"The RMT 'Special Task Force' is apparently 3 people." discussion

[synesthetic]

If they only have three people addressing all RMT and enforcement issues, then I am greatly disheartened.
It's bad enough that non-RMTs only get a suspension (which I'm guessing is shorter than a month), but the idea that all of the bots/hackers (both RMT and not) that I've seen won't even get that token slap on the wrist because staff is too bogged down with chasing after RMT spammers just.. is really straining my tolerance and poisoning my hopes.

Hire more people. Push for more efficiency.
As far as things have stood for the past year, it's felt sickeningly clear that it's okay to cheat in the game. And that kills me all the more because I like the game.

[Chiramu]

Hire more people. Push for more efficiency.
.

This is money taken away from other parts of the game and put into the RMT squad. Do you want less content for FFXIV?

[tocsin]

This is money taken away from other parts of the game and put into the RMT squad. Do you want less content for FFXIV?

Personally, I would trade one less pretty vanity dress per patch, for 20% less RMT spam per day.

Good trade off to me.

[Zabuza]

This is money taken away from other parts of the game and put into the RMT squad. Do you want less content for FFXIV?

By improving the in game experience they will save money as they will retain more new players. I'm sure quite a few new players have left when the first thing they see is their chatbox filled with spam.

[tocsin]

So, now that people have looked at the photo, ill offer my theory.

I believe that The STF is the equivalent of Level 2 IT support. The GM's handle the minor things, like banning gil spammers, and submit tickets on the "gil holders".

The STF team, goes to 1-2 servers per week, and investigates all tickets for that server, uprooting the RMT tree on that server and banning it all out of existence.

This is why We each have a different week that RMT goes almost dead for a week or two.

It would make sense on why such a small group can accomplish so much. They are experts in tracing where gil comes and goes, and can ban everyone related. Each week, the number of buyers temp banned were probably all form the same 1-2 servers.

[Jynx]

This is money taken away from other parts of the game and put into the RMT squad. Do you want less content for FFXIV?

Them spending more doesn't need to equate to lost content. The thought that less RMT activity could lead to higher subscription retention would be more 5hink good cause to budget in more task force employees.

Personally I'm sure these 3 aren't the only ones involved but it's still abundantly clear more resources need to be allocated to this issue.

[Wizarus]

This is money taken away from other parts of the game and put into the RMT squad. Do you want less content for FFXIV?

Is this some type of a joke? 500k+ subbers, cash shop, initial game price, and upcoming expansion, which could be well over $130, and you're saying SE can't afford tech support to prevent cheaters from ruining the experience of their game?

[Zanarken]

If this is true, it needs to be addressed immediately.

and seeing that SE has assigned less people than are assigned to the cash register at my local convenience store, to the entire issue among 64 servers, is laughable at best.

Couldn't have stated it better myself. This needs to be rectified like...yesterday. As in, hiring 20-30 employees specifically to dealing with this issue. Players are being harassed on a MINUTE basis. On Brynhilder it is commonplace to get between 2-3 gilspam tells a minute & it is breaking immersion/ruining the gameplay experience.

[Magictrix]

On Brynhilder it is commonplace to get between 2-3 gilspam tells a minute & it is breaking immersion/ruining the gameplay experience.

Time Period: Mar. 26, 2015 to Apr. 1, 2015
Bans: 10803

10803 bans / 6 days
= 1800 bans / 1 day
= 1800 bans / 24 hours
= 75 bans / hour
------------------------------------
= 1.25 bans per minuet
or 1.17 bans per hour per server.

[Buff_Archer]

If they had a process where a handful of select, long tenured players on each server who went through an application and selection process could serve in a moderator type capacity for few hours a week each month in exchange for not paying a subscription, the actual SE employees could oversee/review their efforts at a higher level, such as with appeals, and it would cost almost nothing compared to hiring even one additional employee. I'm sure there's players out there who for budgetary reasons, or because it's a way they'd want to contribute, who could meet some high standards. I'm thinking standards of conduct and behaviour so high that I wouldn't even make the cut based on some stuff I've posted and said now and then, and I consider myself to be a pretty good Eeorzian citizen. In game moderators to put a stop to this quickly at the time/place it happens is what's missing, and if at different points in the day one person or another was anonymously logged in to each server to deal with that only and not socialize/craft/etc while on that moderator toon thats invisible or looks like a regular player to observe bots, get RMT tells, etc it would make a difference.

Such a solution would be more complex than I described, but as an overall concept it's more effective than whatever system we have now. And someone trolling from this kind of position would be caught out in an appeals process fast if they even made it past screening, so not likely.