Gil-farming crackdown in Final Fantasy XI

  • By Walt Wyman, GameSpot
  • Posted Jun 13, 2006 9:50 am PT

Square Enix announced it is taking countermeasures to curb RMT in FFXI, suspending more than 250 accounts in the process.

Square Enix announced Monday that it is working to curtail the selling of large amounts of gil, the currency of Final Fantasy XI, for real-world money--a practice know as real money trading (RMT). The announcement, which was posted on both the English and Japanese PlayOnline Web sites, stated that "a number of accounts which were confirmed to have violated the user agreement by using unauthorized third-party software tools were discovered and have been permanently suspended."

This purge was initiated after an investigation begun in May turned up "large-scale RMT operations." As a result, 250 accounts were suspended permanently, and some 250 billion in illicitly produced was gil removed from circulation. To other would-be entrepreneurs, the announcement warns that "acts of RMT will not be tolerated in Final Fantasy XI, and any violations of the user agreement will be dealt with severely."

96 Comments

  • Tyler50314

    Posted Oct 26, 2008 8:52 am PT

    250 accounts arent that many unless theres only like 1000 people playing this game, which I highly doubt. But I agree with the guy below me, if someone "gives" money to you and you "donate" to that website with your own money, I don't quite see the problem with it.

  • Cloud737

    Posted Dec 29, 2006 6:02 am PT

    I understand SE`s position towards illegally produced gil (gil farming), but I don`t see why it is a violation to sell you legally obtained gill to someone else.
    I mean, there is nothing stating that you can`t "donate" large amounts of gil to a fellow user, while you receive real money for the transaction.

  • budahsmoka

    Posted Nov 9, 2006 11:23 pm PT

    well RMT have completley f****d up the economy, (on unicorn) farmed items (beehive chips, silk thread ect) go for bugger all and high lvl farmed items (mostly NM drops that are farmed by about 50+ RMT at a time) still go for practically the same

    and who buys gil anyway ive never met 1 person whos ever bought gil

  • Ps2Pimp1

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:18 pm PT

    Its pretty easy to hack FFXI i heard

  • slayss

    Posted Jun 21, 2006 5:49 pm PT

    i think that this is a good thing but its probably going to stop some people from playing the game.

  • jjyunaff

    Posted Jun 21, 2006 1:14 am PT

    I guess it was pretty obvious though, they wern't going to get
    away with ir for long, even though it is true that gil is hard
    to earn on Final Fantasy XI. Best of luck to those FFXI players out there!

  • SonicTheMonkey

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 5:52 pm PT

    why the **** would you pay real money for fake money????????????

  • Charlie643

    Posted Jun 20, 2006 3:38 pm PT

    I call shenanigans once again. Remember around this time last year when they made this same exact announcement? It did nothing. SE is only deleting the gil sellers mules that hold the gil, they aren't actaully banning accounts. SE's customer service and support is by far the worst I have ever seen.

    The GM's (Game Masters) actaully suspend legit players without an investigation. I got a 72 hour suspension once for using "Flee". A thief ability that makes you run faster. They said I was speed hacking. How the hell can I speed hack when I play the PS2 version? Good going SE, good going!

  • Karjah

    Posted Jun 19, 2006 10:47 pm PT

    The problem is not really the buying and selling so much as that "farmers" pull more gold into the ecomony then a normal player and push auction prices up on the things they sell to make more money.

    I'm all for this but honestly I think Blizzard needs to start putting caps on how high prices can go on some items. That would put a huge dent in the farmers plans if that essense of fire you just farmed can't be sold for more then 50 silver.

  • buzz8687

    Posted Jun 19, 2006 5:45 pm PT

    one more thing... just thing if everyone stopped playing the game... then they would've lost all the money that they needed to own people in the game....

  • buzz8687

    Posted Jun 19, 2006 5:42 pm PT

    wow if people that desperate for money in the game, then i would hate to see them in real world handling thier own money...

  • OfficialBed

    Posted Jun 18, 2006 6:37 pm PT

    stupid people...

  • pyrobob105

    Posted Jun 18, 2006 6:29 pm PT

    I think it all comes down to this.. the fact that people will pay actual real world money for money in a game is incredibly PATHETIC and SAD. People need to learn the value of real money. I am an avid gamer and liek playing my games but please.. ITS A GAME! I would never spend real money on money in a video game. Seriously now people. The people that do this must either have too much money to know what to do with it... or get their parents to give them money because they are spoiled and it is a way for their parents to stop bothering them. Also, you know that the people taht are selling game money for real money must be sitting back and laughing their butts off at the fact that people are actually paying for such a thing. I thought that all the money I spend on gas for my car was a waste of money... but at least i have something to show for that... or at least a lot more to show than anyone who spends real money of fake money.

  • keitaro0516

    Posted Jun 17, 2006 12:48 pm PT

    Oh my god i where are the gamers good manners of the past this is so disappointing that the gamers have to make this things thats cheat good for u square!!!!

  • Halexandre

    Posted Jun 17, 2006 12:26 pm PT

    RMT is pure cheating... When it comes to MMOs, cheating is like laughing loudly at the face of honest players.
    Two thumbs up for Square.

  • Sheepofevilz

    Posted Jun 16, 2006 5:44 pm PT

    Too bad it's too late for anyone to care, eh?

  • MrTim24

    Posted Jun 16, 2006 5:35 pm PT

    Final Fantasy what? Why isnt everyone playing WOW! I mean come on people!

  • TheAtomicNun

    Posted Jun 16, 2006 3:24 pm PT

    Just some thoughts on MMORPG economies for your perusal.

    MMORPG economies all suffer from one huge gaping flaw, unlimited money. The total amount of currency in any MMORPG is highly correlated with the number of people playing and the number of hours they play, since by performing quests and looting bodies, more money is introduced in to the game world. This causes rampant inflation in just about every single MMORPG out there. Makers of these games have tried, it seems, to offset this by making money harder to get, and thus, more valuable, to delay inflation problems. The problem, so far as I can tell, with goldfarming is that when there are enough people playing to generate fake money to make real money, this causes significant problem with inflation. Think of it as people coming into a country, printing lots and lots of their host country's currency, then selling that for the currency of their home country. More money in the host country means each unit of currency is worth less. Essentially, by goldfarming, these people are sapping the value of the currency that legitimate players (those who play for fun and not for profit) have stored away. Depending on how many gold farmers there are, how easy currency is to acquire, and how effectively currency is taken out of the game (through NPC shopkeepers and the like) goldfarming could be anywhere from a minor nuisance to people effectively stealing money from you by making what you have worth considerably less. While the motives of the companies running the game may be somewhat suspect (the more you have to play to make money, the more money they make) I think the average person playing an MMORPG gets screwed by goldfarming, and it is the proper course of action for the people who run these games to take action against it.

    And those are my two cents.

  • K1LLSWITCH

    Posted Jun 16, 2006 1:45 pm PT

    Bunch of idiots ruining another great game for everyone else. Not only should they be suspended from the game, they're Internet Service Provider should be banned too. Friggin kids.

  • bin-hiding

    Posted Jun 16, 2006 12:53 pm PT

    what i'm saying is how big a looser do you have to be to pay real money for money you can spend IN A GAME.... for real for real.... they need to get a life.. or give me the money.... i can use it to go clubbing and have some real fun...lol

  • hazardious

    Posted Jun 16, 2006 11:26 am PT

    fake money for real money???? i wonder how much gill can a dollar buy you 1$ = 20 gill or pleas dont tell me 20$ = 1gill pleas people think

  • Cerza

    Posted Jun 16, 2006 6:18 am PT

    Good, now those lazy people who just want to buy their way to top have to play the actual game.

  • smollett13

    Posted Jun 15, 2006 7:47 pm PT

    It's a problem everywhere. I think the primary reason is that people just want to get the best right off (someone said something similar earlier).
    It seems to me that if a game is fun enough to pay for, why should you finish early? Stop and smell the Chocobo feathers is my opinion. Set a goal and feel good when you complete it. Course, I guess others have a different POV, eh?
    Cap'n Smollett - EVE online pirate

  • mr111111

    Posted Jun 15, 2006 1:33 pm PT

    I don't see what the big deal is. If people want to partake im RMT let em do it.

  • djmoore64

    Posted Jun 15, 2006 11:46 am PT

    how dumb can ppl actually be to purchase game money with real money....get a life...get a gf...and get laid

  • TheDarkGamer07

    Posted Jun 15, 2006 11:45 am PT

    I've been playing this game for four years now...and the inflatio just keeps getting worse. I remember the days when a scroll of Drain wasn't 300k on Shiva -_-. Those were the days...now, I AM a little strapped for gil now (3k) but I have not once thought about buying gil, and contributing to the problem that I already despise. So to all those people out there, please stop. If you don't, then dont whine about your account getting cancelled :-)

  • AutisticSenior

    Posted Jun 15, 2006 8:07 am PT

    if ppl buy game money with real money its their loss... what a bunch of retards.

    spoils our game i guess, so yeh they shuld be kicked

  • xelloss88

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 7:10 pm PT

    I quit FFXI becuase of RMT just killed it and made the game no fun anymore.

  • ultimate_zero

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 7:06 pm PT

    why would u pay real money for game money???!!?!?

  • Iienji

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 4:48 pm PT

    As long time player my opnion is strictly biased. I used to play (and still do) on Bismarck, which was notorious for cheaters and gil sellers. My compliments go out to the Game Masters who spend hours upon hours of their days tracking these "players" down and removing them. It's not SE's business? They have no right to attempt to stop gilselling?

    You are wrong. SE made the game, and made it to have a longevity ( which WoW doesn't have). They intentionally designed the game to take a long time and alot of effort to get good stuff. Sue they did it for money, al companies want money. But that is not the only reason they do it. RMT makes it difficult for average players to make good money because of th ridiculous competition for Notorious Monsters spawns and monsters with good selling drops. This in turn makes low level ignorant and stupid noobs with millions of gil they didn't earn buying **** causing Auction House prices to soar.

    It is not right, and it is not fair. You don't need to play 5-10 hours a day to do **** in this game. Take a little time, do a little research, and put some effort into it. Bring some friends along and it will be fun. To me, you want to buy gil for **** you didn't earn, you shouldn't be playing this game. Go play something else. There are plenty of online games that don't demand the tenacity FFXI does, and are just as fun if not more so. For us that actually want to play a long and challenging game, we'll stick to FF.

  • NitroKat

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 4:45 pm PT

    nice nice nice.
    Cheaters and game-cash buyers are LZR's
    The diserve it

  • Shinsha

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 4:05 pm PT

    I left FFXI about a year ago due to all the bots and organized groups who found ways to block and exploit the game's leveling system. These large groups I have learned are actual businesses in China & other asian countries, businesses that are created for this RMT.

    In the long run this ruins the gaming industry (except those that allow this to go on because they recieve a % of the trade money... you know who you are). Those who play the game fairly are turned off and eventually leave, that leaves those behind that just want the end results of the final stage of the game. So they buy a game they don't play and then ruin the economy of those that buy the game and want to enjoy the whole experience that it was suppose to bring.

    Why buy a game you don't have time for, or boast about what you have when you didn't do the work to earn it, what does this say about the kind of person you are and the society you are creating.

  • ace244

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 3:03 pm PT

    i tell you what, i like rmt i have a life, but i would still like nice items, i cant get that without giving up countless hours were i could be doing other things(including my gf!) people who whine ruin the game, its just a game so let us play it how we want, we arnt hurting you

  • Pat3ot_basic

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 12:54 pm PT

    I don't really see the problem here. So a mini-economy has sprung up amongst players. Who does it hurt? Does it make the game harder for people who don't trade gil? Do the gil-traders get more out of the game than the people who don't?

    From where I sit, it just looks like a creative way to make use of the MMORPG rules. Of course they should crackdown on fraud, but if person A gives money to person B in exchange for gil or items, what's the problem?

  • lageasy311

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 11:46 am PT

    I'd love to play WOW but I don't have the computer hardware to play such a game..........and my butt itches right now which means it will itch more when I sit down all day to play a comp game.........plus I like RL girls, and the time sitting on the comp would mean less time getting laid

  • terrabreak13

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 9:56 am PT

    I still don't see how this affects the game's economy. If a new player has millions of gil it's not like they can equip armor thats higher than their level. And they can't buy all the equipment and items in the world because there is nowhere to put the items. Essentially having alot of gil is useless if you can't make use of your purchases.

    Furthermore having tons of gil is not going to help you rank up. When I started my friend who was there before me offered me a million gil and I refused. I don't see why anyone would buy gil. But if they want to buy it then that should be their problem. No need for action from SE let them sell gil if they want.

  • SemiMaster

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 8:27 am PT

    I quit MMORPGs, probably for ever due to this crap that happens. Buying money in game with real money is stupid and defeats the whole purpose. And when you are playing a crappy game like FFXI to make money the honest way, and Joegilbuyer2006 buys the best of every item, it just drives you nuts.

    There is just too much potential abuse for MMORPGs.

  • nramsey34

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 8:25 am PT

    Well, that's another good reason not to play MMOGs. But in all fairness, if someone is stupid enough to pay for in-game items, then it shouldn't be outlawed unless it really ruins the game for other people.

  • Kemikaru

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 7:38 am PT

    I am glad they are getting caught. People who buy the gil in the game act like they know what they are doing more then othe rjust because they have alot of gil. I am against gil sellers. Those who sell game accounts and gil , well I hope you all go down.

  • Baker666

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 7:13 am PT

    GOOD! finnaly. i can't stand it when im standing there for hours waiting for a Notorious Monster to pop. when finnaly one does and then this Japanese player runs out of absolutely NOWHERE and takes me kill! you won't believe how many time it has happened to me.. (and not just Japanese players.. but mostly jp players hae done it to me.) and when i say "hey you weiner that was my kill i was waiting" they come back with that STUPID
    [i'm sorry i don't speak english] auto translate thing. and i just can' telxplain my hate for the game at that point.. but yeah its an awesome game but some people that play it ruin your experiance

  • OPOLO

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 7:12 am PT

    Well they do these sweeps about once every 10 months or so - I sold my character on eBay over 6 months ago for $820

  • NoShenanigans

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 6:48 am PT

    Gil-sellers can easily be removed from the game if SE would just delete the bots that are sitting next to NM spawn points 24/7.

  • chrisvenn

    Posted Jun 14, 2006 5:01 am PT

    good to hear

  • LordGamer0001

    Posted Jun 13, 2006 9:57 pm PT

    wow, took them long enough to do this.

  • soulknight63133

    Posted Jun 13, 2006 8:56 pm PT

    Good. The "jacked-up" prices in the auction houses are ridicules.

  • nintendorocks

    Posted Jun 13, 2006 7:16 pm PT

    A lot like Blizzard did for World of Warcraft but on a slightly smaller scale.

  • rbarahona

    Posted Jun 13, 2006 6:53 pm PT

    Online gaming will be the beginning of new types of fraud. We have seen similiar issues in WoW and any other game like these. It's good to read that Square Enix is doing everything they can to eliminate this practices.

  • rynmls

    Posted Jun 13, 2006 6:45 pm PT

    well try something else...

  • Fallout_red

    Posted Jun 13, 2006 5:32 pm PT

    Isn't there RMT in World of Warcraft?

  • ian21

    Posted Jun 13, 2006 5:21 pm PT

    for the ppl who says its hard to get gil in the game obviously shouldn't be playing a game like this. what i have learned from ff11 is that this game doesn't give u instant gratification, it makes u work for what you want. sadly nowadays ppl think they have to do minimul work and get high rewards. u need money in the game tryin fishin, i made half a million gil in 3 days and that was putting a small effort. tryin playing mxo u get so much money its stupid and the game is boring cause u dnt have to work for nething, cause by lvl 10 u have 10 million$$. jus my 0.2$

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