Better tools to deal with thieves in FC

Our FC has been relatively drama-free for years. We take in new players regularly, we are large, and have been doing well.

However, last month a player stole ~40m gil worth of items out of our FC chest and vendored it all. This was bad enough, but at least we were able to identify the player via the log for the FC chest - so we were able to remove them from the FC.

This brings me to the problem we are facing today. We had another theft, but this time there is no record of it in the FC chest's log... because the log is too short. Since we have no record, we have no way to identify who stole the 5 items worth approximately 1m gil each. Those items are on the market board, and we can see the name of the character's retainer... but not the character.

I sent a support ticket to see if we can find out who it is, so we can kick them out and remove the toxic presence from the FC. I got a canned GM response stating they cannot replace items, etc... even though that is not what I asked at all.

Previously, when other issues occurred in FFXIV, GM responses were excellent. However, in the case of toxic players, it seems they may be loathe to help with that issue. I am highly disappointed - we either need a log for the FC chest which remains for ~30 days of withdrawals, or GM help to identify thieves when the log is not sufficient to catch them.

Overall, I like FFXIV. The aspects under discussion in my post need work.

Sounds like you need to clarify with your members what they can and cannot take. You can do this by locking access to things you think are important.

It sounds like you feel betrayed by members who were good citizens until they got the chance to be greedy. Or members pretending to be good citizens till they can be greedy.

This unfortunate situation is IMO really not a GM concern but a risk of playing with people. If you have had a comprehensive response before I would count you fortunate.

I do agree that a longer log might be useful as the log can be uselessly filled by people taking things out to put back elsewhere -- i.e. sorting and organizing the Company Chest.

Until some tool or change appears, you might just have to simply not put anything valuable in the Company Chest. Or restrict access to trusted officers who can dispense items when requested. As in real life, people who take advantage of goodwill make life more troublesome for all, resulting in process and regulation that affects good people.

This is why you lock everything after the first page or so to only higher ranked members, leave all the cheap goodies on the unlocked pages, and take your time promoting players to the higher ranks only when you feel they deserve it. Those who come in and steal from FC chests aren’t likely to stick around for over a month just to do it; if they are, you probably need to rework your rules to be a little clearer on this subject.

I agree it would be bice to be able to look back a little farther and see who took the item, but if they took something that was open and available to them, the GMs will consider that to be your intention as you had the tools to prevent it happening. And if that person who took it didn’t understand that it was off limits at the time, even if it seemed obvious to you, then punishing them isn’t gonna do anything to fix the situation.

I hate to say it, but sometimes you have to micromanage an fc and it’s members in things like this.