Overhaul of the Bank system

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I find the current "bank" system within Codelink to be somewhat lacking. It 
feels too simple and basic, and I'd like to put in my thoughts on how it could 
be improved. What I am suggesting below are very drastic overhauls of both the 
banking system, and the missions surrounding them. It is understandable if my 
ideas are not completely agreed with, but even without using any of the below 
ideas, I'd like to see "some" kind of change to the system.

* Steal from Bank Account Mission types:
For these missions, you are essentially contracted out by someone who feels 
they deserve money that belongs to someone else. You, a Codelink agent, are 
being payed to retrieve this money.

The clients in these mission types are paying roughly about $20,000 or so, so 
that you will steal anywhere from around $100 to $9999 and transfer it to them. 
To me, this seems a bit off. Who in their right mind is going to pay that much 
money to have chump change transferred to their accounts?

Also, in these missions, you are not given any sort of bank information of the 
client. We are supposed to be stealing this money and then transferring it to 
the client, but we are given no info on where to transfer the funds. Instead, 
this is an automatic process that is completed when replying to the mission 
email. Why aren't we doing this act ourselves? When I complete these missions, 
I transfer the money into a throwaway account, reply to the email, and then 
like magic, they have the money. (Another interesting point is that the money 
you "transfer" never actually arrives in the account you specify. This money is 
essentially vanishing into thin air, or I am using the tool incorrectly and am 
able to complete the missions despite my errors.)

I think as an added layer of immersion and complexity, you should have to 
complete this action yourself. So I propose the following for the "Steal from 
Bank Account" missions.
1. You should be forced to transfer the money from the target account into a 
VALID bank account.
2. Then, you must transfer the money from an account you own into a specified 
account provided within the mission objectives. Naturally, if you do not 
properly clear the logs on this process, you'd be passively traced, caught, and 
fined.

Side Note: It should not matter if the money you "transfer" to the client's 
account is the "same" money that came from the target account. As long as you 
have:
a. Taken the specified value from the target account, and
b. "Stealthily" transferred the same value into the client's account
The mission should still complete.

Additionally, I think that the ability to "frame" another player during this 
process would be a really cool idea.

Example:
1. Transfer the specified value from the target account into another players 
account. (Naturally it would have to be a player account that does not have 
their gateway as the account IP)
2. Transfer YOUR OWN money into the client's account.
3. Complete Mission.

In this situation, the client is pleased because they have received the money 
they asked for, and the account they wished to steal from has been drained 
properly. However, the banks noticed that money has been stolen, and all the 
logs are pointing directly towards "User 123A". In this situation, User 123A 
has actually received "free money". If he's quick to notice, he can clear the 
logs and keep the money without punishment. If he is not however, he will be 
'framed' and fined accordingly. (In this event, I think the banks should take 
back the money that was transferred to user, and THEN fine him.)

* Logs Page
I think the "Bank Accounts" logs page that the user sees after logging into a 
bank account could use an overhaul as well. Why would a bank account user have 
access to the "logs" of their account? That should be something only available 
to the bank employee's--not the 'users'. Instead, I think this page should be 
changed into a "Bank Statement" page. Allowing the account holder to see all 
account activity. Such as the creation of loans, removal of loans, all 
deposits, and all withdrawals. (The current logs page does actually record 
withdrawals and deposits, but does not state the amount, and it does not 
mention any loan activity.)

This change would have an impact on the new "Steal from Bank Account" mission, 
as these "statements" would record evidence of the bank transfers you commit. 
So you, the hacker, would be forced to delete or modify these 'logs' in some 
way--either through the account page or through something else.

* Agent Profile Credits
I do not like that we are able to "hold onto" our money, yet still use it for 
transactions within the shops. We should be forced to deposit our money into 
our banks if we wish to make purchases. (And naturally, if we do not have a 
"safe" bank account, that money should not be "safe" being left in there.)

I propose that we be forced to deposit our credits into our bank accounts, and 
then have these accounts be charged for all purchases within the shops.

* Banking Records Page
I don't really like how this page functions. I'm assuming this is supposed to 
be a database of all accounts located within the bank. However, I don't think 
this 'actually' contains anything other than "mission related" accounts. You 
search for specific names and account numbers (rather than account names and 
account numbers), and once you find an account, you are not shown all the 
information that the account contains. You do not see their loans, their logs, 
or any "bank statements". You are shown a name, an account number, and a 
balance.

This page should show ALL details of the account. Full Name, Account Name, 
Account Number, Balance, Loan Amount, and Logs. You should then use the Bank 
Transfer tool (Or possibly another tool altogether) in order to "hack into" the 
account, and transfer the money.

I think that's all for now. I may add more in another comment if I think of 
anything else. Thank you for reading this far if you have indeed done so. I 
love what has been done so far with this game, and my only desire is to see it 
improve in every way that it possibly can before it is "finished".

[Low|Med|High]: Med

Original issue reported on code.google.com by Delfofth...@gmail.com on 4 Sep 2012 at 11:24

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While I too think the bank account system needs an overhaul, some of these 
changes are going to cause more than a few issues.

Any ability to frame other players for crimes is going to cause an incredible 
amount of greifing.  It sounds all fun and games to you, right up until you are 
the level 6 player with a 15k fine to pay off because someone framed you.  
Forcing players to check account logs every day to make sure they are not being 
framed for someone elses activities is an unnecessary burden on players who 
would like to just play the game.  It's tedious enough for me to check all of 
my cpanel accounts on my servers to make sure they weren't reset, but I have 
the option to ignore this step if I so choose.  I don't have the option to not 
check and see if I have been framed for bank or other crimes.

Access to player accounts will cause a similar amount of greifing in random 
thefts from player accounts.  Losses that could easily cripple players.

The limited amount of account money was set up to prevent large thefts of cash 
and exploitation of the bank transfer tool.  The switch to paying loans from 
the agent profile caused the bank transfer tool to transfer money to the panel 
rather than the account and the missions would not take it back from your 
account.  The system now has the money delivered direct to the agent to prevent 
issues with transfer exploitation.

The plan always has been to have bank thefts as part of Codelink, however the 
security system is not in place to deal with excessive transfers.  It's on the 
list of planned features, however momo has been tied up with several unforeseen 
bugs and other features.

The bank account system changes are planned with a limit on the amount of money 
one can keep in their agent panel at any one time.  I think several of your 
ideas are excellent and have no doubt that momo will use them when the system 
is up for an overhaul.

Original comment by phoenix_...@yahoo.ca on 4 Sep 2012 at 1:57

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Thanks for the response. I did indeed worry of the abuse that could be placed 
on new players regarding "framing", but I figured the fact that you could not 
frame an account that had the "user gateway" as the bank IP would prevent that 
issue. The only ones with a bank account that was setup through a proxy would 
be at least a "somewhat" experienced player.

Original comment by Delfofth...@gmail.com on 4 Sep 2012 at 2:42

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I like the "framing" idea. One way to relief the burden on the player being 
framed would be the system send them an e-mail saying their account has been 
credited.

Original comment by cpeospho...@gmail.com on 4 Sep 2012 at 2:54

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Although I'm agreeing with both bigger posts in this topic. I feel like I have 
to mention that a hacking game shouldn't be all that user friendly. What I mean 
by this is the following: A hacking community is full of people that shouldn't 
be trusted. You can cooperate with these people, sure, but to trust them with 
personal information is a way of just giving them a free ticket. On the other 
hand I do believe that if this kind of "hardcore" system would be in place... 
newer players would get overwhelmed by the abilities of the somewhat more 
veteran players. So basically... If this kind of "hardcore" system would be 
getting in place... Why not make sure it only happens to players who passed a 
certain level, making sure they have the skills to counter-act. I'm just 
brainstorming here though... It's just hypothetically speaking.

Original comment by demmefox...@gmail.com on 4 Sep 2012 at 6:49

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@ Demmefox
Well, most of these suggestions only really affect higher level users. 
Stealing/Modifying bank information are the current highest level missions in 
the game. (I'd even dare to say that they should be moved up a few notches if 
the overhauls I mentioned are implemented.)

Original comment by Delfofth...@gmail.com on 4 Sep 2012 at 8:31

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All games that want to increase their userbase must be at least somewhat user 
friendly.  Not everyone wants to play every day, without constant account 
supervision these people could be framed in their absence.  New players are 
already preyed upon by experienced players leaving them open to all kinds of 
abuse of this system.  PvP has an opt out, this would need one too, but how do 
you opt out of something like this?

Original comment by phoenix_...@yahoo.ca on 7 Sep 2012 at 11:06

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@phoenix

For users who do not play everyday:
-Send an email to the player when the account gets hacked
-Passive trace only starts when email is read (user starts playing)

This way users have plenty of time to deal with the framing, regardless of how 
often they play. In addition, these will be experienced players as @Delfofth 
mentioned.

The opt-out is not having a bank account linked through a proxy.

Original comment by Python.1...@gmail.com on 9 Sep 2012 at 9:08

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^ passive trace?
at the most common server[proxy] used by those who have a bank account,the logs 
get cleared very quickly by other players
so..the actual possibility to get framed is low to none..
but those we're some of the features i expected when the game went "online"

Original comment by scylla...@gmail.com on 28 Oct 2012 at 9:00

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Original comment by codelin...@gmail.com on 19 Oct 2013 at 12:11

• Changed state: WontFix