13k accounts banned (1/24)

[eva00r]

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 10,920 PlayOnline accounts were terminated while around 2,350 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.
December 21, Approx. 690 cases
January 8, Approx. 480 cases
January 9, Approx. 180 cases
January 10, Approx. 120 cases
January 11, Approx. 170 cases
January 16, Approx. 360 cases
January 22, 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.
January 24, Approx. 70 cases

- Using cheats to automatically repeat a particular action.
December 21, Approx. 1,330 cases
December 27, Approx. 1,200 cases
January 9, Approx. 1,070 cases
January 17, Approx. 1,440 cases
January 23, Approx. 380 cases

- Gil and item exchange for real world money.
January 21, Approx. 30 cases
January 24, Approx. 1,420 cases

- Instances of areas or monster monopolization.
December 21, Approx. 130 cases
January 17, Approx. 290 cases

- Usage of synthesis and auction houses for RMT activities.
December 21, Approx. 510 cases
December 25, Approx. 710 cases
January 15, Approx. 1,190 cases
January 21, Approx. 1,310 cases
January 22, Approx. 270 cases

- Accounts from people that were previously confirmed to have RMT connections, or that had violated the user agreements but re-subscribed to PlayOnline.
January 24, Approx. 240 cases

The termination of these accounts has led to the removal of approximately 3.1 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/polnew ... 2459.shtml

ps. also STF report http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff ... etail.html

[Robert]

nt

[Rocl]

There is no twenty-fourth month

[Rocl]

Admin Edit: I lost my posts in this thread for being a douche.

I moved yours because this one had a reply, oddly enough- your reply.

[Zalius]

does SE even make money off of ffxi anymore

[Apelila]

In before/commencing bitching about:

1: Accounts not recovered
2: No update
3: Everything else we're busy bitching/reading about waiting for NM windows to be up.

Edit, guess i'll contribute something useful *grumbles*
From STFu report:

Viewing suspicious web sites linked on gaming websites or blogs, as well as downloading files from these sites, is believed to be the main cause of this unauthorized access. A player's computer becomes infected with a Trojan horse or keylogger and before he realizes it, his PlayOnline ID and password have been stolen.
We are currently working on a method to restore edited account details and lost items.

Thanks for delaying my update RMT.

[Robert]

you forgot individuals bitching about people they think should be banned on their server not being banned, or was that covered under 3?

[Dexy]

There is no twenty-fourth month

"Twenty fourth day of the first month" sounds a lot better than "The first months twenty fourth day"

[Izzy]

At least they confirm a policy change to restore fucked up characters.

[Fhqwghads]

- Gil and item exchange for real world money.
January 21, Approx. 30 cases
January 24, Approx. 1,420 cases

Have I missed previous reports of them doing this, or are they starting to banstick people who are buying gil? If this is new: sweeeeeet. If not: sweeeeeet.

[Dexy]

- Gil and item exchange for real world money.
January 21, Approx. 30 cases
January 24, Approx. 1,420 cases

Have I missed previous reports of them doing this, or are they starting to banstick people who are buying gil? If this is new: sweeeeeet. If not: sweeeeeet.

If it was banning for buying gil it would probably read: Receving gil or items for real world money. This statement implies that those banned were trading items and gil for money, AKA - the gilsellers mules.

[Izzy]

I think they are banning people for buying. But it would have to be traced back to ANOTHER character which they were already investigating.

[nekura]

I do remember them mentioning in one of the STF reports that they would be taking action on gil buyers, too.

[Faris]

I read the title, and just wow'ed.

I'm starting to doubt those banning sprees. 13k accounts banned...that number is way too high.

I have a feeling once SE will actually see that they are losing money with this game, they gonna make an event called: "Out of Jail" players or something. GIVE BACK ALL BANNED ACCOUNTS! saweet, then the game will be more fun cus i'll get my sweet firas and gattz back QQ

[Lordwafik]

13,000 accounts banned.

12,999 of those were Firas!

[S N K]

13k accounts across all servers isn't as much as you'd think it be.

[Selene]

Remember when SE didn't do anything like this and everyone would complain that not enough rmts and bot/hackers were being banned?

Get every last one of them SE! Good job!

[shukuffxi]

13K accounts at this time does seem fairly high. Of course, you have to take into consideration all it takes is a CC, and RMT can purchase new content IDs directly from SE online, and while I do not believe there are 13K worth of new IDs being purchased, it has to account for a solid number of the accounts that get banned.

My question now is just how do they even find it freaking profitable: If all it took was 9.99$ US (or 15.99$, whatever they charge for the IDs, obviously RMT don't need the software) to make a new account, what are they doing that's making them 50%-100% profit (if not much more) before they get banned again? POSing the Deathstone/Angelstone quest? I've seen several RMT miners literally fly all over Mount Zhayolm. And of course there's the market manipulations, where they lower the price on a given item by a large amount, then buy up all the ones they didn't sell to themselves at a lower price, and jack it back up. Fishing doesn't seem as reliable a resource as it once was, but I do not know too much about this.

They no longer dominate sky from what I know, nor are they capable to keep a seriously large presence in sea (enough to kill JoL at least, for earrings) I still see the very occasional Whitegate /sh for Haidate/W.Legs/Osode/N.Body, but those are few and far between. I know for a fact that Odin has what's most likely be an RMT telebot (or a seriously dedicated player who teleports nearly 24/7 >_> I'm looking at you Vualkey!). Are their crafting accounts not getting obliterated every single time these mass bans happen as well?

13K is a lot of accounts, even if it is across all servers, though you have to assume a chunk of these bans are hitting players who had their characters stolen in some way, but even then 1-2K people, and we haven't seen more complaining than we already have?

[Hanyoko]

I'm just glad they acknowledged that popular websites are being hacked and thus causing player hijacks as well as are looking into restoration methods. Its a tad late but still progress in the right direction.

I still see the very occasional Whitegate /sh for Haidate/W.Legs/Osode/N.Body, but those are few and far between.

Ahh as i'm suddenly reminded about the whole "buy a morg robe for $$$" scam that they were offering.

[Epyslon]

well shit they still didn't ban the great botting linkshell of sylph....
damn