Accounts Banned

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 4,400 PlayOnline accounts were terminated while around 1,210 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.
November 6, Approx. 290 cases
November 9, Approx. 400 cases
November 12, Approx. 300 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.
November 14, Approx. 20 cases

- Using cheats to automatically repeat a particular action.
October 25, Approx. 760 cases
November 2, Approx. 20 cases
November 4, Approx. 780 cases

- Gil and item exchange for real world money.
October 26, Approx. 40 cases
October 29, Approx. 10 cases
November 14, Approx. 510 cases

- Instances of areas or monster monopolization.
October 26, Approx. 350 cases
November 2, Approx. 40 cases
November 4, Approx. 60 cases
November 7, Approx. 280 cases

- Usage of synthesis and auction houses for RMT activities.
November 1, Approx. 1,690 cases

- Accounts from people that were previously confirmed to have RMT connections, or that had violated the user agreements but re-subscribed to PlayOnline.
November 14, Approx. 60 cases

The termination of these accounts has led to the removal of approximately 2 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.

Comments

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Fish Bots
# Nov 20 2007 at 1:40 AM Rating: Decent
I make my gil by fishing and I notice fish bots camping the pond in wes ron 24/7. I wish they would undo the update that made mobs dissapear when you die so I could train each and every bot in the game with high level mobs to kill them. Power to the people.
Another thing that drives me crazy is the Chocobo prices rise and fall like gas prices. Somedays it's over 1,000 gil for a choco ride and 3 hours later it's 120 gil. Chocobo prices should be no different from AIRSHIP prices as another mode of transportation.
Spells that are needed by mages and are must have spells need to be in atleast 1 magic shop in the world so no single spell goes over 100,000gil to buy.
I took a 2 year break from this game to see if they would fix the problems and I see they still exist, but I still love this game lol, it's just fun to complain.
taud is right.
# Nov 16 2007 at 5:29 AM Rating: Good
The Bot in ramperre s tomb is a player named Fdcen.

I reported him 2 times.
Both times the gM said a amount of things about banning him etc.

That ****** is still there to camp the spook.

Its been ages now.

there is a mass of RMT reported 20 times ( kera , YYww etc )


SE is lying, they dont ban anybody, its a fact. Economy lowering prices have nothing to do at all with the bans ( actually no-bans).


SE is only lying. Lie is what they do.
They just know they are going to have losses of millions of dollars if they ban all the RMT accaounts, cause those accounts are 12 euros each.

And on top of that, SE is thief, cuz i m european and pay 12,90 euro.
A NA pays 12,90 dollars. You guys know the change value for tehse two values are different??

We europeans pay the 40% more than NA for the same service.

SE sux in anyway, the only thing they didnt suck in was the creation of this game, that is still great.

But, actually, dont believe they are banning anyone. They lying.
DUH!!
# Nov 15 2007 at 6:27 PM Rating: Default
They need to make the mobs drop better gil amounts. It would salve alot of problems as far as gil goes and the better gil drops should only be when you're soloing a monster or Beastman. this would help out players like myself who are tring to lvl a job and need to solo for skill-ups. But thats just my 2 cents worth.
DUH!!
# Nov 19 2007 at 3:13 PM Rating: Decent
yes that would be nice but unfortunately AH prices aren't set in stone so the easier it is to get gil the higher the prices will become so in actuallity it wont change anything except for buying from npcs :(
psh
# Nov 15 2007 at 6:07 PM Rating: Good
None of this helps...

There is one particular bot on Fenrir you can see anytime camping the Spook in King Ranpere's Tomb. He's there for upwards of 8-10 hours per day (and probably more) monopolizing claim. Nothing gets done about him.

I've reported him. My linkshell mates have reported him. People who I run into in the tomb have reported him.

Yet he's still there...

Makes me wonder if they're just making this stuff up to placate the masses.

Now people have claimed that they have seen economic indicators that the mass bannings have had some effect on their servers in the form of lowered prices, but basic economics say that if the price of an item goes down, it's because there is too much of that item and not enough demand. It has nothing to do with removing gil from the economy or banning rmts. It just means there are more people selling that particular item. And when it happens to be a common item like crystals and the price drop is incredibly profound...well, you can come to your own conclusions about who is flooding the market.

The economy on my server, Fenrir's economy, is a mess. The gil farmers, and rmt synthers control the prices of everything. Unless you're a level 100 crafter you can't make decent gil anymore. And even then, you're gonna get undercut.

So, I've come to the conclusion that someone else in this thread has. Unless SE makes gil more acquirable, people will be buying the gil. Hell, SE could have a sizable effect just by making more items rare or ex. But why listen to their paying customers and players for advice?
psh
# Nov 15 2007 at 10:37 PM Rating: Default
I'd say not make so much more stuff rare/ex but make more stuff NPC sellable. Its dumb that most rare/ex cant be sold to NPC's. If you get some rare/ex items we should be allowed to sell them off the NPC's and get the profit from it. That would of course be hard since alot of rare/ex stuff is hard to get but make it applicable to quests that give out rare/ex like artifact armor. Also make more items worth selling to NPC's most stuff sells to them for chump change. And yes make it so the mobs drop more gil, at least when soloing, that would help out alot. Lower vendor prices too, some are freaking ridiculous,like the COR Black Mage Dice that costs over 100k to get from the vendor not to mention the others are pricey as well. Heck add a auto-pay system like they had in FF8, with the amount based on your rank with home nation. A person thats R. 10 would get 100k every few RL days or so for example. Not only would it get people to do missions, it would all but eliminate gil buying because no one would have to do it anymore. People would be happier cause they know all they'd eventually be able to get the one item, Crafting would be a heck of alot easier to do, and people could increase their skill within it. I mean I can go on & on about what SE could/should do, why they wont do it is beyond me. Actually its cause SE want you to make FF they center of your life and spend more time within it, despite their "dont forget your friends family school work" message, thats a hypocritical message cause the game is setup, especially now, so that you need to devote more time in game to do something or accomplish or get something. So I'd say dont make more stuff rare/ex, just make it easier to obtain gil which could EASILY be done. And if they make more stuff rare/ex thewy should make it NPC sellable so we canget a profit from it if we so choose too.
psh
# Nov 16 2007 at 4:58 AM Rating: Good
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6,424 posts
Ugh... what's so good about rampant inflation?
You don't even have the slightest idea what 'free' gil will do to the in-game economy, do you?

Arrowwood lumber stacks for 1 million, sole sushi for 25 million... guilds would be jam-packed with bots to buy all crafting materials for resale. RMT would sell 100 million gil for $5. New players would have no choice but to buy gil, since the 5k gil per lvl goblin aren't going to buy them a 150k bronze subligar before it's outdated...

Unless ofcourse, only YOU are supposed to get the 100k every few days.

Please learn about the value of money before you start blabbing about how your ideal economy looks like...

RMT interference in a virtual economy is like a plague... and unlimited gil is the epitomy of RMT.
psh
# Nov 16 2007 at 7:55 PM Rating: Default
Oh please gimme a break, that few days thngf could be one RL week, and with the price of stuff, that 100k would be depleted easily. and about "free gil" as you put it. Say someone does like 5 avatar fights every day, chooses the 10k reward, thats 50k FREE gil, he had to fight the avatar but it was still FREE. So is that wrong?! I said base it on Rank level with home nation. And with prices of 1 mil and all, that happens cause people are greedy in this game. And dont forget I said before that make more rare/ex stuff NPC sellable, we should have the choice wether or not to sell something to NPC's. And Like another poster said make the mobs drop more gil cause that would help alot too.
Mad
# Nov 15 2007 at 11:16 AM Rating: Default
You know if they would make it a bit easyer to get gil in game they wouldnt have people Buying gil to be able to get the equipment to lev and play the game.
I rember when it was worth it to farm.. Wild onions was 10k a stack now there down to 5k.. It's almost not worth spending 5-10 hours farming for a little gil.
When thaings are costing a arm and a leg on ah to buy.
It really makes it hard on people to lev and have the proper equipment in game if no one has the gil to be able to aford the AH prices.
:(
# Nov 15 2007 at 9:45 AM Rating: Decent
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697 posts
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Edited, Nov 15th 2007 12:47pm by Gerkin
...
# Nov 14 2007 at 3:44 PM Rating: Decent
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288 posts
What about the Server Transfer D!cks that but tons of one item (genie weskits,Tor. Rings,Fire Bomblets) and move to a new server to sell them. Then with another char, take that money and buy stuff on that server to move to another. Ive seen at least 8 of these types on my server, you can even track back to their other chars on other servers. One guy buying 12 Manteels is a lil over the top i think
Server Population
# Nov 14 2007 at 1:09 PM Rating: Good
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1,529 posts
You need to take a look at the facts regarding server population before you argue with eachother.

Each server is populated with approximately 30000 to 42000 characters... which roughly translates out to approx 20000 to 25000 actual independant players per server.

Remember, at one time FFXI had a playerbase of 500,000 people. Do the math.



Edited, Nov 14th 2007 4:12pm by Tankor
Server Population
# Nov 14 2007 at 5:40 PM Rating: Default
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55 posts
Really: 25,000 people per server? With there being 32 different servers your math adds up to 800,000. There are not as many people that play anymore, so that would be less than your 500,000. So if 500,000 people still play, just to say you're right, that would translate into 15,625 people per server. However server size does vary. On my server (Diabolos) though, we only have maximum 5k people left. And I know for a fact that there is at least one server smaller than mine, because my college buddy plays on it. So what am I missing on facts about server population Baron?

Edited, Nov 14th 2007 8:42pm by SparksterOfDiabolos
Server Population
# Nov 15 2007 at 6:23 AM Rating: Decent
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1,529 posts
SparksterOfDiabolos wrote:
Really: 25,000 people per server? With there being 32 different servers your math adds up to 800,000. There are not as many people that play anymore, so that would be less than your 500,000. So if 500,000 people still play, just to say you're right, that would translate into 15,625 people per server. However server size does vary. On my server (Diabolos) though, we only have maximum 5k people left. And I know for a fact that there is at least one server smaller than mine, because my college buddy plays on it. So what am I missing on facts about server population Baron?


Wow you really get bitter awfully quick don't you? Why do you get so scathing over something that really doesn't matter? Anyways, on to the point friend.

The only possible data that you can try and base an estimate of server population on (unless you work for SE or SE makes it's subscriber financials known - unlikely in both cases) you're not going to get a better picture than this.

As for my assertion that there was 20 to 25000 players per server, based on the data we see in the proof I have linked above, even if it was only 15K per server that is still a far cry from 2000 to 5000 people per server that people are currently touting as maximum values. Remember, just because you do a /sea all at any random time does not mean that your whole server's population is online at that very moment and playing. People have that funny biological need to sleep and some even have lives, you know.

Now, given that we are reasonably intelligent beings, we can all deduct and appreciate that server populations are varying for each server and while populations are getting smaller over time there is still quite a good number of players per server.

That being said your factless and unbased claim of "maximum 5000 people left" on your server and even less on your friends server really can't stand on it's own two legs. Where is your data? Do you have any sort of basis to what you're saying at all? What, you went around and counted each player? Get real man, you're just pulling some number out of your *** that you think sounds good.

Are you done?

Server Population
# Nov 15 2007 at 1:00 PM Rating: Decent
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55 posts
Heh, am i done. After this post yes.

First of all I was never saying that there were only 3-5k ppl on each server, I do realize that populations fluctuate between the servers. All I am saying is what I have found to be on my server. I did an economic paper on my server economy so I spent one week (multiple times of the day/night) tracking players through the /sea all a, sea all b, ... commands. That is what I am basing my data on. As for the FFXI AH website, that is #of characters since more than a year ago. There have been mass bannings, world transfers, and people ending their accounts since this time. I do also realize though, that people have also been joining the game, but not in as large of numbers. I'm also going to say just from an estimate of people in my ls and two other linkshells that I have been in, most people have 3characters. (some have one, others actually have 10+ which is crazy I think. Then there are also people with multiple accounts for dual boxing purposes.) With this in mind, it is not crazy for me to come up with the number I have presented.

~Happy gaming and let the crits keep on coming!

Edited, Nov 15th 2007 4:03pm by SparksterOfDiabolos
good riddance!
# Nov 14 2007 at 12:45 PM Rating: Excellent
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2,056 posts
These people aren't players. They are leeches. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

That gil removed wasn't player gil. It was gil that was going to be sold to gil buyer cheaters.

Love to see the crafter and ah rmts booted! Keep it up and maybe eventually we will get game back. ok we can hope can't we?

Merging
# Nov 14 2007 at 12:04 PM Rating: Good
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115 posts
I'm just going to say, first of all FFXI is not dying by any means.

Now, on to what I'm was going to actually say; if servers ever get too low in people SE will probably just merge servers together. I'm sort of confused on why they haven't done it already.

What will stink is that we'll suddenly go from 2k people to like 6k. It's going to be a very large culture shock. Can you imagine the sudden change that will happen in the economy?
Merging
# Nov 14 2007 at 12:13 PM Rating: Default
erm.... it did happen in Asura. When they removed like 5 trillion gil or however much Fire Crystals went from 20k to 2k. Everyone lost a ton of money, it was ridiculous
Ok, so who's left
# Nov 14 2007 at 10:16 AM Rating: Default
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55 posts
I know SE is trying to improve the game and everything with these bannings, but this is getting ridiculous. On my server there are only about 3k people, if this type of mass banning keeps happening will there be any body left? In a single month basically they whipped out enough accounts to shut down my entire server, and another server my friend plays on. If they keep going who cares if there are illegal people are still on, nobody will be on to complain >_<
Ok, so who's left
# Nov 19 2007 at 8:38 AM Rating: Decent
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150 posts
Yes while they are banning enough people to take down a server, you fail to remember.... how many of those RMT come back???? I'm thinking 80%+. They usually just change names and servers. So anytime there is more people banned, chances are they have all been banned before on a different server and char.
Ok, so who's left
# Nov 14 2007 at 12:15 PM Rating: Default
wait? did someone just say there's only 150 people per server? you're greatly mistaken... there are about 2k-4k people on each server i think. Asura has like 4k i believe
Ok, so who's left
# Nov 14 2007 at 5:43 PM Rating: Good
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55 posts
You are right, there are not only 150 ppl per server, I stated that the one number was for my server.
Ok, so who's left
# Nov 14 2007 at 10:30 AM Rating: Default
It is only about 150 ppl per server
Ok, so who's left
# Nov 14 2007 at 5:52 PM Rating: Decent
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337 posts
He was not saying that there are only 150 people per server. He is saying that it comes out to about 150 people on each server that were banned. There are 32 servers. There were 4,400 accounts banned. 4,400/32=137.5
That's just an average. Some servers had more banned, other had fewer.
Ok, so who's left
# Nov 14 2007 at 10:25 AM Rating: Good
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52 posts
So, what you're saying is that your server is completely full of cheaters? :)
Ok, so who's left
# Nov 14 2007 at 5:45 PM Rating: Decent
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55 posts
Lol, no. I am not saying my server is full of cheaters. I haven't seen much activity from any sort of cheating as of late. Of course I can't be everywhere in the game at once.
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