How to deal with this kind of friend?

[elemental10]

If you found out a friend is buying illegal drugs, would you report him to the police or talk him out of it or just leave him alone?

These aren't our opinions, OP. It's your choice.

Good luck to you but if I ever found out who your friend is, I'll report him. He's violating terms and conditions as well as rules.

[Kalelius]

You're all doing it wrong! You have to fight RMT with RMT (figuratively).

If I knew an IRL friend that was buying gil, I'd direct him here to see all the complaints of RMT harassment and how badly it is affecting the economy and community and that he's a part of the issue.

If that's not enough to get my friend to stop buying gil, I'd send him a Tell every 15 minutes, linking a RMT complaint thread (because there's no lack of them) until he gets an understanding of what RMT harassment is like.

In all seriousness, this entire thread was an interesting read and passed time at work. I'd give my opinion on it but I'd like to remain a power neutral.

[Gallus]

TC, if it bothers you so much, talk to him. All these people saying "just report him" have a strange understanding of the word friendship. Someone even comparing buying gil to robbing banks (lol). I have never used an illegal program or bought any sort of currency in any online game ever in my life, and I don't like others doing it, but if someone's my friend and I value their friendship because I think they are nice folks, I wouldn't put it to risk for something like "buying gil on an online game". Some people in this forum are as trustworthy as this:

[Lemuria]

Some people in this forum are as trustworthy as this

Real friends share their opinions and thoughts. If one person is morally against something the other is doing, they're going to call them out on it. If your friendship can't survive it then you were never really friends to begin with.

[nuyu11]

Snip.

The one who help us when we are in troubles is RL friends, not a strangers from forums.
If your friend need some Gil, just give him some and ask him to treat you some drinks in return.
I think that's legal.

[Ilitsa]

So you've made a report on every single rmt tell you've gotten? Hardcore man.

Actually, yes I have haha, it really only takes a couple seconds to copy/paste the message into the report box and type the name/server info in.

[Gallus]

Real friends share their opinions and thoughts. If one person is morally against something the other is doing, they're going to call them out on it. If your friendship can't survive it then you were never really friends to begin with.

Except you are being a bit too radical aren't you. Let me put you this example, imagine you are in a static, all 7 people are extremely nice to you, very nice group, impressive raid environment. Occasionally, you have a massive chain of wipes on a certain turn but somehow, they still joke about it and you end up even having fun wiping. They are not hardcore but they aren't terribly casual either as they strife their best to down each turn. Now, one day, on TS, the NIN confesses to you that he uses bots occasionally, you tell him you've never used one because somehow you think you'd see your fun ruined if you did, he thinks however, certain aspects of this game like gathering are overly tedious. I do not agree with him and I let him know. But he's still cool. That's the thing about friends, sometimes they are different to you, and sometimes you do not agree with them on certain things, but that doesn't give you the right to backstab them every time you have a different opinion about something. You can't just say "X person did X thing I didn't like", that means we weren't friends in the first place, because if you go around with this mentality you'll end up not making a lot of friends, or very poor ones.
Of course there's a limit to this, I'm not going to defend a friend from murdering someone in real life Lol, but I consider "buying gil on an online game" something pretty light honestly. Have you ever had a friend who offered you drugs in a disco? What did you do when that happened? Rush to the closest police station and report them? xD.

[seekified]

I would have a serious talk with him about what he's doing and how it affects everyone else on the server. Depending on his attitude I'd then report it or leave it to SE's log scavenging to find out.

The thing is, even if he's an IRL friend, people really shouldn't see this as "just a game" because there's real, actual people behind all these characters that drive the economy and social wellbeing of the game together with you. Take raiding for instance - if you go "mehh not gonna raid today 'cause I don't feel like it", that's not okay because you're letting down seven actual humans to whom you've made a promise. This is more or less the same deal but on a much larger scale, albeit with a tiny effect on each individual. It's a matter of principals.

[Gallus]

The one who help us when we are in troubles is RL friends, not a strangers from forums.
If your friend need some Gil, just give him some and ask him to treat you some drinks in return.
I think that's legal.

Except people do mistakes, and regret about things, or even have certain aspects you do not like about them much. But they can still be very good friends, and they can still be there in your bad moments supporting you and helping you like real friends do. Going around with a havel is not gonna help you in finding these "perfect friends" you guys are looking for. There are no perfect people, there's always something about somebody you are not going to like, but that person could still prove to be trustworthy, friendly and extremely helpful when you need it.

[Miya_Carbuncle]

Except you are being a bit too radical aren't you. Let me put you this example, imagine you are in a static, all 7 people are extremely nice to you, very nice group, impressive raid environment. Occasionally, you have a massive chain of wipes on a certain turn but somehow, they still joke about it and you end up even having fun wiping. They are not hardcore but they aren't terribly casual either as they strife their best to down each turn. Now, one day, on TS, the NIN confesses to you that he uses bots occasionally, you tell him you've never used one because somehow you think you'd see your fun ruined if you did, he thinks however, certain aspects of this game like gathering are overly tedious. I do not agree with him and I let him know. But he's still cool. That's the thing about friends, sometimes they are different to you, and sometimes you do not agree with them on certain things, but that doesn't give you the right to backstab them every time you have a different opinion about something. You can't just say "X person did X thing I didn't like", that means we weren't friends in the first place, because if you go around with this mentality you'll end up not making a lot of friends, or very poor ones.
Of course there's a limit to this, I'm not going to defend a friend from murdering someone in real life Lol, but I consider "buying gil on an online game" something pretty light honestly. Have you ever had a friend who offered you drugs in a disco? What did you do when that happened? Rush to the closest police station and report them? xD.

But then you realize that his actions are ruining the game for others, simply because he's lazy. :l Thanks to him there're RMT spammers and the economy is ruined. Also if it's just a game to you, then it shouldn't matter if he's banned. I mean it's just a game, right? Also if he's botting the gathering class, then he's making the economy unfair for those actually putting the time into the game. In no way does he have to play the gathering class, and it''s certainly not simply another playing style when it's negatively affecting the experience of others. Other people play the game too, and pay real money monthly to play it. Not to mention the free time involved on a daily basis to play a MMO. It's not fair that their experience is ruined and time wasted because he's feeling lazy.

As for your last sentence, police =/= GMs. He's not getting into any real legal trouble and like I said, it affects the gameplay experience for players who play legitimately in a very negative way simply because they're lazy. So it's not the same thing. Also I would never hang with that type of person anyway. :l