A plea to SE about RMT

[Kosmos992k]

A plea to SE about RMT. Please help us, help us deal with the problem, help us help you to deal with it, communicate with us, and let us know that you care about the situation and that something *is* being done. I believe it would be really helpful to the community if you could be more communicative and engage us in a dialog on the topic.

I was thinking about posting this message and so I did a quick search on the term RMT just in the General Discussion forum within the English Speaking Community area. Since the start of the year there have been some 211 topics started that have involved discussions relating to RMT in some fashion or another.

The vast majority of those topics were complaints by players sick of the constant tell spamming and shouts and RMT friend requests. Some included pretty decent suggestions of specific actions that could be taken to give players better tools to mitigate the RMT issue, as well as making the life of the task force easier, but helping us report more effectively.

The topics are getting more angry by the day and people are truly sick of the RMT problem. More than that though, people are *very* unhappy with the lack of communication from SE regarding dealing with RMT.

The weekly action reports indicate how many accounts got permanently banned for various activity, and yet the RMT activity continues without a break. This leaves players wondering what, if anything, more is/can be done to help the situation.

Please help us not only to understand what you are doing about RMT, whether you are working on additional counter measures, and also whether you are considering the ideas people have put forth. I think we are all smart enough to realize that you do not wish to tip your hand with respect to your actions, by revealing specifics. But players are losing faith, getting upset, angry and tired.

As a sample, I am including below 18 linked topics from the last 2 weeks alone that cover RMT and various aspects of it. These topics account for thousands of views and hundreds of posted comments on this topic. I could have done a secondary search for topic that mentioned bots and/or gil selling which would likely generate even more hits, but I'll stick to just 'RMT';

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...f-the-players!
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...GY-CORPORATION
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-Addon-support
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ng-Faith-in-SE
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...RMT-fight-back
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...iously-pissed!
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ming-a-problem
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-Force-at-Work
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ns-and-primals
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...o-SE-Community
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...asual-cheating
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-RMT-situation
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...le.-discussion
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...riend-requests
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...MT-please-read
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...Gil-Seller-ban
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-everyone-else
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...story-cutscene

You might also add these if you haven't already - they were pretty good:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ution-to-RMT-s
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-RMT-situation.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...g-over-Balmung..

[StrejdaTom]

I support this thing but I would also love to see all RMT complaints in one thread rather than shattered into 300 threads, so I hope this might be it?

[Risvertasashi]

Although SE has gotten better about community relations compared to, say, a decade ago... They still don't seem to understand the importance of keeping the community in the loop in various areas. Most glaringly now, dealing with RMT spam. Yes, those weekly ban reports are nice, but right now... that's not helping with the spam.

Have all my likes, OP.

I support this thing but I would also love to see all RMT complaints in one thread rather than shattered into 300 threads, so I hope this might be it?

That is just not how (large) forums works. Even reddit, which (despite its many flaws) is good at preventing redundant posts over short timespans... gets these RMT complaint threads fairly frequently.

Think of forums as like tables at a restaurant. When you've got enough people, you're bound to have similar discussions at the same table, but not necessarily with the same people.

[Caoihmin]

I concede that this RMT problem is very annoying, but I would like to see more threads addressing the dregs that provide a market to these RMTs, namely the buyers. Without them, these relentless opportunists wouldn't exist.

A little well-deserved shaming goes a long way; I have played MMORPGs where each week players who have been banned and the reason for that ban are posted on the game's website. At present, SE provides anonymous listings and the temporary "slap on the wrist" ban for these short-cutters.

Further it is my opinion that if you are desperate and idiotic enough to pay $30 for 10000 gil, you deserve a "scarlet letter".

[Darra]

Your best bet for a response is to ask about the lore involved in RMT and the naming conventions, that seems to be the only thing they respond to these days.

[Risvertasashi]

I concede that this RMT problem is very annoying, but I would like to see more threads addressing the dregs that provide a market to these RMTs, namely the buyers. Without them, these relentless opportunists wouldn't exist.

Honestly, if you look into criminal justice theory, this just wouldn't work. Increasing the harshness of a punishment isn't effective (except as a "tough on crime" campaign strategy) because the people that do these things don't think they will get caught (even if you make examples of people).

Furthermore, new players may not even be aware it's a violation of the rules/ToS. "buying gil/gold/etc = bad" isn't an intrinsic morality players join the online gaming world with.

[Caoihmin]

Snip

I would be reticent to reference any criminal "justice" theory, especially if you are in the U.S. Our "justice" system is in shambles. Take a quick look into the crime rates in Singapore and other countries who execute "harsh" punishments for a crime. Interesting statistics. Further, on what servers are the highest concentration of these spammers and pampered buyers?

No, I believe what perpetuates this RMT problem is dismissing the disease and treating the symptom; something we excel at here in NA.

And in regards to the ignorance of new players, my "benefit of the doubt" got broke a loooong time ago my brotha.

[Velthice]

Square isn't going to tell you their methods of dealing with rmt, nor should they. You don't catch people doing something wrong by telling them exactly how you plan to catch them. All it would take is one person to come to the forums, read that and then they can adjust their entire operation accordingly to make sure they avoid getting caught.

The only thing they can do is tell you how successful they are, which they do, by posting their actions taken against rmt and other illicit activity every week. You can find it on the lodestone under the notifications tab.

[Adire]

Your best bet for a response is to ask about the lore involved in RMT and the naming conventions, that seems to be the only thing they respond to these days.

Hahaha. Served!

[Aerowaffle]

Square isn't going to tell you their methods of dealing with rmt, nor should they. You don't catch people doing something wrong by telling them exactly how you plan to catch them. All it would take is one person to come to the forums, read that and then they can adjust their entire operation accordingly to make sure they avoid getting caught.

The only thing they can do is tell you how successful they are, which they do, by posting their actions taken against rmt and other illicit activity every week. You can find it on the lodestone under the notifications tab.

So a "Hey, we're currently increasing our efforts and implementing new things" is too much to ask?

Or even, "We're aware that the RMT problem has been increasing and we have plans rolling to reduce it" to address the growing number of customers that are upset by the current status of RMT presence.

The lack of a public statement acknowledging the people's concerns, the automated responses in game, the increase in RMT spam, blatant farm bots that continue to exist for long periods of time, all give the feeling that our concerns are being swept under the rug and ignored.