To the few of you who so cynically argued in favor of SE.. Talk to me when its your account being wrongfully banned.

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At the beginning of July, the mule account was hacked because when we went in to check our harvests, the password was no longer valid and we couldn’t get in.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.

Yup sadly I agree with you. SE’s got some major public relation problems in regards to their management style.

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?

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.

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.

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.