Time to address the real problem - RMT buyers

[Xaruko_Nexume]

I think going after RMT buyers is legit and fair. I also think the players that do not participate in RMT would be shocked if suddenly everyone who ever bought gil suddenly vanished from the game.

[TMW001]

I'm curious why people even buy gil. I gave away 16 million about...2 months ago and it was a chore to even get rid of that.

They have cash to burn, too lazy to earn gil the normal way but what's funny is those same gil buyers are sometimes usually going to other forums and cry about how their account got hacked because they trusted someone with their info and now that said account is running the bot treadmill now for some over seas seller or some random seller who got caught selling and advertising in chat and was punished and expecting sympathy from the community.

[Ayche]

Yeah, war on drugs taught us to go after the buyers too, am I right?

[Gember]

I do agree with you. People who buy from RMT dealers should face the consequences. They are in fact the reason why Square Enix had to take away the ability to gift mogstation items. The RMT dealers will steal from other players just so they can get a quick buck to serve another.. and its wrong.

[Gember]

Is buying from RMT dealers an addictive habit like drugs? I don't think you can put that example towards this, and make a fair statement.

[TMW001]

Is buying from RMT dealers an addictive habit like drugs? I don't think you can put that example towards this, and make a fair statement.

A good question but you gotta think how often would someone want to grind gil selling through the market or running duties? If some folks have an easier option they will take it and those who can offer the cash to do so won't hesitate for some that's like a drop in the ocean to pay look how much other games making selling in game currency cards or from their shop compared to someone who'd earn it by just playing the game.

[Ayche]

Let's just say that going after buyers is both:
1.) harder to do because there is lot more "guilt by association" kind of scenarios
2.) less effective because buyers are dime a dozen and will get replaced as long as the desire exists
If you cannot kill the supply and must go after the buyer, you have already lost.

[Pintsized]

Totally agree, in my experience only ONE MMO publisher has ever banned buyers, LOTRO way back, others like SE, Blizzard, etc. are simply too timid to make examples and lose the revenue of the low-lifes (buyers) who keep RMT in business.

Of course, it's also a result of SE's endless desire to milk players for all they're worth and creating a 'store' in a SUBSCRIPTION game, ALL ITEMS should be available by playing the game you PAY TO PLAY each month .. without the 'store' RMT would have no items to sell and would only be left with their stolen accounts to sell .. and of course 'boosting' services SE seems not to bother trying to deal with.

Again, BAN THE BUYERS and the problem diminishes.

Is buying from RMT dealers an addictive habit like drugs? I don't think you can put that example towards this, and make a fair statement.

Probably for some, yes, but it's also driven by SE's enforcement of MSQ gating .. I wonder how much they make a month from story skips .. and making most desirable mounts, pets, etc. only available to the 1% tryhards by only making them drop in Savage, Extreme and higher content which we know from SE itself are only playhed by a small minority, leaving the vast majority's only source of most of the best desgined mounts the store, as well as pest, outfits, etc.

[Sigma5]

the solution doesnt require bans or jumping through hoops
1. add glowing weapons to the mogstation people can buy
2. add easier ways to get gil, not time gating, not babysitting the market board. being able to buy gil on the mog station would kill them easiest way.
3. add hefty rewards to get people through that content could be glowing weapons too.
square can kill them by adding that service themselves, its 100 percent an accessibility issue, and super easy to solve.

[ForteNightshade]

I bet you my entire life savings what you just suggested was probably one of the first thoughts they had when they ran into this problem. Easier said than done.

Considering the Report RMT Activity feature was only implemented after Yoshida himself got tell spammed when he visited NA datacenters. I wouldn't make that bet if I were you.