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 4700 PlayOnline accounts were terminated while around 750 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.
June 28, Approx. 250 cases
July 5, Approx. 230 cases
July 12, Approx. 150 cases
July 19, Approx. 120 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.
June 28, Approx. 10 cases
July 5, Approx. 5 cases
July 19, Approx. 30 cases
July 20, Approx. 5 case
- Using cheats to automatically repeat a particular action.
June 27, Approx. 300 cases
July 5, Approx. 360 cases
July 12, Approx. 550 cases
July 19, Approx. 240 cases
Gil and item exchange for real world money cases:
July 24, Approx. 350 cases
- Instances of areas or monster monopolization.
July 3, Approx. 450 cases
July 10, Approx. 1060 cases
July 12, Approx. 740 cases
July 19, Approx. 600 cases
The termination of these accounts has led to the removal of approximately 2.6 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.
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Special Task Force Report (07/24/2007)
pecial Task Force activities and future plans
Many of the problems occurring within the community are caused by Hunters*.
We are currently actively engaged in dealing with Hunters and in maintaining the community's health and well-being. As a result of these activities, the number of Hunters in the game has drastically dropped since the formation of the Special Task Force and it has been confirmed that a great deal of the community's problems have been eliminated.
However, at the same time, it was also confirmed that the issues with banned players creating new accounts, players announcing the sale of valuable items at Aht Urhgan Whitegate, illegal fishing, and synthesis using illegal tools still remain. From here on, we will be focusing on activities to eliminate these issues.
We have also received a lot of helpful information from players who submitted reports to the "Report to Special Task Force" mail form that was introduced last month. The information provided by everyone was essential in hastily solving many of the problems. We appreciate everyone's help and cooperation.
Report to Special Task Force
*Hunters: Characters who kill NMs, clear quests, and obtain items over and over again with the sole purpose of gathering gil, which is then handed off to RMT groups.
Matters of concern within the community
-Players are still announcing the sales of valuable items at Aht Urhgan Whitegate.
There is, of course, nothing wrong with shouts themselves. However, regarding characters repeatedly shouting who were suspected of having RMT connections, a total of 892 accounts have been banned due to these connections. Also, due to the primary focus on banning Hunters in Tu'Lia, these shouts have momentarily died down, and we can confirm that we are getting results. Because these actions can be performed by even lower-level characters, as a drastic solution, we will be working very hard at bringing about the complete removal of all Hunters.
In the future, we will be focusing on finding direct connections to RMT through our investigations and in banning Hunters. We will continue to work on making Vana'diel a more pleasurable environment to play in.
-Does the Special Task Force really verify all reports sent through the "Report to Special Task Force" mail form?
The Special Task Force reads through all reports sent and then inspects their accuracy. As a result of these inspections, if any violations of the user agreement are found, the corresponding player will be banned. The resulting statistics are analyzed, and they are used to help further resolve current problems in FINAL FANTASY XI.
Information received through these reports helps alert us of points that we may not have realized and is essential in dealing with many different problems.
The more detailed the information, the more smoothly the investigation can proceed. Because we can solve a problem swifter with detailed information, we ask for everyone's cooperation in providing as detailed a report as possible.
-Do players who are falsely accused get punished anyway?
All inspections are performed manually by the Special Task Force staff and start out by looking over and judging each account. If, at this point, there seems to be a problem with the account, another more intensive check will be conducted by an account administrator. We run these two levels of checks to ensure safety. There is no need to worry.
-The large number of items produced by characters involved in RMT is destroying the economy.
We will be strengthening our activities in response to this problem. However, in the same way as the shout problem, we cannot determine whether economic problems such as drastic price dropping are illegal or not. We will be mainly taking measures in severing any organization's involvement in the issue.
-Won't the Special Task Force be unable to perform inspections due to sellers involved in RMT using the World Transfer service to travel between multiple Worlds?
Players involved in RMT will, of course, be able to utilize the same benefits and convenience of the World Transfer service as regular players. However, even if players involved in RMT spread over different Worlds and start illegally selling there, we can trace our way back to each character through dealing with all of the Hunters that are required to obtain the seller's funds. Although the World Transfer service has just started, because players cannot transfer to another World until 90 days after starting a new account or using the service, we have not seen any major signs of the World Transfer service being used to benefit players involved in RMT.
Also, in regards to illegal activity, even if a player changes his World and character name and plots on "running away," we can still easily find out which World he has gone to and what he has changed his character name to. The Special Task Force will be fully capable of performing inspections.
-The Goblin Bounty Hunter has been introduced into the game, but I still see characters with machine-like movements fishing.
In the next version update, we are planning on expanding the Goblin Bounty Hunter's presence into new areas in places such as Sauromogue Champaign and Korroloka Tunnel, and extending the Goblin Bounty Hunter's movement range and route to get rid of safe areas in locations that the Bounty Hunter has already been introduced. As for the measures inside of towns and in areas besides the ones mentioned above, we are currently considering the effect they would have on all players and discussing all possibilities with the development team.
-Hunters that have been taken care of keep coming back soon after being banned. Hasn't the issue with Hunters in places such as Tu'Lia been dealt with yet?
Since the activities of Hunters in areas such as Tu'Lia have been especially vigorous, there are still quite a few Hunters left, but we have managed to greatly decrease the number of Hunters through our efforts. As for the Hunters returning to the game, not all of the players banned have been coming back. As you can see in the above graph, the total number is in a steady decline.
With the help of the reports provided by FINAL FANTASY XI players, we will be able to expand the range of our activities in dealing with these problems.