enough to scare the scammee, leading them to use poor judgement.

Of course, there are logs to prove what items went to what user, what IPs have accessed the account, et cetera. An Admin has a bevy of tools at their disposal to find scammers if they look hard enough.

Littlechan

Quote from: Orange on Feb 22, 2009, 12:52 PM
GM impersonators are lolworthy, If someone gets scammed they are to stupid to deserve what they lost imo, I've never known anyone that got scammed by a fake GM.....

talk about newbie o_O

Quote from: Descent on Feb 22, 2009, 03:06 PM
Quote from: Orange on Feb 22, 2009, 12:52 PM
GM impersonators are lolworthy, If someone gets scammed they are to stupid to deserve what they lost imo, I've never known anyone that got scammed by a fake GM.....

And damn Descent, what a stupid person 0.o

Sometimes, the threat of a ban is enough to scare the scammee, leading them to use poor judgment.


umm...ban IP=change IP? =D

ban ID...err...make new ID! =D


*Thank You very much for Azurene*

The world is getting more and more broken everyday...

The truth about me
I am 17 ;D
[close]

Descent

Quote from: Littlechan on Feb 22, 2009, 09:03 PM
Quote from: Orange on Feb 22, 2009, 12:52 PM
GM impersonators are lolworthy, If someone gets scammed they are to stupid to deserve what they lost imo, I've never known anyone that got scammed by a fake GM.....

talk about newbie o_O

Quote from: Descent on Feb 22, 2009, 03:06 PM
Quote from: Orange on Feb 22, 2009, 12:52 PM
GM impersonators are lolworthy, If someone gets scammed they are to stupid to deserve what they lost imo, I've never known anyone that got scammed by a fake GM.....

And damn Descent, what a stupid person 0.o

Sometimes, the threat of a ban is enough to scare the scammee, leading them to use poor judgment.


umm...ban IP=change IP? =D

ban ID...err...make new ID! =D

Nope, you misread it. The scammer(posing as a GM) can usually threaten to ban a player that they're trying to scam in order to get them to comply. It's sad, but it works, I've seen it happen on quite a few servers I've played on, where the player felt that they had no choice but to give them their account.