100,000 credits on CTF and what to do with them?

As a preface, this is addressed to the CTF community on brawl because that is what I am most familiar with and as such, my proposal is written for features within the CTF community. That being said, this system would obviously be implemented elsewhere on brawl if it is well received.

Spoiler: TLDR

Rank transfers, my idea/suggestions with them, and could it be a potential possibility. @Staff, please, at least scan through my idea and suggestion for this. I am certainly not demanding this be implemented, but throwing it out there as a potential solution that benefits everyone. Thank you.

As someone who came from MCPVP to brawl, I had pretty much all of the classes by default (with the exception of necro, bc fk necro.) That being said, the credit system that brawl had in place really meant nothing to me and many other individuals like me. Now I know that this has been a heavily discussed topic in the past, but I feel that there is some undeveloped potential hidden here. Due to the simplicity of acquiring credits one would want to provide a service that doesn't get easily purchased and quickly and since many users have well over 100,000 credits, something that long-time players would still have to work for.

That said, I would like to suggest my idea for possible uses of a massive amount of credits to potentially the community's and brawl's interests.

If you have any other suggestions, comments or your own idea's feel free to put them down on this thread or make your own.

A very common thing on almost every server I've played on or worked for as a Developer or Server Administrator is the restriction of transferring rank or unique perks from the said account to a new one. I do understand certain implications of this such as ban evasion and hacked accounts etc. As far as I am aware of the EULA (pt, 2.), does not apply to transferring specific perks from account to account which gives brawl a few options. (1) Allow players to buy a rank transfer to a specific account. (2) Implement the credit system, but at a high price or whatever is deemed reasonable for the service.

Now as a former server Owner/Administrator and current developer, I am aware of a few issues that the staff and developers might already be thinking. I'll list them out here, and then I will list potential and possibly already thought out solutions.

Potential problems or issues with implementing a Rank or Perk Transfer System​

• As previously discussed, ban evasion. This becomes problematic as certain users could potentially purchase an account transfer if they think they are in trouble. (I will answer a solution in the following list of points.)
• Hacked accounts. If a user has their account hacked, it could put their ranks/perks at risk to an unwanted account transfer by the individual. This could be quite complex to fix in certain situations.
• In general, this can get pretty complicated as a service, especially if you do not have a system set up for this. (I did offer paid rank transfers on my servers, and it was a pain to keep track of, even using the buycraft system through Enjin)
• Continuing on from the previous point, the actual system itself, which in my previous experience sounds a bit tedious but not impossible. However many aspects can come into play with such a system. Does one have to create one from scratch, or can a previous system be implemented within the core of functions the server is generally supported by.
• Do you allow complete rank transfers? Or certain perks? Etc. //This could get seriously annoying if certain people wanted to go to detail.
• Currently, can't think of any other issues, however, I'm sure they are there. If any staff, players, or developers want to point them out, feel free to do so, but do it informatively, please.

Solutions to the potential issues with implementing a Rank or Perk transfer system.
Key: ADM=Staff/dev, PLR=User within the server community.​

• (ADM) (Ban evasion) - A.) It is possible to essentially leave a record of the account that wishes to transfer to another one, so if a user did, in fact, wish to transfer their account there would still be a linking identifier to the user in question. You could potentially implement a restriction to users who have been banned or have other rule violations in the past.
• (ADM) (Hacked Accounts) - A.) I feel as if this may not be a generally huge issue to overcome, but is still something a programmer would need to address. Potentially have an interacting with the user's web account (Which, unfortunately, brings into web service interaction, annoying.), where they must confirm their password. Or a unique code could be sent by email as a verification for an account transfer.
• (ADM) (Complicated Set up) - A.) While it seems to be a simple concept, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes and backend development that would have to happen. I attempted to create such a system for my group of servers, but this was before UUID implementation, and it was a pain. I began to see where it would be extremely difficult to keep track of certain users, and eventually abandoned the project for a ticket/request system based on buycraft authentication and moderators. I do believe such a system could be easier recreated using Mojang's newfound Identification system.
• (ADM) (Complicated Set up p2.) - A.) Again, implementation. Will it be compatible with the existing server software. Developers nightmare to test. I feel as a separate resource it would be powerful but is yet another piece of software that must be added, updated, and maintained for any bugs/errors or issues. That being said, implementing another feature into a core component can get very dreary and potentially screw up what already exists.
• (ADM/PLR) (What do we use the System for, assuming we have one) - A.) So we have a system now. What do we decide to transfer. I know that brawl seems to work differently, and some users have different perks no matter what donator rank they have etc. Due to the fact that brawl has multiple game modes, this could become troublesome. From what I understand of brawls ranking and perk system, I would think there would need to be two categories. A) Actual and temporary donation rank. B) Any donation or otherwise earned perks throughout the specific game mode through the use of credits, etc.

So this sums up sort of a general Q/A that I had to myself is such a system was suggested to me as a developer or server owner. I'm sure I missed certain things that may or may not be related to brawl's systems, do to my incomplete knowledge of how certain aspects of how the servers work.

Lastly, I'd like to list potential options of presenting such a service to the community.

Potential benefits of a Rank or Perk Transfer system (Admin features and normal player features listed.)
Key: ADM=Staff/dev, PLR=User within the server community.​

• Rank Transfer to a different account. (Duh.)
• (ADM) The system could be used by either in-game currency or by the credit system or both as a hybrid.
• (ADM) Due to the complex nature of this system and keeping track of certain trouble users, this could be restricted from players who have had a permanent ban or a number of rule violations. This could be lifted by appeal or kept as a permanent consequence of individuals past or present actions.
• (ADM/PLR) Once perks/ranks are moved from the original account, that said account can be blacklisted permanently to prevent individuals from constantly switching between the same accounts.
• (ADM/PLR) This service could also be offered as a ONE time thing per user, per account to keep things relatively simple. Or if the user is in good standing multiple transfers could be purchased at an increased price.
• (ADM) Time delays between transfers - A developer can literally go ham with this one. One month, 3 months, 6 months to a year. Completely up to the designer. (Personally, I'd make this a six-month option, if even available again. )
• (ADM/PLR) Some may be wondering, why? Why screw with something that already is in place? 1). I've heard of instances where Mojang has locked certain users accounts. Now I'm sure that any server community would be more than willing to transfer the said individual's perks over because that is a situation that is well beyond the player's control. 2). Some people may wish to give their classes/perks/rank to another account and give their old account to someone else. 3). Some individuals may have had their current account hacked or no longer have complete access and wish to move over perks/ranks to their sole ownership, totally understandable. 4). Someone just wishes to start on a brand new account without the consequence of having to acquire previously owned classes or ranks but is willing to purchase an alternative method and support their server community in the process.
• (ADM/PLR) I cannot think of any other benefits even though I'm sure there are still more to be listed. Feel free to add, criticize or question anything here.

Well ****, that was complicated. Sorry if some of these are confusing, I wrote this from a developers perspective so if anyone has any questions or they want me to clarify certain points or statements, don't hesitate to ask. Feel free to comment your opinion but please be specific. I'm sure there are many other things that all of these credits could be applied to but this is my current one that I have been throwing around in my head for the past 2 weeks.

As always, happy capping.

- Tachi (Es)

 

@NomNuggetNom

 

Chaos can be quite extra with some of his posts, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't be any less detailed with mine.

I have already suggested several implementations on how to deal with hackers. Both are viable and reasonable options, coming from a development standpoint.

As far as cosmetics, that seems to be a popular theme within this thread so far. That being said, cosmetics can be sold for real money which begs the question - why would one bother using credits.

 

To be honest, from my experience however old, it was a good percentage of the sales on my servers back in the day.