[Hantz]

Special Task Force (11/06/2006)
We are pleased to announce the official formation of a special task force as of October 2006 that will operate within the greater management team.

Formation of the Special Task Force
The management and development teams have been continuously working to combat the proliferation of RMT and the use of third-party tools within FINAL FANTASY XI. However, it was decided that the formation of a special task force was necessary to specifically address the various occurrences of misconduct that adversely affect game balance.

Focus of the Special Task Force
This special task force aims to reduce or eliminate altogether any elements that adversely influence the world of FINAL FANTASY XI, and to encourage a fun and fair playing environment. The main targets of the task force are as follows:

- RMT (Real Money Trading)
- Third-party Tools

With regards to RMT, we have begun investigation of around 100 web sites in Japan and 50 in North America, and are planning to focus our efforts on the largest and most active sites (30 or so sites in Japan, and 10-15 sites in North America).

We also plan to continue combating the use of third party tools by introducing measures against a wider range of tools (not just those that increase movement speed), and focusing on particularly notorious individuals and organizations.

Specific Duties
The special task force will continue measures currently being taken against tools that increase movement speed, and also expand investigations to include other types of third-party tools. We plan to focus specifically on those tools that allow automated farming, obstruct gameplay for other players, or are related to RMT activities.

We will address the RMT issue mainly through eliminating the presence of gil sellers, but also by warning or penalizing specific players who buy gil regularly and/or in large amounts.

The task force intends to conduct investigations into gil sellers. These investigations seek to eliminate the channels for RMT transactions, as well as sources of gil, and curtail the activities of those who farm gil for the purposes of RMT.

Results of Current Measures

Pursuant to the announcements on the official FINAL FANTASY XI homepage, we have banned multiple accounts in four separate instances and continue to do so. In comparison to the rising and falling numbers of banned accounts, the number of account holders has seen a steady decline.

When canceling accounts, we have seen a trend towards account holders possessing multiple accounts. During the measures taken in July 2006 this trend was prevalent when banned accounts were held by over 2000 users. However, in October 2006 when 1,400 accounts were banned, the number of account holders had decreased to the 300 mark.

Accordingly, the number of accounts being banned per account holder is increasing, and we are progressing in our efforts to remove organized groups of account holders from the game.

As was previously stated, we have adopted a new method of investigation that reaches beyond the in-game limitations, and targets the actual RMT sites.

Within a month, these investigations into RMT sites have resulted in the termination of around 100 accounts, and the removal of several billion gil from the game. At the same time, we have confirmed that several of these sites have shut down or ceased RMT activities related to FINAL FANTASY XI.

To build on this success, we intend to continue refining our measures against third-party tools and RMT, and further expand our field of investigation. We are working on ways to track repeat offenders, and will continue to bring you announcements concerning all account terminations.



Your Understanding
The special task force will be making all possible progress towards the goals stated above.

However, even with the new methods we have adopted, there still remain some areas that are difficult to cover. Analyzing the game log is a massive undertaking that takes time to produce results and so we ask for your patience in this matter.

To avoid falsely accusing account holders, all investigations will be conducted with equal thoroughness and care. RMT investigations in particular often include organizations formed through multiple accounts, and time must be spent confirming each case.

While it may be initially difficult to see any progress, rest assured that we are building a fair playing environment one dungeon and one notorious monster at a time. While the special task force will be independently gathering information, we also hope to enlist the cooperation of the community in our investigations.

We hope that our players enjoy the game as it was intended and avoid involvement in activities that violate the user agreement.


Special Task Force

[KoukiRyu]

This sounds great! @_@ If they actually do get more bannings done with this Task Force, then awesome. :D This is exciting to read and really has my hopes up for seeing a lot less RMT when I head back into XI in the future.

[Haggai]

Ooo... sounds nice. I hope the task force is as good as the impression I get from this news post.

[M_X]

This is great new. However, everytime I hear them use the term "Special Task Force" the theme song to The Shield runs through my head...

[Auron517]

This is a very good thing SE is doing, but I only have an issue with one thing:

Originally Posted by Hantz

We will address the RMT issue mainly through eliminating the presence of gil sellers, but also by warning or penalizing specific players who buy gil regularly and/or in large amounts.

This would be the whole "warning" or "penalizing" deal. I think SE should take a harsher method of dealing with buyers, because the sellers will never go away, no matter how many times SE bans accounts, as long as there are people ready to buy gil.

SE should make a policy that if you are caught buying gil, just once, no matter how small the amount, you get perm banned. This would be a more worth while way to deal with buyers, since after they see a couple bans get tossed around, it would make them think twice before pulling out Mom's Mastercard.

Of course, there's going to be some dummy who buys gil anyway and gets their account banned, but it would be a good message for SE to send that they have a zero tolerance policy towards actions that break the ToS.

[Celeal]

We shall wait and see. It is almost year after the last X'mas gil sale... /sigh

[Jakaal]

well it sounds like a great thing, but what about people using Windower and Dat modders.....there not doing anything wrong but what if they bann them??

[Raydeus]

This Special Task Force thing sounds great, I just hope the execution is as good.

[Ameroth]

This excites me, it does it does. I was beginning to wonder of SE was actually doing something, or just banning accounts every few months and calling it good. But sounds like they're making progress; especially the part about going after the sites themselves. Maybe the x-mas flood won't be as bad this year... /hopeful

everytime I hear them use the term "Special Task Force" the theme song to The Shield runs through my head...

>< Funny.


Good show, however. :}

[Akashimo]

Originally Posted by Jakaal

well it sounds like a great thing, but what about people using Windower and Dat modders.....there not doing anything wrong but what if they bann them??

I hope nothing serious @.@; Please just let it be for using windower inconjuction to various harmful 3rd pty tools and not just windower itself.

[massaranger]

all i have to say please dont bann the gil sellers till after xmas please so all my stuff will sky rocket in price and i can sell right befroe the spike lol. thats what i did last year.

[Taskmage]

Originally Posted by Hantz

We plan to focus specifically on those tools that allow automated farming

Please please let them figure out how to get rid of fish botters after all these years.

[Pai Pai Master]

I wouldn't recommend using Windower until their aim on the tool is clear.

I personally find it unlikely that they would devote time and effort to that, but it is still a third party tool, and they're obviously emphasizing that they're going to ago after a wider range of third party tools from now on.

[Kaickul]

Hey where is pearlsea and the rest complaining about lame events distracting SE from fixing the real problems with FFXI? Wow they are so quiet all of a sudden...

[Rai]

This would be the whole "warning" or "penalizing" deal. I think SE should take a harsher method of dealing with buyers, because the sellers will never go away, no matter how many times SE bans accounts, as long as there are people ready to buy gil.

I am not sure this is true, seeing that you need valid registration Key to create an account, $25-$30 for Vana d'eil Collection, then having it banned in a month or two, how much gil can it generate before it is terminated.

On my server we have the "GG"s a group of characters who's name all end in "gg" how long now before they are investigated? I would call a group who's names all end in "gg" and who all party together, a suspicious bunch.

IF SE follows through with what they say then they can really reduce the number of gil sellers, banning these accounts will cause the gil sellers to move on to richer pastures such as WoW.