Some notes on the above suggestion, looking at flaws & picking up on comments throughout this thread.
Potential downsides, stuff to consider:
Risk could be mitigated by the CLogger on rejoining with the in-game blacklist, or router/firewall rules to exclude an IP. Not sure anything can be done (or needs to be done) about this but the mode restricting timer/karma is still some punishment. Pointed out by Vorthax in
post #79.
One likely outcome from this would be that habitual CLoggers may tend to move away from open to a group or solo. Improving Crime & punishment mechanics & other aspects of the karma system may help reverse that trend.
There is no monetary nor cargo loss to the CLogger, but their in-game ability to progress will be restricted by their attacker and the mode restricting timer. They save the rebuy cost (assuming they would have died had they not CLogged) but have been prevented from achieving their immediate goal. A ganker does not win, but the blockader achieves their aim. No punishment can be directly applied because we cannot distinguish accidental disconnects from deliberate CLogging. Apart from the effects of the mode restricting timer on mode switching for missions etc, any punishment should only come from the karma based system.
There has been some productive discussion in
this thread about the potential downsides of
CMDR_CosmicSpaceHead's idea.
Two main issues were raised:
The CLogger using the blacklist to avoid their opponent, and
The potential for a cynical instance host to spoof a CLog ie make it look like you Clogged.
The use of the blacklist is raised in post #268, but I glossed over why this may not be a big deal.
There are three main tests to see how effective any potential solution is:
Attacker vs Clogging victim. This is the 'famous' one.
CLogging attacker vs wolf in sheeps clothing. This includes sealclubbers, spawncampers etc, & I think this is the most important one to handle.
NPC vs Clogger (no reverse test, NPCs obviously don't CLog). The blacklist has no bearing on this.
Each test also needs to allow the uncontrolled disconnect (game crash, network issues etc) to be minimally affected (ie they log back in & continue as before).
Blacklist:
If the victim CLogs & uses the blacklist, it's probably best that the two players are kept separate anyway, so the blacklist causes no issues. Hopefully the victim will consider their mode choice more carefully in future, there's always another ganker out there.
If the attacker CLogs & uses the blacklist, they are less likely to be instanced with anyone sharing the blacklisted players' instance, so have fewer potential victims to attack.
In both cases the blacklist is likely to already be used by the CLogger to avoid Cmdrs they don't want to play with.
Spoofing a CLog:
As I understand it each player in a shared instance has two connections. One to the 'server', which checks you are still in the game, and one to the other player(s) in your instance. One of the players will be hosting the instance, the rest are clients.
It's not that difficult to identify a particular IP address & block connections with it (out of game blacklist), but that doesn't disconnect the player from the server, only the player(s) concerned. The matchmaking server will detect a poor connection between you & not attempt to instance you with them again. The game cannot prevent this, but it effectively reduces the likelihood of a deliberate CLog because the players will no longer meet in-game.
To break another players' connection to the server (making it look like a CLog) is rather more difficult but still achievable. The disconnected player simply reconnects when they can, and in this case using the blacklist would probably be a good idea. Forcing another player out of the game (or off the internet) is rather more serious than just cheating in a game, and again is not really something the game itself can prevent other than by not connecting you to those players.
TL;DR
The Blacklist may deny the attacker a 'win' and allow the cheater to 'escape', but you will no longer be irritated by each other & instances of CLogging should be reduced longer term.
Disconnecting another player is outside the scope of the game, and possibly breaks the EULA. If caught a ban would be a reasonable expectation.
