Tackling RMT: What creates buyers in the first place?

[Liam_Harper]

Because we are presumably rational adults that have learned to control our actions and desires.

We don't need to reach gil cap. We don't need to set inflated prices for what we sell on the marketboard. We don't always need that latest glamour day one of release at any price when we could wait a month and the price will have dropped down to a fraction of the original as competition and supply on the marketboard increases. These are the things that lead to RMT.

The RMT buyers don't need gil or the items they buy with it. They're breaking ToS. Blaming players who simply enjoy a large currency number for personal satisfaction and not the players who are literally breaking the rules or the developers who are meant to enforce them, is silly.

As you said, the largest purchase is 50m. No one needs a gil cap, so the players buying RMT gil are chasing something they don't need. Who cares if someone is wealthier than you? Learn to control yourself. It doesn't matter if you can play 5hr or 40hr a week, you can earn enough gil to buy anything ingame. The means to make gil are available to every player.

Inflation is actually one of the causes of ppl becoming RMT- Buyers. The larger the number the larger the temptation of just taking a shortcut. Smaller price tags will feel more easily obtainable resulting in people actually playing the game to get it.

Currently we have massive deflation (in some cases items are 20-30 times cheaper) from HW or Stormblood compared to now, yet RMT buying and selling is absolutely rampant, so this is false.

Small price tags and bot competition mean players find it harder to make gil. Scraping pennies together from roulette, crafting and undercut wars for tiny amounts of gil per sale feel bad when you're aiming for a house or 10-50 million mount. That's where players get tempted to just skip the boring, unrewarding chores.

Bots are a SE created issue because they've demonstrated they have no power to detect player bots and will never scan your PC for them. They're practically "don't ask, don't tell". It feels bad to try and compete with that by playing by the rules when the rule breaker is rewarded. SE have been indirectly encouraging breaking ToS for a while now, you just benefit more at little risk.

[Jojoya]

The RMT buyers don't need gil or the items they buy with it. They're breaking ToS. Blaming players who simply enjoy a large currency number for personal satisfaction and not the players who are literally breaking the rules or the developers who are meant to enforce them, is silly.

As you said, the largest purchase is 50m. No one needs a gil cap, so the players buying RMT gil are chasing something they don't need. Who cares if someone is wealthier than you? Learn to control yourself. It doesn't matter if you can play 5hr or 40hr a week, you can earn enough gil to buy anything ingame. The means to make gil are available to every player.

Time is money. The player who is limited to 8 hours a week (which is how much the average player will play a MMO per surveys) is never going to be able to acquire the same amount of gil that the player who can play 80 hours a week can earn even if they do nothing but try to earn gil. Factor in time spent on other gameplay and that gap becomes even greater.

You say the buyers are chasing something they don't need. Well, so are the sellers on the marketboard. If there was any gil cost involved in what they're selling, it's usually trivial compared to the price they're asking.

Why tell one side to learn to control themselves and not the other?

[Liam_Harper]

Why tell one side to learn to control themselves and not the other?

Quite simply because one side is earning something legitimately in-game and the other is breaking ToS.

There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting a pile of game money. I like my own pile of gil, but irl I care nothing about wealth or increased QoL or materialistic values. If I have enough for basic comfort I'm happy. Similarly in-game it's just there for personal satisfaction, that "I earned this" feeling. I don't show off with it, I'll give it away to people I like or use it for FC events. I disagree that I'm morally in the wrong because someone who doesn't want to make any effort is jealous of something I earned fairly that simply gives me satisfaction.
Similarly if someone else wants gil for whatever reason, personal items, to simply make a big pile and sit on it, or to treat others, I'd never judge them for it. Just don't break ToS or make someone else unhappy over it.

Yes, someone who plays 80 hours has an advantage, but it's a meaningless advantage that's just fun. Everyone has access to the means to make enough gil to buy everything even on limited time.

Economically gil hoarders also reduce inflation by removing large sums of gil from the economy over time but not injecting it back. They make items more available because they provide the supply and compete with one another, lowering prices.

The only people to blame are the ones who break rules and SE for not enforcing them. If SE wanted to cut the gil cap, delete everyone's money and give everyone a 1m a week allowance or whatever else to even the playing field it's their game and then anyone not following that would be at fault. But right now, the players who are following ToS and playing the game by simply selling items they made by legitimate means are not at fault.