Efficiently Arranged Gloabl Leaderboard Engine - EAGLE

[Malpheus]

The Efficiently Arranged Global Leaderboard Engine (EAGLE) is under development, aggressively.

EAGLE will run on your computer and read your bank files regularly, which will feed a global leaderboard. The plan is to tie all servers together and create leaderboards for each map that signs up for EAGLE. That means that Euro/SEA/NA servers c

EAGLE will fill the holes that Blizzard leaves behind in their custom map features. Map popularity lists will be based on player activity and frequency. Map makers that care enough about their maps to create an account with EAGLE will be among a more dedicated group of creators that clearly are invested in the development of their maps and their communities.

The player comes to the sc2eagle.com site and downloads the game client, once configured the client will transmit the players statistics directly to the website for real time statistics and achievements, THERE IS NO COST FOR THE EAGLE CLIENT.

Maps that have been EAGLE Authorized will automatically begin registering statistics. The player will be able to discover new maps as he regularly checks his rankings and achievements.

EAGLE will also generate custom map signatures that display voluntary options such as favorite maps, ranks in those maps, achievements from those maps. Ladder Signatures will also be available.

The following benefits are expected:
Player Statistics on the Global Leaderboard Online
Player Signature Generator
.SC2Bank Recovery (if you ever lose your bank file, we got a copy)
Map Statistics Such as Plays Per Hour, Time in Game, Etc.
Map Forum with Donate Button For Mapmaker
Optional Statistic Ban for Players who Cheat
Bug Report System and Support Forum For Mapmaker
User Profiles that include all statistics associated for that user
Ladder Tournament Service for Custom Maps

NOW!

What I need from you folks is a list of statistics/data you would like tracked, mind you it must be recordable in the .sc2bank file, eagle will not be reading SC2, just the bank files!

Hero Kills/Wins/Losses/Items/Achiements/etc.

Tell us what you want, we want to make something that works, and we want to make something that sets things right in SC2 Custom Maps... Help us!

 

[Dr Super Good]

Just abstract it to values. The map maker than can assign these values to whatever he wants on your site. This stops the problem of supporting data some maps do not need while not supporting data some maps do.

For example, a map maker could do the following on your site

Value1 -> kills
Value2 -> wins
Value3 -> score

Which will then format the values read as those headers for display on your site. As it is more generic the read code on your site is simpler and the generation Galaxy script in the map is also simpler.

The problem with this sytem is that it would be very easy to abuse. All you need to do is generate fake banks and it will then submit the results to your system. You could also block it from sending losses to your system. Both of these are impossible to detect if done in a reasonable way thus making your leaderboard completly worthless.

Yes you can ban idiots who noticably are messing with the system (a win every few seconds non-stop) but most people are not that stupid. Can you honestly tell the difference between someone who cheats and someone who plays a lot?

 

[Malpheus]

There are several factors that come into bank file security.

We will insist on a multitude of methods and best practices in addition to our own protocols that will make the bank files as secure as the map creator wants them to be. It's not as hard as it was pre-1.4.

We also have conferenced on several occasions with the SOTIS team to ensure their lessons learned with Gloop were absorbed as well.

The programmer doing the work has a public portfolio, he also has been a developer in ghost++ related programming and dota statistics. Manhim.net

 

[Dr Super Good]

How will any of this stop people submitting fake generated bank files?

 

[Malpheus]

Everything is reversible, nothing's perfect, we're not trying to make in impenetrable, but we are trying to make it not worth the time to hack em.

Hash/Encryption on the mapper and server side.

Cross reference of files, last played file vs current file.

Active reading, the client wont read unless there is a game end trigger registered in the bank file, representative of a timeframe.

Player Reporting Options

Optional value/event increases set by the mapper....

Plus some proprietary ideas that are more sophisticated.

Not perfect, but it's a start.

So yet again, any features or ideas for the system you would like to see implemented folks?

 

[Dr Super Good]

Active reading, the client wont read unless there is a game end trigger registered in the bank file, representative of a timeframe.

This does not make sense as you can not know until you read the bank to check if that triggered has registered the bank. Remember that the actual OS filesystem provides you with an on modification file event which saves a lot of time over polling implimentations thus you only read the bank when chages are made to it.

Plus some proprietary ideas that are more sophisticated.

Um what?! This does not fill me with confidence in your system.

 

[Kalekin]

I have two concerns with this idea.

Firstly, I don't see players going through the hassle of hooking themselves up to this sort of system. What benefit is there for the player, beyond what a well implemented map specific banking system provides, that will entice them to invest the effort in setting all this up? Let's break down your advertised advantages:


(Player Statistics on the Global Leaderboard Online)
You stuck this first so I am working under the assumption this is your big selling point. I'm not convinced too many players care about global leader boards, at least not with the current pool of maps. For this to entice a player they would need to certain investment of time in a particular map. If you're logging onto SC2 to play your daily 2-3 hours of Marine Arena then perhaps you would like to see how you're doing against other like minded players, but I don't see this as the case for any map.

(Player Signature Generator)
???? Don't know what you mean by this

(.SC2Bank Recovery)
Again, attractive only to the player who invests a lot of time into a particular UMS.

(Map Statistics Such as Plays Per Hour, Time in Game, Etc.)
Existing banking already provides this functionality.

(Map Forum with Donate Button For Mapmaker)
No attraction for the player.

(Optional Statistic Ban for Players who Cheat)
Existing banking already provides this functionality.

(Bug Report System and Support Forum For Mapmaker)
Don't see any player beyond a die hard fan who would make use of this.

(User Profiles that include all statistics associated for that user)
Map wide statistics? I don't see the point. Map specific statistics can already be tracked and banked.

(Ladder Tournament Service for Custom Maps)
As a 3rd party ladder service cannot be integrated with Battle.net this would require manual game organization on the players part, nullifying what I would consider the largest benefit of a ladder service. Tournaments again require maps with a large support base and there are already services that exist for this.



My second concern of course is security. Without a secure system players will quickly lose faith in this sort of service. After all, what is the point of putting your stats up for comparison when you are unsure about the people you are comparing yourself to? The fundamental problem I see with this is that as it stands today, bank security can always be circumvented. We have two methods of dealing with those that would tamper with bank files, firstly is encryption. Unfortunatly for us encryption possesses a weakness that allows those who posses your algorithm and keys to decrypt your content. Secondly we have obfuscation which is designed simply to make the process of reverse engineering bank content as painful and tiresome as possible, but it still is possible.

I can't picture many players who, with the current pool of maps, would be willing to go through the effort of setting this up. This, combined with the fact that our current security methods don't allow us to garuntee the integrity of such a system, suggests to me that not many who signed up would stick around for very long once the cheaters eventually break it.

 

[Asomath]

Im not going to elaborate more than these two fine gentlemen above have done. Im just going to put in that I agree with their viewpoints and that the problem with the system is going to be this: If you cant make it as secure as a maximum-security prison, then the incentive for mapmakers to use this system will be lost.

If you can, well then sure, you have my golden seal of approval.

~Asomath

 

[Malpheus]

@ Dr. SuperGood

I understand your skepticism. I spent the last 9 months trying to push my programmer past security, luckily I was not successful. Proprietary means what it means, I'm not open sourcing the ideas or the software. When it's done, you'll see, why wouldn't everyone write a program like this if they knew our solutions? As previously stated, there is no perfect way to secure the files, only ways to make it really uncomfortable to modify them.

@Kalekin

There is an existing program that does essentially what we are doing. It's called GLOOP and was downloaded for one map by thousands of players, this program will be for multiple maps. I think there is a desire for it. To second your concern, we've worked with the makers of SOTIS/Gloop to ensure that any lessons learned were carried over.

This was simply a development announcement. I don't think I need to reconsider the nearly year of planning and work. Glad to see a bit of actual discussion about sc2 custom map related stuff here going on!

Edit - I hope what I'm trying to say is clear, we don't want to replace functions that Bank Files already present, we're simply reading bank files and storing the data online. I know not many active sc2 projects are hosted here right now, and this is the last place I've advertised so far, but this isn't new. Gloop has been reading the xml formats since almost beta, we're just taking it to the next level. Will there be exploits? Absolutely. Will it be perfect? No. Will we be working hard to maintain the integrity with an adult effort, fudge yah.

Any mappers want to weigh in on a wish list?

Also, Dr SuperGood, I have a plugin I would like to share with your forums owners, it puts their last three custom maps below their user information in their avatar. I see it is compatible with your forum software. Every little bit helps, consider it a donation if your folks are interested. It simply creates a custom profile field and displays a users last three custom maps played. For an example.