Special Task Force Report

From PlayOnline.com:

Today's report will outline our actions conducted from February 21, 2008 to March 25, 2008 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

As can be seen in the chart below, the number of accounts that were banned in February had decreased to half the number we had in December and January. This is partially due to the period of the bannings in February being shorter than usual, but it is also because we had received much fewer reports from FINAL FANTASY XI players, indicating that the number of violators of the user agreement has decreased.



With this knowledge in hand, the Special Task Force has decided to strengthen its actions in regards to RMT (*1) and violators involved in the buying and selling of gil.

We will, of course, also continue our actions in dealing with hunters (*2) violating the user agreement and causing trouble for regular players. Effective systematic countermeasures will also be introduced with the help of the development team.

Below we will describe some of the countermeasures introduced in the March 11th version update.

- Countermeasures for dealing with illegal fishing
In the following areas, places where it was possible for even low-level characters to fish without being attacked by monsters can no longer be used to catch fish.
Sea Serpent Grotto / Cape Teriggan


- Countermeasures for dealing with illegal mining
Characters under level 20 can no longer obtain items through mining in the following areas.
Newton Movalpolos / Mount Zhayolm / Halvung / Gusgen Mines / Ifrit's Cauldron

- Countermeasures for dealing with actions taking advantage of certain quests
- Job level restrictions were applied to the requirements for accepting an offer for the quests below. The level required to be able to accept an offer differs for each quest.
Gifts of the Griffon / Claws of the Griffon / The Firebloom Tree / Test My Mettle

- It must be after 8:00 a.m. PST (12:00 am Japan Time) before a player can accept a quest's offer again for the quests below. The player will also have to have performed an area change.
The Firebloom Tree / Test My Mettle

The following tally details the condition of problems between February 21, 2008 and March 25, 2008. Each of these issues is discussed individually in the following section.

- Illegal fishing
The issue where the number of reports had decreased the most for February was illegal fishing. We believe that they will continue to decrease as a result of the countermeasures introduced in the March 11th version update mentioned above, but we will continue to carefully keep an eye on the problem.
If you happen to see an area where lower-level characters can fish without being attacked by monsters, please report it to the Special Task Force.

- Hunters
Just like illegal fishing, the number of reports regarding hunters decreased. Because this issue has become less common in the community, it could be thought that we were successful in our actions.
We plan to continue investigations into areas mentioned in reports provided by FINAL FANTASY XI players.

- Use of synthesis and auction houses for RMT (*3)
Violators involved in synthesis and auction houses for RMT generally prepare different accounts for characters that synthesize the items and for characters that put the items up for sale at auction houses.
As was mentioned in January's report, because the Special Task Force has an understanding of which characters are involved in RMT and has banned these characters accordingly, the number of accounts involved is decreasing.

*1. RMT
"Real Money Trading." Selling game data for real money.

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

*3. Use of synthesis and auction houses for RMT
Actions involving selling large quantities of in-game items for gil, which is then traded for real money.

Matters of concern within the community

In the following section, we will be explaining the Special Task Force's direction and plans in dealing with matters of concern within the community.

- I've seen people on the internet claiming to have changed the game's interface and then played the game. Why haven't these people's accounts been banned yet?

With only the insufficient information from a website to go on, we cannot make a judgment regarding the situation. Of course, the use of external programs displaying party members' TP or alliance members' MP is prohibited. If the Special Task Force can verify that a player has been using such programs, this evidence can be used to ban the player in question.

Also, many such unauthorized external programs have the ability to steal one's PlayOnline ID and password. To protect yourself from the possibility of unauthorized third-party access to your account, please refrain from using programs not approved by Square Enix.

Warning about unauthorized access

As has been mentioned in previous Special Task Force reports, problems regarding third party access to players' account information have become more and more common. Even if ones account is compromised only once, all of that player's characters could be deleted and all gil and items lost.

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

We are currently working on a method to restore edited account details and lost items, but there are a few preventative measures to help protect ones account. The following are a few such countermeasures that Windows users can use to protect against unauthorized access.

- Do not access websites with unknown or suspicious content.
- Do not download software from unknown or suspicious websites.
- Periodically perform Windows Updates and keep Windows updated to the latest version.
*Refer to Microsoft's official website for more detailed information.
- Periodically update your web browser to the latest version.
- Do not use external tools not approved by Square Enix under any circumstances.
- Always use the latest antivirus software and Internet security software.

In order to protect your data, please use the countermeasures listed above along with diligent management of your PlayOnline account.

We would also like to remind everyone that Square Enix will never reveal PlayOnline account details to third parties.

Reporting to the Special Task Force

The Special Task Force relies on everyone's information regarding violations of the user agreement to help keep FINAL FANTASY XI an enjoyable environment, and we appreciate your continuing support and cooperation.

Report to Special Task Force

Comments

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subject.
# Mar 29 2008 at 8:21 AM Rating: Decent
The thing about getting kicked of POL randomly with the messege "Playonline Viewer has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."
That happens to me, and at first i thought it was vista because i just got a new computer and vista has just been a pain in general anyway, but now tihnking about it, it only happend in the 2 parties I had with dancers, and it would happen fairly frequently, i don not use any 3rd party tools, but i do play windowed the way SE made for us.
What about the gil?
# Mar 26 2008 at 8:58 PM Rating: Good
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442 posts
The only question I have is what about the gil they are yanking out of the economy?
Yes, the RMT are pulling a lot of it off of npcs and such, but a lot of that gil (billions per server at this point) was made by players.

The deflation that is currently running rampant is making it hard to function for those that are not currently either high in level or high in craft.

When that happens, a downward push happens across the entire economy. Things sell for less, but cost less to make so its a wash. But what about npc bought stuff? Dynamis, Limbus and all the other commonly npc bought expenditures we have? They need to address this issue before things become too stagnant.

Dont get me wrong, I totally love the fact that they are hammer down on RMT and those that keep them in business. What worries me is the ripple effect its having on the rest of the game.
#REDACTED, Posted: Mar 26 2008 at 5:17 PM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) Instead of wasting countless manhours on stupid stuff like this why can't SE make some new player races? some new zones? maybe even increase the level cap? I know everyone is down on RMTs, but heres something to think about, people who buy their gil spend it more easily. So the items the rest of us are selling on Auction Houses goes up, so whats the problem? If a person is hacking the game, using third party software to alter gameplay, etc etc, thats different, but if a person is out earning their gil the old fasion way, whats it too anyone what they do with it? There are more imporant places SE could be focusing its time and energy.
Giant waste of time
# Mar 26 2008 at 6:07 PM Rating: Good
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220 posts
There's alot of things wrong with that, but just to name a couple.

Upping the lvl cap = completely broken game.

Flooding the market doesn't always balance out everything on the ah. More gil doesn't always = more gil across the board for every item.
YAY for miners!
# Mar 26 2008 at 1:40 PM Rating: Decent
Im so happy to see that me being persistant on reporting 3rd party miners (i caught almost 20 different names). That FFXI would step up and take charge.


THANKS SE!
Multiple partitions
# Mar 26 2008 at 11:01 AM Rating: Good
I do the same thing with partitions. I made a whole different one just for FFXI.

Only problem is when you are turning on your computer and asked which windows Partition you would like to run( thats if you have more than one, if one, your computer would start normally) i always hit the wrong one, so i have to turn off my computer and start over again, blah...
RMT fishing in Cities?
# Mar 26 2008 at 6:44 AM Rating: Decent
I think i've noticed an increase of ppl(whose names r in blue) w/in the cities, especially in windurst. Sometimes, if I go afk for a while, I come back & that same person or persons will be in the exact same spot as before.
Some of these ppl groups will even have very similar spelled names.
Has any1 else noticed this?
RMT fishing in Cities?
# Mar 28 2008 at 9:42 AM Rating: Decent
Esperanti wrote:
I think i've noticed an increase of ppl(whose names r in blue) w/in the cities, especially in windurst. Sometimes, if I go afk for a while, I come back & that same person or persons will be in the exact same spot as before.


This means absolutely nothing, I'm sorry. I go /anon for most of my gameplay, especially when farming. If I go back to Bastok or am in another city, and I go afk would you consider me an RMT? I'd hope not, you know, considering I have only 1 account. >.> Also some ppl have "mules"(maybe this is a new concept to you), that they use to try and offload items they have farmed, and leave their characters on all night as /anon. Are they RMT's? Hell no their not. >.>

Esperanti wrote:
Some of these ppl groups will even have very similar spelled names.


This is where you are actually right on point. I have noticed alot of RMT groups popping up on Bismarck in the past 2 months, though it's been said that they are on the decline, yeah right.

And they are easy to spot: A pt all in /anon with similiar names, are a pt with all jumble names/letters(I've seen lots of these, RMT's were getting lazy there for awhile). Or a non /anon pt, with all characters the same level/rank and sometimes sporting a PL. I have seen alot of these lately, it's painfully obvious that they are just an RMT, when all the characters are Rank 1, and all levels 18/9, lol.

Sometimes they have little mishaps and one or two of the characters don't level at the same time, but if you sit and watch the lowest ones will level within a fight or two.



So considering they think they are actually cracking down on RMT's, amybe I should dtop being lazy and start reporting the RMT's I see everyday, basically 1 pt a day, lol.
warning
# Mar 26 2008 at 3:49 AM Rating: Good
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61 posts
Hey not to scare ya but i was getting the same kind of message about a month ago. The crappy part was i belive it was connected with the hacking of my account. Id start changing passwords and monitoring your stuff. I run scans on my comp. constantly and i have NEVER used any tools bots cheat codes or any of that crap. I haven't even ever done a .dat file swap. But alas my and my wifes accounts both got taken. I got access back to mine, but it was too late. And we are still trying to prove that my wifes account is actually hers..... Its funny that we have all the discs/manuals/boxes and the account info was all the same for 3+ years right up until we got hacked.. but SE still is making us get a paper signed by a notery to prove its us.. and we still may not get the account back... And even if we do, all the stuff thats gone is gone. they are doing nothing to retrive items or even put us back onto our server....

Anyways sorry for the rant i just thought id warn ya..
warning
# Mar 26 2008 at 5:14 AM Rating: Good
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503 posts
Notaries are easy to find: just go to your local bank, they'll notarize a paper to confirm your identity.
Sigh!!!!!!!!!
# Mar 26 2008 at 3:41 AM Rating: Default
I called SE about the same problem. They told me it's not a problem with the game. I get the same message. I can be just standing there, the next thing I know I'm looking at my desktop on my computerand I have the same message too. I have run into other people in the game who have the same problem as you and I. I have told them they need to send a letter to SE about it or it will never get fixed.
Not bad, but concerning
# Mar 26 2008 at 1:00 AM Rating: Good
I'm chiefly concerned with the actions taken against fishermen. Though I'm not an avid fisher myself, and I am level 75, it concerns me that these actions could be prohibitive against legitimate fishermen. Surely there must be some way to record how long a player spends in that area, or other methods to reduce overfishing by such means? Otherwise, I'm thinking the Task Force must be doing its job, because although I always seem to find plenty of RMT out levelling, I never see them farming or fishing anymore.

On an unrelated note, has anybody else had problems doing Garrison with dancers in the party? My friends and I keep attempting it, and we always get the same results. We do the West Sarutabaruta Garrison, usually with a 6-person party, and if we try to use dancers, we get to the third wave, and lose half of our members in an instant. The problem happens simultaneously, the same way every time. Everybody sees the same message: "Playonline Viewer has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." We've tried to call a GM both from POL and from FFXI, but we just get shrugged off like we're making it up. None of us use third-party software, or any form of cheat, we use the game exactly as it came from the box. We have also experienced this same problem once doing BCNM30- Creeping Doom. Anybody else have this problem? Is SE paying attention?
WAKE UP!!
# Mar 25 2008 at 3:03 PM Rating: Decent
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351 posts
SE wrote:
Viewing suspicious web sites


SE wrote:
websites with unknown or suspicious content


SE wrote:
download software from unknown or suspicious websites




I guess if they don't get it by now they never will. Someone needs to send them a snippet of the source code of ffxiah or ffxi-atlas that contains the keylogger. Maybe if the right person sees it the lot of them might get a clue.

#REDACTED, Posted: Mar 25 2008 at 2:32 PM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) i never play the game before, but my friends like it very much, and play very greatly.and told me that ,so now i like it very much.it is very great. i will tell more of my friends.
This might help too
# Mar 25 2008 at 1:17 PM Rating: Excellent
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452 posts
Quote:
The following are a few such countermeasures that Windows users can use to protect against unauthorized access.

- Do not access websites with unknown or suspicious content.
- Do not download software from unknown or suspicious websites.
- Periodically perform Windows Updates and keep Windows updated to the latest version.
*Refer to Microsoft's official website for more detailed information.
- Periodically update your web browser to the latest version.
- Do not use external tools not approved by Square Enix under any circumstances.
- Always use the latest antivirus software and Internet security software.



I have a seperate partition with a second windows XP installed to play FFXI that has no web browser access except for POL. I only access the web on the primary partition keeping it totally seperate from each other.
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