shad, don't forget that this game is open source. Anything broadcast by the client can be altered in the source, then a new binary recompiled. If you're talking about confining the game to closed-source binaries only, it's been discussed in the past, but probably won't happen.
Authentication is an idea (in fact it's already part-implemented), and it would certainly help the established players caught in a range ban, but it still wouldn't protect the hundreds of new and casual players.
In case I hadn't made it clear with my sarcastic reply, I, too, think this is a bad idea, but OS is entitled to allow who he wishes. OpenSource, have you thought about breaking the cheat/abuser IP ranges into smaller blocks, eg. /20? When a new IP is used, add another /20 to your blacklist. Trust me, there are large portions of those 187, 189 and 201 blocks that never see abuse.
Authentication is an idea (in fact it's already part-implemented), and it would certainly help the established players caught in a range ban, but it still wouldn't protect the hundreds of new and casual players.
In case I hadn't made it clear with my sarcastic reply, I, too, think this is a bad idea, but OS is entitled to allow who he wishes. OpenSource, have you thought about breaking the cheat/abuser IP ranges into smaller blocks, eg. /20? When a new IP is used, add another /20 to your blacklist. Trust me, there are large portions of those 187, 189 and 201 blocks that never see abuse.