I really doubt something like this will be done by DA. But we have some ppl here who are trying diff ways to get some sort of player account transfer working. Good luck to them!

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Hopefully something can be worked out because in its current state, the Mp portion of this game will die out rather quickly with people getting pissed having to restart MP careers over and over again.

THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I AM TRYING TO SAY MAN!!!!!! GOD!!! THIS GAME IS ALREADY DEAD WHEN IT COMES to multiplayer!!!! I though comming out with patch like a week ago but nobody listened. It would be PERFECT and make this game worth every damn dollar (50) . Right now its worth about 20!!!

You might all be interested to know that there is an other game using a similar server model. It's Neverwinter Nights by Bioware. Characters are saved on the server to avoid hacking. There's only a difference, Bioware's anti-cheating methods work, characters don't get corrupt and servers don't crash.

Well ok, maybe I'm a little harsh... But my point is that there as being ALOT of discussion about that server model on Bioware's official forum and they came to a conclusion:
1- If people save on there computer, they can easily cheat
2- Characters cannot be transferred between servers because of moding and well, reason #1 (anyone could start there own server, cheat the save then transfer it)

I'd like to add #3:
3- Allowing people to export characters for single player game is cool

I recommend you check Bioware's forum posts (it could be VERY long to read) if you don't like the way Freelancer's server work, you may find it enlightening.

Oh and I think Freelancer (the game, not the server) is a really good game (I has NEVER crashed on my computer, NWN has) and no, I don't work for Bioware

To finish, dear god we really need a better server software ! I feel like a beta tester using that thing (it has crashed many time because of a corrupt characters... I think...).

NOTE: This is a double post but it seem to fit this tread too so...

I think it should get better as well when you get big organizations hosting servers like in counter-strike. I can see them easily being able to host a few 128 player servers.

uhm, actually, thats where your wrong, i play Neverwinter all the time and they have 2 classes of character, Server, which works the same as FreeLancer, and then Local which are stored on your computer and can be moved between games, and when people make a game they decide if they wanna let local characters in or force everyone to make a new one when they join, also, their item level restrictions and character mod detections work, so albeit NwN has quite a few overpowered local chars, item level restrictions make it so those chars cant be used in game that have "Restrict Item level" on, this way, you can host a game with or without cheaters, with people private chars or with server chars, it works, its well executed and perfectly balanced, if FreeLancer was to follow in their footsteps even multi could be a huge hit with this game

I'll agree NWN's server model has some great options for player/server vault characters. It definitely prevents cheating. But, for those who want to be able to transfer characters to a server and HAVE played NWN multiplayer, tell me: how much fun was it to log in to a server that allows that and play with some pepole who have god-like characters and weapons? For the most part, not very. There's been uncountable occasions when I've been playing and some ****'s exited me from the world in a single sword strike, for no reason whatsoever.

Of course, starting your own server that only allows server vault characters for you buddies and you is a great idea. Anyway, do I think Freelancer should adopt a NWN server model and have both options? Sure. Do I think people will continue to play on public servers and enjoy themselves once the cheating starts? Well I guess some will have fun. I'll stick to a private server for my friends, but it'd be nice to have the option to move characters to and from a game.

I think you're right Comont54, I think I played a LAN game in NWN that worked like that.

I also think exporting player would be really a good idea, maybe people could put them in a FTP or something until the game support something like that

The problem with checking cheating in FL is that money (that define your level) is something you can trade. It's like trading experience points in an RPG, it makes no sense ! Levels would have to be based on kills or something like that. Because, if someone give you 5,000,000 (which is not too hard to get for a lv38 char) you going to become a level 38 in a matter of minutes.

Using money makes the game more realistic and more life like (you can have rich friend giving you loads of cash) but it also makes if nearly impossible to track cheaters...