WON2 is the user-created and operated online gaming network, and is a re-creation of the original World Opponent Network

World Opponent Network

World Opponent Network or WON was an online gaming service, created by Sierra Games as the Sierra Internet Gaming System . WON was used by games such as Homeworld, Half-Life, Star Trek: Armada, Soldier of Fortune, Dark Reign 2, Silencer, ARC and online versions of casino games as well as early...

 (WON) online gaming

Multiplayer game

A multiplayer video game is one which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time. Unlike most other games, computer and video games are often single-player activities that put the player against preprogrammed challenges and/or AI-controlled opponents, which often...

 service. It is primarily used for playing Half-Life and its mod

Mod (computer gaming)

Mod or modification is a term generally applied to personal computer games , especially first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not standalone software and...

s online.

Creation

Following the closure of the original WON on July 31, 2004 by its owner Valve Software, in favor of its own Steam system, there was considerable controversy within the Half-Life communities over Steam's reliability, security and privacy. Some users found it difficult if not impossible to use Steam, because of the resource-drain that it placed on some computers of the time. Others considered it a form of adware

Adware

Adware, or advertising-supported software, is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements to a computer. These advertisements can be in the form of a pop-up. They may also be in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the user during...

 because part of software's function is to display ad popups and offers pertaining to Steam games upon each instance of opening the main program. There were also concerns about security, especially that of credit card numbers used in online purchases via Steam, and whether or not it may become a subscription-based pay-to-play service. In addition, Steam updates any installed games before playing online, under the premise that this avoids the manual drudgery of searching for and applying game patches as well as ensuring everyone that is playing has the same uniform version. However, some preferred Counter-Strike version 1.5 over the newer versions.

As a result of these and other concerns, along with the desire by some to simply continue playing the older games the way they had for years, various players and groups developed their own solutions which allowed them to play Counter-Strike 1.5 and older, non-Source

Source engine

Source is a 3D game engine developed by Valve Corporation. It debuted in June 2004 with Counter-Strike: Source and shortly thereafter Half-Life 2, and has been in active development ever since...

 engine, Half-Life games without Steam.

In late November 2004, some of the largest of these groups, in particular SteamlessProject.nl, succeeded in developing a good working solution. SteamlessProject.NL and NoWon later partnered to form WON2, with NoWon seemingly functioning only as a link partner and not actually taking part in active development of WON2. The network slowly grew and maintains a steady size of about 900-1000 gaming servers with usually 2000-3000 players online at any one time. Most of its master (backbone) and content servers are based in Europe, especially the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

.

Master servers

The primary function of the WON2 network is to provide players with a method to get lists of servers they can play on. This is done using the master server network. The Half-Life client with the WON2 Patch for Players connects to these master servers and pulls down a list, similar to the original WON system, of all the servers that the given client can connect to.

Mod servers

Like the old mod servers that were a part of WON before it was shut down, WON2 allows the player to connect to this mod server and pull down a list of mods, which they can then choose to install from the WON2 Content Delivery Server System.

WON2GCL

Future plans for the project include making a Counter-Strike

Counter-Strike

Counter-Strike is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Valve Corporation which originated from a Half-Life modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe...

 1.5 league. Currently, the owner has stated that if such tournaments are successful, more official WON2 based tournaments with different games would likely follow. The temporary site of the WON2 Global Cyber League already went live. The project is currently postponed, although it has been stated that the developers wish to continue the project in the future.

WON2 Anti-Cheat

As the WON Half-Life client supported the old VAC1 system, it was possible for WON2 to use the cheat definitions from this service which was still operational at the time on the Steam service. However, due to Valve moving to the new VAC2 system, breaking compatibility with the VAC1 system, and the developer going missing, the project was abandoned.

Software solutions

The Steamless CS Project offered many software packages designed for WON2 to solve problems and add features to Half-Life, Counter-Strike and Gunman Chronicles. These include the 1.1.1.x patch series, the WON2 Patch for Players and Servers, HLDS2 and so on.

Differences with Original

Although WON2 is a faithful recreation of the original WON service, it does have some important differences. There are currently no Authorization (or "Auth") servers to assign unique player IDs and enforce bans for cheating or other misbehaviors. Bans must be made by IP address

IP address

An Internet Protocol address is a numerical label assigned to each device participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing...

, which limits the effectiveness of long term bans, and, if used aggressively, can result in banning innocent players. The Steamless CS Project has stated they are investigating possible solutions, although creating one appears to be very difficult, as the authentication protocol has never been made open source by Valve, just like the Masterserver protocol.

Another difference is that WON2 has a minority of servers outside of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. Fortunately for many of its users, over 90% of WON2's game servers run Counter-strike 1.5 and older versions.

WON2 has an inability to run mods that require features only available in Steam.

Legality

It appears that Valve Software regards WON2 with suspicion and hostility. In March 2006 a takedown notice cost the project its host, forcing the project offline between approximately the 18th and the 24th of that month. Later the host claimed that within two weeks it would stop offering webhosting services altogether, indicating that the takedown notice was not the primary reason services were lost.

The WON2 network's legal status has been questioned by some, from country to country. The project maintains that it is within the bounds of Valve's EULA for Half-Life, although it notes that all recent Valve games now forbid modifications like theirs. WON2 also mentions that in some countries the server patch used to circumvent the authentication servers would be illegal to use. The project has offered its own legal analysis on the subject http://v4.steamlessproject.nl/index.php?page=legal&sid=, although so far no legal action has been pursued beyond takedown notices. People within the WON2 project believe Valve can do very little to shut them down, due to its decentralized nature and that it is run primarily from outside of the United States.

WON2-TFC League

Currently, Team Fortress Classic, another Half-Life mod, is making a comeback in the WON2 network. An official league has started and many players have continued to switch over from the popular Steam network to WON2. Players may sign up for team battles and also enlist in one of the many clans that has formed. The league features two divisions of inter-clan battles. The first division, called Switch Hitters, features 4 on 4 battles where teams take turns on offense and defense and try to cap the most number of flags. The Premier division of the league, the 8 on 8 Hostile Engagement division, features intense battle where clan bragging rights and league titles are at stake.

Other games

Besides Counter-Strike 1.5, these other games are playable through WON2:

• Counter-Strike
  Counter-Strike
  Counter-Strike is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Valve Corporation which originated from a Half-Life modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe...
  
   1.6 (Steamless Port)
• Day of Defeat
  Day of Defeat
  Day of Defeat is a team-based multiplayer World War II first-person shooter video game of the European Theatre of World War II. As of 2008, the game is one of the ten most played Half-Life modifications in terms of players, according to GameSpy....
  
   1.3 (Steamless Port; Discontinued)
• Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
  Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
  Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is a multiplayer video game and the follow-up to Counter-Strike. The game was released in 2004 using the GoldSrc Half-Life engine. CS:CZ features a multiplayer mode, which features updated character models, textures, maps and other graphical tweaks...
  
   (Multiplayer Only; Steamless Port; Discontinued)
• Team Fortress Classic
  Team Fortress Classic
  Team Fortress Classic, also known as Team Fortress 1.5 or simply TFC, is a team-based multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by Valve Corporation. It is a remake of the Team Fortress modification for Quake. Team Fortress Classic was originally released for Windows on April 7, 1999 as...
  
   1.5 (up to Half-Life patch 1110), and Steamless 1.6 (Each under different mod activation)
• Sven Co-op
  Sven Co-op
  Sven Co-op is a cooperative game multiplayer modification for the first-person shooter computer game Half-Life, where players must work together against AI controlled enemies , solve puzzles and complete other objectives as a team.The game was originally created and released by Daniel 'Sven Viking'...
  
   4.07
• Science and Industry
  Science and Industry
  Science and Industry is a multiplayer, teamplay mod for the video game Half-Life. It is one of the oldest Half-Life mods and has been described as a classic one. The current version of the game is 1.1, released on December 14, 2006...
  
  
• The Specialists
  The Specialists
  The Specialists is a multiplayer modification for the first-person shooter computer game Half-Life. The final version of the mod is 3.0.-History:...
  
  
• Other Pre-Steam MODs

External links

• WON2 Server Network Monitor
• Steamless Project Site - Creator and Manager of WON2
• List of WON2 Masterserver #1, servers online now
• CS 1.5 Serverlists
• PlanetWON2
• Planet Won2 wiki
• HLDSVM - Preconfigured Linux virtual machine with HLDS patched for WON2