-Attention FCs of Hyperion- (Security concern)

[Cyrus-Wallace]

Hello, Hyperion and good morning!

Some context. The other day we received an application from some user... let's call him "N.C". Because of the forum rules, I can't reveal his name, but these are his initials. After an hour he joined, we noticed that he leaves the FC. Hours later, we checked the FC chest and this individual stole everything from it.

We submitted a report, but the GM team was unable to take any action on him since "we granted him permission for that", which is now fixed on our end. This is in the game's policies. Thing about this irl: You go to the grocery, the stuff is right there, you can take them without permission because it's just there and there's not a sign saying "TALK WITH THE VENDOR FIRST". Then you grab the object and leave. That's how I see it. Now, let's resume our case, but first, allow me to show you our evidence:



And this is a fragment of the conversation that one of our members had with him:



Since it's impossible for the GM to punish such actions, we decided to track the guy down and see when he joins a FC, so we contact the leader and tell him about the situation. Of course, we NEVER tell the leader to kick him out, but to limitate the access to the FC chest for a while OR kick him. They are free to do whatever they want. Sometimes, we make it on time and the guy is kicked. Sometimes, we're late:



We can't get this guy banned. All you can do is to keep your eyes open. If you didn't restrict the access to the FC chest, do it. He mostly joins medium/small FCs (so far). If you can warn others, do it. Personally, I just don't like this kind of people and I'll do my best to stop his actions in this server. Most important, there're flaws in the ToS in regard of these subjects. All we can do is to take the preemptive actions to avoid such situations.

Thanks in advance for your cooperation and I'm sorry about this little wall of text... and sorry for my english, which is not my first language.

[Orophin]

I'm not sure what's sadder: the fact that GMs can look at timestamps and see a guy joined a FC and robbed it blind within an hour of joining, or that this guy thinks that cleaning out a FC chest and bailing is socially acceptable. Just because you can game a system doesn't mean you should. Now this guy is gonna be blacklisted on the server. How did he think that his actions would not have some sort of repercussions, even if the GMs themselves won't do anything?

[Razgard]

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for a FC company chest to rob, I can tell you I don't have anything worthwhile. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.

[whoopeeragon]

Thanks for the warning. I've spread the word to the linkshells I have as well as my own FC - we got an application from him actually just last night. He withdrew almost instantly though, and our FC chests were already locked to begin with, so he wouldn't have been able to do anything.

[Ryuko]

The really sad part is... even if you DID name and shame him, players can just create new characters.

My best advice if you don't want to change chest permissions for new members would be to completely LOCK 'open recruitment'. I used to have players applying to the FC all the time... low level ones, with nothing more than "I want to join." I was very suspicious because I knew they could steal things and get away with it because I "gave them permission." One time I let an application sit there for a while, and the person who applied eventually withdrew... because they found another FC to join. People were shouting in Ul'Dah about him but there was nothing we could do. Some people followed him around to watch his FC tag change as soon as it did so we could /tell the FC leader... but the best part is, he could have reported US for harassment for following him.

So that is why I suggest just closing FC recruitment altogether. If people really want to join your FC, they can talk to you directly. It's unlikely that someone will want to join out of the blue without any real reason for it. Chances are a thief will not waste the time going through the inevitable 'interview' process. Rather, they will just prey on someone else. It's still possible that people WILL join and try to steal your stuff anyway, that's why I only give new members access to tab three (not very expensive stuff). Once I know I can trust them, I'll give them access to other stuff. It's never foolproof and it's not uncommon to be 'tricked' by someone you thought was a friend, but at least it's not a stranger with free reign of everything. The other reason to lock recruitment is because people might accept the person assuming it's a friend of someone else, when in reality it is just a random person joining.

[Tahldon]

Hm. A little bit of detective work and I've managed to figure out this guy's name. Thanks for the warning, Lucille.

[TokyieRage]

Just put in an application to our FC as well. Was quickly denied.

For a game that babies you (No tells in dungeons, Blocks names in PvP, Etc.) They really could give two shits about personal security and safety in this MMO.

This would never be stood for in other MMOs. Especially WoW, The items would be returned and he would be banned before he even had a chance to count his loot.. What a joke SE. Don't even understand what GMs are for if not stuff like this.

[Alurwen]

Thanks for the public service announcement lol I'm not on your server but there's no telling where this dude will end up. And you are totally right, if he had JUST ASKED for some damn gil or stuff to be crafted I'm sure a few people would a helped him out....and would have come away with far more than 20k - 40k!!!!

[Cyrus-Wallace]

Thanks for your concern and actions, guys. This is being followed and discussed on the FFXIV FB as well: Click meh! // Edit: The guy is still active. He's either a mule or hat's his actual character.

[Dravenheart]

I'm an officer over in PTB and I can tell you first hand that this guy raided the first slot of our FC chest and left as well. I didn't catch it til a member came to me in /tell and told me and I saw the FC chest as well. Which at that time I contacted one of our FC leaders and got her permission to change FC chest access in our ranks. We tend to be pretty laid back and chill, and ever since that happened we have tightened our access.

We've also been telling other FC's about this guy and been keeping in touch with other Hyperion players on facebook. Heck, I went as far as informing people in my spiritbond party yesterday morning to inform them.


*baaaaaaah. part two to be saved for the next post. text too long*