User Agreement Violators Terminated (Dec. 20)

[Rovec]

Today, a number of accounts which were confirmed to have violated the user agreement by using unauthorized third-party software tools within FINAL FANTASY XI to enable abnormal in-game movement were discovered and have been suspended or permanently terminated.

Based on the results of our investigation, over 7,450 PlayOnline accounts were terminated while over 250 accounts were temporarily suspended indefinitely.

The breakdown for the suspensions is as follows:

- Accounts confirmed using third party tools to illegally move their characters:
400 cases

- Accounts confirmed using third party tools to give an unfair advantage over other
players in order to get claim on Notorious Monsters.
4400 cases

- Accounts confirmed using illegal means to obtain items
100 cases

- Accounts from people that were previously confirmed to have RMT connections, or that had violated the user agreements but re-subscribed to PlayOnline.
2800 cases

The results of our investigation resulted in the confiscation of over 6.2 Billion gil

We would like to take this time to remind our players that the use of any third-party tools will not only destroy the in-game balance, but will also encourage RMT (real money trading) activities. We will continue to take strict actions against those individuals that we have confirmed to have used such tools.

Please note that some of these third-party tools may cause character information to be altered, erased, or personal information to be leaked to unwanted third parties. If you come across a third-party tool over the Internet, we ask that you please refrain from the download of such a tool, no matter how minor it may appear to be.

While we did not include a RMT heading in this announcement, RMT related activities are being investigated by a separate group and we plan to act on the results of this investigation at a later date. With the newly revised policies in effect, our GM teams are not only pursuing the buy and sell of gil, but also the illegal actions by RMT affiliates who seek to control certain areas within FINAL FANTASY XI with the purpose of furthering RMT related activities.

As of Dec. 10, the development team implemented a fix to prevent items from being obtained in an illegal manner. Action has been taken against accounts that participated in these activities.

To ensure that our customers can enjoy the game safely, we will continue to apply measurements to combat these third-party tools and violations.

We thank you for your cooperation and understanding in this matter.

[daggra]

/cheer

[hazina]

- Accounts confirmed using third party tools to give an unfair advantage over other
players in order to get claim on Notorious Monsters.
4400 cases

Senn that first hand this week in Giddeus, the sad thing about it is that over the last month this RMT person had enough reign to jack the price from 5k to 1M in 3 weeks.. Now regular fools (that is players) are like "Wow this sells for a lot now! Let's go camp it!!" Sometimes I wish these items weren't auctionable so only the people that need it would go for them, in this case bards and bsts.

[Chadness]

I know there's some of this in FFXI, but to cut down on this type of thing nearly entirely, they should go the route of WoW and make a "soulbound" system.

1) 80% of good gear people want, including all end-game gear (the most powerful stuff in the game) is "bind on pick up", which means when you pick it up its bound to you forever, you can't auction it and can't sell it to anyone other than an NPC vendor.

2) "Bind on equip" items that are sold on the AH, once you purchase them and equip them, they become "soulbound" and from then on can no longer be sold or auctioned to anyone besides an NPC vendor.

This has pretty much completely cut down on anything relating to this in WoW. Or, I should say, its never existed since this system has been in place from day one. Any "bind on equip" items that drop are completely random and its rarely a single mob that is the only one to drop the item. They're called "world drops" because any mob in a particular level range can drop that item, so unless the RMT want to farm an entire zone (or two or three or four) that is in the same level range, there's no guarantee they will get a specific item.

There are a few exceptions, like some rare crafting patterns/formulas...but for the most part this has limited any and all RMT controlled AH auctions. The only thing they really can do is farm gold and sell it.

THIS IS NOT A "WOW IS BETTER THAN FFXI" POST!!! I'm just saying, its a good system and works to highly limit RMT in WoW.

[taru]

almost all end game gear is rare/ex

All the godly stuff anyways.

[Rovec]

Tarus right, almost every end game piece is rare/ex excluding say...god gear like Kirin's Osode. Problem comes from all the low lvl good stuff and while I see what you're sayin', but alot of people like to idea of NM hunting for money. I know DK does it alot lol

[kazeken]

admin said:

The results of our investigation resulted in the confiscation of over 6.2 Billion gil

I wonder which servers the gil was located on and how concentrated it was. While 6.2 billion sounds like a lot, if 3 servers had a billion of that, the rest wont really see a change.

[taru]

check our server on ige lol

[hazina]

Yeah I can see Chad's point, I played EQII in the summer and one of the big, big difference that's actually positive about that game was that NM drops that involved weaponry or armor were pretty much all rare/ex. I found it extremely refreshing that ppl who would come across an NM would shout it out for someone who might need it, as opposed to claiming it as fast as you can.... >.>

[Chadness]

Yeah, my point was that nearly ALL wanted armor/weapon drops, besides a few select "bind on equip" world drops, in WoW are "bind on pickup", or, in FFXI terms, rare/ex. Any MMO can be subject to gold/gil farmers, but at least in WoW they don't control any prices on the auction house because of this.

I have no problem if people like the "challenge" of camping NMs for loot to sell or whatever, but if they do like it, then they have to realize that bad will come with the good and they shouldn't complain as much.

[Rovec]

chadness said:

I have no problem if people like the "challenge" of camping NMs for loot to sell or whatever, but if they do like it, then they have to realize that bad will come with the good and they shouldn't complain as much.

Amen lol Had a party member just the other day that was tellin' us how much he enjoyed the challege of NM hunting then a minute later he was whinin' about how much he hates everyone else that camps it

[daggra]

=.=; A lot of other people camping for the same NM is part of the challenge. What's the challenge if your the only one that camps it.... that's no challenge, that's just waiting >.<

[Chadness]

Challenge comes in different ways for different games...and for different people. And, some "challenge" borders on annoying...

[taru]

chad when u log on and claim O.Kote NM more than once in a week, I'll stop whining.