Could 4.10 Update lock the SFS files again and reunite the online community?

[Pursuivant]

At the risk of getting hated on, I'd like to offer a different view.

I'm a "semi-casual" offline gamer, which I believe is an underrepresented demographic on this forum. I'll admit to enjoying "unofficial additions" to the game, but I also agree that many of them are of poor quality. I can also see how they can easily upset the status quo in the online community.

It seems to me that the big deal is to make sure that everyone's playing nicely with each other, regardless of the purity of their IL2 installation with respect to the EULA. What I do offline doesn't matter to anyone, except perhaps the IP lawyers at UbiSoft and 1C. Were I to venture online, though, I'd want to play with people of want to play the same game.

What's needed are better tools to not only restrict or allow [censored "m-word"], but also tools to better reward good online behavior and punish misbehavior. Basically, tools for "community-building." With that in mind, I propose the following:

1) Better server tools for detecting and allowing/disallowing "fan-inspired add-ons." The same server tools could also be set to allow or disallow certain online cheats/annoyances, such as triggering wingtip smoke, or possibly even "camping." (Set the game to recognize an attack with guns at less than X altitude within Y meters of an enemy base.)

2) Some form of trusted user system for a particular servers. Basically, a rating system you can use for opponents you know to be honorable. Once you get enough "respect" you have limited ability to act as a "referee" - flagging misbehavior or potential cheating - not just by enemies, but by friends. Note that this doesn't just include cheating, but also vulching, camping, team-killing and all those other wonderful online felonies.

The sysadmin can set it so that enough flags from trusted users can result in bad actors being punished or even booted from the server. Yes, there should also be a way of losing trusted user status for abusing your privileges.

Likewise, there should be a way of sharing good or bad "karma" between trusted server networks. If you've got a reputation for honorable play, it should carry over from game to game and server to server. If you've got a reputation for being a jackass, that should carry over, too.

3) Some way of identifying or punishing potential cheaters in the game short of being kicked off the server. For example, if a potential cheater has been flagged twice, the sysadmin might set it so his plane emits red smoke, or his landing gear drops, or his engine loses 20% of its power, or his guns jam, or AI takes control of his plane.

Basically, if you just kick a cheater of a server, he'll just log into another server, or go drown some cute kittens, or poison candy, or something else. If you neutralize his advantage while still letting him play, you really make it no fun for him. He's more likely to log out voluntarily and take up a new hobby like pouring kerosene down anthills or dropping bricks off highway overpasses.

Obviously, the concept of imposing punishment is easily abused, which is why it has to be imposed communally by the sysadmin and several trusted users.

4) Some way of of amicably settling FM/DM debates so that red/blue performance debates become a matter of personal (or sysadmin/mission builder) choice rather than the stuff of flame wars. Each plane has its own quirks and its performance can change slightly based on a number of factors. Historical performance data represents glimpses as to what a particular model of plane is capable of doing, not a comprehensive history of the series.

I'd love to see a system where the user (or the mission builder or the sysadmin) could alter the FM/DM performance of each plane by +/-10% from "stock." That would nicely model both the benefits of a factory-fresh plane with a carefully tuned engine and a fresh wax job and the miseries of flying a war-weary hangar queen tanked up with inferior fuel. Better yet, have a system which randomly alters plane performance from stock, so you don't know the quirks of your individual plane until you've put it through its paces.

Finally, I'll also point out that many of the features in the 4.09 and the 4.10 patches started life as "grassroots-derived supplements." I can see many other such additions becoming "official" in future patches - especially the wealth of wonderful new maps which open up entire new theaters of war. Locking the SFS files would kill all that, and would just drive the modder and "purist" communities farther apart.