Claims of permanent bannings of player accounts have become more and more frequent within the past six months. First, there were the controversial events that happened in late January of this year, regarding the banning of accounts involved in an exploit found in Salvage. Even more recently, the apparent banning of players who had found that their credit cards were charged twice for a month of POL service, and requested a charge-back. Today, even more accusations have been surfacing regarding the banning of players who fulfilled a more in-game related criteria for being banned.
A new thread has recently emerged on the Allakhazam forums regarding the banning of players who reportedly were “involved in RMT activity.” Multiple players caught in this recent round of bannings have stated that they have no idea what they are guilty of. The only reason these players could come up with as to why their accounts were banned, was that they had multiple mules/accounts used for gardening, something that players have been doing without issues for years. Many players have joined in the discussion, claiming that they too, have been banned within the past few days. When calling up customer service to ask exactly why they were banned, they were told that they were banned for RMT activities.
The focus of these gardeners, is to create multiple accounts or characters to grow plants, and harvest their procurements. There is no level restriction to gardening, and it is relatively cheap. The need for multiple characters/accounts is attributed to the restriction that one in game character can only have ten flowerpots. These players would sell their harvests to nearby NPC’s, and then send the profits to their main character. Perhaps these large amounts of gil obtained through selling items to NPC’s and then sent to a single character are raising a red flag with Square Enix’s automated systems?
At Fan Festival 2008, it was revealed that the Special Task Force (STF) had created a set of tools to help them more easily catch those involved in RMT activities. These tools were intended to be used to more easily catch any characters who were seen as RMT via established parameters. Could it be possible that the RMT PWNER is causing the bannings of legitimate players who are abiding by the games rules to get ahead in Vana’diel? Many of the problems with countering RMT activities is that your average rule-abiding player also falls victim. This has been seen in several updates where money making items for many players are adjusted, ruining income for both RMT and legitimate players.
The RMT PWNER and Auto-Jailer have both been important tools in the ever-growing arsenal of the Special Task Force. At initial installment, these functions seemingly performed their function well (minus a few issues with the Auto-Jailer) as RMT numbers began to make a steep decline. However, recent findings could be indicating that these programs are automatically banning players for performing certain actions who are not involved in real money trading. One discussion with Square Enix support staff confirms that they use some automated tools to evaluate account activity. These apparent Preemptive bannings at present seem to be irreversible. In any case, it is imperative that SE and the STF remember to pay close attention to their automated programs. After the January salvage bannings, it was said that the bannings were very inconsistent, making it clear that there is either no strong set of guidelines for banning a character, or that an automated system is not being checked as closely as it should. Leaving any computer to perform automated tasks without close supervision usually does not yield satisfactory results to one party or another.
With Final Fantasy XI in its 7th year of service, and Final Fantasy XIV set to go live next year, one thing is certain. Square Enix needs to greatly improve not only their tools and checks for banning accounts, but their customer support center as well. Players caught in the RMT crossfire, players who have been loyal fans of Square Enix and their online games are now outright refusing to partake in any more online services because of the way their account and morality have been treated.
Ok square is messing up bad! banning people for spening in game money to make in game money. you garden to make gil nothing new about that. you do it in the most easy and efficient way. so now your banning people for playing the game they way it’s designed. You need to stop the auto banning and get off your lazy asses and actually look into things! this is like a communist government right now. kill first ask questions later. you cant ban good players honest player for doing things that they need to do to make gil while RMT still controls everything! i mean you have to be kidding me have been playing for 6 years making gil from ISNM, BCNM, NM, and so on are you gonna ban me for doing a KSNM? you gonna ban people for exping next? whee is the line i NPC stuff from PT will i be banned next? Please tell us you will reform and make up for mistakes or you will lose alot of players that have been good and played the game right.
SE definitely needs a human monitor that system and make sure the bans are legitimate. Yeah it seems to have worked on the RMT tells, but should not be at the expense of those players that have worked hard for their gil. To be honest, I hope their customer service improves before Final Fantasy XIV. Even then, not all of us will join the new game. They need to keep us honest players happy, not shut away in our mog houses, hoping that the “ban hammer” isn’t coming for us next. My heart goes out to those that have been ban wrongly.
Holy sheezaz. i was going to play this game, but after reading this, i have to say eff off SE….man for all you 11 players out there GL. I would actually be scared to log into my account after reading this….yikes. Remember, not to be an ass or anything but, if you do log in just don’t be surprised if you’re banned…so be prepared for being banned.
My friend had a few of his gardening accounts get banned. He uses them solely for gardening and sends the money to himself. Same credit card, same name, same everything. It’s like they never checked any of the info or transaction history at all. They just saw a lvl 1 gardening account and hit it with the ban stick. Complete bullshit
I’m one of the legitimate players that got banned. I’ve been playing for 3.5 years (since 360 beta). I have two accounts, both have lvl 75 characters 75+ crafting skills (I have 7 jobs at 75 btw).
Funny thing is, they only banned one of my two accounts. I told the SE rep on the phone that I will be cancelling my other account and will keep it cancelled if my banned account is not restored by the end of the month (why I should need to give that much time is beyond me, but I’m a pretty patient person). I also demanded a refund for July services on both accounts. If I don’t receive my phone call, then SE will have proven that they don’t want my $55 a month. And no, I won’t be touching FF14 w/ a ten foot polearm +1. This is just a horrible business policy on SE’s part.
The more I read on this issue, the more I debate ever coming back or trying FF14, despite my personal outcome. Whose to say they will change their ways? There’s no sense in giving them my time and money if they can just decide to delete my account without the least bit of account research or consideration. In all honesty, SE Online has probably made an irreversible mistake in my eyes. I have probably permanently banned them lol.
Best of luck to all of those impact – either directly or indirectly!
I didn’t really have time to read through every post but the bottom line in my opinion is do deal with RMT (real MONEY trading) is to get rid of the money. Make crafting easier to where if I want a new weapon… I’ll go out farm the items and make it myself… make the Jobs in FF14 balanced enough to where if an NM , mob or whatever there called drops a weapon or armor I want that there is a possiblity I can solo it. And if there is going to be currency use the example of beastmen seals which have to be earned and not bought and use those as currency to give to NPC in the game in exchange for armor. If the RMT problem keeps up with no real solution other than SE making a Bot to kill a Bot its my opinion that it will be the eventual death of mmorpgs
Wow.
I was actually thinking of starting to garden on my lvl 5 mules, but after reading this, I think i’d rather do something that is not going to get me banned. Like idk, use claim hacking at Nidhogg camps to sell items. Yea, that seems safe enough. I see people do that all the time, and no one seems to get banned.
Good thing SE is going after those lousy gardeners! I would hate to see a perfect game get broken or anything by trying to make money in a slow, unreliable fashion.
And on another note… sorry for the double post but… In regards to this “We have the right to terminate your account for any reason” statement, my answer to that is; Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Please fire the people who seem to be exercising that right….
And here I was thinking about logging back in after being gone a couple months. Scratch that idea. And depending how SE handles this, I may be canceling my account and won’t be going anywhere near FF14.
Ok first off I am going to say this
1. Yes I know my spelling is bad
2. Yes I know I used the wrong words
Its due to me being dyslexic and other things so plz don’t point it out am quite sure you will have other things to flame me about
Ok now ON TO WHY I AM POSTING. FERST off I feel bad for every one that got banned I know if it was me I would be rip roaring mad. But!!! YOU People are operating under the assumption that you have rites when it comes to your chars. You don’t, you never have, you never will. Se owns it all they have from day one they do not owe us a thing. Witch is not to say that a press release would not be nice but I think you can hold your breath on that one. I love ffxi I love the player base I love my ls and friends I have made but having said that I feel I must say the FF XI fan base are like spoiled kids there is not a update that goes bye were sum distinct size group is not bitching about something no mater what SE does a group of us complain and wine and call se ass holes or lazy or both or other words I shall refrain from using here. Should se be looking at the programs and making sure innocent players aren’t being banned? Of cores do they have the man power to I highly doubt that they do. If theirs more then 500 people working for the STFU I would be shocked and I am betting the number is much lower but lets take 500 employees working in the STFU so that is 500 people to go look at god knows how many logs to make sure who is what if they did not have programs to help them nothing would ever get dun. No yes se not checking the programs is messed up. But they most likely won’t go back now and why you may ask? Because why the hell should they? We treat them like shit we blame them for every thing players get Lm17 banned for doopin and say there innocent and we take them at there word they could be lying and we wont know but we take there word over se and blame SE now I am 100% sure SE
Has and will again ban players that did nothing wrong things like that have and will happen but maybe if we stop playing the se you suck stick every damn time they mite be more responsive many of you have herd the saying “you get more flies with hunny then vinegar” well it seams we as a player base likes us are vinegar Standing here and saying you will quit if se does not apologize will get you know wear first off the worst thing that would or could happen is se says fine then off and closes down the game . Ultimatum’s seldom if ever work and in this case it wont. SE holds all the cards we hold nun and while I think it would be a smart PR move to apallajise I do not think they will. So in closing my point is that we as players need to remember that se will treat us the same way we treat them and going by how ppl are reacting I don’t think they will give us the response we want. Thanks all and remember I say this not to be hateful but because I like the game and the players and I think sum one needed to say this we all like the game so how bout we stop slamming se and start thinking about how hard it is to run a MMO on 2 consuls and a pc on 5 continents in what 7 or 8 languages with probably upwards of 8bilyin lines of code or more. Its not a easy job and I don’t think SE feels to willing to go out of there way with us bitching about something every time a update comes out if you had a game would you like it if every time you sent out a update sum one ripped it a part after asking for something like it? Alls am saying really is com the hell down pleas and think in reason rash decisions in anger seldom end well for anyone thanks for reading this ^^
lulz.. Good thing I don’t do Gardening.. Nor do I play much FFXI lately. I’ll be on WoW having fun, guys. kthxbai.
Well, in all honesty, if you have FIFTEEN mules that you’re throwing money into just for gardening a bunch of items.. Sheesh.. I have no other words. What’s wrong with you again? o.O
Maybe SquareE should change the rules of gardening as opposed to banning players that were merely using the current conditions to their advantage. yes, its a bit sneaky and underhanded, but these people arent cheating. They are just exploiting the rules which SqE set up to the fullest.
Some reason, SE doesn’t sound like a “Green” job everyone talks about. Banning people that gardens, what’s next, Bazaar campers?
Where’s the environmentalist, PETA, ACLU, Al Gore, Pres. Obama???
Really, SE is making some really dumb moves again.
If this had just started, I would say change the rules, but since it has been going on for years, it should be left alone.
This is truly a sad display by SE. The bannings need to stop and the people that were banned, for whatever reason, should be reinstated. What’s the point in even trying to accomplish something in game or have goals if at any time, SE can slap the ban stick on us. SE gets their money from everyone that plays this game, RMT included. they need to step back and think before they act but instead they always come in with guns blazin’.
The people that play this game comes first, SE doesn’t own us, We own SE, without us, there would be no SE.
I know that I’m posting again, but I just wanted to add something. I just ranted about this to a family member (one who has almost no idea what FFXI is and is pretty computer challenged) and she was furious at SE as well. This isn’t just affecting those who are playing, it’s affecting those who MIGHT have played. This is bad for both SE and us.
But honestly, I can’t even give a care anymore about SE. I am so close to cancelling my account– their behavior is infuriating!!! I’ve just started to not expect anything from them community-wise, because it’s pointless. Where have they BEEN the past few months?! Why aren’t they explaining themselves?!
I am NOT touching FF14, because I know SE is the developer. No way am I getting into a game where I will be treated like shit, just like the player base is now. Honestly, stuff like this just makes the game not fun and makes my blood boil.
And to those who had your accounts wrongfully banned: I’m so sorry guys, I hope SE gives a pretty darn good apology. If not, then I hope SE slowly dies as they get rid of all the good, honest players.
(Wow, I don’t think I’ve written such an angry rant in a while!!)
QQ
<_<
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SE takes measures to control and remove RMT’s from our game to improve on the level of fun that we all desire from the company that has created so many of the rpg’s we all love.
Do i think they need to revaluate thier processes. I do, however i am still glad they are willing to take action on a problem that they until 3-4 years ago had no idea how to react too. They could have stopped listening to ppl’s QQ’in about these rmt’s are campning my NM or there is 150 fishing bots in quifim. Then we would be playing WoW with all the other ppl who thrive on empty in-game content and weird large shoulder equipment fetishes.
If you decide that you need to make 15 gardening mules to play this game you have some RL issues to deal with. This game is like a job they do not have to give you a reason to fire you or in this case ban you.
In my opinoin, and I can care less what ppl think of it, if you do things that mirror RMT activites in this game how can SE trust that you are not one.
If you got banned my sympathies to you and your family. If you got a complaint send it to the ppl who caused it.
45 comments so far. You know SE messed up big time when PFA has a topic that’s 45 comments long in only a few days after it was posted.
Shame on you SE. Pliz learn how run an MMO.
wow Se seriously? Banning people now JUST for vendoring off items from gardening? What’s next, auto-ban for bazaaring imp silver pieces in front of the Taru in Aht Urhgan or bazaar afk in Rolanmart?
How about you ban EVERYONE who puts something up on the AH because they are ‘maniuplating’ the prices. At this rate no one is going to try FFXIV because you people can’t run better scripts on your freaking programs!
people on ally are start to say they’ve been reactived the one that called and talk to SE, just any fyi
Reports are starting to come in that certain persons that were banned for Gardening/RMT and have contacted SE are starting to be reinstated. Some posts of this are up on BG.
This is why you don’t have automated programs to ban players…
When I heard about the automated dection tools SE was implying I was just assuming this was for suspicous trades and whatnot (IE: Buying certain items for 1M, lowbie having more gil than he should by normal means, etc.) however I do agree SE is going too far on this. If they wanted to stop RMT w/ gardening why not put a level restriction on it? Or make it where you can’t garden until you’re been a POL member for a certain amount of time like with fishing?
PFA, thank you for putting this up. S-E needs to see this story, and similar ones at other fan sites for XI, to truly understand just how badly they’ve screwed up this time. My own LS, which used a 16 mule account for gardening because we need money in game like anyone else, was crippled by their auto-banning tools.
We didn’t ever buy gil and we never sold gil. We would let the gil build to 6 million and then we would split it 6 ways between the 6 static LS static members. Then we’d start the process all over again. That was it.
How it all started:
At the beginning of July, the mule account was hacked because when we went in to check our harvests, the password was no longer valid and we couldn’t get in. I called S-E to report the incident and got the password changed and when we logged in, the 4.3 million we’d accumulated to that point was gone-the moneyholding mule was logged out at the delivery NPC in Port Sandy.
The LS hemmed and hawed over what to do. Do we report the incident and try to get the account rolled back to recover the gil or do we just carry on? Initially, we said we should just carry on-we didn’t feel right bout adding another 4.3 million gil to the economy without actually earning it, and it’s not like the guilty were ever going to be punished or have the gil taken from them. Plus, considering we just wanted to get back on with our business, we were content to let it go and start over because that account had a ton of gear and crafting items on it and we didn’t want to lose access to those items while the account was locked down pending an investigation.
Two weeks later, I go to log into the account again and lo and behold, the mighty ban-hammer was swung and the account was permanently banned. AFTER our privacy had been violated. AFTER we’d reported the incident for the sole purpose of getting access to an account that belonged to us in the first place.
So of course, I was very upset and called S-E to discuss it with them and they said ‘banned for RMT related activity.’ Well, of course I wrestled with them over the phone at length but because everything is controlled and centralized in Japan, the US support group can’t actually make any decisions or take any actions right there on the spot. All they can do is report it to ‘a special task force’, after which the inevitable waiting game must be played.
This is my biggest problem with the customer support for the US customers. When it comes to these escalated matters, they have no power, are unable to reason or investigate the issue for themselves and can’t make any decisions on these complicated situations. We need edicts passed down from on high.
Well, that’s not good enough S-E. Not by a longshot.
The biggest insult was the fact that they actually told me that ‘if the decision stands, you will not be contacted.’ There is nothing so insulting or degrading as being told that there is no appeals process for you to escalate your case. This is my reward for being a faithful player, a good paying customer and an honest participant in FF XI who did nothing to break the rules? A perma ban for an account I owned that was hacked and stolen from?
This is why I will not be playing FF XIV. S-E’s customer support is the absolute worst I have ever encountered in my entire life. Microsoft and Sony are both absolutely darlings to communicate with compared to this outfit.
I am, in all likelihood, probably going to cancel my content IDs for FF XI before the end of the month as well. I refuse to continue to give money to a company that obviously doesn’t care about what I have to say or about my long standing loyalty to them.
I have been playing Final Fantasy and purchasing S-E products since Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior (yes, back before they called it by its original name) was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in the late eighties. I own almost every Square, Enix and Square-Enix game in their catalogue since those days because the quality of their product shone so brightly. For me, a fan of their product for as long as that company has had any relevance whatsoever, this is a truly disheartening day.
I can’t say I’ll never buy another S-E product again. I am heavily invested in FF IV: The After Years at this point so I will finish that so I can experience the story. But every time I hear that familiar crystal theme or every time I watch FF VII: Advent Children (just bought the blu-ray of Complete), every time I see their logo emblazoned on a product, I will feel a melancholy within me of the promise that S-E failed to deliver on. They had such a wonderful track record with me to this point. It’s a sad ending for me and S-E.
With Star Wars: The Old Republic and DC Universe on the horizon, it’s time I set my MMORPG sights on long times ago in galaxies far, far away and on brave new frontiers. And the shame of it is…I could have been playing FF XIV.
Now I won’t.
My situation is identical to that of Greenpower’s. My account was banned four days ago.. I was even emailed saying it was a CC issue, and as I contacted SE they told me it was a Perma… now, I wasn’t told it was for “RMT activities” no, I was banned for “Irregular activity” What in gods name does that even mean, you may ask. Well I asked, and none of the five POL agents I spoke to could tell me. They themselves didn’t know why I was banned. WHAT? So I asked them, “I’m being banned just because I’m being banned?” POL agent: “Yes” WHAT?—After reading countless forums about LM-17, it now dawns on me that I wont be getting back my character. I’ve never Gardened, I don’t fish, I’ve done salvage once in my time on ff, I don’t bot.. I don’t buy or sell gil, in fact, I’m pretty poor, and my only source of income is when I do ISNMs, BC/KSnms. Owned.
To the few of you who so cynically argued in favor of SE.. Talk to me when its your account being wrongfully banned.
@Miroku, It’s BS and they know it… they just don’t give a shit. They have a game comming out next year that they know ‘most’ people will play whether they were banned or not from FFXI. This is probably the biggest non-issue to them. I’m sure they’re more worried about about how they can keep most of us playing xi and xiv for the longest amount of time.
All business’ are after money…. I get that. But you don’t make money by treating your customers like shit. If i can’t bot in game don’t do it against my friends account and ban them.
Their customer service sucks too, they have no idea what you’re talking about when you speak with them. They probably don’t even know what “RMT” stands for. I swear it’s the same people that do the CS and are GM’s. Neither have a damn clue about how this game works.
As far as the TOS, stop being friggin e-hitlers with your “I’ll do w/e to your acct.” At least give people an appeal process that’s taken seriously. Not something that’s thrown at some dude who doesn’t give a shit making minimum wage who wants to just gtfo of the office.
@Phinn, Agreed.
@Sully, …HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Oh, you’re serious? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! That’s hilarious!
No. No the players/fans do NOT own SE. That’s bullshit and you know it. This may just be because I’ve experience WoW’s community recently and exactly how well Blizzard treats THEIR fans, it’s a two-way street. They BOTH co-operate.
SquareEnix is doing exactly that. Treating their fans how they treat them! The general community bitch either way, whether it’s a good thing or not. The general community has absolutely no idea what THEY want, it screws up anything SE puts forward because this whole community thing is complete bollocks! If Blizzard is getting a better reputation than SE’s, you’ve only got the players to blame.
@Meattankaears, Okay, okay.. I’ve gotta give you the benefit of the doubt here on a few things.
First thing, majority of what you’ve said is completely true! The only parts I disagree with is your WoW comment and the “you and your family” part… Why the hell would the family care whether some dolt was banned from a video game? Yeah.. Okay.
Onto the WoW comment. Thriving on empty in-game content? What? You’re saying that the overabundance of quests all with their own sidestories and plots leading to the overall one covering the race you’re playing as isn’t good enough? I’ve had a lot more fun lately in WoW even at a low level, more than I’ve ever had as my mid-70’s Samurai on Hades.
I can enjoy the content ON MY OWN if I choose to, or if I see someone/a group of people nearby (which is quite often), it’s quite normal for everyone to just team up and go nuts. Why? Because it’s FUN. Gaming, be it an MMO or something like Halo, should NOT be a chore. It’s NOT a job. It’s a hobby. The sooner you people realize that, the better..
@Snowshadow, I understand that there are people that are very upset over whats been going on and rightfully so. But we all need to realize that when its all said and done it’s just a game and even though we do throw money into playing this game the issues having to do with this game and the game itself should not affect our real lives. Even you if your a major contributor to the community in the end It’s LIFE over FFXI
@Hileict,
Square Enix treating their fans how they treat them… when has that ever been the way a company does business? With any game (WoW) included, there’s always people that love and hate any new updates that come out. The player’s control SE’s reputation to a degree, however if SE didn’t mess up in this case, there wouldn’t be a surge of negativity to hurt their reputation.
@Exeter, True lol. These things are rants after all though, so you kinda have to expect us to go crazy with the bashing…
@Hileict, I played WoW for 3 years before I realized that it lacked alot for what I wanted in a MMORPG so I have had enough background with the game to formulate the opinion I have about it.
The “you and your family” comment was smoothered in sarcasim.
I do however think that playing Halo on-line is a chore because it take alot of effort to sit there and listen to a 12 yr old make weak ass attempts to talk trash that they came up with on thier own and not just repeating what they heard from an episode of Red vs Blue.
@Zames, I’m pretty sure this sentence doesn’t make sense.
Are you trying to say that SE is unbanning accounts that have been reported as banned for gardening? Because if so, I believe that would be a good first step for them.
But not as good as a formal apology and a promise to secure peoples accounts/ have more account insurance and rights.
I fantasize, I know.
@Zidian,
SE apologize? Maybe in bizarro world but not here! They’re too prideful to admit wrong and deny that if anything is wrong it’s their fault and it’s the players not them.
@djplaeskool, hmm, I guess the SE community relations team really do read posts
@Dymlos,
Yup sadly I agree with you. SE’s got some major public relation problems in regards to their management style.
@Corrderio, the problm with a time limit set til you can gardin is that the rmt will just wate til they can its not like a $1.00 will kill them