Isnt buying gil considered cheating the system?
It is. I never once said it wasn't. The point behind what I said is that it's a difference of magnitude in degree of intensity. Using Silente's analogy - I'm saying that it's a whole lot hotter down in the "Botting / Flee Tool" segment of Hell versus the 'Gil Buying' segment of Hell.
I guess you can say for me personally I draw the line of 'it bothers me a lot' between Buying/Selling Gil and Other-More-Malicious-Form-Of-Cheating. Again, this line is drawn on a personal level. Your line may be drawn on the left of both those acts; or it may be on the right thereof.
My response was one to the clause of 'every legit players hate RMT more than anything - more than cheaters'. No, I represent one legit player that hate cheaters more than I dislike RMT and it's not even close.
Cheaters, in the sense that they are 'breaking' game mechanics and not circumventing. By the way, even circumventing has degrees of intensity. But breaking game mechanics - i.e., movement enhancements - that's out right cheating and that tops my list for dislikes in a MMO.
As Sandria said there's a lot of reasons that people buy on-line currency. I happen to agree with just about none of them, but I can at least understand their line of reasoning.
Actually now that I think of it, if I try hard enough I can rationalize why people cheat (in the sense that I've been defining the word), too. I just have to try really hard, and then try not to be really disgusted.
And Sharpe - yes, I think we're in agreement. Without gilbuyers there won't be gilsellers. Without gilsellers there may or may not be gilbuyers (remember, your average joe semi-legit player can be convinced to sell, too). What I've accepted, which I don't know if you agree or not, is that RMT is a part of modern MMORPG. FFXI has done a better job than any MMO I've ever played (and this pretty much means every single mainstream one) at combating RMT ever since the age that RMT was considered bad. I commend SE for this. The STF(u) brings me joy. It makes my game play experience more enjoyable. I'm not arguing that at all. I also am not naive to think that there is going to be a way for SE to completely eliminate this aspect of the game. However, I am more than satisfied with the efforts they put in and the amount they have been able to regulate. The hacking is unfortunate, but pretty much came from left field. I do not fault SE for that.
~Tanshui