Formal Letter to SE about RMT situation.

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Originally Posted by Riepah

Hush hush, SE are doing all they can, give them some credit and don't be so ungrateful!

http://i.imgur.com/Oa53oaj.png

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I call Shenanigans to this.

First I want to /sign this thread. I also want to add, that I believe that SE is using RMT accounts to bolster their 2 million account claim. But, I think what is most funny or perhaps tragic is the way that RMT actually thumbs their noses at SE as a company. I just received 2 friend invites from RMT whose very names are RMT advertising. This is RMT telling SE that they are too incompetent to do anything about it. I find this to be rather sad.

Started playing FFXI again recently, and I gotta say, it's been nice actually being able to use the /tell system again... I know it's likely because the RMT all moved on to here, but, still, it's nice, I'd nearly forgotten what it was like to -have- a /tell system.

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Originally Posted by Gilben

Already seen that and this is actually inacurate. I've created my account (trial at first) at the begining of this year (february) and, when on trial period, i could /tell and /friend individuals, even at level 3. So, there is two possibilities :
- set in place only at the latest patch
- or not actually in place
Pick your choice. (too lazy to try now)

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When I did the trial some 2-3 months ago I couldn't use the /tell or the /yell or the /shout at all, nor could I trade or use market boards, though I could friend people. This is the free trial were talking about right, not the trial period you get when buying the game?

Here's some comparative info: SE bans less than 10,000 accounts a week, WoW bans 100,000
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2484318,00.asp

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If you're a World of Warcraft player, you might notice fewer people hanging around your favorite digital gathering spots this weekend. And if you're a World of Warcraft player who used third-party hacks to give yourself an in-game advantage over other players, you're probably sitting around wondering what to do with all your new free time.
According to a post from a Blizzard community manager, the game's developer recently hit a large number of players with in-game bans for doing just that—using third-party tools to game the game. According to one of the game's support staff, in an in-game conversation with a player, more than 100,000 World of Warcraft accounts were suspended for cheating.

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Originally Posted by KisaiTenshi

Here's some comparative info: SE bans less than 10,000 accounts a week, WoW bans 100,000
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2484318,00.asp

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Blizzard is also the only dev company to have successfully sued both bot makers AND an RMT company. Of course, they're the only successful ones because they're the only ones who bothered to try.

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Originally Posted by KisaiTenshi

Here's some comparative info: SE bans less than 10,000 accounts a week, WoW bans 100,000
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2484318,00.asp

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Also consider that according to a large majority of hacking and botting sites, ffxiv is a MORE favorable game to bot on than wow is, and has been for over a year. There are more bots on FFXIV, than there are on WoW nowadays.

Couple that 100,000 accounts that Blizz suspended (they didn't even ban, just a temporary suspension) to the fact that SE is currently boasting only about 700k active subs. Getting rid of the bots and RMT, SE would likely lose around 1/6th of their active population, which is a HUGE financial loss.

WoW lost 4.5 million dollars in that ban. I don't believe SE and FFXIV has that kind of cash cushion to take that kind of loss, like blizzard/Activision can.

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Originally Posted by tocsin

/snip

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Right now SE is running the risk of losing the entire NA market. That is what will happen if this problem carries over to 3.0. Remember that the influx of new players is neglagable. No matter how die hard people are they will endure only so much before they move on to something else. If that happens SE will suffer a a shot to their reputation that would be devastating. Their goal of becoming a global company could be irretrievably lost and they will be relegated to being a regional company for the foreseeable future. Is that a price they are willing to pay? They need to answer that question immediately and let subs know before they actually shell out money for an expansion that is not viable from a company with no future.

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Originally Posted by Rizon

snip.

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While I can completely understand your thought process on this one, I don't see SE losing the ENTIRE market in NA. there is a large subsection of people on the verge of leaving, but there is also a subsection of people who will stay regardless of RMT spam.

Also, as to whether they are willing to take that risk, see the lack of response they have given, and you already have your answer. The NA playerbase has always been an oversight for SE, from the terrible localization of classic games, to the lack of customer support, to the lack of international release of many of its top games. FFXIV has been very similar, with only questions asked by the JP playerbase answered, and then translated over to a thread here.

Also, considering that most bots are located in NA, I wouldn't be surprised if bots and RMT comprised more than 50% of the NA playerbase.

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Originally Posted by tocsin

While I can completely understand your thought process on this one, I don't see SE losing the ENTIRE market in NA. there is a large subsection of people on the verge of leaving, but there is also a subsection of people who will stay regardless of RMT spam.

Also, as to whether they are willing to take that risk, see the lack of response they have given, and you already have your answer. The NA playerbase has always been an oversight for SE, from the terrible localization of classic games, to the lack of customer support, to the lack of international release of many of its top games. FFXIV has been very similar, with only questions asked by the JP playerbase answered, and then translated over to a thread here.

Also, considering that most bots are located in NA, I wouldn't be surprised if bots and RMT comprised more than 50% of the NA playerbase.

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Quite sad when you think about it. The clock is ticking, there isn't that much time left to fix this before the expansion comes out. It was like this in FFXI as well, NA concerns taking a backseat to JP ones. Though this is most likely because it is easier to communicate with JP for them, /shrug. Still no excuse. I wish there was someone who was willing and able to translate my OP into Japanese and post it on their forums, but even then I don't think SE would do anything. I have spoken to SE in the only language that SE cares about, by refusing to buy Heavensward. Despite how good of an expansion it ends up being, they don't deserve my money or support for the horrible way they have handled this. Why is their customer support on the NA side of things so infamously terrible? Why has this not been changed when they've had over a decade to fix their NA customer service?

It is a huge issue. SE cares more about the western players then you may think. The presentation letters from SE president to share holders was about how to appeal to the western market which is a larger stake of profit then even the homeland player base at this point in time. It is enough that FF 14 ARR was made to appeal to a western crowd and if we use the avenue SE gives us to express our desire for the RMT/BOT issues to be dealt with via suggestion email,forum and more as a unified voice put in a constructive response I think they will do something about it. FF 14 right now is SE's flagship game and most funded of their games.

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Originally Posted by Vlady

It is a huge issue. SE cares more about the western players then you may think. The presentation letters from SE president to share holders was about how to appeal to the western market which is a larger stake of profit then even the homeland player base at this point in time. It is enough that FF 14 ARR was made to appeal to a western crowd and if we use the avenue SE gives us to express our desire for the RMT/BOT issues to be dealt with via suggestion email,forum and more as a unified voice put in a constructive response I think they will do something about it. FF 14 right now is SE's flagship game and most funded of their games.

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Where is the proper place to submit suggestions where they would actually be looked at by home office?

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Originally Posted by Cakekizy

Where is the proper place to submit suggestions where they would actually be looked at by home office?

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Japanese forum, in Japanese, probably.

No. The feedback forum which is actually monitored by staff unlike general which is at most moderated for rule infractions on posting and not likely monitored for feedback.

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Originally Posted by Vlady

No. The feedback forum which is actually monitored by staff unlike general which is at most moderated for rule infractions on posting and not likely monitored for feedback.

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http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...4-Gold-Sellers

I think they have enough posts here to also realize by now how much of an issue this is.

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Originally Posted by Vlady

No. The feedback forum which is actually monitored by staff unlike general which is at most moderated for rule infractions on posting and not likely monitored for feedback.

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Quite incorrect. There is no game feedback forum. People post game feedback in the WEBSITE feedback forum, which is supposed to be used to make suggestions on how to improve the forums, and they get largely ignored.

The #1 most addressed subforum on the entire site is the JP general discussion.

I agree it's an issue. I'd be happy with an optional keyword chat filter that allows the user to input keywords to filter tells. Filtering out tells with "gil" and www" would negate 99.9% of my tell spam.

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Originally Posted by Dante_V

I agree it's an issue. I'd be happy with an optional keyword chat filter that allows the user to input keywords to filter tells. Filtering out tells with "gil" and www" would negate 99.9% of my tell spam.

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Isn't gil also used a lot in non-RMT messages?

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Originally Posted by tocsin

Quite incorrect. There is no game feedback forum. People post game feedback in the WEBSITE feedback forum, which is supposed to be used to make suggestions on how to improve the forums, and they get largely ignored.

The #1 most addressed subforum on the entire site is the JP general discussion.

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Then maybe it's time we flood the Jap forum. Google translate is good enough to get the point across.

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Originally Posted by Zorvan

Then maybe it's time we flood the Jap forum. Google translate is good enough to get the point across.

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Most likely result for something hostile like flooding, is suspensions or bans.

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Originally Posted by Cakekizy

Most likely result for something hostile like flooding, is suspensions or bans.

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Which would be ironic, since S-E is the one creating the hostile environment.

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Originally Posted by Cakekizy

Isn't gil also used a lot in non-RMT messages?

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Maybe, but the point is that it's both optional and customizable. If you don't want to filter that word then you can pick another.

*Walks into thread*

*Sees horse devoid of life*

*Kicks it*

*Leaves*

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Originally Posted by Zorvan

Which would be ironic, since S-E is the one creating the hostile environment.

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IF we want to get technical its the players causing the hostile environment by buying the gill allowing the the gill sellers to continue to survive so don't go all lynch mob to the jpn forums and make their community suffer for a problem that started because our community. Yes SE can do more to make it easier to report and take care of the issue but in all truth its the players fault themselves that this started in the first place so like i said don't go complaining on the JPN forums in English you wont' ever get an answer you will potentially get suspended.

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Originally Posted by Rizon

Right now SE is running the risk of losing the entire NA market. That is what will happen if this problem carries over to 3.0. Remember that the influx of new players is neglagable. No matter how die hard people are they will endure only so much before they move on to something else. If that happens SE will suffer a a shot to their reputation that would be devastating. Their goal of becoming a global company could be irretrievably lost and they will be relegated to being a regional company for the foreseeable future. Is that a price they are willing to pay? They need to answer that question immediately and let subs know before they actually shell out money for an expansion that is not viable from a company with no future.

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You're right, except for one question: How did they survive 1.0? :)

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Originally Posted by Dante_V

I agree it's an issue. I'd be happy with an optional keyword chat filter that allows the user to input keywords to filter tells. Filtering out tells with "gil" and www" would negate 99.9% of my tell spam.

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What about just the whole darn tell/say is filtered (meaning the whole phrase itself). Also it might carry into other chat modes (so 'www' only text filter is also quite unfeasible, this also agrees with the person who mentioned the 'gil' text filter).

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Originally Posted by Zorvan

Which would be ironic, since S-E is the one creating the hostile environment.

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if someone were to at least be able to translate them correctly (google translate is horrible with Asian languages) I think it would at least be a worthwhile venture. I would gladly risk a ban for that.

I'll just leave the rest alone. No matter how bad SE is with RMT enforcement, they are pretty good at handling players personally harassing other players.

Don't know if it fits in here, but I think there should be a "block friend request: yes/no" option next to the busy status. (I really don't like the icon and I hate that you can't whisper then)
And somewhat like "You need to be Lv. 5 to whisper". It's so annoying clicking these damn gilsellers away. A friend of mine just got 8 requests in 2 hours and put himself in busy status right now because it's annoying to click all the requests away every time.. >___>

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Originally Posted by Starcade

You're right, except for one question: How did they survive 1.0? :)

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I am assuming your talking about SE. If so then it is because they decided to do something unheard of before for an Asian company; they admitted their errors and promised to correct them and make changes which Yoshida did. He ushered in a new era of openness, also unheard of. Because of that the people who stayed overlooked the massive problems with RMT in 1.0 to allow the team to concentrate on 2.0 with the hopes that the RMT problem would be properly addressed then. It wasn't and era of openness evaporated over time. Now all you get is propaganda, nothing of substance. There have been no changes to the core business practices that govern SE's dealings with NA/EU and you are seeing the results of that now.

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Originally Posted by Uni-chin

Don't know if it fits in here, but I think there should be a "block friend request: yes/no" option next to the busy status. (I really don't like the icon and I hate that you can't whisper then)
And somewhat like "You need to be Lv. 5 to whisper". It's so annoying clicking these damn gilsellers away. A friend of mine just got 8 requests in 2 hours and put himself in busy status right now because it's annoying to click all the requests away every time.. >___>

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Prepare yourself for a constant spam of party invites if they ever add a "block incoming friends invites" option.

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Originally Posted by CUTS3R

Prepare yourself for a constant spam of party invites if they ever add a "block incoming friends invites" option.

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party invites would be preferable to the friend requests since for some reason hitting "No" on the friend request popup still requires me to open my friends list and remove it manually.

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Originally Posted by dejavutwo

party invites would be preferable to the friend requests since for some reason hitting "No" on the friend request popup still requires me to open my friends list and remove it manually.

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Actually, they would be much preferable:
Auto Decline
Only one active at a time
Still blocked by /busy
Avoidable while in a party
Able to find exact bot location to report if accepted
Teleport blocking (send them a teleport request to interfere with them)

Or, give everyone 50 million gil when they start, whilst that may sound ridiculous there are still people who don't want to craft but still buy things from mb, the economy is good and even if crafters were to sell items at overinflated prices there is always someone who will come in cheaper

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Originally Posted by Maxipep

Or, give everyone 50 million gil when they start, whilst that may sound ridiculous there are still people who don't want to craft but still buy things from mb, the economy is good and even if crafters were to sell items at overinflated prices there is always someone who will come in cheaper

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Prices would just rise to an equitable value, wealth is a relative number not absolute constant.

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Originally Posted by CUTS3R

Prepare yourself for a constant spam of party invites if they ever add a "block incoming friends invites" option.

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It has begun. "Game Eays" (can you guess the website...?) has been spamming me with party invites today. I noticed him early in Gridania in front of Mother Miounne (whenever I see a level 1 male hyur, I check them), sent the usual report, got the usual answer, and a few hours later, the spam started.

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Originally Posted by Arkann

It has begun. "Game Eays" (can you guess the website...?) has been spamming me with party invites today. I noticed him early in Gridania in front of Mother Miounne (whenever I see a level 1 male hyur, I check them), sent the usual report, got the usual answer, and a few hours later, the spam started.

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Yes i know. I got invited by him litterally 10mins after i posted that.

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Originally Posted by Sicno

Well... now advertisers are standing on busy places in cities (like aetherites and GC headquarters) and using /say to spam

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Free trial accounts are blocked from using /tell, /shout, or /yell, but I'm pretty sure /say was left available so that trial players would at least have some method of communication. It seems some of the RMT folks have decided to use that fact to get some use out of accounts that don't cost them anything.

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Originally Posted by Vlady

It is enough that FF 14 ARR was made to appeal to a western crowd and if we use the avenue SE gives us to express our desire for the RMT/BOT issues to be dealt with via suggestion email,forum and more as a unified voice put in a constructive response I think they will do something about it.

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If so, then why do you think they haven't done anything about it yet? We've been addressing this problem, with lots of constructive suggestions, ever since the game released. We're still waiting on SE to do anything. (Ok, they did add blacklisting. But that's a far cry from taking care of the problem.)

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Originally Posted by Vlady

No. The feedback forum which is actually monitored by staff unlike general which is at most moderated for rule infractions on posting and not likely monitored for feedback.

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If only there actually were a feedback forum, I'd agree. But since there isn't, feedback winds up in General. (Actually the lack of a Feedback or Suggestions forum is itself rather telling about SE's regard for players' concerns. :()

Mugiawara: "They need to find the peoples who are buying the Gil and ban them too.

Yes, just like any fire you have to remove both the fuel and the catalyst which caused it, the demand and then the supply.
One of the things which really annoys me is how blatantly and openly they sell as well.
I am on Cerberus and from what you have all been saying, it is not as rife there as it is on some other worlds, but I thought we had it bad enough.
Once you get one friend request, you check it out (if you need to) and as has been said it is invariably from a Gladiator on the steps of Ul' Dah at level 0, so you refuse the friend request. No sooner have you done the pointless "Are you SURE you want to decline Shitface's friendship request x2 to delete it, then there is another request from the same tosser!
I get bombarded by the same 3 names constantly in batches though, not lots of different bots?
Whats more their user name is Ggat.com. Sellgillig, or something similar and randomly generated!

So WHY can't SE recognize them for what they are as I can if they're trying to stop the practice?
So after I blocked and reported that one, it is closely followed by another one, like drunks at opening time!
It must be pretty crowded on Ul'Dah's steps as well, the amount that come from there. This fellow will be called gcom.Sellgillart though , so it must be a family business.
Anyway I blacklisted and reported them, which with the clumsy interface is not so quick, but within 10 mins or so they're doing the friendship request again, just after I have entered a dungeon and up to my eyes in things trying to eat me!
So the Blacklist did nothing, it wouldn't block a pig in a passage, but I reported the names and explained with these gill seller names they were blatantly giving the middle finger to the SE management. In those words, thinking it must hurt the management pride and they would quickly do something about them?