Why are people rewarded for cheating?

[Faelandaea]

First let me say that I do not support botting or cheating, and i don't do it myself.

However, I always wondered about human psychology and the crazed need to always worry more about the behavior of others than the behavior of yourself. I have friends like this in real life as well, who always seem to come crying to me about something John Doe or Jane Doe did that they absolutely HAVE to do something about . . . . no they don't . . . . Let John and Jane do WTF ever as long as they aren't doing it in my house. It is the same here.

I play the game. I progress. I do it at my pace. I could give a fuck about the guy standing next to me in Mor Dhona wearing some badass gear or how he got it. When out gathering i don;t sit there and start staring at other gatherers and monitoring them. Why? I'm just wasting my own game time.

As long as everyone is so obsessed with how others are playing instead of yourself, you will NEVER be happy. Stop worrying about others and do what I do . . . just play the damned game and enjoy it LOL. And if what others are doing bothers you so much, log off and play a single player game (may I recommend Dragon Age: Inquisition? That is a badass game!)

[Jynx]

I have friends like this in real life as well, who always seem to come crying to me about something John Doe or Jane Doe did that they absolutely HAVE to do something about . . . . no they don't . . . . Let John and Jane do WTF ever as long as they aren't doing it in my house. It is the same here.

This is a common thing I hear from people and it could never be more wrong. How does what other people do effect you?

In the example of a MMO it has massive far reaching implications into things like the markets. To pretend otherwise is foolhardy.

[Aerowaffle]

First let me say that I do not support botting or cheating, and i don't do it myself.

However, I always wondered about human psychology and the crazed need to always worry more about the behavior of others than the behavior of yourself. I have friends like this in real life as well, who always seem to come crying to me about something John Doe or Jane Doe did that they absolutely HAVE to do something about . . . . no they don't . . . . Let John and Jane do WTF ever as long as they aren't doing it in my house. It is the same here.

I play the game. I progress. I do it at my pace. I could give a fuck about the guy standing next to me in Mor Dhona wearing some badass gear or how he got it. When out gathering i don;t sit there and start staring at other gatherers and monitoring them. Why? I'm just wasting my own game time.

As long as everyone is so obsessed with how others are playing instead of yourself, you will NEVER be happy. Stop worrying about others and do what I do . . . just play the damned game and enjoy it LOL. And if what others are doing bothers you so much, log off and play a single player game (may I recommend Dragon Age: Inquisition? That is a badass game!)

This is an MMO, you're constantly being compared alongside other players.

Let's say that earning 10 million gil was an accomplishment for a new player. Doesn't the knowledge that someone could easily cheat and buy their way to that accomplishment belittle the achievement of earning 10 million gil the real way?

It's like getting a perfect grade on a hard exam at college, only to learn that there are those who cheated to get a perfect grade as well (and got away with it). Sure, their grade doesn't affect your grade, but it makes your accomplishment mean much less to you since others have received the same accomplishment, but with none of the effort.

[Zfz]

I could give a fuck about the guy standing next to me in Mor Dhona wearing some badass gear or how he got it. When out gathering i don;t sit there and start staring at other gatherers and monitoring them. Why? I'm just wasting my own game time.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

You are part of the FFXIV world, if you are so unattached to the game that you could just quit anyday and play another game, good for you. But the need to worry about what others are doing is the basic foundation of a community (in real life, too), and community makes the MMORPG. Not giving a fuck just means you don't want to be part of this community, you are just a tourist to the Eorzea world and will pack up and leave the moment something that bothers you too much shows up (that's your own words).

In which case I advise you against providing "advice" to others who love the community and want to make it better, because you don't plan to join the community anyways. It isn't really something to be proud about.

[Miste]

It is obvious unless you are RMT that SE does not mind you cheating and botting in this game. For the first time after watching this free company on my server are full of mining/botony bots. They are sort of becoming a notorious free company that I guess has been doing this for 9+ months. Reporting them does nothing but they farm 24/7 and despite several people on a daily basis reporting them at first we have all but given up.

Same problem on my server, there are mining/botany bots everywhere, along with some people even speed hacking. I know tons of people who have reported these cheaters but weeks and months later they are still there botting or speed hacking or both. So really I am not sure what SE is doing. I can think of a lot of ways to tell if a player is a bot, yet they aren't getting rid of them even with dozens of reports from different players on the server.

[FyrmurlFloerasksyn]

On my server, there is pretty much a whole fc full of fate botters.

[Laraul]

It is obvious unless you are RMT that SE does not mind you cheating and botting in this game. For the first time after watching this free company on my server are full of mining/botony bots. They are sort of becoming a notorious free company that I guess has been doing this for 9+ months. Reporting them does nothing but they farm 24/7 and despite several people on a daily basis reporting them at first we have all but given up.

How do you prove definitively that a player is a bot? And not just a player (or players) who really loves mining or harvesting?

Someone show me a tool that will let you do FATEs and dungeon runs autonomously?

This is an MMO, you're constantly being compared alongside other players.

Maybe you compare yourself to other players. That doesn't mean other players do.

[Zaft]

snip

Those tools exist, but I'm 99% sure we're not allowed to mention their name on the forums. Voldemort kind of thing, y'know?

Bots currently exist for (afaik): Crafting, Gathering (including unspoiled nodes), Grinding, Questing, FATEs, Dungeons, Multibox Dungeons, and PvP (including Wolves Den and Frontlines). And that doesn't include any that have to do with actual hacking (such as speed hacking, teleport hacking, etc).

That being said, as you mentioned, it's very difficult to prove somebody is a bot, especially in a game that offers controllers. A person who doesn't respond to you might just not be at a keyboard. I have people try to drag monsters AoE on me because they were "checking if I was a bot" while I'm fishing and it's utterly ridiculous.

[Laraul]

Those tools exist, but I'm 99% sure we're not allowed to mention their name on the forums. Voldemort kind of thing, y'know?

Read the forum guidelines. It does not forbid disclosing the names of third party tools that may be used for the purpose of violating the ToS.

[tocsin]

Read the forum guidelines. It does not forbid disclosing the names of third party tools that may be used for the purpose of violating the ToS.

OBJECTION!

•Posting content that seeks to interfere with the running of FINAL FANTASY XIV.

additionally,

•Doing anything that is prohibited in the the Square Enix Account Terms of Use.

which, within those terms is:

x. Use, transfer, distribute or dispose of any information contained in the Website or Services in any manner that does or could compete with the business of SQUARE ENIX;
xi. Engage in or instigate any illegal activities;

Botting competes with SE's business in keeping the economy on its feet.

Case closed. do not post the names, they are quite against the guidelines..

this is also why the forum thread about that pc only hunting assistance tool got removed. someone named it, which killed the whole thread.

more on the main topic, though, botting will only get you so far. and it really removes the "fun" aspect of the game anyways, so its not really worth doing.

Besides, as someone who made 25 mil last weekend, in only 6 hours of game play, gil is so easy to make, botting isn't even worth it. if you are botting, then you aren't making gil the most efficiently possible.