We anticipate that even with this update, third parties will continue

[Tigerlilley]

Imagine banning gifts right before Christmas.

Unbelievable.

[Stormpeaks]

Imagine banning gifts right before Christmas.

Unbelievable.

It's Square Enix, anything that anyone would deem unbelievable happens, and yet some people will still shill and defend this company at all cost lol.

[VelKallor]

It's Square Enix, anything that anyone would deem unbelievable happens, and yet some people will still shill and defend this company at all cost lol.

All costs? No. Am I happy about it? No.

Does it make sense? Yes, sadly.

Was it necessary? Yes I think so.

[Tigerlilley]

All costs? No. Am I happy about it? No.

Does it make sense? Yes, sadly.

Was it necessary? Yes I think so.

I disagree. A solution that affects the paying players who use this service for community building and gift giving is not a solution. We're being punished for actions of a minority.

[AwesomeJr44]

Was it necessary? Yes I think so.

You're thinking wrong. There were other better solutions they could have taken. But they took this because it's easy.

[DamianFatale]

Yeah, these new rules are messed up. Square Enix shouldn't be punishing the players over this.

[VelKallor]

I disagree. A solution that affects the paying players who use this service for community building and gift giving is not a solution. We're being punished for actions of a minority.

...aand your solution is...?

[Kazhar]

You're thinking wrong. There were other better solutions they could have taken. But they took this because it's easy.

To be fair, we don't know their internal limitations. Their solution seems to be short-sighed and there's no doubt it's unpleasant to the playerbase, but context is needed to judge. Sometimes those ugly fixes are the only possible recourse.
I just hope they won't leave it as such and implement a better system later.

[RobynDaBank]

...aand your solution is...?

TBH that's the job of people who're paid to think those up, over at SQEX. This is not a customer-friendly change, whatever it is, so they should consider something different. IDK what, I'm not an expert on online game stores. But I do understand that as a customer it hurts me.

[Iscah]

Something that I think should be noted is that a lot of people (from the thread title onwards) seem to think SE is saying it won't stop the scammers, but the thread title misses a key part of the quote.

The article does not say that they anticipate scammers will continue without interruption, but will "continue their attempts to sell fraudulently obtained items" (emphasis mine). SE is saying they think they've put a system in place that will do a better job of catching the scammers when they do it. Whether that is accurate, time will tell. (Yes, you the reader might be confident that it won't work, but SE still needs to have their method disproved to them.)

Also, while it probably isn't going to stop anyone determined to work around the system, it's probably going to give honest buyers reason to pause if, rather than simply buying a code from a reseller, they have to meet up in game to join their friend list for three days like it's a weird back-alley trade. One process might seem legitimate; the other is definitely dodgy.