rampant IP theft and fraud

[Concerned_NA_player]

@ranelegon @special_task_force @gunisaka why was my post deleted? do you guys actually condone the IP theft by people who operate and live stream from private servers like Nasomi / eden / wings/ tabula rasa/ dark star who make money off pirated versions of your game? we love this game and the private servers are stealing away from it. some are even charging subscriptions now, and taking money from players to keep servers running and RMT. even though its stated in the legal tos, you cant do private servers how come you haven't done anything about them or given the players a clear answer on your stance regarding the blatant piracy private servers. Atleast Yoshida has made a public stance on 3rd party saying dont do it. why wont the STF make public statements on topics.

[Concerned_NA_player]

bump @moderators @special_task_force @gunisaka @Akihiko_Matsui How can you guys alllow all these private servers to exist? is your inaction to comment or remove then consent for them to exist and redistribute a bastardized version of your IP? they are completely illegal and are blatent theft., this needs to be dealt with! Wings, Catseye, blu, eden , nasomi, horizon all need to be shut down. as well as any others that pop up.

[Sp1cyryan]

It be nice if SE sent out legal notes to these private servers. Not sure the legal department is worth the cost though to do that for any beyond HorizonXI though.

Edit: Hehe

You know, we all benefit from learning.

[Pixela]

Companies have been rumored to leak high quality first 2-3 episodes of new series to piratebay, to build an audience into them.

I used to have a zero tolerance outlook on these things, now I see them as an opportunity to build the game. If people play on these servers due to the zero cost of entry and learn to love the games they will be far more likely to come play on retail.

[Sp1cyryan]

Companies have been rumored to leak high quality first 2-3 episodes of new series to piratebay, to build an audience into them.

I used to have a zero tolerance outlook on these things, now I see them as an opportunity to build the game. If people play on these servers due to the zero cost of entry and learn to love the games they will be far more likely to come play on retail.

Yeah, it's not worth trying to squash every private server. On the other hand, when one makes too much noise after a certain point. Then it is prudent to make a quick example of them.

[Uriah]

No one that gets to experience how terrible it is for free is going to start paying for it after, lol

[Immortal]

These servers should all be shut down, they spit in the face of retail and hurt it overall. So many of them talk negatively about retail and this game. Bunch of weirdos who cant handle the fact that things change. Time to delete them thnx.

[Alhanelem]

do you guys actually condone the IP theft by people It's not that they condone anything, but this isn't the sort of thing they likely want posted publicly. If you want to report illegal use of IP and such like that, it would be much more appropriate to use the legal links on their website and email them directly about this sort of thing rather than post it on a forum.

[Concerned_NA_player]

It's not that they condone anything, but this isn't the sort of thing they likely want posted publicly. If you want to report illegal use of IP and such like that, it would be much more appropriate to use the legal links on their website and email them directly about this sort of thing rather than post it on a forum.

i do nearly daily for 5 years. as well as friends who are GMs as well Matsuda on FB, and foxclon. and the jp forums and twitter, and twitch,

[Alhanelem]

i do nearly daily for 5 years. as well as friends who are GMs as well Matsuda on FB, and foxclon. and the jp forums and twitter, and twitch,Like I said, posting about and linking to illicit activity, illegal servers etc, will get deleted because they don't want it to spread. Contacting their legal team directly is the appropriate way to do this.

[Immortal]

How exactly are you contacting their legal team directly?

[BST]

Something needs to be done about this.

I was viewing Twitter today and had one of these Private Server for FFXI accounts promoted to me, the hell?

I didn't know what it was at first, then after I took a look, they are advertising on Twitter...

People are making videos on YouTube promoting it.

What is the best way to report this?

[Catmato]

Why are y'all so concerned about this? Seems weird to be so worried about a company's IP rights possibly being infringed. Are you just shareholders, trying to squeeze out those last few pennies from lawsuits?

[Sp1cyryan]

Why are y'all so concerned about this? Seems weird to be so worried about a company's IP rights possibly being infringed. Are you just shareholders, trying to squeeze out those last few pennies from lawsuits?

Some people just don't like seeing something they like being misused by another party without anything to do with the team responsible for it.

[Alhanelem]

There's also the difficulty in going after people in countries you don't have a presence in. It is extremely difficult to bring cases against people that aren't in a country where you directly do business.

[Immortal]

Why are y'all so concerned about this? Seems weird to be so worried about a company's IP rights possibly being infringed. Are you just shareholders, trying to squeeze out those last few pennies from lawsuits?

For me, I personally care because literally all those people promoting this garbage across social media are completely attacking retail and its players. I find it really terrible of them to not only promote a stupid private server but to throw retail under the bus. So ungrateful really, they are so fixated on getting their childhood back that they dont care about the health of the real game that has been there for decades. It's so cringy seeing all these "ex" XI youtube creators trying to jump on the bandwagon like its really going to rekindle their dead channels. Sorry... no. Nobody is gonna be watching XI content lol, ESPECIALLY on a private server. WOW so much fun, hes attacking that lv1 mob and swinging once per hour. GOod luck, but maybe dont take a dump on retail and persuade people away from it. If all those dummies came to retail maybe we could have gotten more support, but they all abandoned it and wrote it off as dead because their precious gear was outdated or something.

[Alhanelem]

I saw someone post here saying "First time playing retail" and im like "well they had to have come from a private server, because nobody that didn't would make that kind of distinction."

[Pixela]

Look at it this way:

When we were younger, we had all these experiences with XI that endeared it to us for whatever reason. We all have a shared history, a shared understanding of how the game used to be. If I tell a story about goblins at the zone in kazham, everyone of us understands. New players on retaill won't.

As much as I liked how XI used to be, I like it more now and Im still passionate about the game.

People who are playing and falling in love with XI on a private server (and this is happening) are in the stages we were, and the game becoming endearing to them via the private server can and will lead to them wanting to play the version of the game with far more content and more stories.

Effectively the private server can lead to new "veteran players" that love the game being made, because the game is far more simple and easier to setup for ff14 players or whatever.

I think it will end up being a positive, short and long term.

[Immortal]

idk because most of the people who refused to move on from those times are the ones hating on current retail. They have such a jaded mindset, they want retail XI to fail and die. Its incredible the amount of hatred they have for it, sad too.

[Alhanelem]

They want it to die so they can dissect it further and replicate it all on a private server where they don't have to pay a dime to play.

[Immortal]

There is a psychology behind it, it isn't so simple. They want it to die so they can feel validated in their decision to quit. This happened so many times over this games history since Abyssea. When Abyssea came out and there was a mass exodus (which was not only due to the content itself outdating gear, but also because XIV was coming out and people felt XI was done anyway) so many people across all forums said "XI is dead!" Well, that sentiment continued for every era of this games life. The funny part is most of those people have returned at various points to play again discreetly... Such a shame they dont support the game so we could actually get more expansions and content.

[Alhanelem]

(which was not only due to the content itself outdating gear, but also because XIV was coming out and people felt XI was done anyway)My perspective on abyssea is that it was a power playground, you could become super powerful, but only within these special areas. That was fun and exciting, but then future content that came out had no way of living up to this unless that power could be brought out into the rest of the game. Voidwatch tried to do this by giving you special powers for the duration of special battles, but you can't giveth power, take it away, and come away from that feeling fufilled..

[Briko]

Been playing 11 since 2003. Stopped playing in 2021, , just canceled my sub for the first time three months ago because the game has lost it's charm. I've been in 75 cap linkshells as well on retail.

I played on nearly every 75 era private server because it offers an experience that cannot be replicated in retail anymore due to many reason (such as damage calc changes, new abilities/spells, etc.). I currently am playing on the current big pserver and enjoying my time with many friends who had quit over the years and came back.

It's not a "yearning for youth." There is legitimate communuty differences between how 75 era, abyssea era, and now post rhapsodies era. I enjoy all 3 for what they are, but I will say, there is a charm to 75 cap and slow grind exp that just has no replication in today's game.

The vast vast vast majority of private server enjoyers do not partake because it's "free." I've likely dumped more on unplaying sub months than anyone posting in this thread. They play it because it's an experience that no longer exsists.

[Immortal]

It does exist if they were to play on retail. Whats the difference in smacking crabs for hours on end vs smacking those SAME crabs on retail for master levels? Theres none. The only thing is that on retail everyone bots, thats an issue that arose from SE not policing their game and the community embracing said cheats. Well, aside from this new pserver, the older ones ALL had PLs outside the party and dont lie to yourself and say they didnt. Literally every single stream I've seen for those have been one or even two power levelers outside each party in the same damn camps. Yes you are yearning for your youth and what you remember, theres is 0 difference between exping on a private server and now. The current master level grind is even LONGER than 1-75 on a p server.

[Alhanelem]

I played on nearly every 75 era private server because it offers an experience that cannot be replicated in retail anymore due to many reasonIn my mind that experience cannot be replicated anymore because we've all done it already. They could delete everything after the cap rise and it still wouldn't be the same. We'd eventually run out of reasons to play and need more content. Nostalgia is a pair of rose tinted galsses, and even if you go to a "classic" or private server, it will not be the same as when you did it for the first time. It doesn't have the same thrill or excitement factor as when everything was unknown to you.

This isn't a bad thing. it's just something that happens. But private servers are illegal and circumvent the subscription fee. And quite frankly, I think that's the real reason most people do it.

You can be 75 for as long as you want on retail by simply not doing the limit break quest. There are like minded people to play with, you can get that experience without scamming SE (whether you think they deserve it or not).



The vast vast vast majority of private server enjoyers do not partake because it's "free."I very very strongly disagree. If that were the case, they'd at least be honest and keep their sub.

You can not replicate the original experience you got when you did everything for the first time. It's simply not possible, becuase you already have the memory of it. You already know how the game works.

If you thought pounding the same monster for hours on end was the fun part of the game, that's no less doable on retail as it is elsewhere. But the real reason it was fun was the social interaction. Which is also still possible. The Master Level grind is the closest thing the game has had to that in years, and if you want to grind grind grind, simply do it the "legit" way and grind to your heart's content. I fail to see how it's different to grind on apex crabs (example) vs grinding on lesser colibri for merit points like we used to.

The fact that new things do keep happening (even if it may be slowly) here in real Vana'diel is the reason I still play. I can not ever go back to the game being frozen in some past time. And you may not realize this but that's also the reason why WoW Classic and other similar things still re-release the old expansions over time so people don't get bored; making it simply a time warp to X years ago rather than a specific date frozen in time.



there is a charm to 75 cap and slow grind exp that just has no replication in today's game.Unless you take the easy way out and pay someone to grind for you, the Master Level grind is slower than the classic level-up experience ever was.

[Pixela]

Something anyone playing on a private server needs to keep in mind, and this is something many don't understand.

A group running a private server can never make new content for the game, the only content a private server will get is reworked content the actual developers make. As such, dedicated ps players should want retail to continue as the birth place of new content you may one day get on your server.

[Briko]

...Unless you take the easy way out and pay someone to grind for you, the Master Level grind is slower than the classic level-up experience ever was.

The gameplay is slower. Slow refers to everything not just the rate of experience gain. The game on 80% fastcast 80% haste full time is not at all similar to era experience.

[camaroz]

Lol they don't care about retail, what makes you think they are going to care about private servers? They didn't do anything for the 20th anniversary and they killed any hopes of alliance play. (Yes I am quite aware of some people that don't want that but what do you say to people in your LS that you have known for years) Either way, it is laughable. Square only cares about 14. The End.

[Catmato]

I very very strongly disagree. If that were the case, they'd at least be honest and keep their sub.

That's kind of a reach. When I realize I haven't logged in for quite a while, I cancel my sub until I want to start playing again. I'm not all about throwing money away, and I assume most people are the same.

I've never played on a private server but I sincerely doubt most people play on them just because they're free.



idk because most of the people who refused to move on from those times are the ones hating on current retail.

Where are you seeing all of these people hating on the official servers? Can you link to somewhere showing this happening?

[Alhanelem]

The gameplay is slower.Even with all the haste etc. it's still slower than most modern games available today.

And is it really slower than 75 era with top end gear? I don't really agree. those SAMs are firing off WS just about as fast as they did back in the day.



That's kind of a reach.It really isn't. If you cancel your sub, usually its becuase you're not playing the game at all. If you're playing on an illegal private server, you should at least have the decency to keep paying SE as they require to play the game. You can't convince me dodging sub fees isn't at least partial motivation for playing on a private server.




Where are you seeing all of these people hating on the official servers? Can you link to somewhere showing this happening? There's literally no reason to be on a private server if you're happy with the live game.

[Catmato]

you should at least have the decency to keep paying SE as they require to play the game. You can't convince me dodging sub fees isn't at least partial motivation for playing on a private server.

If someone has no intent to ever play on official servers, why would they make and account and subscribe? Give away money because it's the "decent" thing to do? Also, I never said it wasn't partial motivation, I even implied the opposite when I said I "doubt most people play on them just because they're free."


There's literally no reason to be on a private server if you're happy with the live game.
That literally has nothing to do with the question I was asking Immortal. Not being happy with the live game doesn't mean you're going out and talking crap about it and its players, as Immortal is suggesting is happening. I'm not implying it doesn't happen, but I doubt it's happening on any kind of scale that would make any difference to SE's bottom line.

[Alhanelem]

If someone has no intent to ever play on official servers, why would they make and account and subscribe?Because they're not a new player and already have an account.

[Immortal]

The gameplay is slower. Slow refers to everything not just the rate of experience gain. The game on 80% fastcast 80% haste full time is not at all similar to era experience.

So just the fact that you take ages to swing your weapons or cast spells from 1-74 somehow makes it more fun to you? I know you don't mean 75 endgame, because clearly we used to melee burn a lot of things at that era once people knew about bard/cor swapping. We attacked close to the same rate given you could cap haste then with a ghorn and soul voice etc. We used to melee burn colibri for merits and it was very fast attacking. RDM was super overused in that era too with tons of fast cast. You are just lying to yourself to be in pretend land. Not to mention the incredibly popular strat of using large groups of BLM to time nuked things to death. That was pretty fast if you ask me.

[Immortal]

That's kind of a reach. When I realize I haven't logged in for quite a while, I cancel my sub until I want to start playing again. I'm not all about throwing money away, and I assume most people are the same.

I've never played on a private server but I sincerely doubt most people play on them just because they're free.



Where are you seeing all of these people hating on the official servers? Can you link to somewhere showing this happening?

Yes its all over youtube, im not gonna link every video. Actually if you simply type "FFXI" into youtube it literally fills your screen with the new p server as if its FFXI reborn LOL. Just look into the comment sections, filled with misinformation from people who STILL think we are in Abyssea. They are saying the game is "TOO EZ" when they dont even know what an odyssey v20+ NM is like!!! They think we solo everything with trusts and they say the game is dead. It is literally all over youtube and fan sites, I saw it on Reddit too. You would have to live under a rock to not see the hate retail XI gets.

[Auriga]

I'm going to just add that square needs to take more interest in 11 an do right by the loyal players. I still stand against all the private servers and their supporters. I don't care what else someone has to say about it generating xyz for retail. When the rules come down on a legit player we get told xyz about the rules an how their not "just for other people". I say this double standard needs to stop or get official support to end the debate once an for all.

Square Enix, Special Task Force, GM's, Customer Support, other levels of related staff, all need to weigh in as one team here an decide.

I will not be coming back to read replies to this post unless it's from admins or higher up, I said my part on this. bye.

[Pixela]

These private servers are effectively unlimited free trials, they are not the full experience and are missing lots of content.

[Alhanelem]

These private servers are effectively unlimited free trials, they are not the full experience and are missing lots of content.
While this is all true, most people that are playing on them for content reasons are playing on them *because* they're missing content. That said, there are ways they can more or less do those things on live. A random facebook group I have had someone post a link to an XI private server, though surprisingly numerous people complained and it was taken down by the group admins.

(what I'm saying is that the people playing on these servers are the people who've been begging SE to do an "FFXI Classic." Even though you can basically do that on any official server by not completing the level 80 limit break quest and have access to all 75 content and also quality-of-life imporvements like the home point teleportaiton and such)