[ev0lution]

AREA69
The new global blacklist for SA-MP's most wanted (...or unwanted)

What is it?
Essentially, it's a replacement for the now-defunct SprunkBuster.
Area 69 is a new 'global blacklist' where cheaters and other unwanted players will be listed. The idea is that as more cheaters are listed and more servers use Area 69 to block players on the blacklist, the number of cheaters affecting SA-MP servers - disrupting gameplay and annoying players - will be vastly reduced!

How does it work?
For servers, simply grab the A69 script from our website, load it on your server and it will actively kick any players found on the Area 69 blacklist.

But wait, how do cheaters get blacklisted?
We have devised a set of rules similar to those imposed by SprunkBuster which cover what we believe to be 'generally unwanted' by most servers: cheating, exploiting, flooding and impersonating.
Breaking any of these on one of our trusted servers will cause you to get blacklisted and unable to join any server that runs the basic A69 script.

I found a cheater! How can I add bans to the database?
At the moment, we are working with a few well-known, trusted servers to add bans to the A69 database. Adding bans will never be directly open to the public, but if you run a reasonably popular server, check out this page for more information.

What happens if I get blacklisted?
If you were legitimately banned, deal with it! Bans will expire after thirty days, and that will give cheaters some lovely time away from SA-MP to think about what they've done. SprunkBuster bans were permanent, however this was a problem with dynamic IPs where cheaters were banned, then obtained a new IP while another player obtained the blacklisted IP.
If you dispute your ban reason, however, we have a system for blacklisted players to appeal their bans.

Awesome! I'm a server owner and I hate cheaters! Let's do it!
Grab the script from our downloads page and run it on your server.
The more servers that utilise the A69 blacklist, the better!

The project is currently run by myself and Potassium. If you have any enquiries regarding Area 69, please reply in this thread, PM us on the forums or email us!

[p0o]

Nice

[Derek_Westbrook]

I like it

[rbN.]

Going to use it when other servers atleast join, because there are probably like only 5 servers participating lol

[ev0lution]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobinOwnz Going to use it when other servers atleast join, because there are probably like only 5 servers participating lol

As soon as trusted servers start adding bans, any servers with our 'check' script installed will be blocking these unwanted players.

[Cronic]

Very nice.. i like.

[linuxthefish]

Don't like it, look what happened to sprunkbuster.

[TheDominator]

I'll be adding this to my server as soon as I get it up and running, again xD

Nice replacement for the much loved SprunkBuster.

But there's one problem, what about if the player is smart enough to use a proxy to bypass this system?

[Potassium]

Quote:

Originally Posted by linuxthefish Don't like it, look what happened to sprunkbuster.

Sprunk Buster's owner stopped working on it as he no longer wished to associate himself with SA-MP so I don't see how that is relevant to the success of Area 69.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDominator But there's one problem, what about if the player is smart enough to use a proxy to bypass this system?

If a player wants to sit there and change their IP to evade the system then they must have a pretty sad life! There isn't really much that can be done to avoid this as we can't really detect and block proxies. Every IP ban system has to deal with this issue and Area 69 is no different, so if a player does this then they'll just be blacklisted again on their new IP!

Of course if anyone has any suggestions regarding this situation, feel free to let myself or ev0lution know

[[MM]IKKE]

Feedback:
-The site looks professional
-It could work out great if a lot of servers use it
-There should be a page where you can appeal*
-contact page
-EULA and/or ToS
-FAQ: who are you, why
-Ban system: you can make a very effective ban system using serials (=/= hardware IDs)
-Exploiting a bug which is unique to one server shouldn't get you banned everywhere, in my opinion**
-What do you consider a bug? C-bugging is a bug and not allowed on some servers...
-Add "Advertising" ~which can fall under spamming
-Add a list of disallowed cheats: Airbreak, health hack, speed hack, ...
-If enough servers use this, you could add a system where it only bans a user if he got banned on two of the servers. Some people only cheat in one server** However I agree you shouldn't cheat anywhere

(*) Before you judge this point as in "hackers should be punished": Some years ago, when SprunkBuster was online, the automated ban on armour hacking was bugged on a serber. And the owner was inactive. The system banned the head admin. He had to evade his own ban (including changing his mac address) as the owner couldn't send Antonio a confirmation about the bug
(**) Discussable.

[rbN.]

Btw, got a question.. What if you ban somebody in the server, but it was an accident. Do you need to wait 30 days aswell? Or you tried to ban yourself for testing, do you need to wait 30 days (disabling Area69 is possible aswell but if you don't want to do that xD)

You get my point D:

__________________
Edit:
It's also handy if you could show all players who are banned on the site (you can only see the name of the player, date of ban, admin who banned, and the server who banned him/her). Like a shamelist

[ev0lution]

Quote:

Originally Posted by [MM]IKKE ...

Thanks for your feedback. In response to some of the points you brought up;

"Ban system" - at the moment the best method we have to blacklist a player is by IP. We don't actually need to ban players on servers that run the script (although this is an option) - simply kicking them if they are present on the blacklist is sufficient.
"What is a bug/cheat" - We consider a 'cheat' any form of modification which gives you a significant, unfair advantage over other players. That's listed on the rules page and means we don't have to list individual things such as health or weapon cheating. We don't blacklist for GTA bugs, that is up to server owners to prevent (with their own ban systems), although exploiting known/unknown SA-MP vulnerabilities that pose a direct risk to the server does warrant a blacklisting.
"Advertising" - This isn't specifically disallowed because most people who join a server do so by spamming the server IP or website, which is covered by our 'no flooding/spamming' rule.
In response to your first 'asterisked' point - as listed on the 'add bans' page, systems generating automated bans (such as those coming directly from a server's anti-cheat) must be pre-approved by us and we will not allow systems that generate false positives as you have described.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobinOwnz Btw, got a question.. What if you ban somebody in the server, but it was an accident. Do you need to wait 30 days aswell? Or you tried to ban yourself for testing, do you need to wait 30 days (disabling Area69 is possible aswell but if you don't want to do that xD)

If an administrator of a trusted server bans themself (for whatever reason) then they can post an appeal and we'll likely unban them. In this case, though, their position as an admin might be a bit questionable...

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobinOwnz It's also handy if you could show all players who are banned on the site (you can only see the name of the player, date of ban, admin who banned, and the server who banned him/her). Like a shamelist

Added to our to-do list, thanks!

[Potassium]

Quote:

Originally Posted by [MM]IKKE Feedback: -There should be a page where you can appeal* (*) Before you judge this point as in "hackers should be punished": Some years ago, when SprunkBuster was online, the automated ban on armour hacking was bugged on a serber. And the owner was inactive. The system banned the head admin. He had to evade his own ban (including changing his mac address) as the owner couldn't send Antonio a confirmation about the bug

It already has this, there is a big button with a red background that says "Banned?" on the nav bar. If you are banned it gives you the chance to appeal. (There is also information about appealing in the FAQ section)

And with regard to your suggestion for the addition to the FAQ section - added! Thanks for the idea

[Jay_]

Just for the record, the .pwn script does not compile.

"blacklist_.pwn(35) : error 001: expected token: ",", but found "#""

[XGh0stz]

I'd like to conglatulate you for the new masterpiece you've created although I wouldn't use the system myself. But the reason for this is because players change and it would mean keeping potential players out. Especially when the term "Spam" is a part of the reason for a ban. If you have trouble with players who spam or even advertise, I find disabling thier chat to be far more effective. Ban Evading is another concern that comes to mind when deciding I'd use the system or not because most of these hackers (The ones we actually want off our server) will just return, so I kinda view it as: What's the point?

I just don't like the idea of banning someone from my server before I even get the chance to know them although I do understand how much trouble I might avoid by doing so. However, I was not aware of SA-MP being able to ban by something like hardware as previously posted, this would change everything. Ban Evaders would be cut down by serious amounts, enough to make it worth looking into, but at the moment, this is nothing more than a rumor...

What it all comes down to is trusting someone (Not sure who) to tell me that this player can't play on my server, that is the part I can't overcome to use such systems. But doesn't mean it wasn't worth the effort, great job

[ev0lution]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay_ Just for the record, the .pwn script does not compile. "blacklist_.pwn(35) : error 001: expected token: ",", but found "#""

Downloaded the exact file from the server and compiled it just then.

You must be using a different version of the pawn compiler. By default it doesn't accept the "#" concatenation operator, that was added by the SA-MP team in the compiler distributed with the server package.

[Jay_]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ev0lutionnn Downloaded the exact file from the server and compiled it just then. You must be using a different version of the pawn compiler. By default it doesn't accept the "#" concatenation operator, that was added by the SA-MP team in the compiler distributed with the server package.

Ah yes my fault, I am indeed using a custom compiler.

Thanks for this. I've installed it on Las Venturas Playground

[Potassium]

Quote:

Originally Posted by XGh0stz What it all comes down to is trusting someone (Not sure who) to tell me that this player can't play on my server, that is the part I can't overcome to use such systems. But doesn't mean it wasn't worth the effort, great job

I completely understand your point, however only trusted servers approved by us will be given the ability to add bans to the system, meaning that the chance of the ban being false/unfair is very low.

The source is available for download meaning that server owners can edit it to suit their wants and needs

[Roperr]

This is great, awakening the global ban system, I see.

I'm probably gonna sign up for this, hopefully you'll consider my server as trusted.

[[MM]IKKE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by XGh0stz I just don't like the idea of banning someone from my server before I even get the chance to know them although I do understand how much trouble I might avoid by doing so.

If you were on IRC, you're allowed to modify the script. You can make it send a notification to administrators instead of banning them straight away. Or more advanced: make it ban on health hacks, notification on spam, ...

Also, banning by hardware IDs is quite buggy - apparently a lot of people have the same ID. Banning by serials is effective, however.

@Potassium: I'm trying to advertise this on the servers I play on