Square-Enix Strikes Back! Again - RMT

[Andromeda]

Originally Posted by Square Enix Development Team

From:FINAL FANTASY XI
Jun. 12, 2006 01:00 [PDT]

RMT Countermeasures

Recently, a number of accounts which were confirmed to have violated the the user agreement by using unauthorized third-party software tools were discovered and have been permanently suspended.

Since the middle of May, 2006, the development team and the GMs carried out a detailed investigation of this problem, and discovered the existence of a group using illicit methods to produce large amounts of gil that are later sold in the real world (Real Money Trading). We would like to take this opportunity to outline the measures that have been taken to correct this issue.

Based on the results of this investigation, more than 250 accounts among those found to be involved in large-scale RMT operations have been terminated. We will continue to monitor accounts suspected of dealing in gil created or obtained in an unfair manner. Thanks to these measures, more than 250 billion gil has been removed from circulation.

As has been previously stated, acts of RMT will not be tolerated in FINAL FANTASY XI, and any violations of the user agreement will be dealt with severely. We would like to assure our players that all efforts are being made to ensure a fair playing experience.

We hope to have your continuing understanding and cooperation in creating a Vana'diel that everyone can enjoy.

SE keeps going even after banning account only a few months ago. Keep is it up SE, maybe they will learn that it is a lost cause to keep making new accounts. It is highly unlikely, but hey, one can only hope. 250 billion gil remove, that is a quite a lot of gil. I do not recall how much it was last time, but it sounds like it is about the same. Eitherway, hopefully this help to continue to drive the market down to more reasonable levels.

Keep it up SE!

[LocoColt04]

Last time, if I recall, was somewhere around 80 billion. This new removal is MASSIVE compared to the last, and should really deflate the economy more abruptly than the previous. This is a gooood thing!

[Plastik Assassin]

Let me first say that I am not a Final Fantasy XI player. Never tried it, dont really care to. MMORPG's dont appeal to me in the slightest. There's nothing wrong with them, they just dont interest me personally....

I will say this though. I do understand how FFXI is played, as well as many others like it. I am not naive by any means.... The way Square Enix handles this is awesome. I wish more companies would go out of reach and lend a little more support to their fanbase by doing things like this. I know that if I was a fair player, earning gil the hard way, but also getting one upped by some twink with a fat bank account, I would be downright furious. I hate the idea of people selling gil in the real world for real world dollars. Thats just lame....

Props to SE for making the FFXI world a little more fair and balanced. Awesome work I say.

[Tech Support]

Why don't they go after IGE? Its one of the most known gillselling groups... shut their ass down! D'oh!

[Omni]

IGE is based in a different country than SE I think so... maybe that has something to do with it. All I know is that IGE currently can't be touched by SE as a company, but their gilsellers can be banned indefinitely.

[Tech Support]

IGE is based in the US.. Squeenix has its US operations as well. US companies that license Japanese anime can have sites shut down for linking to or providing fansubs... so I fail to see how Squeenix can't do the same thing. They can ban accounts all they want to, IGE and other groups will just make more. Its like the people who used to come here just to piss off the mods. You ban them, they come back.. You ban them again.. they come back.. you IP ban them, they change IPs and come back. These people are making a killing off this shit... they aren't going to stop simply because Squeenix bans a few accounts.

Hit their company with a lawsuit and force them to give up the names of every person who as ever bought gil and every person who has ever sold gil... and ban every damn one of them. I'm not saying its an easy proposition... its not, but it can be done, because what they are doing is technically piracy.

[Edward Elric]

I think it might be that since IGE is a mass corporation, SE can't touch them as a whole because the agreement only goes for the person playing. They can ban people all they want, but they're agreement states that its the person who is playing is responsible for their actions, not a higher-up.

SE can ban IP's but the Gilsellers will just get new ones and continue to sell gil.

[jmur]

Originally Posted by Tech Support

Hit their company with a lawsuit and force them to give up the names of every person who as ever bought gil and every person who has ever sold gil... and ban every damn one of them. I'm not saying its an easy proposition... its not, but it can be done, because what they are doing is technically piracy.

That would cost a lot of money on a lawsuit that can hit a grey area. Banning people does not exactly equate to an increase in profit. Although they could say it violates there(SquareEnix) user agreement.(Which it does.) But I don't think they could prove the harm in terms of finacial restitution. Although that names deal I don't know. Wouldn't that boarder on an invasion of privacy. Especially the buyers of this product. Although who knows what goes on when money battles money in the courts.

[Tech Support]

You have no legal right to privacy on the internet. If the US government busts a kiddie-porn site and your name is listed as a 'member' of that pay site, the government has every right to come to your house and arrest you.... and they do. Same thing with warez sites, etc. The problem is, there really aren't any laws yet that protect software developers from instances like this. The lawbooks haven't caught up to the technological age. The second problem is that we live in an economy that applauds such methods... and therefore the government would be leary about derailing such an enterprise. So at the end of the day, they can 'legally' abuse a game and turn a profit.

As far as Squeenix's profits go, they could claim that member count has dropped due to the exponential increase in RMT, meaning lost profit due to RMT practices causing a general dissinterest in playing the game. Hard to prove though.

In the end, they can continue to tighten the grip on things, but only so far. You have to balance how it affects the rest of the community. If the changes they make hurt everyone and not just RMTs... the damage exceeds the benefit and they cannot do it.

They should refocus their effort on perhaps curbing certain other annoyances... like camping NMs that you already have the rare/ex item from. That annoys me more than RMTs. They have the damned item and continue to camp it just to **** over other people. Or hell.. camping NMs in general. If you've already obtained the rare item off an NM, your chance of getting it again should be nerfed. All these ppl have to do is wait for the pop, kill it, and make an ass of money. They even have a damn timer so the second it pops, there they are, logging in and taking it.. magically right next to the damn NM. Shit like that should be canned.

[ZRO]

Yeah, they really need to do something about it. There's a group of about 8 or 10 RMTs that camp Castle Oztroja ALL the time on Alexander. They've completely monopolized the Fuma Kyahan and Ochiudo's Kote NMs. You can't get them, period. I've tried off and on for several months now, and no luck at any point in time.

[Skai]

On the other hand, the sky division of RMTs aren't that good at claiming though. My linkshell and I have outclaimed them several times. >_>;

But yeah... Square Enix needs to think up of a new way for people to hunt the good items.

[Andromeda]

Yeah, though people start complaining that it is going to be harder now for them to do something because of it. People complained about the 1 million cap, why I don't know. They will complain about anything. Then Beastmasters complain about the new MPK system since it hurt them. Everyone has something to complain about. But if they make it in such a way that people already with the item cannot claim the monster that would be nice. But if there are people out there like Merlin said just claming to be cruel, then they need to be stopped.

[Usagy]

Didn't notice shit of this, all gilsellers that were there before update are still there.
Big chance if they're bullshitting about the amount of gil just to please people.

Peace out