JabberID

Every entity on a Jabber network -- and therefore, on Volity -- is uniquely identifiable by a JabberID, or JID. A JabberID takes the form

 NODE@HOST/RESOURCE

• NODE is the name that distinguishes this entity from other Jabber users on the same host. You can think of it as a user name or screen name.
• HOST is the network name of the machine running the Jabber server that the entity is connecting from, such as volity.net.
• RESOURCE is a little tricky. When a user or other entity establishes a connection to a Jabber server, it also specifies a "resource" string that distinguishes this particular connection from any others that the same entity might be carrying on. So two JIDs that differ only in resource refer to the same entity.

Note that the node and resource parts are optional (but Jabber entities use all three parts).

It's important to note that all automated Volity entities that expect unsolicited communication from other users -- namely, parlors and the bookkeeper -- always have a resource string of volity. This allows users to contact them without having to figure out what resource to use.

Referees and clients generally have ugly, random-looking resource strings like ref_3221_1136823991 or JavolinBJKVWS. (This allows the mechanisms behind these entities to reuse the same JID under different resource strings for separate tasks, such as parlors do when spawning off new referees.)

The game record and ELO score information stored by the bookkeeper do not include resource strings. Players are referred to only by their bare JID (NODE@HOST). This ensure that even if you play Volity games from several clients, all your games redound to your credit.