POL NEWS : 6,750 Accounts Banned and Special Task Force Report (Oct. 24)

Dayner

camel man
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FFXIV
Dayner Camelman
We would like to report the termination today of multiple accounts held by players involved in the usage of third-party tools or cheats, or engaged in RMT (Real Money Trading) activities.

Based on the results of our investigation, around 6,750 PlayOnline accounts were terminated while around 1,150 accounts were temporarily suspended.
Additionally, we have increased the number of mass bannings against certain PlayOnline violations in order to prevent illegal acts.

Details of the violations are as follows:

- Usage of tools that allow enhanced character movement.
October 4, Approx. 380 cases
October 12, Approx. 360 cases
October 22, Approx. 240 cases

- Usage of tools that circumvent game mechanics with respect to the timing of ability use, etc. in certain areas or at points where Notorious Monsters appear.
October 24, Approx. 50 cases

- Using cheats to automatically repeat a particular action.
September 28, Approx. 720 cases
October 4, Approx. 760 cases
October 11, Approx. 790 cases
October 18, Approx. 800 cases

- Gil and item exchange for real world money.
October 5, Approx. 300 cases
October 12, Approx. 120 cases
October 24, Approx. 410 cases

- Instances of areas or monster monopolization.
Spetember 28, Approx. 900 cases
October 18, Approx. 1,100 cases

- Usage of synthesis and auction houses for RMT activities.
October 24, Approx. 880 cases

- Accounts from people that were previously confirmed to have RMT connections, or that had violated the user agreements but re-subscribed to PlayOnline.
October 24, Approx. 90 cases

The termination of these accounts has led to the removal of approximately 2.3 billion gil from circulation.

We would like to remind players that as well as adversely affecting game balance, the use of third-party tools or cheats can also have consequences that are not immediately obvious, such as introducing damaging viruses, and comprising the security of private account details. Usage of third-party tools will not be tolerated within FINAL FANTASY XI, and we will continue to severely penalize any players found to be in violation of the PlayOnline Member Agreement.

As we continue to ensure a fun and balanced environment for FINAL FANTASY XI, we hope that our players enjoy the game as it was intended and take care to avoid involvement in activities that violate the PlayOnline Member Agreement.

Thank you for your continued cooperation and understanding.

http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/polnews/news11663.shtml

*edit*

Special Task Force Report (10/24/2007)

Special Task Force Report (10/24/2007)Today's report will outline our actions conducted from September 26, 2007 to October 24, 2007 in dealing with players violating the user agreement, as well as details on the activities, results, and goals of the Special Task Force.

Click here for details on the Special Task Force's activities in dealing with players violating the FINAL FANTASY XI user agreement.

Special Task Force activities and future plans
The number of characters engaged in illegal gil collecting, such as hunters (*1) and characters involved in the use of cheats to automatically repeat particular actions, has been significantly reduced as a result of our activities, but we have recently discovered a new kind of illegal activity that uses third-party programs against NPCs in Southern San d'Oria and The Pit. As was mentioned in the previous report, characters involved with large-scale gil collecting for the purpose of RMT (*2) are having a lot of trouble. It can be presumed that characters involved in direct illegal actions through the above method have appeared as a side effect.
The other day, we introduced some counter-measures through emergency maintenance, but if the same problem occurs again in the future, we will respond swiftly with both edits to the game system and activities against user agreement violators.

The following are the results of our actions from September 26, 2006 to October 24, 2007.

- Cheats to automatically repeat particular actions (specifically illegal fishing)
A total of 3070 accounts were banned within the space of a month.
The steady progress is proceeding slowly, but the characters in question are continuing to decrease as a result of our activities up until now. We are planning on strengthening our activities in dealing with this situation.

- Hunters
As a result of the strengthening of our activities in the Buburimu Peninsula last month, we have seen great results, and the problem of characters continuously defeating the same monsters over and over in the same area for RMT gil collection has significantly improved. We are planning on expanding the scope of our activities into new areas and we appreciate any information FINAL FANTASY XI players can provide.

- Use of synthesis and auction houses for RMT (*3)
A total of 880 accounts were banned within the space of a month.
As a result of new methods of dealing with such characters, we are not simply pursuing characters engaged in synthesis and auction houses for RMT, but we are now capable of expanding our activities to characters who are engaged in the collection of materials for RMT.

2447_3.jpg


1. Hunters
Characters who kill Notorious Monsters, clear quests, and obtain items over and over again with the sole purpose of gathering gil, which is then handed off to RMT groups.

*2. RMT
"Real Money Trading." Selling game data for real money.

*3. Use of synthesis and auction houses for RMT
Actions involving selling large quantities of in-game items for gil, which is then traded for real money.

Matters of concern within the community
In the following section, we will be explaining the Special Task Force's direction and plans in dealing with matters of concern within the community.

- It seems that the Special Task Force is dealing with sellers engaged in RMT quite severely, but I believe that the buyers should also be severely dealt with. Instead of just warning them, shouldn't you ban their accounts or confiscate their gil and items?

We might temporarily have results in dealing with the RMT problem by confiscating buyers' gil and items, but we cannot perform biased activities such as targeting only gil buyers.
The Special Task Force views both gil buying and gil selling as violations of the user agreement and has taken a policy of dealing out penalties to each violator according to the severity of the violation.

All penalties for each account remain on record, are accumulated, and if a player repeats a violation of the user agreement, a stricter penalty will be dealt out than the previous one on record. Of course, depending on the details of the violation, there are players who are banned on their first violation.

In accordance with this policy, a total of 450 accounts were temporarily suspended or banned within the space of a month for illegal gil purchasing.

- Lately damages caused by unauthorized access have been on the rise. What should I do?
Systematic measures were introduced at the beginning of October to improve security against unauthorized access to PlayOnline from third parties, but recently suspicious URLs have been posted on bulletin boards and forums on community sites. It has been reported that, by clicking on these URLs, one's PlayOnline ID and password may be stolen.
Along with diligently managing your PlayOnline ID and password, we would appreciate it if all players would read the information about spyware included at the end of this report.

Reporting to the Special Task Force
The Special Task Force relies on everyone's information regarding violations of the user agreement to help keep FINAL FANTASY XI an enjoyable environment, and we appreciate your continuing support and cooperation.
Report to Special Task Force

Warning about unauthorized access through spyware
Recently, there has been an increase in damages caused by unknown third-party access to PlayOnline accounts where items and gil are lost, and characters are deleted.
As many of you may be aware, harmful programs known as viruses and spyware are common on the internet and, depending on the kind of program, your computer could become infected by simply viewing a website. Viruses and spyware are believed to be one of the primary causes of recent unauthorized access to PlayOnline.
The following are a few countermeasures in protecting against such harmful programs.

- Do not access websites with unknown or suspicious content.
- Do not download software from unknown or suspicious websites.
- Periodically perform Windows Updates and keep Windows updated to the latest version.
*Refer to Microsoft's official website for more detailed information.
- Periodically update your web browser to the latest version.
- Do not use external tools not approved by Square Enix under any circumstances.
- Always use the latest antivirus software.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in your diligent management of your PlayOnline account

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/2447/detail.html
 
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I think I'll give up buying anything until SE reveals that they don't have any more gilsellers and don't remove 87,5 mil per server every month
 
is this the best time to announce that I decided to quit the game?!
 
I saw this coming well into last week when sushi supply was rock bottom. 0 Dorado Sushi on the AH for about a stretch of 9 hour, Squid +1 had 1 stack in, Sole had 9 stacks on.
 
They should save those 2.3 billion gil and distribute them evenly to people who finish the Haloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas/Valentine's/Summer Quests. Untill supplies last.

If they do that, we could get 200,000+ as a nice reward for finishing a quest (thats based on dividing the 2.3 on a server of 10,000 people). cha-ching!
 
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I stoped fishing for money 3 weeks ago>.> and the prices will drop even more.... Some shithead jp keep unedercutting everyone to sell their fish for less and less money. At 3k each squid was ok money but 2k its not.

Im checking every day items I'd like to buy that keep droping in price. It's fun to see all those crafters undercut themselves lol.
 
well just browsed through ffxiah to check on p. rope and such

some of the names are legit now maybe the holders got banned
 
- Lately damages caused by unauthorized access have been on the rise. What should I do?
Systematic measures were introduced at the beginning of October to improve security against unauthorized access to PlayOnline from third parties, but recently suspicious URLs have been posted on bulletin boards and forums on community sites. It has been reported that, by clicking on these URLs, one's PlayOnline ID and password may be stolen.
Along with diligently managing your PlayOnline ID and password, we would appreciate it if all players would read the information about spyware included at the end of this report.

:O

Is that how Eulore got hackorz?
 
Prob was why Eulore lost his :( and whats really lame is they don't condone buying of characters, yet when the original owner provides 8 billion methods of proof they still want the current information on the account...
 
Reporting to the Special Task Force
The Special Task Force relies on everyone's information regarding violations of the user agreement to help keep FINAL FANTASY XI an enjoyable environment, and we appreciate your continuing support and cooperation.



It's the new Red Scare! Everybody is guilty! To the gallows with yah! Damn you Communists! :ph34r:
 
restore the economy

The biggest problem is that FFXI relies on gilsellers. At first they inflated the market and started controling the little ways to make gil like cooking and fishing and farming. Now with their removal, noone has been able to make gil doing those things so there is noone to replace them. I am wondering how long it will take for prices to adjust to where actual humans can make gil with their characters instead of bot RMT. I hate both the buyer and supplier in respect to RMT.
I am also glad to finally read something about SE actually penalizing the buyers. Nothings stops baby from having mommy give baby more gil around xmas, which happens each year and floods the market. a really interesting side affect of all this gil buying/selling was the price of scorpion harness'. those were 200k in the old days, went up to 10M and now back to 200k. true price ^^ true value :spiteful:
 
I love these bannings.

I'M WORTH EVEN MORE NOW LOL
 
The biggest problem is that FFXI relies on gilsellers.

I wouldn't say relies, more like dominated. The server wouldn't come to a crashing halt if every RMT prick on the server with some crafting skill disappeared tomorrow. What would happen (in theory) for the first few days or even weeks depending on the items would be shortages. No doubt some crafter would notice and put some stock up at high prices, which would sell due to demand. Once people realize that crafting, say, shihei is profitable again they would get back on the horse.

Not saying that it would all be fine and unchanged if that happened, but I know disgruntled high level crafters with gil synths completely run into the ground by RMT. If they were gone, prices and availability of common stuff would go haywire a for a while but balance out after a while.

At least that's how it happens in my fantasyland.
 
Accounts Banned

Funny how there seems to be a pattern of people migrating to other servers or quitting the game when there is an account banning...
 
I think it's bullshit. Post the account names that you banned.

You're missing yuyaya and congcongq damn 24/7 RMT crafters.

>.<
 
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