Establishing a standard for trusting others on this shard - Introducing UO Passport

As we all know due to the 3 account and 15 character limit it is notoriously difficult to know who you can trust in this game. Your new guild recruit is much more likely to be a spy than a true ally and people who you think are your friends are probably setting you up to pk you via their 2nd or 3rd accounts.

Its a major problem for this community because there are unsavory characters who endlessly create drama and stir up shit by making non-stop alts for spying and backstabbing. This is both bad for players and the admins who have to police it.

Other MMOs that have a fairly serious meta game include a game called Eve Online. I played Eve Online for many years and they have a unique way of dealing with trust and vetting people. That game has a built in API system and you can give access through that API for other people to review your account messages, purchase history, etc...To make sure you aren't a spy. We don't have that in Ultima so we have to use what we have available.

I am going to propose a new standard today which I call the UO Passport. It is not a perfect system but I think it is the best we can hope for in Ultima Online. I will use my 3 accounts and 15 characters as an example.

A "UO Passport" is created by doing the following:
1. Taking 3 Screenshots of your character lists on the login screen. If you do not have 15 characters they must be created.

Here are all my character lists below:



2. All 3 accounts and all 15 characters you own must have their profiles made public using the in-game [profile command. Kill and death histories must be made public.



3. Active links to all 15 of your character profiles on the uoren website is the next requirement. It is so that your characters can be actively matched up to your 3 account screenshots and verify they haven't been deleted or tampered with.

Account 1:
Whitebeard: http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/1342527
Kek: http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/388163
Hiji Zuru: http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/1062621
Jhelly: http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/303483
Pepe: http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/828536

Account 2:
Fancy: http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/79887
Whitebeard: http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/1343199
Hiji Zuru : http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/90655
Kek: http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/480322
Hiji Zuru: http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/1062054

Account 3:
Whitebeard: http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/228640
Hiji Zuru: http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/1089132
Kek: http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/114715
Benzo Benzo: http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/988690
Keku: http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/841547

4. Screenshots of your profile summary from the [profile menu for each of your 3 accounts. So we can see where you spend your time on your toons.




This information should be permanently posted in your forum profile or signature simply because it is not hard to delete and make new characters. A one-time audit might be an option for recruiting purposes but I think it is best to have it permanently in place. Things like public profile could be toggled off to hide skill sets if needed.



I highly recommend using this methodology for guild recruiting and anything that involves trust in this game. People who refuse to do this are hiding something and should only be trusted so much.

If you have any suggestions on how to further improve the UO Passport system please let me know. Thanks

Either they have something to hide OR don't like being interrogated without probable cause...

What next? Will we be subject to patdowns and hound sniffing before entering a moongate?

"Ahhhh he's got a dispel field scroll in his pack! Sabotager!"

I know it feels extreme right now but that is only because there is literally no standard at all right now. Its nothing but 100% pure anarchy and its crazy and its bad for the community. Do you really think taking the word of a stranger from the internet is a good decision? I don't and unless you want your guild literally full of spies and PKs then this is the best way that I can think of.

Even more extreme measures were utilized in Eve Online as well so this is really nothing for any serious people who want to have a group of people they can trust that they can play with.

Requiring voice chat would probably be a lot simpler.

Hiji, are you really Kanye West?

Yes, of course this is overboard!
It's mad talk even!
These measures might feel more natural on Eve, it's hard for me to say because I've never played it...
But for UO it's completely unfitting.
Even during the height of the house scamming epidemic on pay shards... this would be too far.

I think there are lots of precautionary steps players can utilize to prevent infestations of spys as it is.
1. Take time to get to know the person you are considering to guild. Most people want fast entry and quick results. Delaying the process will diminish their interests of pursuing you.

2. Don't give new recruits full access to all guild houses and loot. Keep access limited till the other members get to know them and the show they are active and putting in effort.

3. Avoid guilding people who ask to join that are unknown by you/guildmates/the shard. Especially when they are over-eager and aggressive about it.

But you know all this.
It's nothing new.
In the end there is no 100% guarantee.
But isn't that one of the draws to UO.
There is always room for disaster?

I don't think many people here would go for that. Sometimes people want to lay low. It would also have a negative effect... say you piss off pk "MUrDeR DeWD" and now ALL your characters are now made public... so if he sees you at the bank idling he can send in a char to whack you afk or steal from you. Maybe he'll find your alt idling in your other house and fish steak bomb it. Sometimes some of us just want to go to the bank without having to talk to people who know us lol

If it's spies your worried about, do what I did back on osi Atlantic when I was worried about spies.... never accept walk-ins... ALWAYS select your guildies yourself. Even a little counter-espionage will do.... I often gave new recruits some bogus information to see if it would get leaked out. If it did, I knew exactly who to go after

Well I know this certainly won't be for everyone but that is kind of the point. I am going to hold all members of Kek to this standard though. I hope some people will find it refreshing to know exactly who they are dealing with. And its kind of nice to be fully transparent with your identity as well honestly. I totally respect and understand people who choose privacy though.

This us easily beatable. Screenshot your 3 accounts, then use another computer to make a 4th account for a pk char then the passport is useless.

Screen shot your account and buy name change deeds.

Don't need the deeds anymore with copper. Its only 2500 copper to change your name now.

$5 monthly subscription to the server you can change 2 char a month.

The only possible solution is to hand over your account information to @Hiji Zuru so he can truely verify if you are a alt pk

Dude.

The drugs are strong bro

This guy puts a lot into his trolling efforts! I really dig it!

It's worth noting that thieves (And players using incog/poly) can easily trick this system, and I guess it's the thieves you're most worried about!

I will say without show anything that I have no pk alts or thieves working I'm in ps and stand for what it truly means

This guy is insane.

Also who names all their chars the same on every account. Jesus Christ.

kek trolled again...