Easy fix to fight RMT ad bots - please consider.

[cjbeagle]

Currently, when a player encounters an RMT ad bot, they can report it, but nothing happens to the bot immediately - it requires SE investigation to confirm the veracity of the report before it's banned - it doesn't even mute the bot for the player that reports it. Players still do report these bots, but they're disincentivized to do so since it produces no direct remedy.

Instead, why not make such reports immediately squelch the accused for all players? SE would still have to review before banning, but with this approach the bot gets 1 singular advertisement message before being globally muted, assuming anyone bothers to report it - this would incentivize players to report bots both as a self-serving instant remedy as well as a public service, and assuming players were harshly punished for false reporting, I doubt misuse would be problematic.

[Neihel]

there is no GM team dealing with bots on ffxiv, the RMT bot bans are actually automated by their system after a set number of reports
I've seen a guy on youtube admit to the GMs that he was botting and all they did was take away some of his gil and no bans were given

considering GMs are official representatives of square enix this is their stance on botting^

[KageTokage]

You apparently already get auto-muted temporarily if enough people spam a single player with the "Report RMT" function.

However, something they should definitely work on is adding more restrictions to PF usage so people can't use to post RMT ads on freshly created characters.

[Shibi]

...it requires SE investigation to confirm the veracity of the report before it's banned...

It needs improvement, but it's already automated. As long as enough people confirm it with their own reports then they get removed.

Should it be improved? Yep. Absolutely.
Will it? Nope.

A bit disheartening that SE don't care.

[Liam_Harper]

Whenever third party tool discussions come up, players usually focus on dps meters and obsess and bicker over that, without realizing that SE's "don't ask don't tell" policy extends to pretty much everything besides outright hacking the game. This includes player bots. Similar to ACT, don't tell them you're using one and you'll never be banned. Get caught, you'll only get a slap on the wrist.

[Kes13a]

there is an "easy fix" for RMT bots. ban the buyers.

seriously, the entire incentive to keep recreating the RMT bot rings is money. they make money from RMT. banning the RMT bots is like a doctor giving you a pain killer for a broken leg, doesnt fix the leg, but might make you feel better for a bit. SE needs to go after the people buying the gil, they need to punish them, start with a full week "vacation" for the first offense and a full ban for the second. it will work because no one wants to lose a character they have put time and effort into.

make those actions and the stance very public. it will take a bit, but the rmt situation will lessen considerably. because if there is no money to be made, then there is less incentive to RMT, its really that simple. remove the problem... and the symptom will take care of itself.

[KageTokage]

Whenever third party tool discussions come up, players usually focus on dps meters and obsess and bicker over that, without realizing that SE's "don't ask don't tell" policy extends to pretty much everything besides outright hacking the game. This includes player bots. Similar to ACT, don't tell them you're using one and you'll never be banned. Get caught, you'll only get a slap on the wrist.

The sad thing is that even the biggest red flags escape their notice as I had seen several people botting while keeping the AFK symbol over their head during the initial release of 6.0 but I failed to get any of them banned over a period of several weeks.

I'm convinced they don't actually investigate reports unless a singular player gets a TON of them targeted at them as the number of bans of botting spiked during the initial Firmament rankings, presumably due to the increased exposure people were getting in a cross-server instance.

[Jalei]

I have been dealing with a botter on the Alpha mb for the last 2 weeks. They are selling rinascita gear. We tracked them undercutting for 24hrs a day, several days straight. Even tracked their very specific teleporting and movements. Never varies. Took it all to a gm in a 1 on 1 talk and "i'll see what I can do" is all I got. 2 weeks later, I'm dealing with the bot by making them take a loss on nearly everything they sell. Sure I spent way too much time calculating what its costing them to craft the gear but finding that break even point and watching them insta cut under it is very satisfying. Let them lose gil chasing with their program, I'm cool with it since i farm my mats I can sell at 3600 each and make profit.

[Jojoya]

Currently, when a player encounters an RMT ad bot, they can report it, but nothing happens to the bot immediately - it requires SE investigation to confirm the veracity of the report before it's banned - it doesn't even mute the bot for the player that reports it. Players still do report these bots, but they're disincentivized to do so since it produces no direct remedy.

Instead, why not make such reports immediately squelch the accused for all players? SE would still have to review before banning, but with this approach the bot gets 1 singular advertisement message before being globally muted, assuming anyone bothers to report it - this would incentivize players to report bots both as a self-serving instant remedy as well as a public service, and assuming players were harshly punished for false reporting, I doubt misuse would be problematic.

You don't know people very well, do you?

Misuse would absolutely be problematic. It's been seen in other games where an automatic squelch is used if enough players report a character.

[SamSmoot]

When I'm waiting in Limsa, I report the RMT bots over and over. I find that they stop posting after I've reported them about 10 times. Then, after a while, a new one pops up, but at least there's a few minutes of peace between them.
Once I get tired of that, I just put chat in battle mode so I can't see their (or anyone's) posts.