Is selling art for gil okay, or against the TOS?

UPDATE 2/12/14:

I got an in-game message which said that a Senior GM has reviewed the message and overridden the previous response I got in an email from the Game Master Team. I've included screenshots for anyone who is interested to verify that I did actually get GM confirmation at the time of my post, as well the message revoking the original ruling.

Here is a screenshot of the email originally stating it was acceptable dated 12/28/14: http://i.imgur.com/tMqKdE0.png

Here is the more recent in-game message I received overruling that judgement dated 2/12/15: http://i.imgur.com/QUqHOKM.png and http://i.imgur.com/nuILNsF.png

TL; DR Got a message saying selling art for gil was okay, followed by another message a few months later saying it's not.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aniew

"You may not sell, purchase or exchange for real-world money or value any in-game currency, accounts, characters, in-game services, or in-game virtual items.

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This part here answers your question, you may not sell, purchase, or exchange anything in game (ie. Gil) for real-world money or value (ie. Art). So no you may not give someone Art in exchange for gil, if you do it you risk having your account being suspended or permanently banned.

Can't sell art for gil, but you can always sell it for real life $ - I've heard it's better than gil.

A lot of charitable organizations get round this, and taxes, by freely offering a good or service to people. In appreciation, those people donate to that charity. You need to be careful of a few things;
1. You can't solicit the donation ("I'll do this if you donate at least 1g." This is bad. "You may make a donation to me, if you wish." This is okay.)
2. You cannot have any reasonable expectation of donation. If you get nothing in return, you need to be happy with that.
3. You cannot withhold the goods or services from anyone who asks. They must be made free to the public (as long as supplies last, the servicer is not inconvenienced or burdened, etc.)

In other words, anything you create must have NO VALUE by being free to anyone who asks. If they do, or do not donate anything to you that's just great, either way.

This is the second thread on this subject. (art being sold for gil) Alot of people say it is against ToS, some say it isnt. It comes down to what SE says. Call them up and ask them, and they will let you know. Personally I find it against ToS and would not recommend it. Sell your art for real money :)

Yeah I've seen this come up before and the answer is technically it's supposed to be against the ToS but I don't think I've ever heard of anyone actually being punished for it - but that may be due to it being too small an amount of gil for SE to care, or simply going unreported, or any of a number of factors.

UPDATE: I received a reply!

"We understand your concern whether or not selling of art for gil is considered to be a violation. We are pleased to let you know that as long as it is for in game currency, then it is a perfectly acceptable act. Should a person start charging real money or not uphold the Terms of Service Agreement for FINAL FANTASY XIV: A REALM REBORN, it would be violation. We do suggest caution in your transaction, as we will be unable to help if another party does not follow through with their end of the bargain."

Oh! Thank you for posting that for the rest of us to see!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aniew

UPDATE: I received a reply!

"We understand your concern whether or not selling of art for gil is considered to be a violation. We are pleased to let you know that as long as it is for in game currency, then it is a perfectly acceptable act. Should a person start charging real money or not uphold the Terms of Service Agreement for FINAL FANTASY XIV: A REALM REBORN, it would be violation. We do suggest caution in your transaction, as we will be unable to help if another party does not follow through with their end of the bargain."

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Awesome news. If this was an email, do yourself a favor and hold onto the email as proof. Truth be told there could be that one SE rep who out of ignorance may stir up trouble. Just saying always good to keep yourself safe. we know how some ppl can be :)

Also how bout we see some art :)

Sorry to necro a semi-dead thread, but did OP ever post any official documentation of that reply? I just want to know so that if anything ever happens, I can go back and refer to that message.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sennight

Sorry to necro a semi-dead thread, but did OP ever post any official documentation of that reply? I just want to know so that if anything ever happens, I can go back and refer to that message.

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I've seen people sell commissions for in-game gil and nothing's come of it. But if you really want documentation, put in a support query in game? Those replies stay on your account permanently, AFAIK.

edit: Looks like it's not permitted afterall. See the GMs' response below!

Bump. Would a GM or moderator mind responding to this post to prove authenticity?

I would like to know too. Please respond SE

Greetings!

This thread was brought to my attention, because of a link to it in another thread about a similar topic. I wanted to clarify the policies related to real money trading, farming, and power leveling. While the creation of art can carry a different connotation than real money in terms of something to exchange for gil, your skills and the results of their application (in this case, art) are considered something of real world value. When considering it under this view, the exchange of art for in game currency would be considered a violation of the rules and may result in account actions.

We will be taking steps to ensure the correct information is provided to the original poster, since the information that was listed in your updates provides a different view in how this policy would be applied.

I hope that this helps clarify this question about the application of our policies.

LGM Enkrateia

Posting to confirm that Enkrateia has said-

I got an in-game message today which said that a Senior GM has reviewed the message and overridden the previous response I got in an email from the Game Master Team. I've included screenshots for anyone who is interested to verify that I did actually get GM confirmation at the time of my post, as well the message revoking the original ruling.

Here is a screenshot of the email originally stating it was acceptable dated 12/28/14: http://i.imgur.com/tMqKdE0.png

Here is the more recent in-game message I received overruling that judgement dated 2/12/15: http://i.imgur.com/QUqHOKM.png and http://i.imgur.com/nuILNsF.png

I'll be posting this on the first post since it's an important change!

Thanks for the clarification and speedy response.