RMT Spam: Suggested Resolution

[HellBringer]

I've read through some of the threads on this topic, and decided to make a new thread for the simple fact that they mostly all just seem like rants or pleas for a fix. While this is fine, I'm hoping that this idea will be considered seriously and didn't want it mixed in with a thread that may be ignored in entirety.

I've seen suggestions for filters and 'click to blacklist' options, and while I agree with implementing them, they won't really solve the problem. They'll just help with the symptoms. I suggest some basic trial account limitations that shouldn't be too stifling for new players:

These restrictions would be for new TRIAL ACCOUNTS only:

You can carry on /whisper conversations with only 2 unique individuals in a 5 minute period.

You can send 1 /shout or /yell in a 5 minute period.

You can send 2 /say comments in a 5 minute period.

Obviously, once they make a payment, these restrictions would be lifted. I think those chat allowances are reasonable enough for a new player to communicate. Most probably wouldn't even realize they were restricted at all. For RMTs, however, it would almost make the effort of creating an account to spam pointless.

Someone else also had the suggestion of having someones chat abilities locked if they were subject to a certain number of /blacklists from players in a period of time (/blacklisted by 10 people in 30 seconds for example). This might be something to consider as well, not just for RMTs, but for anyone that has obviously stepped out of line.

[MisaCeliousa]

I think people would hate this, so they're forced to wait a whole month before being able to lift it? since the trial is forced for 30 days

[HellBringer]

I think people would hate this, so they're forced to wait a whole month before being able to lift it? since the trial is forced for 30 days

Perhaps I'm different from most people, but I don't think I would hardly ever notice those kind of restrictions even now. Most all of my conversation is in FC or party. If I shout, yell, or say, it's usually just a single line, and really carrying on a conversation with more than two people in /whisper in a 5 minute period has probably never happened for me.

I think those might be a bit too arbitrary, not to say they aren't good starts. Whether something is a SPAM or not requires a bit of assessment. Consider the following:

I'm not sure what you're getting at here, but if you're trying to imply that someone with a trial account has a need to spam "LFG", then I strongly disagree. Once per 5 minutes is sufficient to ask for a party. This is a whole different topic, but I don't think ANYONE needs to ask for a party more frequently than that.

[Hibashira]

I think those might be a bit too arbitrary, not to say they aren't good starts. Whether something is a SPAM or not requires a bit of assessment. Consider the following:

www.buymygold.spam.com 10,000 gil $50
www.buymygold.spam.com 10,000 gil $50
www.buymygold.spam.com 10,000 gil $50
www.buymygold.spam.com 10,000 gil $50

vs

DPS LF Fate Group
DPS LF Fate Group
DPS LF Fate Group
DPS LF Fate Group

I dare say different people will assess it differently. For as long as something requiring human assessment, it cannot be automated fully or something will go wrong in its execution.

Seeing how much time and effort they have to spent responding to harassment report and forum post, a better use of their time might be to setup a monitoring task force. No, not to have them pop in and out of each city each zone, that would be very wasteful. Meet them half way mechanically by providing them monitoring alerts. Something to what the degree of what you said above, say, 30 shouts within a minute or two. Raise an alert, the enforcement team picks it up, assess the shorts, enforce, done, next.

Since every chat is a client to server and server to client broadcast, it is already being processed by the chat processor code. Added some sort of rolling real time tally is trivial, storing the chats can be costly (both in terms of processing time and write time) but necessary for enforcement, if the data is indexed correctly, any sort of data analytics tool can highlight potential spammer. The rest becomes policy enforcement.

Right now, the worst thing SE can do is try to think of something too smart before they know how to handle the problem. Have to walk before running. Low impact (on game speed), high accuracy (human assessment), efficient (mechanically assisted) mechanism is the first step.

Just my 2 cents.