Friendcodes Question

[Yoshi_Master]

When Pokemon Diamond and Pearl come out, will we be allowed to share Friendcodes with people around these forums?

The reasons why I ask is because on some forums they forbid it.

One forum such as the Nsider itself.

[Pazuzu]

Moving this to the Community Questions and Feedback forum, since it's the better fitting place for this.

The friend code question is currently being discussed, but things look good that we will allow a sharing of them, once the games are out.

[RYOUKI]

what is an friend code anyway??

[Pazuzu]

A friend code is a unique number combination that identifies your DS+Game combo online, when using the Nintendo WiFi connection.
It will allow you to make use of online activities for games that support such features, like the online trading and battling in Diamond and Pearl.

[RYOUKI]

wow, so what website can this wifi connections be played or trade or etc.

[Yoshi_Master]

Ok, thanks for the info and I hope they allowed Friendcodes here.

[The Dash]

I don't see why it wouldn't be..

[Absolitude]

Dash they don't let then be shared right now because if someone has your friends code they practically have your information right there. For example they could hack your ds over wifi (don't say it's impossible) and get all your personal info like user name (and if you used your real name they will know it) and your birthday, among other things. It might also provide position, but that's just if they know how to hack and read the data. Sorry if i gave anyone some bad ideas.

[Lightning]

Well, in games like Animal Crossing, so long as you know someone's friend code, I think you can write anything on their board or something. So there's a question of vandalization, etc.

But like Scizz said, I'm sure we'll allow friend codes by the English release of DP; we just have to figure out the best system to do so first. ^_^;

[TRIFORCE89]

I would love to allow it, yes. I think it would be beneficial, especially for Diamond and Pearl, since you know...this is a Pokemon forum. XD

But, at the moment - no. To quote Other Games Rules (http://pkmncommunity.com/showthread.php?t=60293):

The PokéCommunity Forums does not have a visible privacy policy, but we do wish and expect that you would keep information that important to you, to yourselves. This includes phone numbers, addresses, names, email address, IM handles, online game nicks, Friend Codes and anything else that is personal and can act as a way of contacting you. You are allowed to disclose such information if you so please, but you are under no such obligation and it is your responsibility to keep such information private or public if you want.
That said, the reason I bring that up here, in Other Games (as personal information is relevant across PC), is because of online games and Nintendo DS Friend Codes. For the time being, there will not be a large thread for you to post your Friend Codes in to act as a directory. Nor will you be allowed to post your Friend Codes in public through threads or posts. You are allowed to share your Friend Codes; I simply ask that you be careful about it.
You may give your Friend Code out to whoever you please, but through PM or IM or any other way where it would be that person and that person only who sees your Friend Code, not every member. This ensures that only those who you want to have your Friend Code will have it, and those you do not will not. I am concerned about this, because Nintendo is.
At the time of this post, the main concern would be Animal Crossing: Wild World. If you are not careful with whom you give your code out too, and whom you let in, then there could be trouble. People could post inappropriate messages on your bulletin board or using letters. They could also cut down all your tress and destroy all your flowers. However, more games are on the way and more problems are likely to arise.
All I ask is that you are careful with who and how you disclose such information.
Moreover, the best way that I can see is through PM, not posts and threads! Act smart, stay safe and you will have a more enjoyable gaming experience.

So, yeah. I might reconsider this rule on a per game basis as not every game has the possibility for havoc to break out. Nintendo does not want their customers to publicly share their Friend Codes. Forbidden on the official forums. So, I'm merely trying to obey Nintendo's wishes.

That said, this is a Pokemon forum, and there are Pokemon games that use Friend Codes, so - I may revisit this rule. If a change is to occur it will be announced in Other Games. So, keep a look out as Diamond and Pearl approaches.

I need to rethink some things. :p

[The Dash]

Ah well that all makes sense, I've never owned a DS so I really don't know the risks.

[Yoshi_Master]

I have been on a forums that is fully dedicated to sharing Friendcodes and it is pretty organized and clean. If any one is bad, the person posts that the person is bad in the so called "Wall of Shame" and everyone must delete that person from their list. The bad person might be banned too; it depends on the severity of the damage that they did. For example: seed glitch in Animal Crossing WW would be considered really bad.
I don't want to post that site right now because I think advertising is not allowed here, am I right?
If I'm allowed to show the site, I'll go ahead and show you :)

[TRIFORCE89]

But we aren't a Friend Code forum. We're not going to monitor what you guys do in your games. It's your responsibility who you choose to play with, not our's. We're not going to monitor every online game of every system that our members play.

Depending how we revise our rules, we may take action on some occurrences though.

[Red1530]

I think we should allow the sharing of friend codes because it looks like you can only battle and direct trade with other people that you have given your friend code to.

[Abby]

Isn't it possible to voice chat with someone if there is a mutual friend code exchange? That's the only concern that I could see arising from Friend Codes in Diamond and Pearl. Is there a way to battle without permitting that? Some sort of matchmaking, or having a match with a specific code without friending them?

[TRIFORCE89]

I don't know. Worse comes to worse we'll have to hold off on any major decision for maybe a week (after the games are released) until we've WFCed each other.

I know that Metroid won't allow voice chat unless your friended.

I'd hope it's possible to disallow some things. I know that I wouldn't always want to use voice chat.

[Abby]

Jake should already know a lot of this—he's had the game for quite a while. That said, I'm pretty sure it's possible to disable voice chat before a battle. The question is, is that enough? This hypothetical child who's gotten a hypothetical bad person's Friend Code might hypothetically leave voice chat enabled, being scarred by the hypothetical man's bad words.

The thing is, if you allow Friend Code trading—or even any form of communication over the internet—you're at some point liable for anything that goes wrong. Even by letting members PM each other, you're allowing this to happen. If you disabled PMing you'd be pretty safe, but I'm pretty sure no one wants that.

So where do you draw the line? You could allow Friend Codes to be exchanged, putting up some sort of disclaimer about responsibility. But you're still encouraging the trade of codes, which might be worse than if they happened to be traded over PM. The bottom line is that the parents of these children should be more responsible, but parents have never been as lazy, irresponsible, ignorant, and quick to blame others for their own shortcomings as they are today.

Waiting might be a good idea. Give it a week or two, see how many members join due to D/P and how many young children are really active on the forum. The forum has otherwise shifted towards a more teen-suited audience, though, which is where the real desire to trade codes comes from. Another thing to consider is that even ten or nine year-olds can be pretty responsible. Honestly, if you allowed FC trading, I doubt any ill would ever come out of it.

[TRIFORCE89]

I would hope not. But, the possibility is there.

As well as the demand.

I haven't come across too many thread s about Xbox Live enabled games in Other Games.

I'm really not helpful in this situation. I like privateness.

"Technically" you're not supposed to be on the internet until you're thirteen if you don't have a parental consent.

[Yoshi_Master]

But we aren't a Friend Code forum. We're not going to monitor what you guys do in your games. It's your responsibility who you choose to play with, not our's. We're not going to monitor every online game of every system that our members play.

Depending how we revise our rules, we may take action on some occurrences though.

Yes, I know that PC is not a friendcode forum. I agree that it's our responsibilities whatever happens in the game.
But I've got a great idea, being at that Friendcodes site for so long. I believe that what would improve these forums is to increase interactivity. What I mean by that is, PC's overall activity would increase [good thing :) ] and some members would enjoy just coming here to play some pokemon against each other.
Good Idea or no?
Though I think the idea, might increase crime (crime like, derogatory words in game) causing more people to report the incident and causing mods and admins to get annoyed.
What do you think?

[Hiroshi Sotomura]

Yes, I know that PC is not a friendcode forum. I agree that it's our responsibilities whatever happens in the game.
But I've got a great idea, being at that Friendcodes site for so long. I believe that what would improve these forums is to increase interactivity. What I mean by that is, PC's overall activity would increase [good thing :) ] and some members would enjoy just coming here to play some pokemon against each other.
Good Idea or no?
Though I think the idea, might increase crime (crime like, derogatory words in game) causing more people to report the incident and causing mods and admins to get annoyed.
What do you think?
While sharing the codes is one thing, actually exchanging data such as bad words on a voice chat is by means not the responsibility of the community. A person needs to watch who he or she shares with.

[Pazuzu]

Isn't it possible to voice chat with someone if there is a mutual friend code exchange? That's the only concern that I could see arising from Friend Codes in Diamond and Pearl. Is there a way to battle without permitting that? Some sort of matchmaking, or having a match with a specific code without friending them?

All of the activities can only be used if both users have added each other to their friends list.
They won't even see them online if they haven't done that.
When they have registered each other, and are in the online room, everything will work with message prompts, that ask the player if they want to start a certain activity, nothing can be started if one player denies it, and every player can drop out of the activity every time he feels like it.


And about the "personal data hacking/tracking" thing, the DS contains no such data. All it contains is the username of the person, their birthday, and a comment they can enter.
Even if a hacker would get that data, which is highly unlikely, he could do nothing with it.
Though your DS will probably have an IP address once it goes online, it's not more risky than being online with a computer, even safer, since the address is hidden, and can not be figured out just by the use of friend codes.

[Abby]

All of the activities can only be used if both users have added each other to their friends list.
They won't even see them online if they haven't done that.
When they have registered each other, and are in the online room, everything will work with message prompts, that ask the player if they want to start a certain activity, nothing can be started if one player denies it, and every player can drop out of the activity every time he feels like it.


And about the "personal data hacking/tracking" thing, the DS contains no such data. All it contains is the username of the person, their birthday, and a comment they can enter.
Even if a hacker would get that data, which is highly unlikely, he could do nothing with it.
Though your DS will probably have an IP address once it goes online, it's not more risky than being online with a computer, even safer, since the address is hidden, and can not be figured out just by the use of friend codes.
That sounds like a pretty robust privacy system. Could you clarify one thing, though? You can or cannot battle with someone if there isn't a mutual friend-add? Is there some sort of battle room where you can challenge people, or must it be a direct connection to someone else?

The hacking thing is completely a non-issue. The DS just isn't sophisticated enough to be compromised at that level, and as you said, there's no personably-verifiable data on there anyway, much less any information like GPS. You could most likely get the person's IP by packet sniffing the data, unless WFC proxies it or something, which it probably is doing.

[TRIFORCE89]

I haven't played it. But, most WFC games feature a friend list in addition to random battles.

[Yoshi_Master]

Different games may or may not require Friendcodes.
For example, for Pokemon D/P, there is a trading system, which does not require Friendcodes. You may use Friendcodes, however, to trade with specific people. So if you don't use Friendcodes, you will be trading with random people.
Anyone knowledgeable, please correct me if I am wrong in any way.

[Pazuzu]

That sounds like a pretty robust privacy system. Could you clarify one thing, though? You can or cannot battle with someone if there isn't a mutual friend-add? Is there some sort of battle room where you can challenge people, or must it be a direct connection to someone else?

A direct connection is a must for the voice chat to work. Else, there only is the Global Trade Station, in which you only upload a Pokémon of yours, and can browse for the ones uploaded by others. No direct connection with the other party.

For battles, there is the Battle Tower. There you can upload your, and download other player's team data to battle against it. Again, no direct connection with the other party.

[Abby]

A direct connection is a must for the voice chat to work. Else, there only is the Global Trade Station, in which you only upload a Pokémon of yours, and can browse for the ones uploaded by others. No direct connection with the other party.

For battles, there is the Battle Tower. There you can upload your, and download other player's team data to battle against it. Again, no direct connection with the other party.

So in the Battle Tower, you're not actually battling other trainers, but rather battling their teams, controlled by the computer? Thus there's no way at all to battle another person without a Friendcode exchange?

[Yoshi_Master]

I think you can make a direct connection with a Friendcode. There are two options. You either save their team in your game making their team computer controlled or link up with Friendcodes. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Pachy]

I think that is the case. Besides We should make members who trade friend codes Agree not to hold PC Liable for any damages resulting from the trading of friend Codes.
If it is too much of a risk then we can simply restrict trading of Friend codes to PM Only

[Pazuzu]

I think you can make a direct connection with a Friendcode. There are two options. You either save their team in your game making their team computer controlled or link up with Friendcodes. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Direct connections can only be made with 2 Friend codes, and when both players agree to make it.
They only take place when you directly link up to your friend using the Pokémon-Center.

I think that is the case. Besides We should make members who trade friend codes Agree not to hold PC Liable for any damages resulting from the trading of friend Codes.
If it is too much of a risk then we can simply restrict trading of Friend codes to PM Only

We will of course add a disclaimer to it. They can share it publicly, or in private.

[Red1530]

I read your post correctly Scizz, then sharing Friend Codes is allowed then.

[Abby]

It doesn't seem like such a bad idea, I guess. It should certainly be made clear that, by sharing his or her friend code, the person posting is opening himself or herself up to communication from anyone. A lot of people are fine with that—those who aren't shouldn't post their codes. You should include detailed information about removal or blocking in the event of an idiot getting someone's code.

The positives here are that it'd encourage a lot of chat and general forum activity around DP. Doesn't each game have its own Friend Code? You could start off by only allowing DP codes to be exchanged, to see how it works out. I think that a stickied thread where people can post their codes in a good idea. A discussion thread might be good, too, similar to what's in OC for posting pictures.

[Absolitude]

What about using the little banner thing that sppf uses? I don't wanna link or anything, so just check it out. We don't even have to use the one the site gives us, we can make our own. Making it would be simple, just a little php, and stuff...

[Abby]

Banner thing? I'm afraid I'm not aware of that, could you please elaborate on what, exactly, it is and does?

[Arcanine]

I'm not sure how SPPF does/will do friend codes, but we'll have our own system.
And if we don't do friend code banners then they aren't hard to make (and who knows, someone might take requests for friend code banners).

[Abby]

What, exactly, are FC banners? Just graphics that have your FC on them, sort of like trainer cards? I could definitely see the artists filling that gap, if trainer cards are any indication. XD;

[Arcanine]

What, exactly, are FC banners? Just graphics that have your FC on them, sort of like trainer cards? I could definitely see the artists filling that gap, if trainer cards are any indication. XD;
Haven't you seen my Mario Kart DS FC banner? It fills up space pretty well. XD

[Abby]

Uhh...where do I see that? XD;

[TRIFORCE89]

I haven't seen Andy's either. You've seen FC Card though, haven't you Abby?

[Abby]

I'm not sure. Is that a service that generates those Animal Crossing cards?

[TRIFORCE89]

I haven't seen on of those, so I don't know. *PMs it to you*

[Arcanine]

... I'm pretty sure I PMed it to you Triffy. XD
And Abby, that's sad *Goes to PM*. XD


In any case, friend code banners aren't hard to make. Anyone with MSPaint or MacPaint (Abby, what kind of paint programs does Macs have on them right out of the box? XD) can make a simple banner that lists FCs. They don't have to be fancy or anything like that. And as I said, we're going to have our own system so you likely won't need a banner in your sig.

[TRIFORCE89]

Just searched through my inbox. I have your Wii number, but that's all. o.o

[Arcanine]

Just searched through my inbox. I have your Wii number, but that's all. o.o
Really? Well it must be due to me making the banner after sending that PM (I'm too lazy to type something out, so it had to be after). XD

[Absolitude]

Sorry i wasn't here to splain it nice and proper, with a demonstration. Friends codes banners are little trainer cards that have friends codes stuck in there somewhere, preferably at the bottom so it can be easily read. They're purpose is to display your friends code prominently in the hopes that someone will challenge you while you are on wifi so that you are not oh so lonesome by your self karting against a robotic luigi. An example may be seen here (http://www.pokecharms.com/trainercards/), but they closed due to bandwidth problems. =\ Found one that may be an example here (http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w293/Satoshifanboy/trainercard-1.png). From a member called Sparky. Just to give you an idea of how it works.