Scary Conversation with a Senior GM

[Onte]

Re: gfgfdg

Originally posted by salador
and the reason why im asking for farming tips is because i dont buy gil anymore because i want to earn it myself in the game. so fu

Hey! fu too!

BTW, you know those items you loot after you kill things? You're supposed to stack that neat stuff up, then SELL IT. Then, you either keep a list in your head (the thing your neck separates from your shoulders) or write it down (with a pen! or pencil!) and keep track of what sells well! Then you keep farming what sells well! Yay!!!

[kevinsal]

I'm sure the GM has no idea who transfers what into other delivery boxes.. So no he probably wasnt lying..

They have many other things to try and catch like botters and players whining about this and that...

But there are higher level developers who can see everything. They obviously wont be doing anything about it or they would have by now..

Guys people wont stop buying gil, and people wont stop selling it. It is time to go into the acceptance phase of the situation.

I know someone who just bought 200k for $20, that is an underground trade from a Gil seller itself. Its not only the websites, but there is other trading going on.

Get over it people! And if you know someone who is an avid Gil buyer just kick their ass in P v P.

[Modri]

Originally posted by Onte
From my past experience in the buying and selling of game money, GM's have access to all sorts of records including that of trade histories. They might not want to go through the piles and piles of trade history/delivery box records, but those records are there and they *will* access those records to take care of any problems they find ingame. How do you think dupers end up getting popped?

Oops, I keep forgetting you developed these tools for FFXI as an SE employee.

Granted, a GM may not be familiar with all the tools at their disposal (or simply lied to avoid a controversy), but don't ever assume to know what tools they do and do not have based on another online game.

[csBahamut]

Guys people wont stop buying gil, and people wont stop selling it. It is time to go into the acceptance phase of the situation.

This won't solve the problem. It would more than likely make it even worse. Just imagine if we had ignored Germany's and Japan's attacks on the rest of the world. It wouldn't be a very pretty place, would it? The US wouldn't exist had the 13 original colonies just accepted the outragous taxes and lack of representation in Parliment.

Sorry, but just ignoring(or accepting as you ut it) will not solve the problem.

P.S. Any gil buyers/sellers on Phoenix, if you could please provide me with your character names so I can /blist you. Thanks!

[Onte]

Originally posted by Modri
don't ever assume to know what tools they do and do not have based on another online game.

I think it's perfectly acceptable to assume another game producing company which has invested millions into the production and release of a game such as this would be more than willing and able to protect their property when and if they choose.

[Braanu]

Onte,

Can you please share that FFXI GM User Manual you so obvisouly have with all of us please?

Oh, you dont have one....here let me give you something...its A CLUE. Hopefully you know how to catch.

/em tosses a CLUE at Onte.

[Balfree]

I didnt read all the posts on here but my opinion on the very first post is:

Why would S-E even ban these people? They aren't doing anything *really* wrong or illegal, are they? it's not like they aren't allowed to camp wherever they want, for how long they will, right? it's bad civism but it's not illegal.

These people pay a monthly fee to S-E, why would they want to lose a client?

Sorry if this opinion has been formed before, i havent the cohones to read all the posts.

[Onte]

There you go with more of those verbal attacks, Bran.

I find no need for it. I think it's frankly unwarranted that you feel that you need to attack me for some opinions I've chosen to share. Point me where I said "I know all because I'm the knower of all and the all-knowing knower of all that is to be known." Point me to where I have said, "This is a fact because I say it's a fact." Point me to where I have said, "I have experienced this in the past so obviously everyone must follow the same drummer."

I haven't. So keep it up.

[Macht]

Originally posted by lun4tic
You guys are such dorks.

Havn't you realized there are A LOT of people buying gil? Ever wonder why people sell gil? Because it's profitable. Trying to single people out who buy gil to ostracize them and keep them from getting into parties is a lot like the bot hunts in RO beta 3/4. There are still people buying gil that will invite them, and other people who just don't give a flying fuck.

Have fun in your 'I follow the rules' club, tell me how the farming goes.

Wow, looks like we hit someone's nerve here. He quotes my joking response as actual action. Lun4tic, I use do a GM like position before and unless you've done it you really have no clue of how crazy it can get.

With the ones I did that had a usual player base of about 100 people at any given time I would usually have about 30-40 responses a week that were either possible bugs, reports on possible cheaters, reports about bad language, etc...

If you were to multiply that by what 600k or 700k people now. That about 180k - 280k of reports to look through, and check in to. That's a lot to look threw and usually their importance is classified by frequency, if a specific place or specific action is reported constantly by a large number of players then it becomes a high priority.

If you look on the FF Official website you'll notice they mentioned that they are going to do maintenance on the Delivery Service and Auction House. I would not be surprised if this also starts implementing tools for the GMs to use to locate possible gil buyers and sellers.

Identifying by their play actions is possible, a player of rank 1 in all nations (Remember data is stored with the character, so even if a high level character switches nations their rank on the previous nation is still saved). It doesn't guarentee a definate, but it does point out potentials.

Before you can take any actions to do something against a player you have to start somewere and identifying potentials is the best way to start. Once you've identified potentials then you know who you may need to monitor more. What usually results then is the gil buyers or people working such type of organizations getting banned for some action other then actually the gil.

That should quickly get rid of the obvious ones, then they just have to get rid of the less obvious which I'm betting will be on the lower 5%-10% of the general populous. It's not getting rid of every single one, but it is placing a control on it to make the action less desireable.

[Faust]

Originally posted by Balfree
I didnt read all the posts on here but my opinion on the very first post is:

Why would S-E even ban these people? They aren't doing anything *really* wrong or illegal, are they? it's not like they aren't allowed to camp wherever they want, for how long they will, right? it's bad civism but it's not illegal.

These people pay a monthly fee to S-E, why would they want to lose a client?

Sorry if this opinion has been formed before, i havent the cohones to read all the posts.

Basically according to the first post, there were players that admitted to working for IGE.

IGE buys gil and sells gil online for real money. They do the same to a LOT of different MMORPGs and not just FFXI and have been attributed to the downfall (or messing up of as it may be) of many an MMORPG.

Buying and selling gil for real money is against TOS and a bannable offense according to TOS. So SE would be more than within their rights to ban an account for buying/selling gil.

Actually, considering SE owns EVERYTHING in the game, they can ban someone for an insult if they felt like it. I think admission to gil selling would be enough really.

[lun4tic]

Originally posted by Macht
Wow, looks like we hit someone's nerve here. He quotes my joking response as actual action. Lun4tic, I use do a GM like position before and unless you've done it you really have no clue of how crazy it can get.

With the ones I did that had a usual player base of about 100 people at any given time I would usually have about 30-40 responses a week that were either possible bugs, reports on possible cheaters, reports about bad language, etc...

If you were to multiply that by what 600k or 700k people now. That about 180k - 280k of reports to look through, and check in to. That's a lot to look threw and usually their importance is classified by frequency, if a specific place or specific action is reported constantly by a large number of players then it becomes a high priority.

Call a GM and find out how many other people are in line before you. Not that many people call GMs, this is a pretty civilized game society, unlike others I've seen.

[Cube]

Originally posted by Grand Lethal
Umm is it just me or is it not in the disclaimer somewhere that says, using FFXI to make money is an offence and can lead to account suspension or even criminal charges? Seriously, if someone is making money off of FFXI, SE won't be happy, because THEY should be the ones making money off of THEIR creation.

Exactly, there is such a thing. Punishment is as follows in the Final Fantasy XI User Agreement, Article 3:

You may not use the Game or PlayOnline for any activities that are illegal, fraudulent, or a violation of the rights of any third party.

Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the following acts and activities are strictly prohibited and shall, without prejudice to any other right or remedies that SEI may have, be cause for immediate termination of your PlayOnline account and your right to play the game (or any other services) in connection therewith:

I quote from the Final Fantasy XI User Agreement, Article 3, section 1, paragraph A:

Any activities consisting of selling, purchasing, or exchanging "gil" or any other currency that may be used in game from time to time, characters, and/or Game items for value (including, but not limited to, any payment in kind and any payment in any currency recognized as legal tender in any country, state, territory or other jurisdiction anywhere in the world) through any means or venue, including, without limitation, internet auctions or other online exchanges;

So, to the people who said it's ok... No, it most definately is not. You lose. Your account deserves to be deleted and never see light again. Why hasn't this happened though?

Because Square doesn't care enough to punish those who disobay their own agreement. If they really wanted to, gil buyers and sellers would not exist. All they need to do is investigate a little, put a little money into it, buy some gil online. Find out who is giving it out.

They'd get their money back once they cracked down on these people in the long run anyhow...

[Macht]

Originally posted by lun4tic
Call a GM and find out how many other people are in line before you. Not that many people call GMs, this is a pretty civilized game society, unlike others I've seen.

Ehh, so there doesn't appear to be a lot of people calling. Tell me how many GMs exists, the actual number before telling me a statement like that. If you get 40k messages a day that should take only about 20 GMs a day to handle it all.

I'm basing that off my companies interaction with our customers. By phone which is even slower a single person handles approx. 2,000 calls a day. Now considering that there are 30 servers, if they had at least 1 GM per server they easily have 30 then. That should be more then enough right there to handle all the call requests in a timely manner.

You didn't prove your point yet with mathmatical or any physical evidence. The funniest part about this debate you're trying to discredit my opinion without even a single shred of disproving evidence.

Originally posted by Cube
So, to the people who said it's ok... No, it most definately is not. You lose. Your account deserves to be deleted and never see light again. Why hasn't this happened though?

Because Square doesn't care enough to punish those who disobay their own agreement. If they really wanted to, gil buyers and sellers would not exist. All they need to do is investigate a little, put a little money into it, buy some gil online. Find out who is giving it out.

They'd get their money back once they cracked down on these people in the long run anyhow...

I personally think they are starting to take action to at least put a control on this behavior. They state that they are going to do maintenance on the Delivery & Auction House system, this could mean implementing tools for the GMs to use in assisting them at finding these potential players and taking action.

[salador]

gbdfdxg

my ff name is salador and i have bought gil before. so /blist me or wutever the hell u wanna do to me! fu!!

[Modri]

Originally posted by Onte
There you go with more of those verbal attacks, Bran.
...

Point me to where I have said, "I have experienced this in the past so obviously everyone must follow the same drummer."

I haven't. So keep it up.

From my past experience in the buying and selling of game money, GM's have access to all sorts of records including that of trade histories. They might not want to go through the piles and piles of trade history/delivery box records, but those records are there and they *will* access those records to take care of any problems they find ingame.