Formal Letter to SE about RMT situation.

[Zabuza]

They already ban people for buying and selling gil. A RMT spam account is new and has no gil to sell or any ties to the actual gil accounts so what do you propose they do to combat this that doesn't adversely affect regular players?

It's been said. Improving the features and quality of life is key. Adding a right click report function, increasing blacklist capacity, adding custom chat filters. Heck, maybe they can even hire a 4th person to that special task force of theirs!

[GazaelNoxlucis]

/signed

These RMT's are real frustrating to play through. It's annoying to keep cleaning up the blacklist and always have very little (Deleted) in the pile.

[Zabuza]

/signed

These RMT's are real frustrating to play through. It's annoying to keep cleaning up the blacklist and always have very little (Deleted) in the pile.

As far as I know an account only shows as deleted unless they themselves delete it. Not if they are banned. Even so, the constant spam makes it apparent SE's measures are not working. Also ignoring any cries for help, no reassuring the players, nothing whatsoever. Doesn't bode well, really.

[LandricFrey]

This thread is pointless... There is only one solution to eliminating RMT... QUIT BUYING GIL. That being said I have not received a RMT tell since January and I stay logged in for days then again that's when I moved to Fenrir. If it's one thing you should take from XI's anti-RMT tactics it's that anything they do will be a negative for the general public and easily circumvented by RMT...

There's nothing pointless about letting SE know that we want a reduced presence of RMT and other qol adjustments to make them less of a distraction. Things like a simple chat filter, oneclick no friend request, or Right Click > Report would be so easy to put in the game.

What's pointless is stating the one solution which can never be achieved.

[Zabuza]

Giving this a much needed bump.

[DreadRabbit]

I will sign, most certainly. Though, why not just gate the player search function by a level lock or something? Because that's how these RMT bots are finding people to send them tells and friend requests (or at least I imagine). They find you in player search, send you and massive amounts of others two to three quick ads, character deletes itself, rinse and repeat. If you make it so that fresh level ones can't use the player search feature that might drastically reduce the use of this tactic. Granted, they'll then resort to shout ads, but those seem to get caught a lot quicker than the /tell kinds.

[Zabuza]

I will sign, most certainly. Though, why not just gate the player search function by a level lock or something? Because that's how these RMT bots are finding people to send them tells and friend requests (or at least I imagine). They find you in player search, send you and massive amounts of others two to three quick ads, character deletes itself, rinse and repeat. If you make it so that fresh level ones can't use the player search feature that might drastically reduce the use of this tactic. Granted, they'll then resort to shout ads, but those seem to get caught a lot quicker than the /tell kinds.

Tbh, level gating is the idea I am most in favor of. Not just for player search, but for /tells I would also not have a problem with. If you are below level 10 for example, you cannot whisper anyone unless they whisper you first. It would definitely deter them at least a little bit if they had to level to 10 each time just to get banned and have to do it over.

[Niwashi]

Tbh, level gating is the idea I am most in favor of. Not just for player search, but for /tells I would also not have a problem with. If you are below level 10 for example, you cannot whisper anyone unless they whisper you first. It would definitely deter them at least a little bit if they had to level to 10 each time just to get banned and have to do it over.

It wouldn't deter spam bots nearly as much as it would deter genuine players, though, simply because the spam bots could adjust to it. Once the rule is in place, the spam bots' scripts would be updated to level to wherever the requirement is and then start their spam. Sure, it might stop it for the first day or two, until the gil sellers get those scripts updated, but after that it wouldn't really have any effect, at least not on them.

It would, however, continue to affect all actual new players who joined to meet up with their friends but are now excluded from being able to find them or talk to them. Now, admittedly, not all new players will care. Those who don't have friends already here or joining at the same time probably wouldn't have much reason to use player search during their first few levels anyway. But I'd rather avoid solutions that would drive away those who do.

[Zabuza]

I guess if two new players who were friends got into the game at the same time they could not whisper each other. Truth be told, ruling everything out then, custom chat filters and banning the gilbuyers are probably the only effective measures.

To be honest, right click report function will make it more convenient for sure, but you guys forget these RMT can just make account after account. That very same fact is the reason increased blacklist capacity won't do too much either. I merely suggest those things because they are easy to implement and will ease the player's minds a bit. Not to mention they should be the standard for MMOs nowadays. But it's really a band-aid and not a cure.

[Tincuptaru]

I guess if two new players who were friends got into the game at the same time they could not whisper each other. Truth be told, ruling everything out then, custom chat filters and banning the gilbuyers are probably the only effective measures.

Most of the time when I am playing with a friend in a new game we use Teamspeak or Skype. We hardly use the chat function at all. If I am meeting new people naturally I will want to text with them over Skype as I don't know them. I have been in MMOs with a tell gate of at least level 10 I've seen some with a tell gate of level 20 to combat the RMT spam. Often times in order to get rid of a disease you need a cure with some side effects.