If FFXIV goes Free to Play can we then justify banning bots since they won't pay?

[JackHatchet]

I've heard it said before that Square-Enix doesn't want to crack down on bots because they bring in a lot of sub money.

[Rinuko]

I've heard it said before that Square-Enix doesn't want to crack down on bots because they bring in a lot of sub money.

Eh kinda far fetched if you ask me. Yes they make money on the bots as they need to repurchase game and make new service accounts but seeing how they now actually tell us about temp and perm banned due to boting i'd say they are doing a bit.

Can they do more? Heck yes.

[Mizunoko]

Eh kinda far fetched if you ask me. Yes they make money on the bots as they need to repurchase game and make new service accounts but seeing how they now actually tell us about temp and perm banned due to boting i'd say they are doing a bit.

Can they do more? Heck yes.

Banning bots should be justified regardless. Whether the company keeps true to their ToS and takes action to do it is entirely up to the company though. As for the free to play thing, well one of the reasons i stay subbed and keep playing ff14 is BECAUSE it is NOT free to play. The day ff14 goes free to play is the day they lose me as a customer/player. That is not just a negative rant it's just how i feel on the matter. I love ff14 as a subbed game and i will stay playing it so long as it stays that way.

[Penthea]

I've heard it said before that Square-Enix doesn't want to crack down on bots because they bring in a lot of sub money.

Seriously doubt that. Bots create more problems than solutions.

They can very negatively affect server economy which leads to unhappy players which leads to them being less inclined to play. Bots related to gil sellers are often related to hacked accounts, which gives SE more work to do and again leads to unhappy players who may become less inclined to continue playing. Bots using hacks to progress in the game can negatively affect the environment around them which once again leads to unhappy players...you see where this is going.

Bots tend to be banned in waves. If bots are banned one by one, the owner of said bots warns fellow botters that SE have found a way to verify their use of third party software. So then that software is either updated or replaced with something else. When bots are banned in massive waves, then you have a large amount of botters who cannot play until a solution for them is found. Instead of a handful giving a large amount of botters a heads up.

[MistakeNot]

I've heard it said before that Square-Enix doesn't want to crack down on bots because they bring in a lot of sub money.

That have been said, yes. Similar things have been said about every sub-only MMO out there.
Merely hearing something does not make it true.