Do AWAY with player names

KariTR · August 2014

Erlindur wrote: »

I wonder about something else. Security. My account is protected by BOTH my password and my account name. Giving away half of the equation seems like a very poor decision.

Let me give you an example. When you log, you are using "secure http". Encrypted http. If someone gets that info (username,password) you send, by some way, must spend a lot of computer time to crack that encryption. Has anyone calculated how much easier is to decrypt something, when you actually know part of the encrypted data?

The whole thing with our account names, seems very amateurish approach.

Your account is also protected by only allowing you to log in from a specific computer, so our account name is only one third of the process and already the weakest part of that third (being as that it is already public) whether other players see our account name or not.

If you use the same password on your account as you do your email that is tied to the account then you are not as protected as you could be. If you don't, you should be fine.

Pele · August 2014

adowen_ESO wrote: »

Since the /tell function in this game is terrible....Is there any way to have all players use their @'name' in all chat messages? Due to the system not being very comprehensive, you are unable to /whisper name of many players... or if you happen to swap out characters and you dont get their @name it is near next to impossible to communicate with another player unless you send them ingame mail and hope they recieve the message quickly.

Let me guess, you are a trader.

I had a similar problem, especially with players who have odd characters or spaces in their names. I could not send them tells after switching alts as /tell is quite buggy with anything that is not a single name.

To solve this, I obtain their @ name before I switch toons by quickly ignoring then unignoring them. I take note of their @ name and contact them again after I've switched back; I haven't that issue since.

Erlindur · August 2014

lordrichter wrote: »

Erlindur wrote: »

I wonder about something else. Security. My account is protected by BOTH my password and my account name. Giving away half of the equation seems like a very poor decision.

This horse is beaten, dead, and buried.

There is no security issue with handing out your @account name in ESO. Use it for your main vestiges name. Tattoo it on your forehead.

Account names are intended to be how you are identified, and this is how ESO uses them. This is how forums use them. This is how your email provider uses them. In hundreds of places, your account name is your identity and anyone who wants to know it, can know it.

So, unless you are one of those people who carefully burn nail clippings and hair trimmings, pick a decent and secure password that is unique to ESO and you have nothing to worry about.

Well, let me give you another example then.

Recently we had this story. Over 1 billion username/password combinations, stolen.

Now, imagine someone having that list. The only way he could use it, is throw over 1 billion combos to the authentication servers. Someone will notice. But not in eso. He can simply start joining trading guilds, just to log the account names of their members. Then, with a simple search on his list, he can only try the combos of those usernames.

Do you still think it is a good idea to share that information?

PS. I know about internet security and how we should not use the same username/password combo all over the place. Unfortunately most people don't. And they don't even read the forums.

Edit: and the PS is my answer to KariTR as well. I somehow missed your post. Most people don't know much about security. If their eso password is in that list, I bet lots of them use it in their emails as well.

Edit2: I don't like to point out problems without suggesting solutions. Let them introduce the in-game account alias. That would be the @name used by everyone. Have it default to the name of the first character of every account. That is usually the name of people's main alts. If not, allow us to change it somewhere in the account settings.

MercyKilling · August 2014

DenverRalphy wrote: »

So... You want to be able to send a /tell to somebody who you're not friends with (otherwise you'd have their @accountname) to ensure that you can pester them whenever you wish. Even though they choose not to share that information with you. That's just wrong on so many levels.

You are aware you can ignore someone with the @name, right? For instance:
If your ingame name was the same as your forum handle(I've seen other MMO's do this) all I'd need to do to ignore you ingame would be to type /ignore @DenverRalphy and viola!

There are many MMO's out there like this, where if you know someone's global handle, you can communicate with them no matter what character they're playing.

I suggest not accepting the friend invite if you don't want someone to be able to chat you up whenever it's convenient for them.

There have been plenty of times I've sent tells to people just to say hi and ask what's up and ask if they wanted to do anything and gotten perfectly welcome replies in the manner of "I'm just logging out" or "I'm kinda busy right now, we'll chat later".

Kvasir Silverpaw · August 2014

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Incidentally, and I'm loath to say this... There IS a way to get a character's player name without having to friend them or be in the same guild. I've /bug'd it in game a few times. But it's yet to be addressed/fixed.

stand next to them?

Arsenic_Touch · August 2014

Erlindur wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

Erlindur wrote: »

I wonder about something else. Security. My account is protected by BOTH my password and my account name. Giving away half of the equation seems like a very poor decision.

This horse is beaten, dead, and buried.

There is no security issue with handing out your @account name in ESO. Use it for your main vestiges name. Tattoo it on your forehead.

Account names are intended to be how you are identified, and this is how ESO uses them. This is how forums use them. This is how your email provider uses them. In hundreds of places, your account name is your identity and anyone who wants to know it, can know it.

So, unless you are one of those people who carefully burn nail clippings and hair trimmings, pick a decent and secure password that is unique to ESO and you have nothing to worry about.

Well, let me give you another example then.

Recently we had this story. Over 1 billion username/password combinations, stolen.

Now, imagine someone having that list. The only way he could use it, is throw over 1 billion combos to the authentication servers. Someone will notice. But not in eso. He can simply start joining trading guilds, just to log the account names of their members. Then, with a simple search on his list, he can only try the combos of those usernames.

Do you still think it is a good idea to share that information?

PS. I know about internet security and how we should not use the same username/password combo all over the place. Unfortunately most people don't. And they don't even read the forums.

Edit: and the PS is my answer to KariTR as well. I somehow missed your post. Most people don't know much about security. If their eso password is in that list, I bet lots of them use it in their emails as well.

Edit2: I don't like to point out problems without suggesting solutions. Let them introduce the in-game account alias. That would be the @name used by everyone. Have it default to the name of the first character of every account. That is usually the name of people's main alts. If not, allow us to change it somewhere in the account settings.

Even if they had your password and login info, unless they have access to your email to get the code they aren't accessing your game account in any capacity. So like the person before you said, dead horse