Official forums for BZFlag.org

Since this board is going to become the userlist for the in game registration, it will require a change to the naming standards.

1) Don't put any extra symbols in your name. like "'()`!,&:=@
2) DON'T put your team name in with your name, we are going to have a field just for that so don't worry.
3) They have to follow the bzflag lame name rules. so no names that are 00000000MY_000000 or any crap like that.

Does 'brad2901' still count as a lame name?

"Since this board is going to become the userlist for the in game registration"

What is this all about, I've tried looking in the forum for a thread about it, but no luck. Could someone point me to a thread where this is explained?

"Does 'brad2901' still count as a lame name?" personally, I think any name with numbers in it like that is a wee bit lame. -_^

there is no thread yet, it's not done.

Logwad wrote:"Does 'brad2901' still count as a lame name?" personally, I think any name with numbers in it like that is a wee bit lame. -_^

As I asked on a similar note a month or two ago, who is going to contact Arthur C. Clarke and tell him that HAL2001 is a lame name? Honestly, how anyone can claim that numbers are lame for callsigns in a game is beyond me. There are times when numbers make sense and a call sign of all numbers or mixed numbers is either significant, serious, or humorous.

Examples of numbers that mean as much as a name: (all of these are callsigns I've seen)

007
7-11
9-11
911
666

And some callsigns that use as many or more numbers than letters:

brad2901
f12
B-52
U2

And callsigns that use any numbers at all:

PatLabor221

Each of these has a significance. If one is lame, they all are. Personally, I just don't see the issue as important. It's not like people are talking about registering "92387647892364623" - that is meaningless due to its complexity. The same as registering "zykqlhyvajnesnaoubhej."

There should be a limit to callsign length and email length, though. It's lame to use an extremely long callsign or email just to keep people from seeing your flag type on the display.

yes i agree with toaster on the first part. but with a limit on callsign length, I think we would eventually get the same complaint again if it was too short a limit. but names like lasdkjflkasdjf and 1320-481092384109 should be blocked, I wonder how...?

Do my bars outside of |tim| count as an extra symbol?

Hey, you guys have a chance. There used to be a filter for about a day barring all callsigns less than five characters (I think it was five), only in the CVS version, but it would bar anyone with a SN less than five characters into a server. I changed that. A few people and myself voiced our opinion and the rule was changed. Maybe that gives you hope.

Well, if I remember correctly, when you voiced your opinions, the filter had already been removed. Isn't that right? I think it had been removed two hours earlier. Anyway, I think there should be a limit as to how much symbol you include with your callsign, not dissallow it al-together...

The dev who changed the callsign length
restriction had a very specific reason:

CVS QUOTE: Well, I would like continue playing (with "c3po")

Hey, he likes c3po, I like RPG. Actually, on BZFlag the night before my request post, I was telling all the people testing the CVS version about how I was the victim of the rule, then the next day I made the post.

whatever filter bzflag uses basicly will get applied here, since name herere will be used in game.

The bigest thing is, don't put your team name as part of you login name/callsign. There will be a sperate field for that. Teams change, login names don't.

Did I get it right that the login-name you have in that board will also become your callsign in the game?
If right, I think you should allow special-letters. For example my neighbor uses "SAMY-{100%} as gaming-nick. If he cant use "-", "{", "}" and "%" his callsign would be reduced to SAMY100 and totally damaged.
And I think other players have the same situation. They built somehow an identity while playing for months with that name. It would be ugly to see loads of nicks changed. In my opinion.

And to the clantag: Will there be a field for that in the game, too? So that you can toggle display of the names for example pressing "t"? If yes, thats a great advantage.

that is the point of "using the same user database", one login, for all things. One name per person, so you keep that identity. I 1.11.x allows it then it's an ok name.

"SAMY-{100%}" wont be allowed I guess?

Well, who would have strange characters in their name? I don't recall any specific people that load their nicknames with !@#$%^&*()-[}"[{'\|.<>/?" . I understand the point of view where certian characters could mess up the program, but I also see how the users don't want their nicks changed.

I'm sure there must be some way of allowing them. Can't we make the code just escape special characters? Or do a urlencode?

- How long do you plan on maintaining a database of every callsign used?
- Will there be limits on the number of times a person can register with whatever central database will be keeping all these in game call signs?
- Will there be any real incentive to use the same name day in and day out for those who would rather remain anonymous during game play?

Basically, what is the point of doing this?

I'm coming in on the rear end of this topic

1) What rr said

2) Are people going to have to register to play BZ Flag now?

I_Died_Once wrote:2) Are people going to have to register to play BZ Flag now?

Answer is here.

there are a couple of points in doing it.

it means the game can know about teams in a leauge.
so you can have a server set to just allow the 2 teams who are suposed to play in a match to play. and make everyone else an observer. The server could also automaticly asign team colors based on the info.

It will be used for karma, some servers will only allow positive karma players, so you can only play on them with an account that you normaly play with.

Bzbb only allows 1 account per e-mail so if you wanted to make multiple accounts you'd have to make a bunch of mail addresses and that is a pain.

it can be use for admin rights on a group of servers. so if your admin on like the secretplace group, you'd need to use the same login so it picked up your group.

some servers won't allow unregisterd, so you'd have to use a registered name.

Basilcy it's going to be a lot easyer to play on all servers if you keep the same name.

Is Ice Wewe ok?

"Ice Wewe (~Wewe~)"
"Wewe (~Wewe~)"

Similar to Ice Drake, but I got his ok to use mine...

how about using:
a-z and/ore/with 0-9 ...

Does phpbb allow you to change your username? I know quite a few players who have decided to change nicks (for one reason or another), and I'd think you wouldn't want a ton of duplicate accounts when people want a new nick.

yes.

first entry on your profile page.

Note that once you change, anyone can grab your old username. I recommend you don't do it without good reason.

Note also that email addresses must be valid and unique for each forum account.