Attention: Posters of BlueGartr

[Theytak]

Edit: Just so we're clear, I am not now, nor have I ever been, banned from FFXI.

There is an issue we must discuss, and before we do so, I just want to get get some stuff cleared up. Yes, I am an alla poster, I know, I know, lolalla. You don’t like us. That’s fine. Right now though, we need to move on and do something about an issue greater than any one site.

I’m speaking, as you may have discerned, about the recent banning spree that SE has gone on. It’s getting ridiculous. We’ve put up with a LOT of flack from SE over the years. We all have our issues with them, be it their love of ninja updates, their failure to test things well before they release them, or their wasting of time on pointless events/items that no one uses after the first week, but honestly, we don’t deserve this.

As it stands, innocent players who have done nothing wrong are being banned for no reason, and SE refuses to acknowledge it. They hide behind their blanket “we can ban anyone for anything” clause in the player agreement (which, honestly, is not very easy to find unless you know what you’re looking for) and ignore the overwhelming feelings of disapproval we give them.

I know many of you have been shrugging this off for a while now. That needs to stop. I realize that “eh, it doesn’t affect me” is a natural response to many issues for most, but that isn’t true here. Imagine how you would feel if your Linkshell leader got banned for no reason, or if the guy/girl you duo’d all the way to 75 and became great friends with was banned for no fault of his/her own. You know you’d care. It has happened, it is happening, it will continue to happen, unless we speak out.

This is beyond Absolute Virtue, beyond Pandemonium Warden, beyond the NASA bot, beyond amazing failures like the magic resistance issue. This affects us on a much, much grander scale. Any player, newbie or veteran, casual or hardcore, Taru, Galkan, Hume, Mithran, Elvaan, is subject to this. All of our accounts are at risk if this rampage continues, and we all need to band together to put a stop to it.

Granted, I’m well aware of the fact that no, it likely won’t happen. I know that there’s no physical way for every poster on all of the premier forums to agree to a truce while we handle this issue. That would be foolish to believe. Even if I manage to pull off a decent group of people, some how, there’s still no guarantee that it will accomplish anything. However, that does not mean we should no try.

I am not speaking as “Professor Jinte, well known poster on allakhazam” but rather, “Theytak, a galka on the siren server.” We have to get over our pride, we have to let go of our grudges, even if it’s only temporary. As it stands, we have one common threat, that being SE, and we need to unite long enough to deal with it. From Valkurm Dunes Nublet to Relic Wielding Ground King Camper, we’re all going to be affected by this, and we all need to speak out against it.

I ask you, not as anyone other than a fellow player, someone who loves this game, to let go of your differences with others long enough for us to get SE to stop this nonsense.

I know that most of you are too apathetic about the issue to care; since it’s yet to affect you, and I know that you’re to lazy to bother doing much. As such, I’m not going to ask much. All I need from you, friends, acquaintances, rivals, enemies, etc, is to spread the word. Get my message out to all places FFXI. Tell your linkshells, tell your forum servers, talk to people you exp/assault/endgame/mission with. Open eyes. It’s just generic copy-paste a link, or mentioning it in a conversation. If we’re going to get anywhere, we need to unite to do it.

I’m posting threads on alla, BG, KI, and wiki. However, I cannot spread the word out to every LS and Server site, that’s a task no one man can handle. I need your help. That’s all I ask. Spread the word. It doesn’t matter what you think the end result will be.

Honestly, what would it hurt? I’m not asking you for much. I just ask that you mention this idea to others. That’s basic communication. I’m not saying that you should go spend hours on end posting about/discussing the issue, just simple comments on the matter. If you want to do more, that’s great, more power to you, but I know that the vast majority of you don’t care enough to be bothered.

Please, discuss the issue, but think for yourself. How would YOU react if you had been banned unjustly? What if that really awesome guy everyone likes on your server was banned for no reason? Imagine if the shellholder for your group, who everyone respects, was no longer going to be playing due to SE banning him for something ridiculous? Talk with your shells about it. Talk on your forums about it. Make it an issue. Work with me. I know that we can all agree on this, but we need to stop being lazy.

For once, just once, we need to get off our collective asses and do something. You saw how SE reacted when we got all hot and bothered over the Magic Resistance bug. We need to do that again, but even more.

How you choose to protest this is your own decision. I will never say “lets go picket SE,” or “lets just stop playing for x amount of time” because the ideas are just silly. All we need is the collective attitude of “wtf are you doing, SE?” and that should be enough.

Seriously, I ask you all, Stand up for those who have befallen this fate, stand up for your ls mates, stand up for your friends, and stand up for yourselves. We CAN do this.

Now, I ask you.

Who is with me?


sincerely, Theytak, a Galka of Siren, FFXI player.

[Daedalus]

http://www.feministe.us/blog/wp-cont...LL_OF_TEXT.jpg

But seriously, what do you want? All I see is "We must unite" and "speak out" and stuff. But what do you want us to actually DO for this campaign of yours, if we even care.

[Valkrish]

Sure

For TL;DR

Wants to amass all the wrongly banned people, band them together and rally against SE for failing in their recent fail of fail.

[Theytak]

not just the recently banned. Everyone. Regardless of play status. Also, for convenience, I put the main request in the end of it, so if you just read the last 2-3 paragraphs you'll get what I'm asking.

[Daedalus]

How you choose to protest this is your own decision. I will never say “lets go picket SE,” or “lets just stop playing for x amount of time” because the ideas are just silly. All we need is the collective attitude of “wtf are you doing, SE?” and that should be enough.

Seriously, I ask you all, Stand up for those who have befallen this fate, stand up for your ls mates, stand up for your friends, and stand up for yourselves. We CAN do this.

Additionally, the average play time for a character this year comes to 126 minutes (about 2 hours and 6 minutes), a significant decrease from last year (171 minutes).
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/gui.../imgs/lg02.jpg

Source: http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/gui.../09/index.html

You really think all those people that play 1-3 hours a week would give a damn? Casual players make up 85% of the FFXI population. Even if you got EVERYONE ELSE, 15% of players in protest really isn't going to get things changed on a scale you want.

Good luck spreading the word. You're gonna need it.

[spooky]

Some times i secretly wish I had been banned.

[cdgreg]

You'd probably have more luck if you already wrote up a form letter and just asked people to submit it. The chance of people getting off their lazy asses to write a comprehensible letter is slim to none.

[Theytak]

I'm not asking anyone to do more than discuss it in forums/in game.

[Dela]

Ever think that SE is tring to avoid the problem that EQ had with players moving from the first version EQ1 to the second EQ2?

Many of the hardcore EQ1 players were unwilling to give up all they had acomplished in the game to move to EQ2. This made EQ2 an epic fail. And has forced EQ1 to be supported even at this point.

Maybe SE had deside that banning off a large chunk of the population, a year out from the release for the second version many of the ppl will just hold off to BUY the new game. Giving the new game a strong lunch to drag the mass of the FFXI players over. Then allowing them to reduce the support and servers for FFXI, and push sales of the new game.

[thetruepandagod]

I am sorry for any trouble that this has caused you. I can understand the concern caused by such an issue and the desire to discuss it further.

Please know that i value your feedback. To leave feedback, go to the Playonline Viewer > Service and Support > Support > Email Support -> Comments and Suggestions.

[Theytak]

Also, I hope you all realize that I know full well that this has been talked to death. It's just as bad on alla as everywhere else.

[SaviorSelf]

Inb4 Neosutra "love the new advanced" etc

[Klaatu]

I'm not asking anyone to do more than discuss it in forums/in game.

Bitching about it on forums won't get anything accomplished. If you really want to see SE be accountable for their actions and provide transparency to their actions or alter their current TOS, a better way would be to create a petition that everyone can simply sign and email.

[Theytak]

Petitions don't get shit done. The emails, I'm working on, but I need to be able to show that the community supports the idea. One voice saying "Hey, something's up here" is a lot less effective than "Hey, somethings up here, and all of these people agree with me, and this is what they have to say about it." However, I'm not foolish enough to believe that anyone would honestly put the effort into constructing a well written argument email.

[Ansems]

uuummmm how about not doing things that you know that might get you banned? I see almost every banning justified, even the salvage bannings that banned alot of my friends. I been playing for 4-5 yrs and I've only been jailed once. Why should I stick up for ppl and that do wrong?

[Eggroll]

Source: The 9th Vana'diel Census

You really think all those people that play 1-3 hours a week would give a damn? Casual players make up 85% of the FFXI population. Even if you got EVERYONE ELSE, 15% of players in protest really isn't going to get things changed on a scale you want.

Good luck spreading the word. You're gonna need it.

1-3 hours per day ≠ 1-3 hours per week

[Fridell]

The unjustified bannings equals crap, we know. SE can ban you and delete your account and do what they want at any time, that's what we signed up for, it doesn't mean we have to like it even though we signed our named.

As far as I know, the ones handling the customers have their hands tied big time, just check the "LM-17 WTF" thread. I do believe SE need to give the service people that handles the issues more power to answer and have the knowledge and experience that comes with it, meaning they can see what is justified or not, either while you sit there or a shorter investigation period.
Many are really displeased with how Square Enix is handling the issue, with all rights. However, you can visit any major company and basically get the same treatment, feeling helpless and the employees have their hands bound.

[Gunitsoldier]

Do you honestly think SE will listen?



PS: They won't.

[rog]

omg, it's an alla poster, kill it with fire!

[Gunitsoldier]

omg, it's an alla poster, kill it with fire!

Comic Sans MS isn't that much better man