Faker

[Julian]

There is this player around that will change their name to something that's very much like the name of another player who is currently on the same server (usually only one character differs, in such a way that it's not very obvious).
He or she will usually enter some server that's well populated, under the name of Player 1. He or she then changes their name to, for example, nc~Ju1ian (notice the difference with the actual name: nc~Julian). The faked player will accuse the faker of faking, on which the faker will accuse the faked one in turn. If the other players don't notice de difference in the names, this often results in the original player being kicked (it happened to me twice; the first time there was a smart player who saw the difference, the second time i got kicked).

If this happens, please be aware of the minor difference that should be found between the name of the faked player and the one of the faker. Usually some letter will be replaced by a number, like "1" instead of "l" (or the opposite might be possible as well). Don't kick the player with the original name, but do kick the faker. If he gets kicked often enough he'll be banned.

Also, server admins may consider to block the name Player 1, to prevent the faker from entering. Though this might be a bit too harsh for first-time newcomers.

[Tank Program]

Welcome. I'm sorry to say that is a pretty common problem and the best thing to do is probably have admins ban these people. Which doesn't really work when they are on dynamic ips.

[Z-Man]

I'd say the best thing is what Julian just did: inform people of this trick. Make them aware that stupid kick votes should be rejected. Make players look twice at player names.

What admins can do: Please don't ban Player 1. That's no use and cruel. Whenever I notice a server auto-kicks Player 1, I stay away from it for as long as I remember (which usually isn't long )
What may work is installing a script that scans the logs for players with digits within their names and kicks them.

What we devs can do: maybe build in more player name filtering options; throw away everything except plain letters. This will annoy people who use non-letters to give their name an individual touch, though.

[Freewheelin'56]

What may work is installing a script that scans the logs for players with digits within their names and kicks them.

With digits,

[Lucifer]

Shouldn't be a problem, Freewheelin'Fifty-Seven

Hmmm, we'll need more room in nicknames, then.

IN other news, sorta, I get faked all the time now. Actually, there's a twerp named lucifer that's all clanboyed-out and would score a 100% in the lameness checker on armabot (if I reloaded that module, that is). So now I get asked "Are you the real Lucifer?" a lot. I'm tempted to say "No, I'm Player 1".

[Z-Man]

Digits IN the name, not at the end of it That would kick poor Player 1, too.

There's at least three Lucifers on the grid; you, [AdY]LuCiFeR (capitalization may differ) and Luzifer. Not really imposters, I would say. But only the real Lucifer would deny his true identity

[Phytotron]

You know, it's kind of amusing how upset people get about having their made-up, basically meaningless video game nicknames spoofed. I admit, I get somewhat annoyed by it as well, but it's kind of odd that one does. I dunno. Merely an observation.

[Lucifer]

Heh, actually I usually don't answer when people ask, not right away anyway. First I want to do something dramatically awesome, say "Watch out for that wall!" and then answer the question. By that time, of course, the question's answered. Of course, lately it can take me hours to work up to a point where I can do the dramatic thing in the first place.

In any case, a good rule to follow when you need to distinguish between fakers and the real deal is that the fakers usually suck pretty hard at the game itself. So if you need to kick someone, kick the sucky player. Of course, like any rule of thumb it only applies most of the time. When Cracker impersonates you, you're kinda screwed, unless you just kick the teamkiller.

[Ricochet]

Yes I have been. And I happen to know who it was. Noob-ass-****** and renowned camper, Pennies. In Tigers