Wish: Change password in Pbem games

[Badnews]

How about add a function that player can change password in pbem games? I think that is extremly useful.

[dpstafford]

Second!

[jwilkerson]

ORIGINAL: Badnews

How about add a function that player can change password in pbem games? I think that is extremly useful.

I curious, could you give an example of the extreme usefulness?

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson

ORIGINAL: Badnews

How about add a function that player can change password in pbem games? I think that is extremly useful.

I curious, could you give an example of the extreme usefulness?

I think that the following argument is behind this:

Many users have same passwords for all of their PBEM games. If they have to drop some PBEM (for whatever reason) and someone else should continue instead of them that person would then know password for every other PBEM of that person...


Leo "Apollo11"

[Badnews]

More reason:
1. Player can change side in Pbem game.
2. For team Pbem games, when the members changes, the password should be changed.

[spence]

I started a game as Allied in PBEM...my original opp quit after the "fun part" was over. Almost incredibly a new opponent took over the game but he is stuck with the original password that my original opponent set and sent to me on the off chance I could find another opponent. I can't speak for him but I imagine my new opp would feel better if he could change that password to one of his own so he could be sure I wasn't peeking. I confess I did peek when my original opp quit but I deleted the email with the password as soon as my new opp took up the game so I can't look anymore.

[Charbroiled]

Many users have same passwords for all of their PBEM games. If they have to drop some PBEM (for whatever reason) and someone else should continue instead of them that person would then know password for every other PBEM of that person...


Leo "Apollo11"

Sometimes it's even worse that that. My password not only opens my PBEM turn, but I also use it for numurous other internet accounts (such as forums). I know this is a bad habit, but with increasing age, one password for non-important accounts is easier to remember. If for some reason I had to drop out of a PBEM game, I would be reluctant to share my PW with my former opponant so that he could either see the "over all picture" or to find another opponant to take over. And yes, all of my PBEM games have the same PW.[X(]

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Charbroiled

Sometimes it's even worse that that. My password not only opens my PBEM turn, but I also use it for numurous other internet accounts (such as forums). I know this is a bad habit, but with increasing age, one password for non-important accounts is easier to remember. If for some reason I had to drop out of a PBEM game, I would be reluctant to share my PW with my former opponant so that he could either see the "over all picture" or to find another opponant to take over. And yes, all of my PBEM games have the same PW.[X(]

Recommend you try Password Safe. It's open source and was created by Bruce Schneier, who is recognized as a top security expert. It's quite possible that you have used products that included his work without you even knowing it. Here is his web site and Wikipedia page if you want to check him out:

http://www.schneier.com/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_schneier


Here is his page concerning the program: http://www.schneier.com/passsafe.html

Here is the Sourceforge page to get the program: http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/

I have the same problem you do - zillions of passwords. I keep a list in encrypted format with various information, including usernames and passwords. It's still a pain to look things up (even on a printout) and enter them. I started using Password Safe about six months ago and it's very convenient. Even better, it will generate good passwords for you so you can get away from using passwords that are easy to guess.

[marky]

i agwee

[jwilkerson]

If we ever did a password change capability - it would work as most such do - you would have to know the old password.

Many of the above examples can be worked around. And as we move forward in time most "real" passwords will be requiring 8+ characters with at least 1 number and at least 1 special character. This has been true for my "work" passwords for sometime, and is starting to be true for my internet passwords. Password management is certainly an issue. I have a "note book" I use to store my passwords. I would be dead with out it.

I'm just surprised some think this is "extremely" useful/important. Implying that it would rank say in your top 5 list of any and all changes you would like to see for a future patch.

But since we would still have to protect the opponents password, meaning the password could not be changed without the old password, we might need to work out a way for our support team to change passwords for those players who lose their passwords. I can see a need for that. Right now, we would have to go into HEXEDIT to do that - and with AE not even our team with be able to do that because everything will be scrambled even beyond our ability to work with it. So we will cogitate upon a utility for the support team to be able to change lost passwords, though even still we need some kind of confirmation from the owning player that this is desired, or a public post and wait period, to declare that the game has been "abandoned" by a player.

What period of time do you think is reasonable to wait to for a player to respond before we declare a game to be abandoned? Think of this in terms of YOU being the player who would be judged to have abandoned? You should notify your opponent of any planned absences, so the even in question would normally be an unplanned absence. So unless you are dead, how long do you think you should have before you should respond to a forum post asking you to respond or we will judge your game to be abandoned and assign your password to another player?

[Chad Harrison]

Just to throw my two bits in here, I think something does need to be done simply given the amount of time that is put into a PBEM of this game. When your looking at spending years on a single PBEM game, it would be really nice to know that if your opponent dropped out (very common), you could find a new opponent who could set his own password.
 
I dont remember off the top of my head who it was, but didnt a long lasting AAR has to stop because one of the opponents could not remember his password? Also, there is the example of PzB's PBEM game opponents. Andy your the third one right? I would imagine that it would have been nice for Andy to be able to set his own personal password since (I assume) PzB has access to the original players password.
 
Obviously in that case, you just have to trust your opponent to not look, which would be a safe assumption for Andy and PzB, but it still just makes you feel better knowing that your password is safe.
 
I would much rather see Malaria fixed ([:D]) than have this in, but I think some help with password recovery and/or changes would be greatly appreciated by the community.
 
Chad

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson

If we ever did a password change capability - it would work as most such do - you would have to know the old password.

This is quite fine IMHO!

Most people who are abandoning the PBEMs (for whatever reason) are not disappearing without trace and before they leave they can then simply change their original password to something temporary that can be left to player who would succeed them (and that new player would then change that temporary password to password of his own liking)...

Many of the above examples can be worked around. And as we move forward in time most "real" passwords will be requiring 8+ characters with at least 1 number and at least 1 special character. This has been true for my "work" passwords for sometime, and is starting to be true for my internet passwords. Password management is certainly an issue. I have a "note book" I use to store my passwords. I would be dead with out it.

As system administrator in RealLife (TM) I agree with you 100%. My passwords are always combination of
letters (big and small), numbers and special characters!

I'm just surprised some think this is "extremely" useful/important. Implying that it would rank say in your top 5 list of any and all changes you would like to see for a future patch.

I agree with what "Chad Harrison" wrote - the PBEM is investment of time measured in years. It is VERY HARD to loose opponent and thus loose the PBEM after so much invested time...

But since we would still have to protect the opponents password, meaning the password could not be changed without the old password, we might need to work out a way for our support team to change passwords for those players who lose their passwords. I can see a need for that. Right now, we would have to go into HEXEDIT to do that - and with AE not even our team with be able to do that because everything will be scrambled even beyond our ability to work with it. So we will cogitate upon a utility for the support team to be able to change lost passwords, though even still we need some kind of confirmation from the owning player that this is desired, or a public post and wait period, to declare that the game has been "abandoned" by a player.

What period of time do you think is reasonable to wait to for a player to respond before we declare a game to be abandoned? Think of this in terms of YOU being the player who would be judged to have abandoned? You should notify your opponent of any planned absences, so the even in question would normally be an unplanned absence. So unless you are dead, how long do you think you should have before you should respond to a forum post asking you to respond or we will judge your game to be abandoned and assign your password to another player?

IMHO it would be great if there would be, as you wrote it, two (2) options for PBEM passwords:

#1
Players can change their password themselves (and only by knowing their old password).

#2
Abandoned PBEMs when opponent really disappeared and where password change of #1 type (see above) is impossible would be done with kind service of WitP-AE development team (of course with proper explanation and assurance that there is really abandonment and not cheating).


Thanks again for all hard work guys! [&o][&o][&o]



Leo "Apollo11"

[Knavey]

Just a bump for something I personally would like to see added.
 
I do have a PBEM game where my first opponent dropped out, and one of my other PBEM opponents picked it up since we had another game that was winding down.  I was able to get the password for him, but I do not like having it.  I would rather he have it changed and be done with it.