ost of you already know that I'm implementing mandatory player authentication into the core of the game atm.

Since the account itself is only a unreadably long number (32 bytes), there should be a name tied to it, one that can't be changed. Ideally, that name should be unique.

However, since the account is supposed to be "forever" (it shoud certainly survive clan tag changes), players need to be able to change their nickname and, more importantly, their clan tag. Also, players should be able to play under an alias, even non-unique ones - since they apparently really love to do that (yes, I know at least one good reason, why).

So - it's kind of obvious, that the account name doesn't need to have anything to do with the ingame nickname. The account name is only a short handle for occasions, where a unique but readable name is needed /for the account/ - so, basically for ladders and similar stuff.

The easiest way to implement would be, to require a unique name for account registration - and handle nicknames as they are now: choose what you like.

But even though the nickname whitelist never caught on the way it was intended, the frequent posts to blacklisting threads blaming players for "impersonation", show, that there is a need for nickname protection - and also for clan tag protection.

Now, with the current nickname scheme, 16 characters for nick and tag, it is impossible for the server to read a clantag from a nickname. Current nickname blacklists reflect that by blocking several misspelled and "lookalike" clantags in addition to the actual tags. For some clans, this is simply not possible (for example, the "U" or "B" clans, even if they consider "|" or "}" being part of the tag - it's just too short to completely block from all nicknames).

I'd suggest, we split up the nickname into two parts: nick and tag.

The tag part should only allow certain officially registered clan tags - and only if the player account has the permission from the clan to use the tag. Basically, the player would be allowed to use the tag, if his account is listed on the clan's member list.

Ingame, nick and tag could be visualised separately, for example in the scoreboard - or combined to a regular nickname for use in console messages.

Protecting the nick part is more complex. For clan players, it's easy: the clan member list will also contain a few allowed nicknames for every member (or not - if the members are allowed to use any nick they want). It will be up to the individual clan to restrict nicks to single players.

However - for unaffiliated players - how should that nick protection be managed? A central nick list? If so - how should the player add his nick? It can't be just a "permission to use a nick" associated with an account, because the server needs to be able to know, which nicks are /not/ allowed to be used.

How many nicks should an account owner be able to block? How long after the last login should a blocked nick be released again? Should this be done automatically?

Thoughts? Did I miss anything?