+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted January 24, 2009 Subscriber² Share Posted January 24, 2009 From the folks who brought you the 18 hour boss fight, comes this: mass bannings! Square Enix has nixed a large number of players from online game Final Fantasy XI. According to Square Enix, the company "discovered an issue that allowed players to create multiple items for certain treasures and rewards in areas such as Salvage and Assault by exploiting the game system." This "issue" was apparently a bug ? and a bug that many players had long known about before Square Enix handled. During an emergency maintenance on November 26, 2008, Square Enix fixed this "issue" and discovered that players had already taken advantage of it before, in Square Enix's words, "it was addressed." The company investigated a year's worth of logs throughout all areas of the games and then put the game's terms of use to, err, use. "As a result of the investigation, approximately 400 players were temporarily suspended based on evidence gathered," Square Enix stated. "Approximately 550 players who committed more serious misconduct had their accounts banned." Word has it that many of the damned and banned were long time FFXI players ? perma banned, apparently. Source: http://kotaku.com/5137673/hundreds-of-play...inal-fantasy-xi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CentralDogma Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 I don't think players should be banned if this exploit could be preformed entirely in-game(ie. no modifying of game files). IMO it's an unintended game mechanic if that was the case. If game files needed to be modified or an additional program was used, that's a different story entirely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qdave Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 thats very stupid of them :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTD Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 The company's fault. Player's exploited a game bug - they were simply operating within the limits of the game world, regardless of what those are. What a retarded move by Square Enix. :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capr Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 ehh... things get iffy. i admire their balls for making such a big decision. the problem with exceptions to rules is the line you have to draw to separate things.... yeah they might have been within the limits of the game but if someone found a way to crash the servers over and over again within the limits of the game and was doing it just for kicks... you wouldn't saythe same thing. everyone always hates the guy that draws the line but without that guy there would be no order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the evn show Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 The company's fault. Player's exploited a game bug - they were simply operating within the limits of the game world, regardless of what those are. What a retarded move by Square Enix. :blink: Blizzard bans tens of thousands of players at a time when they're caught breaking the terms of service. It's better to kick ~500 or 50,000 people that were caught doing things they explicitly agreed not to (in the terms of service) than it is to build resentment in thousands or millions of players that see a double standard evolve. I had friends in the 'best' North American guild get banned for cheating despite some not even knowing that somebody in their group was up to no good. Many of those banned just bought new accounts: some of them I still play with today. Everybody knows the risks of cheating and should be willing to accept the punishment for getting caught. I'm not sure how Final Fantasy works, but in warcraft you can go from "level 1 and naked" to "maximum level with the best gear in the game" within the span of a couple weeks. It's the social network and "skill" (as much as you can call it that) which matters. Losing an account would be disappointing and there are some things you wouldn't be able to recover, but there is absolutely nothing that would impact your ability to be one of the most advanced players in the world that you can't earn back inside of a very short time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CentralDogma Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 yeah they might have been within the limits of the game but if someone found a way to crash the servers over and over again within the limits of the game and was doing it just for kicks... you wouldn't saythe same thing. I would. If that were to happen I would say the company should have spent more time testing the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xilo Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 (edited) Generally, these people deserved the ban. Most of these people are in the end game linkshells that dominate every rare spawn using bots to claim and cheat in every way possible. One thing you have to realize is that FFXI has almost nothing instanced. All the rare bosses and spawns are competed for. Try to claim, try to kill, wait 24 hours and try again. FFXI has become a better place without most of these idiots. Edited January 25, 2009 by Xilo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 it has almost nothing instanced, eh.... does that mean that an many-hour long boss fights are meant to be carried on by a few different groups? you wouldnt have to wait 24 hours if the fight is still going on after that much time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xilo Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 it has almost nothing instanced, eh.... does that mean that an many-hour long boss fights are meant to be carried on by a few different groups? you wouldnt have to wait 24 hours if the fight is still going on after that much time... Spawns are ridiculous in there. Most big spawns have 24 hour timer. After 24 hours, a spawn window opens up every 30 minutes for a minute or so along with 15 minute smaller windows. It can take hours to spawn. Since there's only 1 at minimum 24 hours for the whole server, you have several groups of people trying to fight over it. Not only that, but after ever 3rd spawn, there's a chance for a rare version of that mob to spawn. This is pretty much general for all the big FFXI bosses. An alliance consists of 3 groups of 6 people for 18 total. You can have outside people healing but that's it. So, basically the only way to get these bosses and their loot is to use programs to help you claim and tag the monster faster. Most of the people banned either use these programs anyway, or people in their linkshell do. FFXI is better off with these people gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pirien Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Sure, banning 950 people is a big thing and it was a bug that SE can be blamed for. But you have to look at the whole picture. Those people, who used the bug to their advantage, did this willingly. They knew it was a glitch and had been duping items over and over again for a extended period of time, therefore risking that FFXI's economy once again goes down the drain. Exploits are a clear violation of the game's ToS and I consider banning those people, that duped items, the right decision. What I don't think was the right thing to do, is the fact that SE banned those people, who purchased / obtained / got their hands on of the duped items as well - temporary ban I believe. Those people did not violate the ToS in any means and removing said items from their possession would have totally done the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacer Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 People still play FFXI? That game was so terrible, I'm honestly surprised enough people still play it make this an issue. Anyways, I agree with CentralDogma. If these people were operating completely within the game with no 3rd party extrenal programs running or using modified game files, then they should not have been banned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow1 Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 the suspended accounts is fine but banning is abit harsh. All they did was take advantage of the games floors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xilo Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 the suspended accounts is finebut banning is abit harsh. All they did was take advantage of the games floors. It be understandable to not ban if it was only in for such a short time. This bug has been in the game for over a year. Some people have used it to gain all the gear they could possibly want in a matter of a few months. If these items could be sold, it would completely break the game's economy. You reap what you sow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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