Ideas on improving the communication between players.

Allow players on one server to chat with another server.

Servers connect to other servers directly, and exchange messages.

Possibly have a central blacklist of abusive servers (which one can choose not to use).

Options to connect to all compatable servers on the metaserver

With a List (like ban lists, etc) of connections to make with other servers

• Can have a split network
• No one single point of failure
• more difficult to deal with abusive servers than using the “central server” method

1. Player1 on Server1 types “tell Player2@Server2 SOMETEXT”
2. Server1 initiates connecton with Server2, if not already connected
   • cache the servers?
   • callback like done with xmpp to prevent spoofing?
3. Server1 sends Player1's message to Server2 with address to Player2
4. The message gets sent from Server2 to Player2's client

• No general chat, unless combined with “Server Lists”
• No single point of failure
• More diffucult to deal with abusive servers than using the “central server” method

Use a central server (possibly runing on, or intergrated with the metaserver).

Server1 —- Chat Server —- Server2

• Easier to impliment channels/general chat
• easier to blacklist abusive servers
• central point of failure
  • use fallback servers?
• If an abusive admin takes over the central server, bad stuff can happen

• would have to redo the protocol, and its related code
• added network overhead
• interesting built in features of the jabber/xmpp protocol which could yeild interesting game features
• code/standards for interconnecting servers are widely used.
• WEIRD, but would work

• exists, in some form
  • written by Rednaxela in perl based upon the code for the seer bot.
  • Rednaxela is planning on eventually rewriting as a supybot plugin, so it can be run on cfbot that is already running on IRC. Rednaxela is not currently active in doing that though.
  • not actively running (code hasn't been cleaned up, no host to run it on)
• A significant amount of players don't use irc, or don't know how to use it.
• Simple
• Appears hackish

Allowing connections to servers just for chating

• more load on servers
• doesn't appear to be as hackish
• would increase the amount of users of crossfire (if not necessarily players)
• crossfire could end up being more of a chat protocol than a game
• A gaim plugin, and/or jabber transport would draw attention to the game.