July 24 - Special Task Force Report

Today's report will outline our actions conducted from June 26, 2006 to July 24, 2007 in dealing with players violating the user agreement, as well as details on the activities, results, and goals of the Special Task Force.


Special Task Force activities and future plans

Many of the problems occurring within the community are caused by Hunters*.
We are currently actively engaged in dealing with Hunters and in maintaining the community's health and well-being. As a result of these activities, the number of Hunters in the game has drastically dropped since the formation of the Special Task Force and it has been confirmed that a great deal of the community's problems have been eliminated.


However, at the same time, it was also confirmed that the issues with banned players creating new accounts, players announcing the sale of valuable items at Aht Urhgan Whitegate, illegal fishing, and synthesis using illegal tools still remain. From here on, we will be focusing on activities to eliminate these issues.

We have also received a lot of helpful information from players who submitted reports to the "Report to Special Task Force" mail form that was introduced last month. The information provided by everyone was essential in hastily solving many of the problems. We appreciate everyone's help and cooperation.
Report to Special Task Force

*Hunters: Characters who kill NMs, clear quests, and obtain items over and over again with the sole purpose of gathering gil, which is then handed off to RMT groups.

Matters of concern within the community

-Players are still announcing the sales of valuable items at Aht Urhgan Whitegate.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with shouts themselves. However, regarding characters repeatedly shouting who were suspected of having RMT connections, a total of 892 accounts have been banned due to these connections. Also, due to the primary focus on banning Hunters in Tu'Lia, these shouts have momentarily died down, and we can confirm that we are getting results. Because these actions can be performed by even lower-level characters, as a drastic solution, we will be working very hard at bringing about the complete removal of all Hunters.
In the future, we will be focusing on finding direct connections to RMT through our investigations and in banning Hunters. We will continue to work on making Vana'diel a more pleasurable environment to play in.

-Does the Special Task Force really verify all reports sent through the "Report to Special Task Force" mail form?

The Special Task Force reads through all reports sent and then inspects their accuracy. As a result of these inspections, if any violations of the user agreement are found, the corresponding player will be banned. The resulting statistics are analyzed, and they are used to help further resolve current problems in FINAL FANTASY XI.
Information received through these reports helps alert us of points that we may not have realized and is essential in dealing with many different problems.
The more detailed the information, the more smoothly the investigation can proceed. Because we can solve a problem swifter with detailed information, we ask for everyone's cooperation in providing as detailed a report as possible.


-Do players who are falsely accused get punished anyway?

All inspections are performed manually by the Special Task Force staff and start out by looking over and judging each account. If, at this point, there seems to be a problem with the account, another more intensive check will be conducted by an account administrator. We run these two levels of checks to ensure safety. There is no need to worry.

-The large number of items produced by characters involved in RMT is destroying the economy.

We will be strengthening our activities in response to this problem. However, in the same way as the shout problem, we cannot determine whether economic problems such as drastic price dropping are illegal or not. We will be mainly taking measures in severing any organization's involvement in the issue.

-Won't the Special Task Force be unable to perform inspections due to sellers involved in RMT using the World Transfer service to travel between multiple Worlds?

Players involved in RMT will, of course, be able to utilize the same benefits and convenience of the World Transfer service as regular players. However, even if players involved in RMT spread over different Worlds and start illegally selling there, we can trace our way back to each character through dealing with all of the Hunters that are required to obtain the seller's funds. Although the World Transfer service has just started, because players cannot transfer to another World until 90 days after starting a new account or using the service, we have not seen any major signs of the World Transfer service being used to benefit players involved in RMT.
Also, in regards to illegal activity, even if a player changes his World and character name and plots on "running away," we can still easily find out which World he has gone to and what he has changed his character name to. The Special Task Force will be fully capable of performing inspections.

-The Goblin Bounty Hunter has been introduced into the game, but I still see characters with machine-like movements fishing.

In the next version update, we are planning on expanding the Goblin Bounty Hunter's presence into new areas in places such as Sauromogue Champaign and Korroloka Tunnel, and extending the Goblin Bounty Hunter's movement range and route to get rid of safe areas in locations that the Bounty Hunter has already been introduced. As for the measures inside of towns and in areas besides the ones mentioned above, we are currently considering the effect they would have on all players and discussing all possibilities with the development team.

-Hunters that have been taken care of keep coming back soon after being banned. Hasn't the issue with Hunters in places such as Tu'Lia been dealt with yet?

Since the activities of Hunters in areas such as Tu'Lia have been especially vigorous, there are still quite a few Hunters left, but we have managed to greatly decrease the number of Hunters through our efforts. As for the Hunters returning to the game, not all of the players banned have been coming back. As you can see in the above graph, the total number is in a steady decline.
With the help of the reports provided by FINAL FANTASY XI players, we will be able to expand the range of our activities in dealing with these problems.

Comments

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Gobbies
# Jul 26 2007 at 1:04 PM Rating: Decent
**
726 posts
We all know that the GBHs aggro like normal mobs. As many people have pointed out, in a few areas this interferes with normal XP parties.

So in an area, if a GBH normally aggros players level 1-20, fix it so that the GBH only aggros players level 1-20 who are actively fishing. That way they take care of the fishbots and would leave the normal XP players alone.

Not that the GBHs are serving their function anymore at this point. They are only bothering the normal XP parties since the fishbots have either leveled past their aggro range or moved to town.

How to spot a fishbot:
If a player is fishing and they catch only 1 type of fish the whole time then they are a fishbot.

Example:
If they are fishing for an hour and only catch Gigant Squid or Black Sole they they are a bot. No items, no gil, no monsters, no other types of fish. Just 1 single type of fish the whole time.

Legitimate fishers will catch a variety. Their pole/bait choice may increase the odds that they will catch a certain type of fish but they will still get other stuff as well. It's not that hard to spot.
GBH >.<
# Jul 24 2007 at 10:01 PM Rating: Decent
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215 posts
Stupid GBHs, why make more >.< They could just as easily make another type of mob that if you stand in one place fishing for too long (I.E casting 20 lines without moving at all) then a mob spawns even if you don't reel one in.
GBH >.<
# Jul 25 2007 at 6:55 AM Rating: Decent
tell me.... when i fish im 1 pole an 49 bait... i dont move for about 2hrs from one stop, but i do type to my LS an ect... would u presume im a Haxz0r0z? An i fish for my cooking an when i cook i only move to change direction... so ure saying cause im commited to a craft i should get whomped on an killed to lose my exp? Maybe ure rite on a side, but consider that the person would be makin NO other actions BUT fishing, not typing at all to anyone.

My 2 cents
GBH >.<
# Jul 25 2007 at 6:22 PM Rating: Decent
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215 posts
Yes but if they did implement something like this then you would know about it and then move atleast one space before you reached the "limit" or whatever. I'm not saying that anyone who doesn't move is an RMT, but it would reduce the number of fishbots for a short period because they would have to adjust to the new change.
. . . .
# Jul 24 2007 at 5:45 PM Rating: Decent
49 posts
Not trying to open a can of worms or anything, but all we have to go by is SE's "claim" of how many have been banned. I still see SO many RMT on my world (leviathan) that it makes me sick. While yes, I have seen a drop, no it has not been significant enough for me to actually believe SE has made a difference.
And that damned GBH. Hate it. I can't level ANYTHING in dunes or Qufim now without those stupid things wiping at least one member of my party. I agree that it should only aggro low level fishers. Makes perfect sense.

And all that gil removed. Distribute it around the players who DON'T RMT.
Hrmm
# Jul 24 2007 at 2:15 PM Rating: Decent
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634 posts
Quote:
Those Goblins should atleast drop something valuable, instead of messing around with the parties expeing around.


Ha, I'm sorry, that's just funny. Think about it. They are here to stop gilsellers and bots.... why the hell would they drop something valuable. It would defeat the purpose.

peace,
CR
Drop
# Jul 24 2007 at 12:03 PM Rating: Decent
Avatar
*
50 posts
Those Goblins should atleast drop something valuable, instead of messing around with the parties expeing around.
____________________________
"Stiffed is what happened at a cost of freedom"
Bounty Hunters
# Jul 24 2007 at 11:34 AM Rating: Decent
Personally I think the bounty hunters should only aggro by fishing. I mean seriously. I cant tell you how many times I have died from gbh when I was just innocently going about my normal game business. I do agree that they are an effective way to stop fish bots, but what about this:

I was in Valkurm Dunes pting, and noticed 2 lv 1 taru's fishing by the sea in the group of trees. The G.B.H. would just walk right by them both everytime with out even a glance. but god forbid I get to close it would agg right to me.

If that is the kind of effectiveness of the GBH then I say scrap it for a more focused approach. If you don't want fishing bots, change the way fishing works so its impossible, or have more monsters pop out of the water that would kill most bots or something, but it is rediculous to punish the many for the few people (in comparison) that are doing it.
Bounty Hunters
# Jul 24 2007 at 2:12 PM Rating: Decent
Quote:
or have more monsters pop out of the water that would kill most bots or something, but it is rediculous to punish the many for the few people (in comparison) that are doing it.


Now you'd be punishing the people who legitimately fish for income. Every time a mob pops you'd have to fight it... taking away from precious time that you could be fishing. Some might not mind a fight every now and then during fishing to kill the monotony, but some might just find it a hassle. I'm not knocking on your ideas... perhaps if someone actually took a look at all the suggestions... maybe they might be able to form an idea from all the other ideas.
Bounty Hunters
# Jul 24 2007 at 12:26 PM Rating: Decent
Tristaenkun wrote:
If you don't want fishing bots, change the way fishing works so its impossible,


They did. When this game first came out, all you had to do to fish was hit fish and wait to see if you catch anything or lost your catch. They switched it to moving rods and all, like it is now to combat those bots. Guess the bots found a way around that too.

GBH is the way to go, just make them more of a police force on bot fishing and not a damn Rambo on crack after everyone.
Bounty Hunters
# Jul 24 2007 at 10:21 AM Rating: Good
40 posts
I will admit, they are doing pretty well with the RMT trashing. This Goblin Bounty Hunter thing is out of hand though. Players will be in EXP parties in the dunes or Qufim having to worry about those bounty hunters. Also i have a friend who was doing the Pirate Map quest and he kept getting killed by the bounty hunters that attacked him while he's fighting the NM.
Bounty Hunters
# Jul 24 2007 at 10:50 AM Rating: Decent
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50 posts
Yeah, but the Fishbot annoyance completely outweighs the Bounty Hunter annoyance.
Bounty Hunters
# Jul 25 2007 at 2:42 AM Rating: Decent
They heck it does, the GBH have taken away the good exp camp sites and it looks like they'll be adfding more and taking away even more camp sites. How does Fishing bots annoyance outwiegh that. I could careless what fishing bots do, let them be punished for what their doing. But dont punish people who are trying to exp. You people need to stop worrying about fishing bots and just play the game, its cause of your complaints they were added in the 1st place.
Bounty Hunters
# Jul 25 2007 at 7:05 AM Rating: Decent
The fishing bots fish for money correct?... correct? Make a limit to how many of one fish can be caught a day like in RL the limits on fish.. an then from there, every time they fish they catch a monster or a worthless fish :P or even holy sh*t make a ex fish for a cooking recipe an make them stack to 5 or somthing lmao or not even stack at all... so many ways around it... these make me /cry the Worm camp in Qufim used to be nice... chain 8 on worms with a good pt... ._. now u cant do nothing cause of that stupid goblin unless u have a PL sleep him so he dont respawn over an over.. ; ;
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