When checking for permission to interact, currently the smallest id takes precedence in a situation where areas enclose other areas. This makes it complicated to set up private areas within faction areas and vice versa. Same applies for open areas within a bigger private area.
When multiple areas have the same volume, players seem to agree that the most recently protected area should also take precedence.
Since we can't guarantee that the largest id is the most recent, we still use that info as we have no other way to determine age.
In other words, you can retain ownership of an area but disable and
re-enable the protection aspect at will, via the area_open chat command.
By default, nothing is any different following this commit - all
existing areas are protected, as are new ones. But you can do (for
example) "area_open 1" and if you're the owner of that area, it's
now possible for other users to interact there. "area_open 1" again to
toggle the protection back on.
Where there are sub-areas, the main owner and ALL sub-area owners at a
particulare location must have set the areas to open to disable
protection.