why is there absolutely NOTHING from square in regards TO THE CONSTANT GOLD SELL SPAM

[Niwashi]

You expect an MMO to not have RMTs? That's a bit unrealistic, don't you think?

It's perfectly realistic to expect a well-run MMO, especially if it's a subscription required MMO, to have nowhere near the amount of RMT we're flooded with in this game. True, they'd probably never be able to eliminate it entirely, but they could eliminate enough that it didn't disrupt the game nearly so much.

Except that they have been doing something. ALL THE TIME.

But they're not doing it promptly enough to act as a deterrent. It'll stop when the accounts don't last long enough to be profitable. A more readily available and automatic reporting system (which we've been asking for since the game was released) combined with immediate real-time reaction from the GMs, would eliminate the problem.

[Estellios]

But they're not doing it promptly enough to act as a deterrent. It'll stop when the accounts don't last long enough to be profitable. A more readily available and automatic reporting system (which we've been asking for since the game was released) combined with immediate real-time reaction from the GMs, would eliminate the problem.

An easier way to report RMT is definitely needed but it's a lot of extra manpower needed to immediately ban people, not to mention the fact that innocent people either joking around or getting griefed can be affected by automatic reports/bands done without any sort of investigation.

[Niwashi]

An easier way to report RMT is definitely needed but it's a lot of extra manpower needed to immediately ban people, not to mention the fact that innocent people either joking around or getting griefed can be affected by automatic reports/bands done without any sort of investigation.

There's a big difference between needing a check that reports are justified and needing an extensive investigation about them. Whenever I get a tell I glance at it and can see in less than a second whether it's RMT spam or a real message. A GM can distinguish them just as fast. The only problem is that we don't have a reporting tool to directly provide those messages to them, so they have to track them down themselves. That's where the "investigation" part comes in. If they had the tool, then they'd only need a second or so to verify a report's validity and ban the RMT spammer.

And yes, the first few days that the tool is out, they'd be flooded with reports, and even that second or two for processing each one may mean needing some extra manpower. But once they start doing it, and the spam bots stop being cost-effective, the RMT companies will quit using them. At that point, when nearly all the spam stops, the corresponding reports would stop as well. SE could just temporarily assign a few extra people to provide backup to their GM team for the next week or two after the reporting tool is released, but then the long-term effect would actually be less work for the GMs. (And yes, there would still be occasional newcomers to the RMT market who try spam bots again, but not the big flood all at once like they'd have to deal with at the beginning.)