The Hyperinflation of 2010

[Absolutely Virtue]

I'd really, really like to see information about who the typical gilbuyer is. I realize this is impossible to get, but I'm just curious. The lazy, kneejerk consensus is that it's a shitty player, some rich kid with mommy's credit card, or the heir to some oil fortune. Did I get all the stereotypes?

I've quit this game a couple of times. When I do, I usually give away all my stuff to my friends. Years ago I decided to come back after such a giveaway, and I was flat broke. I had some decent r/e gear, but had to re-buy everything, including all my staves and other stuff that was going to break the bank. I toyed with the idea of 'starting from scratch' and grinding it out- it sounded like my kind of challenge. I gave up within a week, it was just too maddening. So I went to IGE and bought a couple of million. Probably cost me about fifty bucks. And I will say, their customer service was nothing short of excellent. I mean, I was absolutely amazed.

I have to admit I felt a little weird buying gil. But it came down to an issue of priorities for me. I'm lucky if I can get away with spending less than $50 on food, booze, sports/concert tickets, and everything else on typical night out. I was going to get a hell of a lot more mileage on gear I'd use every day than on watching some shitty band play or one of my lousy fucking teams lose. And time spent grinding away on FFXI selling stacks of crystals and bone chips is time I could spend with my wife or, you know, working.

I realize my situation is, of course, not typical. But I wonder how far from the mean it is. I love this game, and I still play after all these years. I've done more than my share of grinding (Lu Shang quest, Maat's Cap, etc), so it's not as if I'm a casual. You can resent me for trading the one resource I have (money) in exchange for the one resource I want (time, in this case to play the game). I get that. But I'd be lying if I told you I didn't resent the people who have nothing better to do with their time than play this game 15 hours a day every day. We can have that conversation about me being lazy on the day you get out of bed before noon for a reason other than a king window is open.

The great irony of this is that, of course, within a few months a close friend quit and gave me an embarrassingly large sum of gil, AND my LS did KS99 runs and I got a speed belt drop. Suddenly I had about twenty times more 'legit' gil than I bought. But hey, the FML dickpunch is one of the things we love about this game.

[Katoke]

So I went to IGE and bought a couple of million. Probably cost me about fifty bucks. And I will say, their customer service was nothing short of excellent. I mean, I was absolutely amazed.

IGE and bought a couple of million. Probably cost me about fifty bucks.

bought a couple of million.

...

[ikariiiii]

good job katoke, his whole post was discussing that

[Katoke]

good job katoke, his whole post was discussing that

Just wanted to make sure people knew what his post was about.

[Absolutely Virtue]

Just wanted to make sure people knew what his post was about.

Curses, I have been foiled by your detective work!

[Bugpop]

I'd really, really like to see information about who the typical gilbuyer is. I realize this is impossible to get, but I'm just curious. The lazy, kneejerk consensus is that it's a shitty player, some rich kid with mommy's credit card, or the heir to some oil fortune. Did I get all the stereotypes?

I bet those people are only a small percentage of the people who purchase gil. I think that most people who purchase gil know how to play FFXI and can play their jobs well. They have their eye on certain items which they have determined to be the next best upgrade for them. They can spend 40 hours to earn gil to buy the item or they can get a couple hours of overtime and purchase gil. What's easier? 2 Hours of overtime or 20 hours of farming? Your buddy that just got his foragers mantle must have been totally lucky to earn enough gil in 5 hours to afford his mantle... or maybe he farmed 5 hours, said "fuck it" and bought the rest of the gil he needed.

...

I can imagine a number of reasons why people who buy gil do not wish to make that fact known. Someone earlier in this thread pointed out that players who purchase gil must know they are doing something wrong because they won't admit to it. Fact is, they don't want to deal with people like Katoke.

[Katoke]

I bet those people are only a small percentage of the people who purchase gil. I think that most people who purchase gil know how to play FFXI and can play their jobs well. They have their eye on certain items which they have determined to be the next best upgrade for them. They can spend 40 hours to earn gil to buy the item or they can get a couple hours of overtime and purchase gil. What's easier? 2 Hours of overtime or 20 hours of farming? Your buddy that just got his foragers mantle must have been totally lucky to earn enough gil in 5 hours to afford his mantle... or maybe he farmed 5 hours, said "fuck it" and bought the rest of the gil he needed.



I can imagine a number of reasons why people who buy gil do not wish to make that fact known. Someone earlier in this thread pointed out that players who purchase gil must know they are doing something wrong because they won't admit to it. Fact is, they don't want to deal with people like Katoke.

Right, I forgot, being blatant about supporting RMT activity, breaking ToS and willingly admitting it on BG was OK. What happened to this place? lol.

[Absolutely Virtue]

I do wish more people would talk about their experience buying gil, because the simple fact is that these companies exist because demand exists.

I've talked privately with friends who have also bought gil, and their experience is pretty similar. Usually they're older, and time constraints from family and jobs prevent them from spending as much time playing as they would like. A lot of people I play with know the story about me buying gil that time. Nobody has ever said anything negative to me about it.

There are plenty of people who measure their self-worth by the possessions of their videogame characters, so your epeen has got to take a hit when a dude goes out and does it the 'easy way.' But honestly, I don't really give a fuck about the opinion of anyone who takes a game, even one I dearly love, so seriously. If you flame me in Whitegate, chances are the sun will still come up tomorrow.

[Mojo]

I think it's commendable to be open about something so taboo. It's too easy (and somewhat ignorant) to label RMT the way people do. If the issue was approached with an open mind there could be something interesting to learn.

[Bugpop]

I think it's commendable to be open about something so taboo. It's too easy (and somewhat ignorant) to label RMT the way people do. If the issue was approached with an open mind there could be something interesting to learn.

Money was tight for me in November 2007. I had health problems and bills were piling up. My wife was very pregnant (starting her third trimester) and we had trouble paying the bills. Even though we had health insurance we still had to pay both our deductibles and we still had 10% co-insurance to deal with. I sold 17 million gil for $550 and deactivated my FFXI account.

Some might say "There are programs that help out people like you". That may be true but you end up talking to people that first help you find out where assets can be liquidated. What kind of TV do you have, computer, car, can you get by with less? What can you sell? The only thing of any value I had that I knew I could sell was gil. Besides I only needed enough to carry me through for a few months. The gil I sold provided just enough cash to carry us through.

[Talint]

I think it's commendable to be open about something so taboo. It's too easy (and somewhat ignorant) to label RMT the way people do. If the issue was approached with an open mind there could be something interesting to learn.

$8,189 for Mojo ٩๏̯͡๏)۶
$8,023 for Trinsie ٩(●̮̮̃●̮̮̃)۶

Gee Mojo, tell us what you think about RMT!

[Furoris]

Right, I forgot, being blatant about supporting RMT activity, breaking ToS and willingly admitting it on BG was OK. What happened to this place? lol.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b.../dumbsig-1.jpg
Sooo windower and Timestamp aren't openly breaking ToS?

[Mistress Stowastiq]

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b.../dumbsig-1.jpg
Sooo windower and Timestamp aren't openly breaking ToS?

Although I do not personally condone or engage in either activity, I think there is an ethical difference between third party tool use and rmt.


Simply defined:

One is a seller profiting in real life currency off of a product that the seller did not make, design or manufacture themselves in any way. It is against game TOS.

The other is using a tool that different people have opinions about it giving advantages while some blatantly give advantages. It is against game TOS.

Both are against TOS but I think many who use 3rd party tools have a different perspective about what kind of rule breaking they are doing.

I think when the majority speaks openly about it and socially accepts it, it is much easier for people to find no wrong in doing it. I am pretty passive about people making up their own minds about how it might effect their life. I feel as if I am in the minority as far as openly being against it though.

[Argettio]

Right, I forgot, being blatant about supporting RMT activity, breaking ToS and willingly admitting it on BG was OK. What happened to this place? lol.

He didn't say it was OK to buy gil. He was explaining the logic people go through to reach the point of buying gil.

Atm 1million Gil costs what $20? I think that was the last /tell I saw.

$20 is nothing to most people, they spend more than that on junk food and beer in a single weekend while playing the game (I know I do).

If you wanted to have a 'real life' AND have some of the better gear, almost job defining gear (thinking Sorcerer's Ring for 2mil) without waiting for ages then buying gil IS by far the most logical option open.

Does that mean gil buying going to cause problems to the in game economy? Yes...

Does it mean it should be 'socially' acceptable within the player base? No...

Does it mean that anyone who understands the throught process of a gil buyer is either a gil buyer themselves or supporting gil buyers? No...

Is criminal psychologist murder because they understand murders or talk about murders?

[Zellgadiss]

You heard it here first. Gil buying = murder.

[Demosthenes11]

Right, I forgot, being blatant about supporting RMT activity, breaking ToS and willingly admitting it on BG was OK. What happened to this place? lol.

i hate you so much for making this post
so much
so
fucking
much

[Shade]

http://spiffy-keen.com/a/jokernomnomnom.gif

[Kyreth]

I do wish more people would talk about their experience buying gil, because the simple fact is that these companies exist because demand exists.

I've talked privately with friends who have also bought gil, and their experience is pretty similar. Usually they're older, and time constraints from family and jobs prevent them from spending as much time playing as they would like. A lot of people I play with know the story about me buying gil that time. Nobody has ever said anything negative to me about it.

There are plenty of people who measure their self-worth by the possessions of their videogame characters, so your epeen has got to take a hit when a dude goes out and does it the 'easy way.' But honestly, I don't really give a fuck about the opinion of anyone who takes a game, even one I dearly love, so seriously. If you flame me in Whitegate, chances are the sun will still come up tomorrow.

They're still pathetic. It's still the "easy way". And you still financed some account-jacker to "be able to play again".

It's not even a matter of epeen to me. RMT suck resources out of FFXI. This means less fun shit gets done, because S-E's money has to go to dealing with fixing jacked accounts, six zillion fucking fishbots, mass exploiting, tracing mules, etc. etc. They had to beat back RMT botting Sky and other NM's for easily sellable drops. They had to clean up the hyperinflative mess back in 2005-6.

So I don't give a shit about how easy IGE makes it for you to get back into the game. You just helped fund one of the greatest sources of misery the game's had through it's entire history. $50's not much? IGE pulls in a heckuva lot of $50's.

Why are the RMT there? People like you. Folks that don't think "it's all that bad". RMT's facilitate you and use the proceeds to try to make themselves go from "facilitator" to "requirement to play the game", because that makes them $$$.

The irony is that you don't fucking need a couple of million to get back into the game. Still got your rare/ex? Slap in a few cheap crafted items. You're good to go in any job in the game. Welcome back to FFXI. Anything else is fear of being seen with a small epeen.

[Mojo]

Gee Mojo, tell us what you think about RMT!

My wallet sure does like it! More seriously, there is quite a bit of bias and very little fact when it comes to what people think about RMT.

FFXI is a very unique experience for everybody who plays it. Some play very casually and don't care that much about HNM or endgame, they just like to do whatever pleases them and pass the time having fun. Some may compete over HNM and may derive satisfaction from maximizing the combat performance of their character. Others view it as sort of a hobby, they like to collect as many good items as they can (even if putting them to 'proper' use isn't a priority.)

In any of these cases, people's time is often worth more than farming gil, so the incentive to buy it is understandable. I wouldn't want to waste my life farming gil if I pulled in $70,000+/year. Buying enough to afford a relic weapon and then having fun with it every time I log on sounds much more satisfying than wasting away in Mount Zhayolm mining Khroma Ore.

People often point out how it's selfish and that it's harmful to the economy and playerbase. That's a huge and largely unfounded assumption and, given all that's been discussed in the thread, is somewhat ignorant. Most of the evidence points towards the contrary, and that is that a moderate amount of RMT supports a healthy economy.

Either way, the notion that gil buyers are all pathetic do-nothing players is highly prejudiced and indifferent. You're assuming that everybody who plays the game should play it in the way that you think it should be played. It's an arrogant assumption.

[Absolutely Virtue]

Name calling and ranting

I'm not gonna address everything you said, it's not worth arguing with someone who already has their mind made up and is just looking to talk shit. Nothing I say is going to have the slightest impact on what you think.

But I will address one point, which has come up in this thread before-

It's a stretch to suggest that buying gil from an RMT means I'm financing account jacking. There are definitely assholes out there stealing from people and turning what they've stolen into cash. And they use RMT to fund that (hell, some RMT companies might actually be doing that, too). But you've got absolutely no proof that all RMT companies are engaged in account theft. You don't even know which previous RMT practices (fishbotting, NM monopolization, gil duping, etc) can be attributed to which companies. I bought gil years before account jacking or NM monopolization, but that's really beside the point.