Post by yuripourre in Enable a way for browser games to access the username of current player

Viewing post in Enable a way for browser games to access the username of current player

Hi @redonihunter,

Answering your question:

"Where is this?"

Every time someone makes a comment, the username is displayed, I don't see how enabling access to the usernames can make it too much worse.

About what you mentioned:

I think you are saying that if the user never interacts in the platform, they don't have the username exposed, right? But I am not sure if I agree that exposing those could be a security concern.

You mentioned the usernames are accessible via cookies, if the apps can access that information I think this is even more concerning in terms of security, right? Also, cookies can be manipulated so you cannot rely on the information there, users can potentially modify any content there.

And finally, you mentioned that itch.io is not "this type of social network", I disagree. Yes, itch.io don't have all the features other social networks have but I think is implicit that any interaction you have will expose your username. Like creating a comment on this post, creating a devlog or publishing a game.

Itch.io doesn't have any authentication so there is no way around it. I would like to have this feature, I think it can be really useful not only for high scores but to learn more about the players.

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redonihunter5 days ago(+1)

There are orders of magnitudes between players, ratings and comments. Most people do not comment, nor rate. So you would maybe have 1 comment, 10 ratings and 100 users. The only public interaction is the comment. And about half of the ratings are seen in the global feed for like 5 minutes.

The potential public exposure for the other 94 people would be unexpected. And most of the 5 people with public review probably did not read their settings.

You mentioned the usernames are accessible via cookies

I did no such thing. I said web games can recognise recurring users. Not that they do this by the account name. I believe this to work with cookies.

Yes, itch.io don't have all the features other social networks have but I think is implicit that any interaction you have will expose your username. Like creating a comment on this post, creating a devlog or publishing a game.

It has basically no social network features at all. Itch is a download store that happens to also host some web games and happens to have a rudimentary commenting system.

Providing multiplayer support in any way would be nice for the platform. But it would also be a nightmare to implement.

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yuripourre5 days ago (2 edits) (+2)

I think you are missing the point.

First of all, you can rate content, create comments, follow users, create dev logs, create comments for dev logs. I don't know what features YOU need to call it a social network, but itch.io is a social network.

Secondly, no one is asking for multiplayer or any other new feature (other than maybe an opt-in), what I see here is people asking to make possible for apps to access an information that already exists (and is public).

I still don't understand your argument about how making the public usernames easily accessible would be a security concern.

I am not sure if you just want to be against this proposal or you have a real concern, if is the latter, what do you recommend? Oauth? Each game to implement a secondary login on top of itch.io? What would be the safest way to do it?

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redonihunter5 days ago (2 edits) (+1)

an information that already exists (and is public).

It is not public. That is my point. (It is not even known to the developer running a web game!)

You do not see who is playing a game. You do not see who is online. You do not have a "friends" list. You cannot comment on reviews, you cannot even see them attached to a game. You cannot "share" your activties. Best you can do is publish a collection on your profile.

Would you call all message boards "social networks"? There are reviews with comments on products on online stores. You call those a social network too? There is a social component, yes, but that does not make it a social network.

Making information public that previously was not, is a thing that should be thoroughliy scrutinized. And imho unless Itch does implement a whole lot of other mulitiplayer support, there is no need to access such information for things like leaderboard that can be implemented by other means.

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yuripourre5 days ago

Ok, I think I understand your point now, there is a comment talking about profile information that probably make you concerned but that's not the intention of the original comment.

What is being asked is to know who is playing your game if this person is logged in, and that's all. This information is public (if the person decides to publish something).

Personally, I think it's a reasonable request and can cause more good than harm.

About the implementation, instead of a opt-in, itch.io could simply warn users that the username is public. And because is possible to change your username, if someone wants to change before this new feature is released, they could simply change their username. What is the point of the username anyways? Display it publicly right?

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redonihunter4 days ago

What is being asked is to know who is playing your game if this person is logged in, and that's all. This information is public (if the person decides to publish something).

What do you think public means in this context?

The information who is playing which games is not public. It is not even known to the dev that published the web game. Hence this very thread.

Even if the existing api is capable of doing this, when playing a game or a web game with the Itch app, using the username inside the game (like displaying it on a leaderboard) would violate some privacy boundaries. Itch is just not a place like those web game hosters with the microtransactions or facebook games or even Steam.

Itch might one day have such capabilities, but as I said elsewhere here, there would need to happen a major overhaul including a huge bunch of other multiplayer support features that enable and control the interaction between users while playing online together.

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JackPrograms4 days ago

Itch.io already supports multiplayer web games, they just don’t own the servers and stuff, the devs do.

This whole “overhaul” thing doesn’t need to happen, itch doesn’t need to do the peer to peer connection.

Giving display names to devs has vary little to do with a itch.io friends system or other “multiplayer support” it just gives devs the ability to implement that.

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redonihunter4 days ago

Itch.io already supports multiplayer web games

How does this support look like?

There are multiplayer web games on itch, yes. About 2000 or so. But do they implement multiplayer with any sort of support by Itch ecosystem?

https://itch.io/games/multiplayer-adhoc/platform-web

https://itch.io/games/multiplayer-server/platform-web

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JackPrograms4 days ago(+1)

No, that’s the issue, that’s what we’re asking for.

A UID & Display name passed into games so it can connect better with the itch.io ecosystem.

Just bc something doesn’t exist right now, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t.

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