Quote Originally Posted by Abriael View Post
The massive prices on the AH I've seen just a few months ago say the opposite.

What SE did in XI is simply a very extensive game of whack-a-mole.
I have no idea how FFXI is faring today; I can only speak of the 6 years I played where they ripped RMT to shreds.
I agree with the notion that they were playing whack-a-mole. That's pretty much what they said:

"Hey everyone that plays our game, we've decided to create hire and create a team of professional whack-a-mole players to perpetually whack moles so they can't disturb you as much. They will be working around the clock to whack-moles in the hopes that eventually other moles look at FFXI and say: Hmm, they're whacking moles, I don't want to be whacked."

Not only did they ban the gil-sellers, they also banned the gil buyers. They banned a lot of people. Are you ruining FFXI for other people? You're getting whacked.
They whacked away at moles so hard and for so long that a lot of people just decided being a mole wasn't worth it anymore.

You beat CoP, you beat Treasures, you have full Kaiser for your PLD, and the salvage body. You're also working on your Aegis. You kind of want to buy gil to fund your aegis.. but.. holy hell are moles getting whacked. Probably not a good idea.

SE whacks moles, that's hella legit.

You totally lost a lot of respect from shooting down the Special Task Force. And I am now a sad panda.

Also, I heard from Aetheryte Radio that in FFXIV:AAR, the Chinese region will have their own servers and will not be able to access ours. At least, not as easily as prior. And that's another good counter measure.

Largely though, the entire concept of buying USD purchased subscriptions with gil, has little or nothing to do with RMT.

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Here's a thought though:

Rather than implement this system where USD somewhere becomes gil and vice versa..

Why not reintroduce the Adventurer Recruitment Program?

( Like so: http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/gui...uitment01.html)

In addition to in-game rewards however, perhaps they can also add a discount or a waiver to a month of the player's subscription, if he recruits another player who stays for 120 days? (3 months of the recruit paying for service.)

This would be motive/incentive for more subscribers; the recruiting player would get in-game bonuses for their efforts, and rather than pay more USD, they might end up paying less and still get rewarded in-game as well.

I think it would be far more likely/acceptable.

Just a thought~