[Wise Donkey]

Today, a number of accounts which were confirmed to have violated the user agreement by using unauthorized third-party software tools within FINAL FANTASY XI to enable abnormal in-game movement were discovered and have been suspended or permanently terminated.

Based on the results of our investigation, over 7,450 PlayOnline accounts were terminated while over 250 accounts were temporarily suspended indefinitely.

The breakdown for the suspensions is as follows:

- Accounts confirmed using third party tools to illegally move their characters:
400 cases

- Accounts confirmed using third party tools to give an unfair advantage over other
players in order to get claim on Notorious Monsters.
4400 cases

- Accounts confirmed using illegal means to obtain items
100 cases

- Accounts from people that were previously confirmed to have RMT connections, or that had violated the user agreements but re-subscribed to PlayOnline.
2800 cases

The results of our investigation resulted in the confiscation of over 6.2 Billion gil

We would like to take this time to remind our players that the use of any third-party tools will not only destroy the in-game balance, but will also encourage RMT (real money trading) activities. We will continue to take strict actions against those individuals that we have confirmed to have used such tools.

Please note that some of these third-party tools may cause character information to be altered, erased, or personal information to be leaked to unwanted third parties. If you come across a third-party tool over the Internet, we ask that you please refrain from the download of such a tool, no matter how minor it may appear to be.

While we did not include a RMT heading in this announcement, RMT related activities are being investigated by a separate group and we plan to act on the results of this investigation at a later date. With the newly revised policies in effect, our GM teams are not only pursuing the buy and sell of gil, but also the illegal actions by RMT affiliates who seek to control certain areas within FINAL FANTASY XI with the purpose of furthering RMT related activities.

As of Dec. 10, the development team implemented a fix to prevent items from being obtained in an illegal manner. Action has been taken against accounts that participated in these activities.

To ensure that our customers can enjoy the game safely, we will continue to apply measurements to combat these third-party tools and violations.

We thank you for your cooperation and understanding in this matter.

http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/polnews/news9334.shtml

[Ameroth]

Woot! Thats STFU doing there job alright!

[Wise Donkey]

These mass bannings seem to be coming more frequently also. This is great news, hopefully it will stem the tide of the holiday gil buying that wrecked the economy around this time last year.

Some stats for your reading pleasure:

Average 232.8 Accounts banned per server.

Average 193,750,000 gil taken out per Server.

6.2 Billion gil is worth approximately $150,000.00 US to RMT companies @ $24/mil

[Kirsteena]

Interesting about the duping - I bet that is where the scrolls that have been seen appearing so often are coming from.

[Davitron3000]

I am glad to see these bannings occurring more frequently. This is great news, unless of course you were banned

[Shadowffvi]

Well its nice to see them cleaning house like this, and while we know it will never rid the servers 100% of cheaters, we atleast know it will help.

You'd almost think the next step would be for Square just to offer Gil to people for money (the same way Godfather does on Xbox360) but with an online game it just opens up a whole new can of worms. The entire situation kind of sucks though, and you'd hope it would never have to resort to that.

[Celeal]

/cheer

[bikkebakke]

/cheer S-E

I think they are doing a great job! Better than most MMO's I have played!

[Icemage]

It does seem to be working. Looking at the massive deflation that has occurred in-game since last Christmas, their recent policies appear to be doing a lot to hit RMTs where it hurts most - in the pocketbook.


Icemage

[neighbortaru]

wow 4400 cases of claim botting alone! I wonder how many "legit" players in HNMLS's were affected

[Freedan]

hmm, nice indeed




unrelated note:

Davitron3000, your avatar made me laughed then cried. . . . . . . . . . it so true ;_;

[Vyuru]

I like that SE is now doing something about the RMT, but I am a little concerned. It used to seem like about once a year or every 6 months they would mention how many accounts got banned, and how many accounts have been banned within the last 6 months? It's been alot although I'm not sure exactly how many have been banned.

I'm curious to know if it's because SE is being more aggresive against gil sellers or if this is just the increase of gil sellers that is causing this.

Still, as long as SE only bans the cheaters and leaves the legit players be I'm happy, I don't want them to be more like Blizzard and with the number of banned accounts growing that is a small concern of mine.

[Omni]

Its a great effort they are putting forth to ease the tensions regarding inflation, rmt and cheating.

They are really trying to keep people happy I think. As best as a big company can: In large swooping actions.

I am totally happy with how the economy is these days.

[Taskmage]

I think the timing of this round of bannings is particularly choice. They're not going to be able to recover that gil quickly, which hopefully leaves them with not enough supply to cover the xmas demand, which theoretically is where most of the holiday gilbuying happens.

[Neomage]

Gogogo STFU!