Public server option - restrict winter joining

[Curo]

My Story

Hey, I've had about 4 games in a row where people join in with a fresh character just as winter is starting, or even worse when we're about to fight Deerclops. Every single time it has resulted in these people either dieing instantly and draining everyone's sanity, or they just take any food and gear we've stockpiled. This results in us losing hp to revive them, and not having the necessary preparations for the Deerclops fight.

Another player and I finally had a great setup with multiple spare sets of armour and lots of food and jerky to maintain all our stats during the fight. Then 3 people suddenly logged on the day before the deerclops fight. Of course they had to take all of our gear and food in order to survive. The only other option for us would be to make our base in some far off corner and not communicate with anyone, and then suffer through the sanity loss of them dying repeatedly, which would get us killed anyway.

People should not join a winter server. There's no way you can be prepared for it, and even if you are a good player you are going to drain resources and stockpiles. The same goes for summer of course. There are so many newer players joining in at bad times, and it almost always spells doom for people that have put hours of work into building the base/server. I even play on an "advanced player" server, and this still doesn't stop clueless people from joining in. I always try and help new players, but I can only manage so much.

 

My Solution

Give server hosts the option to lock their servers so that people who don't already have a character on the server can't join during certain times. Ideally this would lock people out of joining for the entirety of winter/summer and something like 4 days before those seasons start.

[Johnny5isAlive]

Say hello to the miracle that is Wilderness mode.

 

Also it's incredibly easy to start in Summer with the addition of the new Whirly Fan, which is very cheap and effective. Winter? Not as easy but still do-able. Especially as Wickerbottom or WIllow.

[Arcita]

TheNet:SetAllowIncomingConnections(false)

[Rily]

if you don't want more players just kick them, or change the limit for the players

[MenaAthena]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you can make your server password protected at any time. So if you're hosting you can just log out, give your server a password, and then give the password to the people you want to play with.

[enragedcamel]

I agree with the OP. Experienced players tend to not join servers past day 15 or so, because they know all the resources are going to be taken and they'll simply be a drain on everyone. So if someone joins after that time, you know for a fact that they are a new player and don't know what they are doing. They proceed to die and ruin the game for everyone else.

 

TheNet:SetAllowIncomingConnections(false)

 

if you don't want more players just kick them, or change the limit for the players

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you can make your server password protected at any time. So if you're hosting you can just log out, give your server a password, and then give the password to the people you want to play with.

 

None of these are realistic options. Dedicated server admins tend to not be online most of the time, and no one has access to the server console or the ability to kick and ban players. If there was a vote-kick option that might work, but there isn't.

 

Really, this needs to be a game option. "Allow players to join in Winter or Summer? Yes/No"

 

The only exception would be for people who were on the server previously, and got disconnected. But that should be trivial to implement.

 

[XirmiX]

Just don't join Survival servers. What's so hard to understand about that? I never join public Survival servers and if I join a server of my friend's for whom I then find out has the Survival mode on, then I'm skeptical on whether that server then causes a lot of issues on sanity way too much and if so, then I'd just exit.

[enragedcamel]

Just don't join Survival servers. What's so hard to understand about that? 

 

Just don't join Survival servers.

 

Just don't join public servers.

 

Just join servers where that option exists as a mod.

 

And on and on...

 

Why does everything have to be on the player? It's already hard enough to find good servers to join, and now you want people to also restrict their options based on game mode?

[Pyromailmann]

Just don't join Survival servers.

Correction: Don't join any sort of public survival server.

[Arcita]

Correction: Don't join any sort of public survival server.

Not really. You just have to adjust your expectations. If you go in expecting to only encounter advanced, friendly, helpful people, then there's a chance that you'll be sorely disappointed. Personally I go to public servers for shits and giggles, and also to scout out for those rare gems who I can friend and play on private servers with. 

[XirmiX]

Just don't join Survival servers.

Just don't join public servers.

Just join servers where that option exists as a mod.

And on and on...

Why does everything have to be on the player? It's already hard enough to find good servers to join, and now you want people to also restrict their options based on game mode?

It was just an advice, why do you have to be such a meany-poopy-head ;-;

[enragedcamel]

It was just an advice, why do you have to be such a meany-poopy-head ;-;

 

Um, your exact quote was:

 

"Just don't join Survival servers. What's so hard to understand about that?"

 

This doesn't come across as "just advice". Maybe English isn't your first language but asking someone "what is so hard to understand about that" is pretty aggressive and often times offensive.

[DarkXero]

"what is so hard to understand about that" is pretty aggressive and often times offensive.

 

Your use of the word offensive offends me.

 

Pls apologize.

[The Letter W]

I'd actually be okay with this, but as a toggleable switch on the Not Pause menu.

Two days before winter? Check the "Disable Join" or whatever it'll be called. Complete Winter. Uncheck. I mean I'm fine playing with random people and dealing with sentient bumholes destroying my camps, but I don't always want to be playing Where's Wilson in Winter?

Another use for it could be when you as a host need to go afk briefly but don't want to shut down the server (I for one always shove myself in the ocean on god mode so everyone else can keep playing), and then the other players don't have to worry about griefers coming in without the host to handle them.

 

TL;DR Being able to enable/disable randomers from joining without relogging is a good idea in my humble opinion.

[Curo]

A lot of these admin suggestions (toggle switch, kicking people, etc) are nice, but I'm not the admin. I'm just talking about my experience on 90% of dedicated servers. Sure, I could play wilderness. But that's just more of a fun mode like endless IMO. There is little penalty for dieing, and teamwork is not the focus.

I'm just thinking of ways to prevent griefing (intentional or not) on public survival servers. This is my prefered mode of play. If you want to tell me to just play a different mode...well I don't think you get the point. You can't just dismiss an entire game mode, and if you do, you should probably write up a good report as to why it should be removed.

[leonseye]

A lot of these admin suggestions (toggle switch, kicking people, etc) are nice, but I'm not the admin. I'm just talking about my experience on 90% of dedicated servers. Sure, I could play wilderness. But that's just more of a fun mode like endless IMO. There is little penalty for dieing, and teamwork is not the focus.

 

Strange, I always felt that Survival was the beginner mode where death just means hanging out as a ghost for a while until you respawn at the portal / touch stones or have someone else just revive you.  There really is only a penalty for dying when the person dying is a beginner; anyone who has played the game for a while will probably have spider glands on them.

 

Wilderness means losing your map, everything you've prototyped, and all your stuff unless you can happen to come across it quickly and there's no way to save that progress.  Once you're done, you're done.  Too bad, so sad, pick a new character.

 

Perception is funny that way, I guess.

[Clwnbaby]

. Experienced players tend to not join servers past day 15 or so, because they know all the resources are going to be taken and they'll simply be a drain on everyone

 

HA!  Actually quite the opposite.  Experienced players are the ONLY people who should join after day 15 or so.  I do winter and summer starts ALL the time and I hardly ever die.  "Experienced noobs" dont join after day 15 because they cant find stuff and dont know how to survive. 

 

As for everyone else that joins after day 15:

80% are the noobs like you mentioned who cant find resources and die,

10% are webbers (and still a couple willows) just there to plant their spider eggs to grief the spawn and die,

and last 10% are experienced players like myself who are not phased in the least by what day they start on.  We can find flint just fine, we don't ask where the base is 50 times in the first 2 days of our inhabiting the server, and regardless of what season it is we can survive just fine.

 

And if you wanna identify a veteran DS player quick just check their profile.  If they a) have Don't Starve and b) have any significant amount of time(couple 100 hours....it says COUPLE!) on it then they are prepared for just about whatever Together throws at them seasons and all because they more than likely have completed Adventure Mode, the advanced tutorial for random season starts.  After Adventure mode Winter start.........piece of cake!

[Maris]

My solution is starting inventory:

Earmuffs in winter.

Endo Torch in summer.

[DarkXero]

Wilderness means losing your map, everything you've prototyped, and all your stuff unless you can happen to come across it quickly and there's no way to save that progress.

 

I don't care about losing my map because I hardly rotate the camera. I also have a pretty good memory.

 

And losing all prototyped stuff doesn't mean that you lose the stuff you prototyped, so you get to keep things AND to have more +15 sanity buffs.

 

This is why I think wilderness is better than endless in the "I died but I want to keep playing" way.

You don't have to wait for revival to just keep playing. You don't get a health penalty.

World doesn't reset if somebody joins, dies, and leaves.

[leonseye]

I don't care about losing my map because I hardly rotate the camera. I also have a pretty good memory.

 

And losing all prototyped stuff doesn't mean that you lose the stuff you prototyped, so you get to keep things AND to have more +15 sanity buffs.

 

This is why I think wilderness is better than endless in the "I died but I want to keep playing" way.

You don't have to wait for revival to just keep playing. You don't get a health penalty.

World doesn't reset if somebody joins, dies, and leaves.

 

I suppose that's one way to look at it.  

 

But in pretty much all of my games, it would take longer to find your way back to your stuff / base in Wilderness than it would to get yourself revived or just hit the nearest touchstone / Portal.  It's like a non-penalty.

 

Perhaps it has something to do w/ my less than picture perfect memory, though, as I'm pretty notorious for getting lost in every game that I play, map or no.  

[Faultylayline]

     I thought of the same thing.

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/53859-chose-what-seasons-someone-can-join-in/#entry636810

      This post has more people talking in it though so may as well keep the talk going here. One of the devs even suggested a small bit of code to mod in. I haven't had the chance to try it out. But idk some day when I know more about coding. I know some but not enough to know where to put in what he suggested.

      One thing I'd like to ask the nay sayers of limiting when people can join a world is "Does this negatively affect anything?" I don't see how it could. So far the counter arguments have just been "dont play on public and kick people if your an admin" Now by all means I want this kinda option after caves if it is really hard to put in. I don't regard this as a high priority, but so far I don't see any reason not to have something like it the game at some point. In my post I said its like not being able to join a game mid round. Plenty of multiplayer games do this type of thing where all players must die and restart or reach a point where everyone can join again. Like the locked closets in L4D or safe rooms.

     Also about just moding it in a lot of people may not bother looking at a server because its modded. I actually tend to over look modded servers because they have a lot of silly things or OP things that just take away any challenge. Which can be fun but usually is not for me. Perhaps if there was a way to have mods in a category of semi vanilla where nothing changes the core game but just some things that make it easier to team or something. but that is for another topic I figure.

[Curo]

Strange, I always felt that Survival was the beginner mode where death just means hanging out as a ghost for a while until you respawn at the portal / touch stones or have someone else just revive you.  There really is only a penalty for dying when the person dying is a beginner; anyone who has played the game for a while will probably have spider glands on them.

 

Wilderness means losing your map, everything you've prototyped, and all your stuff unless you can happen to come across it quickly and there's no way to save that progress.  Once you're done, you're done.  Too bad, so sad, pick a new character.

 

Perception is funny that way, I guess.

Just to clarify, there are no respawns at portal in Survival mode, and touchstones can only be used once. You are probably thinking of Endless mode.

As you seem unfamiliar with Survival, let me clarify a few things: it's not as simple as having spider glands (which in itself is not so easy in the early game). It also costs you a large chunk of sanity and health. The main problem with griefers and new players is that they die repeatedly, costing you repeated amounts of health, sanity, and resources, if you were to keep them alive constantly. And if you don't, you suffer sanity drain. Also they will either have to leave their body to come to you for a revive, or you need to go out of your way to find their body. Great fun when you're playing with friends, but not so great when you're really trying to get something done and people keep on dieing. Which brings me to my last point: I've got enough to do in DS without having to babysit people who are joining at inappropriate times. The whole design is just wrong for public games.

Helping a few people who can more or less handle themselves, but got in a sticky situation, and are willing to cooperate with you is fine. Having 4 people join on day 20+ and die within 2 days, and then promptly again after you revive them, while you are trying to manage your clothing/heat/food/deerclops/resources not so much fun.

[leonseye]

Just to clarify, there are no respawns at portal in Survival mode, and touchstones can only be used once. You are probably thinking of Endless mode.

As you seem unfamiliar with Survival, let me clarify a few things: it's not as simple as having spider glands (which in itself is not so easy in the early game). It also costs you a large chunk of sanity and health. The main problem with griefers and new players is that they die repeatedly, costing you repeated amounts of health, sanity, and resources, if you were to keep them alive constantly. And if you don't, you suffer sanity drain. Also they will either have to leave their body to come to you for a revive, or you need to go out of your way to find their body. Great fun when you're playing with friends, but not so great when you're really trying to get something done and people keep on dieing. Which brings me to my last point: I've got enough to do in DS without having to babysit people who are joining at inappropriate times. The whole design is just wrong for public games.

Helping a few people who can more or less handle themselves, but got in a sticky situation, and are willing to cooperate with you is fine. Having 4 people join on day 20+ and die within 2 days, and then promptly again after you revive them, while you are trying to manage your clothing/heat/food/deerclops/resources not so much fun.

 

It actually is as simple as having spider glands on you, which actually is as easy as finding a spider nest.  Spiders are literally the easiest mob to kill and it can be done bare-handed from the moment you spawn into the game.

 

As I said, if you've played DST for a while, you will most likely have glands on you.  It isn't hard.  At all.  Let's stop pretending that it is, hmm?

 

Then again, I admin my own servers most of the time, so I tend to have a lot of control over exactly who stays and who goes.  No, I don't kick them if they're newbs and die a lot.  But I certainly will kick them if I feel they're doing it on purpose.

 

Sanity and health drain, it's part of the game and there are tons of ways to get both back, the easiest of which is simply making a tent.  If ghosts start to pile up, I try to curb the reason those deaths keep occurring instead of just telling Klei not to let anyone join my server that I can already kick people off of at will.

 

/shrug

[Habberdash]

I'd just like to point out that the solution is something the OP SUGGESTED and therefore belongs in the SUGGESTION subforum.Contrary to popular belief the subforum directory is not a mythical legend foretold in the ancient scrolls and does actually in fact exist.

People should use it. 

[DarkXero]

As a comment.

You can load client side mods that won't make the server appear as modded.

Those client side mods can still make some server side changes.

 

This also can be currently modded in.

For example:

local old_filter = GLOBAL.JoinServerFilterfunction GLOBAL.JoinServerFilter(user_id)	local ret = old_filter(user_id)	if ret then		local age = GLOBAL.TheWorld.state["age_"..user_id]		local season = GLOBAL.TheWorld.state.season		if season == "winter" then			return (age and age > 4 or false)		else			return true		end	else		return false	endend--saving ages in worldstate--one data variable per player ageAddPrefabPostInit("world", function(inst)	inst:WatchWorldState("startday", function(inst)		for k, v in pairs(GLOBAL.AllPlayers) do			if inst.state["age_"..v.userid] then				inst.state["age_"..v.userid] = inst.state["age_"..v.userid] + 1			else				inst.state["age_"..v.userid] = 1			end		end	end)end)