Quote Originally Posted by LianaThorne View Post
Gonna put my tin foil hat on here for this:
https://www.ign.com/articles/square-...nal-fantasy-16

I would not be the least bit shocked if Square is ignoring their own ToS to keep as many people subbed and continuing to sub as possible. Hence why things like brothels are fine, bots are rampant, people can stalk you around the entire map for days without consequences...

Maybe they make up a number every week to tell people or maybe they ban a very small portion to keep appearances up but I've always been under the impression that they don't necessarily "care" about the problem, especially since RMT is basically normalized in FF11.
There is no need for conspiracy theories. This game is a for profit business. The actual harm caused by botters is less then what SE would have to invest to meaningfully combat it. PR damage is minimal, players arent significantly hindered. Many players are secretly benefitting because bot crafters push prices down through increased supply. Free trial ad bots in the big cities are so easy to make that the ban numbers SE posts are entirely realistic. Incentive to ban gil or clear buyers is also low because that's not money redirected away from SE. FF14 is not a free2play game and therefore doesnt need to concern itself nearly as much with grind circumvention to protect its profits.