Yes, I am officially necroing the blog because of all the Endwalker whining... GET OVER IT!

(Posted on my sports-conspiracy blog, but I thought it might be good to put it here too!)

I could probably go into any number of sports-related rants regarding the entitlement of fans and the like -- up to and including my increasing anger at the idiots who do not understand a sports fan has no right to a legal, lawful, nor fair contest.

Really, they don't.  Mayer!

But what I have seen the last almost-five days now in video-gaming has to take the cake.

I know I probably said here (and I know I said elsewhere) I was never going to play Final Fantasy XIV again.

The coronavirus and the need to kill copious amounts of time while staying the fuck at home (thank you, Samuel L. Jackson!!!!) changed all that.

Today is the official release date of the final expansion of the first story arc, Endwalker.

I do not know when I will complete it, or whether I will be able to.  More on that in a second.

I have been considering doing another video-game post on the death of Activision-Blizzard, and the DESERVED death of the company, as a going concern.

I may, well, soon.

But this is one factor in what is going on here.  Because a lot of people, disgusted with the sexual-harassment/assault culture at Blizzard (as well as increasing microtransactions, including pay-for-gold (which the company which owns the game DOES have the right to do -- unlike Real Money Trading outfits!)) have left World of Warcraft in monstrous numbers, leaving WoW with a player-base, by some estimates, of less than 2 million subscribed accounts.

By comparison, Square-Enix and FFXIV, this weekend for the "Early Access" of Endwalker, have reported, and by quite a distance (some metrics say the record could be by a multiplicative factor of at least two, if not more!!), the highest server load in the history of the game.

Which has created massive problems.

One of which, which will probably take a back seat, is a very real issue with certain processors (like mine, AMD models appear to be reported as having problems) with the game, at best, dropping or stuttering sound.  At worst, like mine, the computer will randomly freeze and force a complete reset of the system!

But that's nothing compared to their more glaring problem:  Full worlds and massive server queues.

And everyone says "This is normal for a launch!!", etc.  And they are right -- TO AN EXTENT...

The problem is, the mass exodus out of Blizzard and into Square-Enix was never foreseen.

The second problem is that the development team knew they couldn't do anything about it.

Some blame COVID, I blame Bitcoin.  There's also a definite scalper motif into this, which has bled into the high-end gaming consoles as well.  It's one of the reasons I may have to quit for a while:  Upgrading systems has become impossible because of the semiconductor shortage which has gone on the better part of 12-18 months now.

I have friends of mine who would like to update their video cards.  Here's your problem, as evidenced last June at a store in Dallas.  I want you to take special note of a gentleman in the mob just in front of the cammer before it attempts to stampede the store, upon notification that, between all the Bitcoiners and scalpers, there's no prayer there's enough video cards to get everybody one:

(Look at about 1-2 seconds into the video.  Look closely at his hand, you won't see it for long...)

There's at least one person in the damn line who has BRASS KNUCKLES!!!

That's how bad that is.

But the reason I made this post is another kind of entitled jackass...

"I WANNA PLAY WIGHT NOWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!  WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

Just a short list of what has been going on on the Official Forums of the game (and thank God I'm banned from those several times and characters over, because somebody would get threatened with a punch to the mouth):

• "I want to thank you for making bethesda and fallout 76 look good. I was going to type a lot more, but why bother. you and the company decided that you would loose more money from player leaving then from getting more servers."
  
• Another thread:  "I don't accept your apology"
• Calls for lawsuits...
• "Shame on you Square"
• I know there was at least one all-caps profane rant on the question -- which was probably allowed to remain far longer than it should've...
• "Get over it?  No, I don't think I will."
• And on
• AND ON
• AND FUCKING ON!!!!!

The only way Square-Enix was going to get this right was not to release Endwalker for AT LEAST ANOTHER YEAR.

That's how bad the gaming console/semiconductor/video card/chip market has been FUCKED, between the scalpers and the Bitcoin geeks, with a small nod to COVID, in the last two years.

If you don't think they would've done something if they could've, you're even more arrogant than I thought.

FUCK OFF.

 

Big Story from Azeroth: Blizzard needs to shut down WoW PvP...

Only being put here because it's so similar to a lot of my Final Fantasy XI rants (and what's with the damn download times on the update, even BEFORE the free login period begins, SE???)...

Big news in the gaming community this week that Blizzard banned a number of users for using bots in World of Warcraft PvP competition.

... because that number is SIX FIGURES of six-month suspensions.

Various reports put the number at somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 banned characters (or is it accounts?).

That's 1-2% of the 10 million subscribers WoW has, and, PvP being the sole raison d'etre for a lot of these immature shitheads to play WoW, I would have to think we can add at least that number to the two million or so subscriptions which have fled WoW in the last few months.

Basically, it appears as if the entire PvP metagame (and if it's not all of it, it's a large, large fraction!!!) was based around the bot HonorBuddy, which allows players to farm honor in PvP play without actually committing to PvP.  No engagement is necessary.

They're still looking, but it now appears that this is a problem even an order of magnitude or two above the Salvage bans of 2009, which basically exposed FFXI for what it really was, and set the table for the company to transition to FFXIV.

There's really only two solutions:  Reset ALL PvP in World of Warcraft, or shut it ALL down until gameplay can be rebalanced.

This isn't 1 or 100 accounts.  This is the classic case of "If you owe the bank $100, it's your problem.  Owe the bank $1,000,000, and it's the bank's."

It is now clear that no meaningful PvP play is going on whatsoever on World of Warcraft, so it either needs to be reset or shut down.

This, on the heels of Blizzard actually doing something SE may have tried to do ONCE:  Blizzard won $7,000,000 from a WoW bot maker in court.

I always knew most WoW players were immature little pieces of shit, so none of this surprises me.

Long Rant I: Shit, RMT won.

I have two long rants to type tonight, and neither of them are particularly pleasant.

The first concerns something that Cuddleslave has been keeping an eye on for me since my expulsion from FFXI:

RMT has won.

There is no polite way to say it other than this: RMT will dictate the future of online gaming, in that whatever future online gaming has, RMT will either control it or be on board with it.

I point to three very disparate sources to indicate how far this has gone in the last several years (the first two sent to me by Cuddleslave), and to indicate the level of disgust I have with online gaming in general.

First, a recent survey (crossposted to RMT-friendly FFXIAH.com) indicates that about a third of all gamers have spent real money on virtual content from another gamer or from a third-party site. About half of the same survey bought virtual currency as well, though this might include currencies for supposedly “free-to-play” games that you will suck at until you pay (and through the nose!!) for any real content (such as Farmville, Pangya, etc. and so forth and so on!).

In most cases other than the F2P's, this appears to be blatantly illegal conduct on both parties (since FFXI has supposedly banned the practice, I even have called for criminal actions on both buyer and seller on the charges of theft, under California laws). The problem has become that such a significant number of people have decided that buying currency, items, or characters is the only way to go that gaming companies are left to effectively subjugate whatever ownership rights they would otherwise claim to their content – since many of these are foreign entities (and, it appears, at least several appear to have ties to the Chinese government!!) or actually enforcing their rules would mean the end of their game.

(Evidence for the latter: Square-Enix never revealed the number of characters in Final Fantasy XI on the 2011 Vana'diel Census. If the number of servers being cut to about 1/3 of what they were the last Census is any indication, my guess is probably somewhere in the 500-750K range, rather than the 2M+ they claimed (*cough*halfofwhichwasRMT*cough*) in the last Census.)

But, as one person (Hevans from Ragnarok) put it in the FFXIAH.com forum:

“think you kind of answered your own question. the "pay to play" format is changing to "pay to play well".”

Basically, you pay for the product, then you (in subscription models) pay your subscription.

Then you abjectly HAVE TO pay to stay up to date (Great example: You are not even playing FFXI anymore if you do not play Abyssea. Whatever you are playing, it's not FFXI.).

And now, legally or otherwise, to the game company or to some illegal shady piece-of-shit operation in China, you basically have to pay to advance your character to a reasonable pace, especially if the concept of low-level play is essentially obsolete (which see: FFXI!).

So you cannot afford to play FFXI without being up to date on the expansions, security token for the satchel, and then probably more money to illegal outfits to ensure that you can get your character to where the game even begins (which is level 90 and about to be 95 the next major update!).

That makes me sick.

Why? Because basically it becomes about to the ilk of professional/high-level Magic the Gathering. Without a network of players or a lot of money, you – are – FUCKED. No polite way to put it.

(So much so that one person actually responded on the official forums to a player considering returning that he should only return if he has people to play with. A solo player has no business returning to FFXI.)

And this plays right into the little thuglets like BG and God knows what else. They know they have you by the balls, because they know that if you try to play fairly, then the social impact of the playerbase will effectively exclude you from any meaningful play, because you will never reach the point where they will accept you. So then, you either have to accept being inferior and suck dick for everything you can get (pay for ??? opportunities, etc. and so forth), or not be a part of the game at all!

I don't trust these fuckers. I'll get more into that in the second rant. But how am I supposed to play with a bunch of shitheads who basically walk around like they own the place? (Small spoiler of the second rant: … because it's that they effectively DO own the place!!!)

And how am I expected to uphold the rules if it's clear that the rules only have meaning to allow the players who are such arrogant little fucks to do this? It's almost as if Square-Enix themselves sponsors BG and it's players!

But back to RMT: What this has done is it legalizes it AND abrogates the black-letter law of the land in Vana'diel: That Square-Enix would own everything and you would have no rights to subvert that ownership.

If you're playing under the concept that Square-Enix owns everything and that the rules mean something, you are being defrauded and you have no recourse against Square-Enix whatsoever. (See the Spygate lawsuit and the Leong lawsuit, mentioned earlier in this blog.)

RMT buys you gil, some think it buys you time, but it buys you probably the most important thing that you can have in a social MMO: Status. Because you can basically build a character that people are going to want to play with a lot faster through these manipulations rather than doing the work for yourself. And an increasing part of the game does not give two rat's asses about actually knowing how to play: Which see the number of characters who either have every job at level 90 or every job they could conceptually ever need as such (thanks to Abyssea).

And hence, it impacts every player in the game – whether or not they take advantage of this!

The second thing Cuddleslave showed me was a thread on the Japanese official FFXI forums where some people have finally summarily had enough and are going to (if I read the rough Google translations correctly) out RMT players.

Understanding that the greater number of prevalent players use illegal content and RMT, they decided to go vigilante on them and begin to report them.

I hate to state this this openly: You're about five fucking years too late, Japan!!

If I heard it once while I was playing, I heard it a thousand times: Without illegal content and RMT, there is no FFXI. And it appears as if Square-Enix has seen fit to agree with this stance, saying one thing publicly and then doing quite another!

One of the classic moments of Vanafest 2009 was when Sage Sundi, in his Japanese Special Task Force report, did a “Star Wars” style scroll of literally hundreds and thousands of names of accounts who were banned.

Though “naming shame” is one of the greatest penalties Japanese culture can give, it hasn't slowed the RMT processes, which makes me wonder why vigilante justice like this wasn't implemented five years ago!

Some comments, from the rough translations:

Micktlll:

“There, the words "incompetent management is unable to satisfy even the collective enforcement of contract violations". Hence, "there are many in the game that the offender has been left unchecked and without disposition" means what? This "authorized" but many users are very much a travesty, and this "has been allowed by a tacit" It is quite irresponsible and attitudes and conventions that.”

What I think he was trying to say is that, through the repeat offenders and complete lack of enforcement of illegal content to “gain advantage and annoy players in doing so” was the result of incompetent management which cannot enforce the rules of any kind. This leaves many players able to commit these acts without penalty, effectively nullifying the ToS.

If that's what is saying, he's right and that's what I've been saying for years. The problem is, there are enough people who do this that, if they were successfully banned, the standing opinion is that FFXI would be forced to shut down.

Well, it is quite irresponsible, then, in both attitude and convention, for Square-Enix to continue FFXI under those conditions!

In a later post, Micktlll continues, in rough translation:

“If you're going out of the question. Meaning if it were not for the user to provide the terms and conditions.”

And this is where the concept of fraud enters play, because the playerbase has subjugated that, and stated openly that there would be no FFXI otherwise!! In their eyes, they believe they have the right to not only dictate what the laws are for their play, but also who gets to play what, where, and under what conditions.

Frankly, they own your FFXI experience.

Basically, Micktlll claims that the situation has been made a double-contract: One set of rules for one set of players, another for another. Almost like the World of Warcraft situation where players sponsored by gaming websites are subject to no rules whatsoever as long as Blizzard is being paid by said sites.

Probability that is going on in FFXI: 99+%.

Zetsurin of Bismarck apparently has told Micktlll the same argument we've heard on the English side a bazillion times. That Square-Enix made such a flawed game that the players have the right to shit all over the rules:

(rough translation)

“Hey, it'll Antalya, is set like a trick to the game, I had not been made out in the manual it?
After those operations that can not be perceived by the terms such violations, even in the game affect the way I heard no. There is no responsibility in the operation. This game does not even claim to have sold a healthy item is absent at all the user tools. So you brought the law does not apply. Was sorry (laughs).”

Basically, this person (I'll reserve calling him a shithead until I am clear that this is what he has said, but if he has said it, he's a cheating shithead who needs a beatdown!) says that the game cannot be feasibly played without Windower and illegal tools.

If that is what you said: Fuck you. You disgrace your family.

If it's not, then ignore what I just said.

Part Three: Diablo III and the RMT Auction House

But, as I said at the first of this long rant, it appears that not only has RMT won the day, but that it appears that RMT will control the future of online gaming.

This is true not only through the prevalence of purchased materials, but now has gone in to the creation of one of the new online mega-games: The Diablo III Auction House, which is going to have not only an in-game currency side, but an RMT side as well.

Also, as part of “quality control” (*cough**hack* PLEASE!!!!), the game can only be played as an online entity.

I'll tell you right now. I'll give it three months, and one of two things is going to happen to Diablo III:

Either:

• The entire RMT model will completely fail, and might well take Diablo III with it!!

• or anyone who basically plays Diablo III with any degree of seriousness will be forced to take part in RMT, and probably be playing the game with the sole purpose of making real-life money from it!

Basically, RMT will determine the success or failure of Diablo III. Even as long-awaited as Diablo III has been, Blizzard has come to the conclusion (and they will pay for it badly, at some point, probably through some degree of legal liability due to hackers and account compromisation!) that the number of people buying the game is not enough. They will need a constant revenue stream to keep the game going, and the only real way to do that? R – M – T.

You are going to have a bunch of little thuglet shitheads basically running all over the place to ruin everyone else's experience – and get paid to do so!!

It's bad enough when the money to do it (like some of the BG RMT shitheads) is illegal and under-the-table. It's a thousand times worse when not only is it brought above table, but it may well be the means by which Blizzard survives doing Diablo III into the long term!

This is a horrific idea, and yet you know that there are going to be people, in this real-life economy, with fewer and fewer options but to get into this kind of stuff.

And that's going to cost Blizzard dearly. Will I at least get Diablo III? Am I going to be around that long for when Blizzard finally releases the game?? Hell, I'm not sure I'm going to make Final Fantasy XIII-2 next January!

And part of that is the next long rant I'm going to do: The whole concept of what we've become as a culture, especially online: What's Yours is Mine!

Had a bit of an altercation during Abyssea today....

Had another one of those conversations today. And I think it was with Edwyth (on an alt). (If I am wrong and the person I spoke to was not Edwyth, then I apologize.)

Anyhoo, I first thought it was that shithead Adam Westwood, who said he was coming on Leviathan to take potshots at me...

Turns out that the person I did talk to was talking to Chinchilla on Skype or such, and wanted to know how I felt about her still being allowed on FFXI at all...

Needless to say, that didn't start my Abyssea run on a good note.

At this point, the allowance of Square-Enix to allow players like Chinchilla and Keichan/Kaeko/Kanichan to continue playing this game at all is not only an act of fraud on the company's part (as well as on the parts of the individual players), but is probably the only reason FFXI still exists.

Additionally, the only question as to if to sue Square-Enix would come down to a question of standing -- vis-a-vis,( in a legal sense) what damages, if any, would be allowed.

Especially with the amount of cheating and illegal shit running rampant in FFXI, these "players" are probably adept to advance further and faster than the legitimate players even after they get banned.

In fact, the person I talked to today had the audacity to say that it was entirely Square-Enix' fault the Salvage exploits took place, and that they should not have banned anyone for the duping.

Realize, at that point, that you basically kill two cardinal rules of the game:

Q12652, which bans all conduct within the game which is not done within intended parameters.

and the exploit rules, which disallow all conduct which exploits code for illegal purposes.

The latter is the reason I GM'ed the current Campaign XP situation -- 3 times now without appropriate response.

You know, I realize, within the context of a social game which the players want to destroy the balance of (simply for their own benefit), that it is considered insanity to demand the rules be enforced.

As I told the person: I feel not only condemned because I vociferously speak out, I feel condemned because I refuse to use 3PP and bots and exploits and the like.

This is not a democracy -- the players should have zero say as to what is allowed and what is not. That they appear to have that says basically allows:

-- Windower
-- bots, completely destroying any hope that non-RMT players have of taking part in several functions of the game
-- RMT itself
-- etc.

...and I find it a laugh my discussion partner believes that all RMT should be jailed, as I do.

Face it: The players want to use any means they can (cockblocks, bots, exploits, Windower, etc.) to advance in the game (often at the expense of other players).

If Square-Enix does not have the right to ban conduct as it sees fit (but then has to enforce what it makes a Term of Service), then what ownership do they have of anything?

*sigh* One of these days...

So it's been a year already...

Yes, today (Friday) is my 41st birthday. Don't even try to tell me I don't act my age, because I fucking don't.

I learned something a long time ago about myself: I don't play nice with people who don't play nice. I learned it, and, frankly, it's probably the only reason I'm still here and kicking 41 years in.

I don't know what this next year will bring for me personally, but I hope it's better than the last 12 months. The last 12 months were a trying time for me and my friends, especially my roommate. But we're still here, and they haven't gotten rid of us yet.

---

Of course, people (especially FFXI players and followers) will know January 22nd for a very different purpose: The day that, despite even Square-Enix' continued efforts to promote FFXI to this day (and to their Feb. 28, 2010 VanaFest in Tokyo), FFXI died at the hands of nearly a thousand cheaters whom Square-Enix could no longer ignore.

And we all know, even to today, how much Square-Enix continues to ignore massive fraud, theft, and illegal (in-game and law) activity in Vana'diel.

So we're a year past the Salvage Bans... What have we learned?

Those cheaters who haven't quit have dug in against the Terms of Service and Square-Enix, leading to several update nerfs (fishing, gardening, NPC sales, etc.), as well as the December 24, 2009 statement against third-party programs (which I feel Square-Enix doesn't have a prayer of enforcing unless it can figure out how to immediately slash the number of servers in half...)

Don't believe me? I discussed that at length about three weeks ago.

That said, it's clear that I have been branded everything from RP (a role-player, whom, to most of FFXI, is a bad name!) to so many names behind my back that it would take a decade to finish the list (and they're all derogatory!!).

But the one thing I've learned is this: I have to look myself in the mirror while I'm in the game and while I'm not. (I actually found a $100 bill on the ground during my work, while doing all the "Flamage" posts and the like. I had to seek out it's owner. Why? Because if I'm going to talk it here, I have to walk it there.)

And the day that what I say has absolutely no value (and that's not something the vast majority of the players -- those who cheat -- can declare (nor, really, can I)), then they better decide to deal with me in the most forceful way possible, because I know what I can do if I ever felt (like most FFXI players) that the right thing to do is no longer necessary or even possible.

A year ago, this game was exposed as a motherfucking fraud: Fraud by the players, fraud by the company, and fraud by the community (yes, I'm talking to you, Chinchilla and Pet Food Cheater).

If Square-Enix is serious about refuting that statement, ban every App and NASA user at minimum, and try to deal with Windower once and for all.

Stop the theft and start prosecuting RMT, wherever they are.

Make the efforts you have to make to even try to make FFXIV a purportedly reasonable game, and not the cheating non-starter it appears as if it's going to be.

As for me, I'll raise Hell til they lock me up. God put me on this Earth 41 years ago, and there's days I truly believe that this is the purpose for which I was put here.

I promised a little light reading for the update...

So here's The Letter I wrote, with no one to really send it to, it seems.


It could be said Square-Enix doesn't care about me personally, but I wonder openly if Square-Enix cares about anything anymore. I'll get to some more comments in a bit, as I'll post an addendum to the blog here.

This was a letter in which I state what I believe to be necessary demands if Square-Enix doesn't want the game to continue to be the fraud it is now. I wrote it about six weeks ago, wanting to send it to top-level FFXI staff -- finding none who had any real contact info there.

So, you get it, as promised: Flame away. Some of my thoughts might have changed a little in the interim, but here it is... (No scribbles... :) )

There have been some changes in what I believe -- I'll get to those in a later post. Enjoy..

---




February 19, 2009


To all concerned parties at Square-Enix:


My name is Starcade, and I play (for now) on the Leviathan server of Final Fantasy XI. I really, really wish I were writing this letter under happier circumstances.


I am about as close to quitting Final Fantasy XI as I ever have been. In fact, about the only reason I am still playing is out of spite for a player-base that I, sadly, can only have real contempt for. They have rendered the entire game unfair, not fun, and not sustainable (even by your own tacit admission).


On January 22nd, you took the first real step toward dealing with what, unfortunately, has become an epidemic problem in Final Fantasy XI: The rampant end-game cheating and misconduct which has basically stunted the demographic growth of your game. You have, by my last reading, the same general level of players you had in 2005.


Final Fantasy XI does not appear to be growing with the times, and the main reason for this (in my honest opinion) is that the game has become, bluntly, corrupt and/or corrupted. I'm not exactly sure which (or both!), but it is clear that Square-Enix needs to address several real issues before very long, otherwise it would not be productive for any players to continue to play a game which Square-Enix now appears to see as obsolete.


First Point: The representation by banned players for the player-base and the game communities.


One of the most concerning aspects of the January 22nd bans is the number of high-level, prominent, and, bluntly, “famous” players which were impacted.


The message from Square-Enix must be clear here: Any conduct which results in the player being banned must nullify everything the player has done in and for Final Fantasy XI, since the character has been removed from the game, and, to my knowledge, it is illegal for the player to institute another account and restart. The player is being banned, not just the characters.


When I heard of one specific ban (though the concept I will apply is a general one, and I shall state it as such), I was spurred to write this letter. As you may well know, one of the banned players was Chinchilla from the “Pet Food Alpha” website and podcast.


It is my position, and should be Square-Enix' as well, that no former player, now banned, should have any place of representation whatsoever with respect to any game he or she was banned from.


Additionally, any podcast, website, program, club, linkshell, or other construct which has status with Square-Enix can not be allowed to have any banned former players in them. Failure to do so (and this is what I ask be done to Pet Food Alpha) strips all recognition between Square-Enix and the construct involved.


As of the writing of this letter, it appears as if Pet Food Alpha is a Community Site (I had, erroneously, believed they were, in fact, a Premier Site, when I made this request of Pet Food Alpha's remaining staff – which was largely mocked...). Any Community or Premier Site represents the game and the player communities. Hence, any Community or Premier Site which refuses to remove from their programming and site all banned players should immediately lose their status with Square-Enix, and all rights, privileges, and honors attached to that status.


Specifically, it has come to my attention that Pet Food Alpha's official position is that they do the website and podcast for themselves and that Chinchilla's friendship is an integral part of that goal. I believe this statement means they consider Chinchilla's presence on the podcast and website to be more important than the rules of the game, as well as it's credibility. Therefore, I am asking Square-Enix to remove Pet Food Alpha immediately as a Community Site, and strip all honors, privileges, and rights of that status from its hosts and other staff.


The sites you choose to list on your website as Community Sites and Premier Sites represent the game., and supposedly the players on it. Actions by the people on these Sites which result in their removal from the game should result in the immediate removal of those people from all representation of the game. If the construct fails to do this (and this should apply to all sites on the Community Page, not just PFA), then it should be removed as a representative of the game.


These players should be held to much higher standards. Else, there is no value in retaining such statuses at all. They become as much a fraud as the game either is becoming or already has become.


Point Two: Rampant End-Game Cheating and Possible Inconsistent Rulings


It is my position, especially given the recent bannings of several hundred of the most prominent players in the entirety of Final Fantasy XI, that enough has to be enough with respect to end-game misconduct and cheating.


It is time for Square-Enix to take several steps to this end:


First, a specialized branch of the Special Task Force needs to be created, with it's goal being the enforcement of the Terms of Service.


The STF has actually done a fairly decent job dealing with one specific type of violation: Trademark infringement through the real-life money trading (RMT) of gil, items, and characters. Frankly, I am surprised that legal actions (civil and criminal) are not being pursued.


The fundamental pretext behind the Special Task Force should be one very simple fact, bold-faced in the Terms of Service. The players own nothing in this game. It all belongs to Square-Enix. Hence, since Square-Enix has full ownership of the virtual property players rent in the game, any action taken to subvert the amount or legal manners in which the property can be gained, moved or exchanged must result in player removal and probable criminal or civil action for trademark infringement and, perhaps, even theft. (In that they are stealing it from you and using it for their own purposes.)


The fact is: Cheating at the end-game level is so rampant that it has debased the game to the point where many end-game situations are coming down to whose claim-bot is working the best, or which exploit is being used to gain items, victory, fame, gil, whatever... It is my belief that the top reason the game has become stagnant in growth the last three years (and, hence, why the game is no longer sustainable, long-term) is the rampant cheating going on in end-game, where the game can no longer be played fairly with any expectation of success.


I can not, in good conscience, recommend your game to any player looking to enter the world of Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) gaming at this time. I do not have faith that the player base is willing to abide by the Terms of Service at all. One discussion, just after the emergency maintenance which led to the January 22nd bannings, places the number of players in violation of the Terms of Service at at least half the entire Final Fantasy XI player base. By what I've been reading since, that even appears to be a low number.


The present set-up of the Special Task Force is wholly insufficient to deal with this, as has probably been evidenced by the fact that the Salvage-dupe exploit was being reported to your company and your game staff for 18 months, and it only appeared as if when someone finally blew the whistle outside the game (in a way which would disrupt the future in-flow of players, possibly) did Square-Enix take action against the exploit and the players involved.
It is time for Square-Enix to add a new branch to the Special Task Force, with its task being dealing with in-game misconduct separate from RMT. There's too much of that misconduct to be ignored.


Second, address the crisis of confidence which is strangling Final Fantasy XI.


There is a crisis of confidence which has cast a cloud over Final Fantasy XI and it's future.



Without stern actions to force the player base to abide by the Terms of Service, this game will not survive. If it has become policy to allow ToS violations, given that the removal of most violators would result in the economic end of Final Fantasy XI entirely, then, frankly, it's time to pull the plug. (More on that later.)


The players have no confidence in Square-Enix vis-a-vis Final Fantasy XI. Their conduct shows it. Some of the comments I've received, even doubly so. One person, responding to my blog and slamming my commentaries has even charged that Square-Enix and the GM's can manipulate the drop rates and items dropped at their own whim and for their own amusement:


(A poster named “Orinna” to my blog gave this to me several days ago...)


"Oh..and just another tid bit.. TELLING SE THEY ARE WRONG won't get you anywhere. Do me a favor.. make sure you send them your pol ID too.. hopefully they'll be annoyed by you so much that a cppl GM's will follow you around and make your life a living hell. I know that would make a lot of people who play this game a lot happier.. Maybe if you never get another drop, get agro constantly and die all the damn time.. you might learn to not fuck with the big guy who ALLOWS YOU ACCESS to that character that you've omg never done anything wrong on."


Understand what Orinna is implying (save the flamage, which I more than happily return):



Orinna is basically saying that your company can screw with the drop rates for no reason at all and, on top of that, for your entertainment and agendas. Who would want to play a game like that? Serious question.


There is no confidence, right now, between the player base and Square Enix (and, given what I've been reading in several media (and your recent financial disclosures), it sounds like that no-confidence is in BOTH directions). If you want another example, listen to the latest production from Limit Break Radio: A “Limit Breaking News” concerning the January 22nd bannings.


The better part of the last 45 minutes of the program was one simple message: Square-Enix has so little communication with the player community that there is no confidence, right now, in Square-Enix vis-a-vis Final Fantasy XI. Though I believe many of their hypotheses as to what would happen with communication are flawed, the fact is that it does not appear the players have any confidence in you.


This must be addressed if you desire Final Fantasy XI to have a future. (More on that statement in a little bit...)


Third, consistent and forceful enforcement of the rules and Terms of Service.


Generally speaking, it appears as if there is no standard of enforcement for violations of the rules.


I'll give you a number of examples: Third-party software usage is, to many end-game players, a necessity to even play the game. When the Hell are you guys going to ban Windower and force players to play with the proprietary Windowed Mode? When are you going after claim-bots, basically a “feature” of most highly sought-after Notorious Monsters?


And then there's the Allakazham article I saw linked to and essentially posted on your official site regarding the first Pandemonium Warden “defeat” at the hands of the Apathy linkshell of Remora.


I want an investigation (and have already sent such a request to the Special Task Force) under Article Q12652 of your Q&A section in your website, where you state that use of game mechanics outside the manners those game mechanics were intended for is a violation of the rules (under creation of an unfair game advantage), subjecting the parties to item, experience, gil lossage, up to bannage from the game.


Yes, I want the members of the Apathy linkshell of Remora involved in the “logging hate” fight with Pandemonium Warden sanctioned, up to and including banning them. I, personally, would like to see the involved members of Apathy banned from Final Fantasy XI.


Unless Square-Enix wants to tell me that there is another use to logging out of the game than leaving the game (either entirely or to switch characters), the strategy of logging out most of the players to avoid an attack which would end the fight in Pandemonium Warden's favor (the Astral Flow) is illegal, and, hence, all the items and fame they have received from their “victory” was as illegally gained as the Salvage duplicates.


Personally, this is where I do feel Square-Enix is badly wrong. Within about 10 days of the largest end-game banning in the history of the game, Square-Enix appears to have fully sanctioned, as legal AND legitimate (rather than the Kraken-Dark-Zerg'ers of the Absolute Virtue patch being just legal, but not legitimate), a strategy that, by its own policies, should be punishable with a ban.


Are you willing to enforce your Terms of Service? Can you enforce your Terms of Service?? If the answer to either or both of the questions is “no”, then shut the game down.


If Square-Enix wants to declare this win legal and legitimate, we need a listing – in the Terms of Service – as to what game mechanic uses are intended, and which are not. Where can we exploit, and where can't we?


On top of this, the January 22nd bannings are wholly unfounded and unfair if you do not add the Pandemonium Warden “defeaters” from Apathy to their number and sanction them for their conduct. They are little more than selective prosecution, and inconsistent with the allowance of the Pandemonium Warden “victory” declared afterward.


You are leaving the players with basically two questions: Which exploits, therefore, are allowed?



Which players, then, are allowed to use them? You are raising accusations of selective prosecution of exploits. You are raising the sceptre of certain players being allowed to get away with basically whatever they want, in that they have the “juice” or “stroke” (to use two American colloquialisms) to do so.


That places you at the point of a game which is nothing more than a sham, a fraud, and not worth playing or paying for. If you want this game to continue, you cannot let this happen.


But do you want this game to continue??


This gets to my final point, which was raised in a heated linkshell discussion by one of the participants in the Limit Break Radio round-table referenced above:


Last Point: Make a commitment to the future of Final Fantasy XI, or thank us for our service and end the game before the game further degrades and you lose interest in Rapture as well, as well as the rest of your company.


(This is to what I've referred to at least twice above that I would come back to.)


Sonomaa, of BluGartr, about 90 minutes into the program, raised an interesting question:
We know that the same people who are in charge of Final Fantasy XI are also in charge of getting off the ground Square-Enix' next MMO, Rapture. There have been a number of concerns (among which the use of the PS2) which lead some players to believe that Square-Enix may no longer really be interested in actually seeing Final Fantasy XI have a future. They believe you will continue to support the game, but only insofar as enough players put up with the game to allow it economic viability.


And then, as I'm writing this letter, we get the word that Rapture is essentially going to replace Final Fantasy XI, from your financial reports. (I know that the article essentially claims that you plan to replace FFXI only as the premiere MMO in your company. How, at that point, FFXI retains survivable, especially with a demonstrated 25% decrease in the income your company received year-to-year March-December (while the rest of your online division leaped 175%!) is beyond any sense of my comprehension.)


If that's what it's come to, I want my money back. (I won't get it, but that doesn't mean I can't say I wouldn't want it back.)


Seriously. The game has seriously degraded in the last 18 months. There are zones, now, which are patently unplayable (both infrastructure-wise and through player conduct), and the attitudes of (especially the American) players have gone completely berserk.


There's been much speculation that you really don't care about Final Fantasy XI, except as a profit-generating motive. How do you expect to keep the players you have (even if the only goal of keeping them around is to eventually sell them Rapture) if it's clear that Final Fantasy XI has no long-term future, no long-term prospects for growth, and, hence, will be eventually phased out? The only logical result of that is that the game goes to abject garbage and you lose any expectation that sane people will be around to play Rapture when you finally roll it out.


You'll lose both Final Fantasy XI and Rapture, at that point.


You're actually better off pulling the plug on FFXI now, in that scenario.


Square-Enix, you are running a sham game in Final Fantasy XI, at this point.


Again, for emphasis, Final Fantasy XI, through the conduct of it's player base and the lackadasical attitudes in your company vis-a-vis enforcement and communication, has become a sham game.


If steps to correct this are not taken, you're going to lose even more potential customers for Rapture than you already have. Most of the FFXI players I've read want no part of your new game. They have no confidence in your company, and you don't appear to have any confidence in them either.


If that's the only motivation which can get you to do anything, that's fine. You've made it clear that FFXI, at best, is brain-dead on life support.


In closing:


If Final Fantasy XI is any indication, I have less than zero interest in your future products, of any kind. I've been a Final Fantasy fan, fairly hardcore, since VII came out. But what I've seen done to the franchise by this purported “game” and a player base who doesn't care about anything but themselves sickens me.


I'll continue to play until I'm either banned for “conduct unbecoming FFXI” or the game ends. I don't want to leave the game to a player base that I believe mirrors real life in the contempt they show for anyone who isn't as “leet” as they are.


Do something about this player base, or continue to lose customers until neither FFXI nor Rapture are financially viable.


I thank you for your attention.

LBR Breaks Down the Bannings, Part III

So, where were we when the Heavens opened yesterday?

Aneiro asks a real interesting question which might well be prescient to the entire "Flamage" series:  When we witness illegal behavior under the ToS, are we, as a result of the Salvage-dupe bannings, now obligated under the same ToS to report it, facing bannage ourselves if we fail to do so?

I'd almost wish that answer to be "yes".  I can understand the argument another in the round-table makes that that should not be the case, but, frankly, I'm at the point that, if you don't at least have some minimal idea of what is going on, you have no business being there -- whether it be Salvage or simply partying in the Dunes.

The next person basically mocks that a person in a BC who witnesses duping should warp out and call a GM and admonish the situation...  What else do you expect them to do?  And, say, it comes back later that that BC was part of a larger investigation...  How can you, later, claim innocence if you don't?

So I would have to say that if you witness any degree of illegal activity, you are obligated, under penalty of bannage, to report it -- else you leave yourself at the mercy of Square-Enix if they have to go back and look at everything.  Besides, blowing the whistle now might prevent it (something else my roommate and I talked about -- my roommate is a very smart person and thinks of things I don't think of all the time) from becoming a situation where the number of players banned increases by 1-2 orders of magnitude.

The person who questions is correct:  It does create the suspicion in each other -- and it has to. (Which see the earlier comment that no high-level player can now be seen as honest and legitimate anymore -- including me...)  I very nearly blew the whistle on my Salvage LS a couple weeks ago, just after the Salvage-dupe bans.  We ran Bastok, and must've gotten somewhere between six and eight Wootz Ores.  By the time it got to about #5 and #6, I was suspicious, and openly stated as such.  The only reason I didn't GM the mess is that I am not sure, end of the day, whether it is within statistical parameters for that number of ores to drop.  Otherwise, you bet your bottom dollar someone was going to get called.

I certainly wouldn't put it past a disgruntled-with-my-blog member of the LS to try to get me banned like that.

And then the possibility existing that different members of the STF might use different criteria for banning -- that's not acceptable.  It's one of the reasons I'm not sure there should've been different graduations of this situation, especially once the level of abuse became evident.  But any such breakdown of criteria should've been consistent.

But something then came up which was interesting:  I do believe, now, that there is no confidence from the players to Square-Enix.  (And probably very little from Square-Enix to the players.)  I'll give you one example from a comment to this blog I read today...  There are people who believe (at least, it's the only way their comment can be interpreted) that Square-Enix screws with the drop-rate (or at least can screw with the drop rate) for any player, any time, for any or no reason, at their own whim or for their own entertainment.

Who wants to play a game like that?  Who wants to believe such a game exists??  And, moreover, if that's the way the players view FFXI, why is Square-Enix even bothering?

It got, quickly, to another point:  If there was something which needed to be stopped, why doesn't Square-Enix come more up front?

Frankly, because the players don't give a fuck what Square-Enix thinks until they can no longer log in the game because they got LM-17'd or LM-11'd.  Sorry, them's facts.

Especially with the opinions which I have heard (on a number of different areas, including BluGartr, other blogs, comments to this blog, e-mails, etc.), I have to take serious issue with Aneiro on the next thing he said:  I do think that many players who took part in this illegal activity did it to openly spit on the game balance, because they thought the drop-rates sucked, because they didn't like what Square-Enix was doing, or for any other or no reason.  I do believe that many players have no qualms about dishonoring Square-Enix or the other players and spit at anyone who basically calls them on their shit.  I do firmly believe that there are many players who have no qualms of getting their 1337 gear and not caring one shit about legitimacy.

Then, it got to the question of Square-Enix connecting with the community came up, to which I have one question for the field:

Does Square-Enix trust the player base enough to communicate with the player base, or has it gotten so bad that it's just taking our $12.95/month without further regard to the player base?

I don't think they should trust the player base to that extent, but I wonder if that's why they don't get involved in more of the forums and the like.

I really do have to wonder (and will ask in the letter, coming soon...):  What do they really think of us?  Do they actually hold us in as much contempt as I believe our actions as a player base do merit?  It would appear that is possible.

I do begin to wonder if the lines of communication are not as much as they could be because they do not regard us well.  We certainly, as a player base, don't deserve to be regarded well by Square-Enix, given our conduct.

Frankly, and this extends to several minutes of discussion as to relations between Community and Premiere Sites with Square-Enix, I don't think they regard the fans well, and see our out-of-control nature as part of the reason FFXI is getting waxed by WoW.

I mean, there's a rumor out there that the Sandworm BC is still dupe-able, but people are scared to talk about it, lest they get banned.  Fact is, Square-Enix doesn't and shouldn't trust you -- they don't trust BluGartr or many of the other sites.  Do it in channels, or see the first comment to this part...

I mean, yes, as one of them said, the best advertising is that the company sees what you do and works with you.  But then someone (I think it was Sonomaa, off of a heated discussion on his LS...) may just have come up with the trillion-gil question:

With the same team essentially working on their new MMO, Rapture -- with maintaining FFXI, could Square-Enix deliberately be killing FFXI so that they can shed the limitations (which see the PS2 and the XLax CrashBox 360) of the present game?

I mean, consider:  The game's not going to the PS3.  With FFXIII not til 2010, one has to wonder if there's going to be a PS3 in 2010, as badly as the PS3 is going.  The only thing PS3 has going for it, and the only reason it's made it this long, is because of the fact that it's an inexpensive Blu-Ray situation.  Other than that, it has nothing to offer.

The PS2, if not already obsolete, is about to go there.  Sections of the game are abjectly unplayable on the XLax...  I mean, think about it...  Could they just be throwing up their hands and saying that they'll keep FFXI going as long as the players are willing to put up with this, but, having their druthers, they'd rather be working on Rapture full-time?  It's a fascinating question and might explain a lot of the silence and duplicity...

Take a look at reality:  Square-Enix is doing as badly as they've done in five years.  They've probably chosen the wrong platforms, clearly have an unworkable player base for their MMO...  What's to say they aren't thinking of hitting "Eject" once things get beyond economic feasibility?  FFXI is no longer the top dog at Square-Enix.  Let's get that down right now.

It also gets to the question of economics vs. ethics.  I would like to ask one question of the field in that regard:  There is no way at present that I could recommend FFXI to a new MMO player.  None at all.  If you do not have an ethical game, what "new blood" is going to come into an unethical game like FFXI, especially at end-game??

My position is clear:  If they don't care, then end it.  If it's no longer economically viable to continue, then end it.  And if they don't take steps to demand the players play within the rules (yes, dictatorship), then those players need to be gone and then the first two sentences still apply.  I'd be disappointed if FFXI were terminated on February 28th, but, given the choice between an unethical sham game (which FFXI either has been or is being exposed as, little by little) and losing FFXI completely, I'd rather lose it all than wonder continually why I am even bothering playing by the rules.

OK, I'll cut part III here at about the 90-minute mark.  Some very interesting points here...

LBR Breaks Down the Bannings, Part II

As the commenters continue to fiddle while Vana'diel burns, we go back to the panel discussion from Limit Break Radio about the Salvage dupe bannings:

We pick it up at the discussion that Square-Enix clearly knew about the Salvage dupings for quite some time, and why come down so harsh now?

I go back to what DJ Plaeskool said in the comments to Chinchilla's article on PFA: This was retaliation for trying to wrest control of the game illegally from the owners. I've read comment after comment that basically says: "We rule the game, we can hax to haz whatever the Hell we want..."

My genuine hope is that this is the start of a lot of bannings (10,000 would be a good start, given what I've been reading from the cheater community.) to clean up the game.

But Square-Enix knew -- for a long time. All I can suppose is that they didn't realize (or, worse, chose not to realize) how serious this truly was. If that's the case, why do you think WoW is kicking FFXI's ass to the point that Square-Enix now has its lowest Japanese stock price in five years?

The person then goes to the point of calling the Salvage drops unfair.

First (as I've said numerous times): This gives you the right to essentially hack the game? So, the moment you don't like that you got your 1337 kewl Lord-over-everyone-else gear, you can basically hack the game's integrity

Second: Perhaps you need to read this interview (http://www.jpbutton.com/?p=1786): It's an interview that the people who made Salvage had around the end of 2006. Yes, things have changed, but there are legal things within the game that can turn the tide. (Treasure Hunter?)

If you don't like the drop rates (and this even goes to those who fail to get what they want after 100-200 runs -- fucking wah to you), then GO DO SOMETHING ELSE. Leave Salvage.

An interesting side-light came up: There is apparently discussion in BluGartr which basically says you can still dupe in Sandworm, even though it's BCNM was one of the areas which was under the November emergency maintenance. Perhaps laying the trap for another set of bans?

We can now place the taping of this episode at after the reporting of Pandemonium Warden's "defeat". Then, someone just goes off on Square-Enix and their handling of PW: One of the premiere linkshells in the entire game (of all worlds) basically walked out of FFXI and right into WoW because of how badly PW was (supposedly) mucked -- that it was so unkillable that it wasn't worth playing FFXI anymore.

I don't understand one simple thing: Why doesn't the player community just walk away from all the things they don't like and render them so unworkable that Square-Enix must either fix them or remove them from FFXI??

And this gets us to logging hate and Pandemonium Warden. I've already addressed this in numerous comments and in several posts. It's illegal, but one of the roundtable basically put it like this: Astral Flow is a one-hit kill, and logging off is the only way possible to circumvent it.

What, you can't run like Hell at that point? Get out of its radius or bite the big one??

You see, if this is true, shut down ZNM's. All of them. Now.

Reason?? You have now raised the exact place that I said that Square-Enix dare not go. You have, then, said that certain exploits are allowed (in fact, for certain ends, required) and certain are not. You have created a mob which cannot be killed within the Terms of Service at all. I've said on the wiki that I felt that people should just stop playing PW because it was not ever meant to be killed with present knowledge. This takes that to another level -- it can't be killed at all, except under danger of getting suspended or banned.

That's just asking to have your game completely discredited. Aneiro was right on the mark when he talked about the tie-ins between the PW-logout exploit and the dupers.

As far as I am concerned, you cannot, in any way, ban the Salvage dupers and then allow the PW exploit. If you are actually going to validate this "win", then you have to reverse all bannings and suspensions from January 22, 2009.

But then we get to the real question: What is wrong with the communication between the players and Square-Enix? One has to wonder how much Square-Enix even really respects the players... Could they harbor the exact same distrust and resentment I do?? It's possible -- but then why continue FFXI? That gets to the "vote of no-confidence by Square-Enix" discussion from back when I started this.

And then we get back to "What might get their attention and force Square-Enix' hand?" I think the answer is simple, and I intend to start doing it: Public embarrassment of the company, not unlike the announcement of the 18-hour Pandemonium Warden failure. In fact, as I said in Part I, I listened to the first part of this discussion, and basically figured out that what probably got Square-Enix on the ball for these bannings is because of the fact that someone went to a prominent gaming site with lots of advertising and respected in the community, and blew the whistle publicly outside of FFXI. This would be a move which might damage Square-Enix' ability to gain new players, especially when they are getting their asses kicked by WoW because you can't level a job in FFXI to 75 in one week.

What if the outside world knew that half the players in the game were using illegal third-party software with doubly-illegal third-party plug-ins to circumvent the intended means of gaining information (or gaining more than they would otherwise ever be able to)?

What if the outside world knew what Aneiro spoke of shortly thereafter, that Square-Enix decides to be silent about the criteria for bans vs. suspensions vs. warnings vis-a-vis January 22nd because of the players holding them to those criteria in the future... (*Ahem...* You've been seeing this anyway in places like this. Consider the number of people in BluGartr who are completely hosed with the PW "defeat" as well... Again, ban Apathy or reverse the January 22nd bannings and suspensions... They're already in an inconsistency on that end)? The problem with coming out and speaking on this being a detriment to the game because of the players holding them to those words is already happening -- that horse is out of the barn.

(You could even go to the "some people are allowed to use exploits while others are not." motif too, at that point.)

Why would you, if you were considering entering an MMORPG, play FFXI right now if you had no assurances that the game was legitimately being policed, nor that the players gave a damn about the rules until they all QQ after being banned?

(The only reason I'm still playing FFXI is because it's Final Fantasy and I don't want to quit because of the cheating bastards, because they win another player who gives a damn about legitimacy leaving the game.)

I don't think Square-Enix has the fundamental understanding of how close they come to running a sham game here -- just taking our $12.95 a month and having us think the rules are enforced because they throw out the occasional Rafael Palmeiro (one player who got banned on January 22nd had four completed relics) with all the minor-leaguers (the RMT's you hear lumped in every month).

Someone, in the discussion of that the number of downloads of FFXI (through services like Direct2Drive) is going down in the rankings said that part of it might be that the players who might enter have no one to look up to when Square-Enix bans several hundred of the top level players.

Well, why should they be looked up to? They fucking cheated, in case you didn't check. You might even get to the discussion that part of the reason that people aren't coming in to the game in sufficient numbers is that people are finding that it is necessary to cheat to succeed -- and, as I said, the moment that happens, there's no more FFXI, for this very reason. New players won't enter a sham game. And if a linkshell basically cannot function without it's cheating leadership, na na na-na hey-hey-hey goodbye.

Actually, Aneiro brings up a point, in trying to slam Square-Enix, that should be made public and policy: Square-Enix has very high expectations of its player-base, and, when those expectations are not met, they can, with or without exposition of cause, take away your privilege of having an account on the game. I think that is a very reasonable expectation and should, in fact, be demanded of more people in more games. If the games cannot be upheld (economically or otherwise) with this level of expectations, then the games cannot continue.

Then we get to the point of "how many of the temporary bans were, in fact, permanents?". Let's remember, a 72-hour ban is not necessarily a 72-hour ban. That's the last step before banning a person for good. I still think, bluntly, anyone who knew of the duping and used it (at minimum) should be banned.

Are there going to be more bannings? I'd say once a month for the foreseeable. Give this about two more weeks, and I expect another bunch to go down (perhaps not as many and not as prominent) for misconduct. They have to. There's no way they could have gone through even all the Salvage-dupes in 60 days. And what really gets to the problem is that they pretty much have to say how many more get banned for misconduct. That might not be a good thing in your eyes, Aneiro, and you might think they have a deterrent here.

What deterrent? There's no fucking deterrent. There's no deterrent to any action without some degree of force behind it. There's no deterrent to robbing me on the street if I can't kick your ass or call the police and have them jail you. There's no deterrent to any of this without the banhammers in FFXI.

Well, with that, there's a storm brewing, and not one in the game. I gotta get off the computer.

Flamage (well, there is some...) Part 12: LBR Breaks Down the Bannings, Part I

Well, LBR did, with quite a nice amount of speed for them, their LM-17 1/22/09 Limit Breaking News show.  Two and a half hours of it.  I've got that on my PSP MP3 player, and will give comments as I come across them.  One post on this will get WAY too long, so I'll break it down into parts.

Fusionx, about 7 minutes in:  How is it "extremist" to demand that the people who represent the player-base actually legally play the damned game?  How is it "extremist" to demand that those people admitted as banned from the game are removed from all positions of representation?  How is it "extremist" to demand that the game be adjudicated according to the rules, and that those in violation be removed?  I would really like to know.

Oh, by the way, I'll be writing that letter to Square-Enix, and I'll post it here when it's finished and sent -- the only further delay would be finding the proper e-mail addresses for community liaisons and the like at Square-Enix.  Hopefully, between the Flamage series, playing FFXI, and some other projects that a lot of this Duper-illegality junk has pushed back, I can get it done next week.

And, as far as "If you don't want Chin on the site, don't listen to us, we don't care..."  Then I don't want you doing FFXI podcasts, Fusionx!  

Let me put it to you this strongly...  From all the stuff I've read in the last 2 weeks, it really appears as if the player-base has a lot of skeletons in their closet which they don't want Square-Enix to find out about.  Seems to me like you'd much rather see a lot of this left alone.  The more I read from the more players, I begin to wonder if any of you play this game legitimately.

I find your stand utterly fucking reprehensible, but no real surprise given your previous e-mail to me and your vested interest in Chinchilla being more important to you than the legitimacy of the game you purport to represent.  You can expect that letter as soon as I finish it and can get the proper e-mail addresses.

My roommate and I disagree on several subjects (in that she believes Square-Enix could be more responsive to the players and their concerns, for one).  But one thing, if I heard her correctly when we talked on the subject:  The cheaters have nothing to say on the subject.

(Oh, and, by the by, that is the last I will be listening to your programs too, but I want more than that.  I want you (as a podcast) sanctioned.  You want to do this "for you"?  Fine.  No benefits from Square-Enix or from the Podcast Alliance or whatever...)

Elmer (just afterward):  If you aren't in a position to say "Get the Hell out of here!" to the cheaters, then, especially as the person behind JP Button, what position are you in to say anything on the Salvage-dupe subject??

Sorry if that is arrogant to you, but what other conclusion do you wish to draw?  If you aren't cheating and you wish to have a fair and just game, then you want the cheaters the Hell out of there, with no compromise in the situation.

Sonomaa's (from BluGartr) opening statement (after Elmer's):  What you disagree with is exactly right -- the players who did this exactly are on the same level as the gil-farming companies.  I've said this several times.  Square-Enix has ultimate right in determining the manner and amount of their virtual property that they wish to distribute to the players who pay their monthly fees to rent it.  That's it.  Realistically, you could end up discussing the possibility of charging the American players with theft under California law, as I stated before.  But, yes, they are on the same level as the gil-farmers.

There is a point of concern you brought up, and it is valid:  Why'd they wait?  It's clear they knew.  It's exactly the situation I discussed with a commenter in one of the previous articles:  This is clearly a situation that they knew and that was reported, and it was widely known that it was there.  So the question is:  why didn't they do it a year ago?  Didn't they take the tremendous amount of cheating among the high-level players seriously at all?  (This was also something my roommate and I talked about.)

Oh, by the way, anyone who got banned when they didn't know it should be pursuing court cases against the parties who pulled the dupes, and asking Square-Enix for the logs.  That's how you deal with that.  They may not be able to act against Square-Enix, but they certainly have action against those who got them banned without their knowledge, necessarily.

Hyrist:  This might actually finally answer Sonomaa's question as to what got Square-Enix' attention -- not unlike the Pandemonium Warden 18-hour fight, it sounds as if the matter of fact is that someone blew the whistle and publicly began to proclaim it outside the FFXI community.  What this would mean is that this would make Square-Enix look bad in the one realm that they probably take even more seriously than their current players:  Potential future players.

Perhaps if we blow the whistle on a lot of this stuff far and wide and shine the outside world's light of day on what really goes on in Vana'diel, something will get done about it.

Hyrist, Aneiro, and DavyJones (an LBR forum admin) talked about a very interesting point (we're now about 15 minutes in):  The silence from Square-Enix.  That can be taken from several viewpoints:

1) My original viewpoint:  They're just beginning to blow the lid off of massive end-game cheating, and they aren't close to being done banning yet.  I think they need to come out and very publicly condemn the player-base across the board.  I think they really need to understand that, because a lot of the players simply want to be given kewl 1337 shit to lord over everyone else, they need to stomp hard, and if a few eggs get broken to make an omelette...

2) Another viewpoint:  Are we getting to the point of a sham game here?  Are we getting to the point of Major League Baseball, where you essentially have (or at least had) to be under the influence of performance-enhancing steroids to make it?  Are we getting to the point of many professional wrestling storylines, where certain characters are now able to get away with whatever they want, because they have the "juice" or "stroke" from the official channels to make it so?  Are we getting to the point that the game is simply a sham because there is not enough ability to enforce the rules at all, making them effectively null and void?

That's two -- I'm sure you can come up with more.

Actually, DavyJones brings up a point salient to the Pandemonium Warden-Apathy argument:  DavyJones brings up how obvious an act of disbanding (outside of the sole intent of disbanding, which is to break up a party at the end of its usefulness) should be with respect to such an isolated situation as Salvage.  Here's the problem:  What makes that any different than logging out to avoid being attacked by Pandemonium Warden?  The act of disbanding to exploit the duping cheat is no different than the act of logging out to avoid being attacked once the puller of PW, etc., is killed after PW throws Astral Flow.  Both are uses of game mechanics in manners not intended which create an unfair advantage (one through a coding flaw, the other through exploiting the mechanisms of the monster involved), a bannable offense under the rules.

From there, about the 18:30 mark, the discussion begins, with the first round being about whether Square-Enix knew about all this.

My roommate does not like to have her intelligence insulted.  It took her only a few posts to realize that they had to have known.  Come on...  They had to have.

The kicker, then, becomes:  Why now?  Why so harsh??  I said, at the beginning of all this, that I felt the penalties were light - all players involved who knew should've been banned with great prejudice, and there's no reason to believe that there aren't more bans coming, for this and other exploits!

But the key question is why they took so long, and I think I may have come up with the answer above after what I heard from Hyrist.  Someone went quite public in a manner which would've damaged Square-Enix from gaining future players.

You can make the argument that that should not be -- but they already have our $12.95 a month.  If they can't at least make up for attrition with new players, though, they can't sustain the game.

About at 21:40, an interesting question came up vis-a-vis withholding the information:  Do you want it to get "worse" by spreading it further after you've reported it?  Or are you more interested in retaining the "dirty little secret", because you control the game and not Square-Enix, since they need you to pay them enough money to keep going...

And that is about the first 22 minutes.  2 more hours of it to go, when I get around to it...

Flamage (?) Part 10: Aneiro Weighs In

Let's just say that I'm not sure if this is going to be flamage, but it does raise some other points I've wanted to address since all the crap went down on my 40th birthday with the Salvage-dupe banhammers.

Aneiro is the main host of Limit Break Radio, and I've tried to come across the website on a number of occasions since to see if any of the LBR sorts were caught up in it (and, if any were, please show me the source and they get the barrels too). Anyhoo, his statement on the January 22nd bannings and the reactions (probably more than a couple pointed to me!) he had are on the front page at http://www.LimitBreakRadio.com .

So, with that, getting past the actual news rehash:

"Since that time, just under a week as passed and we here at Limit Break Radio have been inundated with e-mails, PMs, Skype messages and /tells asking our opinions on the matter. So, before any of you out there consider asking, rest assured we do have opinions, we will express them, don’t worry. And to those that are wondering: no, none of the LBR crew were banned, thanks for the concern."

You're welcome, Aneiro.

I don't think you took too kindly to people asking, but blame the caliber of player for that one, Aneiro. And then take into account what I said to Steak of Pet Food Alpha in a conversation we had in e-mail last week about my vitriol over Chinchilla:

"This is important because, as a member podcast of the Radio XI Podcast Alliance (and given credit as such by Square-Enix, in whatever form you are (Premiere, Community, etc.)), you represent the player-base. Hence, you represent me. It's like Charles Barkley: He can claim not to have been a role model all he wants, but his stature as an NBA player (even now, as a former one) makes him one and subjects him to the relevant criticism when it is warranted."

Especially with all the work you've done, Aneiro, you've gained a great deal of influence and leadership in the FFXI player community, and are recognized as such. But with that influence comes a responsibility above and beyond that of the average player, and that, first and foremost, includes upholding the rules, in play and in your travels within the podcast community and the like.

You represent us, Aneiro. So does PFA and all the others. That's why I am dismayed over what I've seen.

Aneiro again:

"Firstly, I feel compelled to say RELAX! Some of you are making far too big a deal out of this. Look, I will grant you that this is a serious issue, and I’m in no way trying to understate the Jan 22nd banning significance, but some of you are acting like this is the end of Final Fantasy XI. It isn’t. The game will continue, most likely for a good long time. Some are acting like this is the greatest thing to ever happen to FFXI and use it as an excuse to take pot shots at the people who were once your comrades. Neither attitude is appropriate here guys."

I would expect that some of my posts have been getting over to you guys as ROTFLMAOBBQWTF material. I do believe this could be the end of FFXI, if it's not addressed appropriately (as a vote of no-confidence perhaps either way between the players and Square-Enix...). I mean, one of the things which my roommate and I talked about vis-a-vis stuff on this blog for about an hour-plus last night was her belief that, though the cheaters have little to say on the matter, Square-Enix needs to take a look at a lot of these things a lot more seriously and quickly.

But the game will only continue if there's a point to continue it -- economically or morally. My roommate was right again to state that, though Square-Enix owns the game, we do pay to rent the virtual property which is our characters, gear, and gil. My question, especially with the caliber of players banned is whether the game could survive without the cheaters. I fear the answer is no. I really do.

I do believe it's the best thing to happen (if there are enough world-wide players to allow the game to financially survive in this world economy) because I do openly begin to wonder, given the attitudes I've heard in places like BG and some of the banned's blogs, how many players actually do play this game legitimately. And, as my roommate told me last night, those are the players who need to be heard from, not those who decide to hate the drop-rates and effectively hack the game.

Aneiro again:

"To those that were banned:

You were cheating. You got caught. The mature thing to do is to accept your consequence and move on. Either start all over again from level 1 or pack up your FFXI blog, forum subscriptions, and podcast collection and get some sun. I don’t mean to sound flippant towards the people in this situation, but I also have very little sympathy as well. It’s what happens when you cheat. Learn this lesson now, for it will serve you well in the future."

I have very strong concerns about what is to happen to the youth who feel so punk-ish and entitled these days when TSHTF absolutely. I don't think they will go quietly, and I think they will feel absolute entitlement to try to continue the party one more night... one more day... one more week, month, year...

And that's the type of attitude you see with some of that. My only problem with you is saying they should be allowed to start over. No. They forfeited THAT privilege too. One of the real problems with RMT is not forcing through that a ban on a player should be a ban on the _player_, not just all the characters that player holds at the time of the ban. And the saddest part of that is: This is almost trivial to do. Find the credit card linked to the account, lock out all cards tied to the Social Security/Tax Identification/similar number that card uses.

They could do a lot better to actually ban the PLAYER, not just the characters, in RMT and in this case.

Aneiro continues to people like me:

"To those who were not banned:

Get off your damned high horse! You can be happy that the game is now more fair and that punishment has been dealt to those who chose to do wrong, but also realize that these are people with real emotions. These aren’t RMT, although some of you will inevitably say that there’s no difference between the damage RMTs do and the damage these players did. But there is a crucial difference. When a RMT is banned one can assume that to be a punishment on the company as opposed to the user. Look, I understand the resentment and frustration on the part of rule abiding players and I even said that it’s difficult to empathize with those that were banned, but we cannot dehumanize them either. Even a banned player deserves to be treated like a human being."

I don't think the punishments have been dealt to those who chose to do wrong. I think just the first 950 or so such punishments. My roommate agreed with me last night that there will probably be upwards of several thousand more once the next several rounds of banhammers fall out of the sky.

As I've said before, there is very little difference (especially in the age of account-selling) between a duper like this and RMT. The only way you could make the argument you make above, Aneiro, is to basically dehumanize the entirety of the users in the RMT company. At that point, I redouble my call (if you're going to look at this as actions on a company) for Square-Enix to sue the living crap out of RMT for trademark infringement, fraud, and God knows what else.

The problem is much the same way that people get treated as criminals -- they get dehumanized as part of their punishment, and then, frankly, society doesn't want most of them back (and makes no secret of saying so -- of course, "wanting them back" implies they were ever wanted in the first place). I mean, frankly, if we are to truly condemn their actions and not want them in the game, then they can find other such circles to be treated that way. They lost that privilege as well, once they got banned.

Aneiro, after he mentioned that a possible Limit Breaking News on the bannings was possible sometime in the near future -- and, if not, the bannings would be discussed in a February/early-March episode of LBR, probably:

"Look, we are a community. Look at that word: community. See that word that is part of community? No? Here, I’ll help: commUNITY. Yes, unity. For any community to survive we have to hold each other up and keep each other strong. If I have learned anything in the last several years, it’s that divisiveness is no solution to conflict. A variety of opinions and ideas is great! There is nothing better! But rabble rousing undermines the spirit of true debate."

I'm sorry, Aneiro, but that might be where we part company.

Much as in several other fan-landscapes (there isn't enough unity to call it a fan_base_) I've been in, there's little to no unity in the FFXI player community. Perhaps that's something people might want to look in to.

But whether it's US vs. Japan vs. Europe...

Whether it's one HNMLS vs. another...

Whether it's the top levels of players vs. even the next level down (much less the "noobs")...

And on and on and on...

There is no unity in the FFXI community. To think there is ignores significant cultural, play-style, and ethical differences between segments of the player community.

I don't want to "hold up" and "keep strong" people who are openly and abjectly undermining the game for the rest of us for their own benefit. I quit my server for that reason, Aneiro. If there's a virus in the body, get rid of it, if you can. If it consumes enough of the body (and is strong enough), the body will die.

High-level player misconduct, in my opinion, is such a fatally strong virus against FFXI.

Part 9: If you laughed at what I said about what Square-Enix should do before...

... this is really going to knock your socks off.

I'm picking this up from the last post because of two comments about one of my major points about all this. Back to Robonosto again (at http://robonosto.blogspot.com/2009/01/tears-of-clown.html):

"Of course, this doesn't stop idiots with no sense of proportion from riding SE's dick any chance they get. That SE should even pursue damages in court for duping in a video game to keep players "honest" is simply a farcical notion. Acting like SE is some poor besieged entity in a game rife with whining entitled players---most of whom, at the end of the day, despite crying about "intolerable" low drop rates in an endgame activity they voluntarily entered into, still waste their money on FFXI--is also a joke. SE and the "player community," you deserve one another."

(He does get credit for being an equal-opportunity flame-thrower, though. :) )

But I'm not doing this to ride Square-Enix' dick. I'm doing this because this bullshit has to stop, or there's no more FFXI. But that's not the point I wanted to pursue.

Let's add BinaryBeer to the equation (at http://binarybeer.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/lolstarcade-2/):

Responding to my comment of:

"Again, see the comment about fraud on the last post. The players committed an RMT-like fraud experience against Square-Enix — they should be lucky they aren’t being hauled off to court. Any of these people who is allowed to play again should thank their lucky stars that someone at Square-Enix dropped the ball, and be prepared to be heaped with more scorn (from all side) than I am. "

He at least had something to say this time:

"lol

im not sure if you are too young to understand this or not, but.. heres the thing about ANY big multi Million company:

they don’t give a shit about you"

Congratulations, shit-head. You got it COMPLETELY back-asswards.

I don't care if Square-Enix gives a shit about me other than my $12.95 a month, except that I expect and demand they police this game, with an iron fist as and when necessary.

And I expect them to condemn all parties who support and harbor the cheating garbage.

As Robonosto later claims:

"At the end of the day, SE can merely point to your monthly credit card statements, cheater or not, and simply say, "monthly fee." Money is the prime mover, although SE sometimes seems not to act like it is. "

Oh, so we're just supposed to let the assholes cheat because the game can't survive otherwise?

Please... You know my stand on this already. If there are so few legitimate players that the game requires cheating to survive and the cheaters to continue for the game to continue, it's time to shut down the game. Period.

But, again, that's not the point...

The two of you (and a whole lot of other people) LOL at the concept of Square-Enix suing cheating players. Let me make things perfectly clear:

YOU DON'T OWN YOUR CHARACTERS -- NOR ANYTHING ON THEM. _EVERYTHING_ YOU USE TO PLAY "FINAL FANTASY XI" IS VIRTUAL PROPRIETARY TRADEMARKED PROPERTY OF SQUARE-ENIX YOU RENT.

Got it? Good.

I had a nice cathartic walk today. Thought about a couple things. Came to three conclusions:

1) Why Square-Enix isn't suing the living fuck out of RMT is beyond any sense of my personal comprehension.

Fine, have local legal offices in China and Thailand and Japan and the US and the EU. I'm coming, more and more, to the same conclusion about FFXI that I do about the anime industry (and why the latter will definitely die and the former might):

If you don't have the resources to properly prosecute violations of the law, you do not have the resources to continue.

What RMT is doing is, without the consent of Square-Enix, buying and selling trademarked proprietary property of Square-Enix -- if you don't believe me, read the all-caps again -- for real-life currency. That is fraud. That is the denial of the right of being the sole arbiter of who gets how much of what proprietary property.

The money damages which can be taken against RMT (as applicable under the laws of the state of California for American players, and other relevant local jurisdictions for other players) are known -- these are transactions with trails and the amount of money damage against Square-Enix (and applicable punitive damages, plus fees, plus a restraining order to keep the RMT players off the game for good) would be a good start to finally _end_ RMT and not just nip it.

2) The ONLY thing which prevents Square-Enix from pursuing civil damages against basically all cheaters (including the Salvage-dupers) is if and only if the money amount of damages cannot be determined.

Again, Square-Enix is the sole arbiter of how their proprietary property is used, vis-a-vis gameplay. Once the player decides to take an action which illegally abrogates that right of Square-Enix, the player has committed fraud and could well be sued for legal damages...

... if but only if the amount of damages for a violation could actually be determinable. This is different from my situation (that I could not sue them because they did me no real money damage) in that there is damage, there is clear fraud against the company and its use of trademarked property. Given that, if a money damage could be assigned to the theft and fraud of these items, then sue the lot of them.

Wait... I said not only "fraud" there, but "theft" too.

3) They really aren't going to like this one... It could even be a criminal charge.

Again, American players are governed under California law. California Penal Code section 484 (from http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/):

"484. (a) Every person who shall feloniously steal, take, carry, lead, or drive away the personal property of another, or who shall fraudulently appropriate property which has been entrusted to him or her, or who shall knowingly and designedly, by any false or fraudulent representation or pretense, defraud any other person of money, labor or real or personal property, or who causes or procures others to report falsely of his or her wealth or mercantile characterand by thus imposing upon any person, obtains credit and thereby fraudulently gets or obtains possession of money, or property or obtains the labor or service of another, is guilty of theft. In determining the value of the property obtained, for the purposes of this section, the reasonable and fair market value shall be the test,and in determining the value of services received the contract price shall be the test. If there be no contract price, the reasonable and going wage for the service rendered shall govern."

If Square-Enix could determine a "reasonable and going" rate for the duplicated items, it could call for the arrest of all the (American) duping players under this section of the law under which American players are playing -- California law.

Again, that could be a very large if... No dispute there, but perhaps the ever-loving Fear of God needs to be put into a player-base which has acted for far too long (and to the grave detriment of the game with respect to gaining credibility and new players) with absolute impunity.

If that rate of the items exceeds $400, that's "grand theft", and a year in the pokey is possible. (S. 489 (b))

If it doesn't, it's petty theft: $1,000 fine and/or 6 months in jail... (S. 490)

This does not preclude the possibility that there might be a more specific computer proprietary data theft law, with much stiffer penalties. But, again, YOU OWN NOTHING YOU PLAY WITH (YOUR CHARACTER OR WHAT IS ON IT). If you take an action which allows you to gain items you are not entitled to, you are committing theft under California law.

Let's see that get laughed off.