Bots, Reporting, and that Blacklist
So the gold bot spam is really just getting atrocious at this point. I logged in today and before the zone could even get past the Now Loading screen, I had 6 gold spam whispers. My Blacklist is pushing 200 easily, and every one of them is a gold spam bot.
The issue with dealing with them is that the report system is...Archaic...at best. Having to open the Support Desk then the Contact Us then Report Cheating and finally, the actual report screen. You need the name, the zone, the date, the server....really?
What you need to do is allow us to simply right click the names -- If it's a gold seller, right click their name in chat and - Report Player - Botting
This option reports the player name, the server, and the date.- If it's a gathering bot (teleporting between nodes) target the player, right click the player and - Report Player - Hacking
This option reports the player name, the server, the zone, and the date.
Clicking the option shouldn't open a window where we have to fill out a bunch of information. Clicking it should file an automatic report with your GM's / Quality Control - Assurance Team, or whatever they may be called. They should monitor the much simpler and quicker reports and deal with the bots.
On the same note, adding players to the Blacklist needs to be streamlined as well. Opening the window and typing out these gibberish names is just as archaic as the reporting system. Add an option in that right click menu to Blacklist the player.
Some Ideas about the Bots and Gil sellers that Square should REALLY CONSIDER
First of all these are not all of the ideas I have on the subject but they are the easiest so far to implement and would make a huge dent in the cheating going on. For starters Square-enix could start with the Gil sellers and power leveling sellers who obviously advertise on the chats then go from there. This happens On EVERY Server - some more than others however. That may be large in part to the amount of people on servers or the ability to log into certain servers at certain times; however that would be a big a start by having people on each server who are Square-enix security staff for 8 hour play shifts that not just ban the player character account but ban the whole game account due to the fact that they only have these accounts to advertise their services to make money selling gil and power leveling people..