Formal Letter to SE about RMT situation.

Phoenix has been completely free of RMT spam for a few days now. It's never actually been bad on Phoenix to be fair but we used to get the odd friend request every couple of hours... Nothing at all in the last few days though.

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Originally Posted by Niwashi

Last night I actually saw noticeably less RMT spam than usual. It was still there, but at least wasn't as constant.

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This still held up again last night. I was on for about three hours or so and only got a dozen RMT /tell messages and one of their Friend requests. Still an annoyance when they do happen, but nowhere near the flood of constant harassment I've usually been seeing.

(Coeurl server)

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Originally Posted by Morbid

*Walks into thread*

*Sees horse devoid of life*

*Kicks it*

*Leaves*

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I about died laughing from this, and your name doesn't help.
Thank you for making my morning. Ah Jesus. Good times.

New tactic.

Please address this issues publicly, you need to show us you care about our concerns...I am not requesting paragraphs or total transparency, just an acknowledgement you know so many us feel harassed.

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Originally Posted by Spykun

Yes, go to:

Character Config >> Log Window Settings (on the side) >> Notification Sounds tab (at the top)

http://i.imgur.com/JnVW2mM.jpg

From here you can either uncheck "Tell" to turn off sound or change the sound to something lighter and less annoying.

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Thanks for the reply. :)

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Originally Posted by Magusrex

New tactic.

Please address this issues publicly, you need to show us you care about our concerns...I am not requesting paragraphs or total transparency, just an acknowledgement you know so many us feel harassed.

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You mean postings like this that they do every couple of weeks...

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...922c46b287c736

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Originally Posted by Fuma

You mean postings like this that they do every couple of weeks...

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...922c46b287c736

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Nope, that has been worthless, problem is worse.

It would look more like this

Mr (Important position in the company)

I wanted to take a few moments out of my day to address the concerns many of you have because your concerns are our concerns. We understand many of you are feeling harassed by influx of RMT into the game. Your feedback is important to us. We have been banning accounts but we do recognize that this has had little if any affect on the amount requests and tells you receive. We have made battling this a priority and are currently in the process of implementing new policies and procedures that should have a larger affect. If they do not, we intend to work relentlessly to resolve this matter. We appreciate your continued patience.

Those banning posts are meaningless. I want to be able to log in and not be harassed, other MMOs have done a much better job with this,go headhunting and hire someone who can fix this if the current team cannot. However I have a sinking feeling that banning people is creating revenue for SE because they are buying more games, If so I think we are hosed and will never hear from anyone. Why do they let sites exist that post blatanly how much gil they have available for each world, their preferred methods of transferring the gil and why you will not get caught. I am sure someone working for SE knows how to google, if I can find this, why can't they? Set up a sting operation, put your lawyers to work and shut these sites down. No will come to the forums, no one will speak to us because they are profiting through our harassment, it is the only thing that makes sense.

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Originally Posted by Fuma

You mean postings like this that they do every couple of weeks...

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...922c46b287c736

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People really should stop referring to that as an example of action towards the problem at hand. The bans they publicize do practically nothing at all to stop the annoyance of the inevitable waves of /tell and FRs to come after. Unless they went in and properly changed filter options on the servers, player QoL will forever be afflicted by RMT annoyance, no matter how often they realistically ban accounts. It'd be like unnecessarily leaving the doors and windows open, be annoyed about the dust/bugs/etc that frequently get in, clean the area and kill any bugs that are seen, be annoyed again about the dust/bugs/etc that get in immediately after, clean everything again, and repeat for eternity. Would you really think highly of people like that? LOL. The solutions are pretty obvious there. Shut the doors/windows (not the best option if you'd like to let in some fresh air), install screens to help filter out frequent annoyances (... *cough*), and so on. Apply that to the game, how you'd like.

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Originally Posted by Welsper59

People really should stop referring to that as an example of action towards the problem at hand. The bans they publicize do practically nothing at all to stop the annoyance of the inevitable waves of /tell and FRs to come after. Unless they went in and properly changed filter options on the servers, player QoL will forever be afflicted by RMT annoyance, no matter how often they realistically ban accounts. It'd be like unnecessarily leaving the doors and windows open, be annoyed about the dust/bugs/etc that frequently get in, clean the area and kill any bugs that are seen, be annoyed again about the dust/bugs/etc that get in immediately after, clean everything again, and repeat for eternity. Would you really think highly of people like that? LOL. The solutions are pretty obvious there. Shut the doors/windows (not the best option if you'd like to let in some fresh air), install screens to help filter out frequent annoyances (... *cough*), and so on. Apply that to the game, how you'd like.

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+1 for the apt analogy and for speaking truth. The RMT plague is like a swarm of insects.

I'm so glad the 15 people that bought gil who are just as bad as those that advertise/sell gil only get temporary bans. Clearly SE doesn't care about the integrity of the game.

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Originally Posted by Niwashi

This still held up again last night. I was on for about three hours or so and only got a dozen RMT /tell messages and one of their Friend requests. Still an annoyance when they do happen, but nowhere near the flood of constant harassment I've usually been seeing.

(Coeurl server)

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Yep I think this happened to me right during the ending cutscene for the story quest that requires you to do The Stone Vigil. I think I received about 5-10 between the final cutscene for that quest and the rest of that chain.

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Originally Posted by Barimu

I'm so glad the 15 people that bought gil who are just as bad as those that advertise/sell gil only get temporary bans. Clearly SE doesn't care about the integrity of the game.

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Depends how long the temporary ban is. A 5 year ban would be just as effective as a permanent ban, even though it's technically temporary.

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Originally Posted by Cakekizy

Depends how long the temporary ban is. A 5 year ban would be just as effective as a permanent ban, even though it's technically temporary.

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That's the problem though, we don't know how long a temp ban is. If they informed us it was 5 years that would be fine, but because they leave it for interpretation it could be a month or 3 months for all we know.

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Originally Posted by Welsper59

It'd be like unnecessarily leaving the doors and windows open, be annoyed about the dust/bugs/etc that frequently get in, clean the area and kill any bugs that are seen, be annoyed again about the dust/bugs/etc that get in immediately after, clean everything again, and repeat for eternity. Would you really think highly of people like that? LOL. The solutions are pretty obvious there. Shut the doors/windows (not the best option if you'd like to let in some fresh air), install screens to help filter out frequent annoyances (... *cough*), and so on. Apply that to the game, how you'd like.

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So block anyone that tries to get in then? Yes that'd fix the problem since we'd eventually weed out all the RMT buyers/sellers but no new member could get in either since RMT get into the game in the same manner that we do.

Still nothing, huh? Starting to think that we are not going to hear anything at all until after the expansion, if at all.

Will report on Zalera where I had gotten about 3-5 gil bot friend requests per day that's dropped to maybe 1 every other day. And no, I don't have busy up. The /tells...have quieted down somewhat. I don't know if that's SE or if that's partly pre-expac dry spell and they know not many people are looking. They're still there and they pop up frequently, but it is noticeably less. Which surprised me considering it was the weekend.

On Zalera in particular it seems the majority of the spamming ad bots are kidnapped/hacked characters because they do have legit names. When I first joined they were the typical asdfhlsh mess.

During the few times I've logged into my server over the last month for gold saucer shenanigans, I've received a dozen friend requests from RMT players with essentially the same name. "Website'com Sellgil###" has been the pattern of every single name. Do they even HAVE a name filter anymore?

They REALLY need to let me blacklist incoming friend requests, I'm sick of this garbage.

Quite obviously everyone here is mistaking SE for someone who gives a damn. They don't. The only posters that get responses are White Knight/Fanboys and only from the mildest fluff pieces. Serious players need to take their concerns elsewhere.

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Originally Posted by Gunspec

During the few times I've logged into my server over the last month for gold saucer shenanigans, I've received a dozen friend requests from RMT players with essentially the same name. "Website'com Sellgil###" has been the pattern of every single name. Do they even HAVE a name filter anymore?

They REALLY need to let me blacklist incoming friend requests, I'm sick of this garbage.

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For that last part, no...if they did that every new player's (completely legitimate) friendlist would be empty because they're all blacklisted because of these gil selling characters.

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Originally Posted by Solaria_Luna

if they did that every new player's (completely legitimate) friendlist would be empty

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I don't mean automatically blacklisted. I mean, if I get a friend request from "SirRMT McSellGOLD", I should be able to click the name and blacklist immediately and cancel the friendlist attempt in-progress. As it is, I have to click "no" on initial friend request pop-up, open friend tab, click "decline friend request", and then click the name again to blacklist.

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Originally Posted by Rizon

Quite obviously everyone here is mistaking SE for someone who gives a damn. They don't.

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All it would take is for this level of shenanigans to suddenly occur on Japanese servers or in situations where the developers themselves are involved. Get players complaining about it in Japanese press, and I can guarantee there would be a change. The current FFXIV team is quite different from the FFXIII hallway simulator team.

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Originally Posted by Gunspec

I don't mean automatically blacklisted. I mean, if I get a friend request from "SirRMT McSellGOLD", I should be able to click the name and blacklist immediately and cancel the friendlist attempt in-progress. As it is, I have to click "no" on initial friend request pop-up, open friend tab, click "decline friend request", and then click the name again to blacklist.

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Oh that...I wish that happened too. Or maybe a name filter (set to that arrangement of letters and apostrophes) + a blacklist popup.

The RMT issue was a huge turn off for me as a new player. Getting spammed like that makes it a very unpleasant experience for someone just coming in to the game.

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Originally Posted by Pterois

some sorta user controlled filter where we set the words... then just copy and paste the common words they use, i'll play :P don't forget the challenge log block 100 spams and get 10,000 MGP!!! we'll kill the bots for you \^_^/

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A user controlled filter with support for regular expression statements would be great for blocking the spam in the log. And a user controlled filter with regular expression support to block friend requests from players with names following patterns.

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Originally Posted by Fuma

You mean postings like this that they do every couple of weeks...

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...922c46b287c736

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Too many steps required to report that sort of activity vs the frequency at which it occurs. Takes too much time out of actually playing.

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Originally Posted by Spykun

Yes, go to:

Character Config >> Log Window Settings (on the side) >> Notification Sounds tab (at the top)

http://i.imgur.com/JnVW2mM.jpg

From here you can either uncheck "Tell" to turn off sound or change the sound to something lighter and less annoying.

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Thanks for sharing. Been playing for a week on PS4 and the options menu are a beast to navigate through with the controller so I haven't dug into them yet. This should help some of the annoyance I experience from this spam (I'm sound sensitive) and I should probably hook up a mouse to dig more into the options.

on Balmung, for me, it has been mostly nonexistent…when I was on Lamia though, about once a minute like you are dealing with.

Hello?
Square?
Are you going to address this at all? This and housing are some of the biggest issues surrounding the game at the moment.
We need a clear game plan, please.

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Originally Posted by Gramul

Hello?
Square?
Are you going to address this at all? This and housing are some of the biggest issues surrounding the game at the moment.
We need a clear game plan, please.

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LOL It's so comical to see everybody up in a tissy about text on a screen. SE's game plan is to not say anything, because quite frankly they don't need to.
there are ways to get rid of them without going /busy if you're on a PC.

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Originally Posted by Haibel

LOL It's so comical to see everybody up in a tissy about text on a screen. SE's game plan is to not say anything, because quite frankly they don't need to.
there are ways to get rid of them without going /busy if you're on a PC.

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They don't need to? Why is that? These other "ways" to get rid of the /tells that you speak of, if it's what I think it is, is for one against the ToS, and for two new players are not going to know to do it, which was the main concern of my entire thread to begin with. Do you get how many new players they will drive away with this come Heavensward? They absolutely need to do something about this.

This "text on a screen" is making the /tell channel unusable. People are having to inconvenience themselves just to communicate to one another privately. They have to deal with constant harassment of friend request and garbage /tells if they don't go busy. I made this thread because they have the opportunity of a lifetime right now with Heavensward, with the state the other MMOs are in right now, they can rake in MASSIVE subs if they play this right. I want them to succeed, but this RMT harassment bs is going to put a serious handicap on their western subs.

I think this post just put us at 100 pages of developer apathy.

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Originally Posted by Haibel

LOL It's so comical to see everybody up in a tissy about text on a screen. SE's game plan is to not say anything, because quite frankly they don't need to.
there are ways to get rid of them without going /busy if you're on a PC.

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It's comical to think that some people are ok with the current situation. There are a lot of players on PS3 and PS4 so I guess the solution is "Man, all these RMT tells, guess its time to buy a PC". Also, by saying they don't need to is a rather big statement to make by someone, who I am assuming, doesn't work for SE. I'd think they do if they don't want to lose players and want to continue to grow their player base. A chatlog full of spam is a HUGE turnoff to a new player, and a guaranteed way for someone to not want to continue. Add that to the rampant friend requests they send now and its starting to become infuriating. As the OP stated, it's harassment.

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Originally Posted by Fenral

I think this post just put us at 100 pages of developer apathy.

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only if you use the default number of posts per page.

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Originally Posted by Haibel

LOL It's so comical to see everybody up in a tissy about text on a screen. SE's game plan is to not say anything, because quite frankly they don't need to.
there are ways to get rid of them without going /busy if you're on a PC.

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I have made two reasonable posts in this thread.
This isn't a 'tissy'. You do not want to see me in a tizzy. You don't want to see me perturbed. You likely don't even want to see me annoyed.
But if I continually have to deal with these irritating snide dismissals over the few key problems that still orbit this experience I may well be on my way down the road to irate-burg. And it is not a pleasant place to be.
Are we copacetic Haibel? Are we on the same page here?

I think it'll be a better experience for everyone if we don't have to deal with it. And I would like to know if the company is actually going to deal with it. And if you don't mind, I am not in the mood for obtuse defense.

Come on Squeenix. It's getting ridiculous.

Actually, it's been ridiculous for a while now. And clearly you don't give a damn about the non-Japanese.

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Originally Posted by jnaze2

It's comical to think that some people are ok with the current situation. There are a lot of players on PS3 and PS4 so I guess the solution is "Man, all these RMT tells, guess its time to buy a PC". Also, by saying they don't need to is a rather big statement to make by someone, who I am assuming, doesn't work for SE. I'd think they do if they don't want to lose players and want to continue to grow their player base. A chatlog full of spam is a HUGE turnoff to a new player, and a guaranteed way for someone to not want to continue. Add that to the rampant friend requests they send now and its starting to become infuriating. As the OP stated, it's harassment.

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That's actually an interesting point to make. I'm fairly sure if Player A would spam unwanted invites, FRs, and /tells to Player B, that B could report A for harassment. Would a GM take action? Probably, as they would use harassment as the violation committed (a serious offense). Therefore, isn't the lack of effective filtering (see "protection") a subtle statement that SE would give up on offenses, including serious ones, if it were rampant? LOL. Quite a bit of a leap there, but it's slowly beginning to seem plausible.

Solutions are rather obvious and not difficult in the least to utilize. Like everything else, a fix will come with some potential detriment, but it's not game breaking in the least. For example: making any fix an optional player setting - block incoming Friend Requests (outgoing still allowed) - block /tell from anonymous players or from level of player choice (Friends List excluded) - Right click report (or just a shortcut in general to report for RMT from name dropdown). Would that stop RMT from doing what they do? Of course not... but it'd alleviate WAY more than having nothing at all set up, like it currently is. Oh and let's not forget finally fixing the initial decline of an FR. No means no people... "no" does not mean "hmm I'll say no, then contemplate for the next split second whether that was the right decision as I choose to decline again!"

I can tell you this much: Heavensward will not be as enjoyable as they think it will be for the NA/EU servers if, like the majority of players, we have sound on for our /tell functions and we sit through story with that crap going off non-stop like it happened for many with the 2.55 ending. RMT will hit hard come the expansion launch or shortly after, if SE has zero plans to filter them. They've always been a company that the devs underestimates the problems their international players face, but in the case of FFXIV, I guess that's not surprising when you don't play among them. Source: Experiencing the impact of RMT, and SE's slow (if not non-existent) approach to stopping them since 2003. I will admit though, the addition of the Bounty Hunter goblins in FFXI was an interesting and awesome measure to combat RMT fishing bots. Didn't stop them, but it reduced their numbers significantly for a long time.

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Originally Posted by SpiritMuse

Come on Squeenix. It's getting ridiculous.

Actually, it's been ridiculous for a while now. And clearly you don't give a damn about the non-Japanese.

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It's likely not that they don't give a damn about the non-JP, it's that they don't understand the magnitude for whatever reason (and perhaps the concerns of non-JP are slightly lower priority... this is sadly NORMAL practice when dealing with international, be it legit reasons or not). Perhaps our CMs/GMs don't/can't properly report the matter to the devs. The devs don't believe how irritable its been. Perhaps they're just afraid to deal with the matter, as stupid as that sounds. Heck, it's possible that by the time they understood how it is, they were so swamped with Heavensward and closing ARR content that they forgot or lowered the priority drastically. Out of sight, out of mind is a VERY real possibility.

/sign
It started becoming worse on Odin already, and so I went on Ragnarok.

At first it was prett calm.

After a 4 months break, I came back to get a random friend request from xbxbdbdm' djlfmfcom, character Lv.1 at Uldah every five minutes.

Thank god for /busy

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Originally Posted by Gramul

I have made two reasonable posts in this thread.
This isn't a 'tissy'. You do not want to see me in a tizzy. You don't want to see me perturbed. You likely don't even want to see me annoyed.
But if I continually have to deal with these irritating snide dismissals over the few key problems that still orbit this experience I may well be on my way down the road to irate-burg. And it is not a pleasant place to be.
Are we copacetic Haibel? Are we on the same page here?

I think it'll be a better experience for everyone if we don't have to deal with it. And I would like to know if the company is actually going to deal with it. And if you don't mind, I am not in the mood for obtuse defense.

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Wasn't singling you out, I just like you because you look fluffy.

so not even a word yet? at the very least they could give us more blacklist spaces. 1000 minumum please. i grew tired of copy-pasting each grovelling advert into the report feature as its clearly doing nothing. we asked well over a year ago for right-click report but i spose at least we got right-click blacklist.... which is full -.-

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Originally Posted by Shori

so not even a word yet? at the very least they could give us more blacklist spaces. 1000 minumum please. i grew tired of copy-pasting each grovelling advert into the report feature as its clearly doing nothing. we asked well over a year ago for right-click report but i spose at least we got right-click blacklist.... which is full -.-

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or just turn our blacklist/friends list into a checkmark system akin to our real world email, and give the option "clear all" and "clear marked."
Making the blacklist larger doesn't actually solve the problem. It's like putting a bandaid on a gunshot wound.

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Originally Posted by Shori

so not even a word yet? at the very least they could give us more blacklist spaces. 1000 minumum please. i grew tired of copy-pasting each grovelling advert into the report feature as its clearly doing nothing. we asked well over a year ago for right-click report but i spose at least we got right-click blacklist.... which is full -.-

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Twenty more days now. Also, this is now over 1,000 posts with still a dead silence from SE.