More than 10,000 FFXIV bans have been handed out, mostly to accounts that were engaging in real-money trading or advertising for said services. People buying their way to power can upset the balance of a game and it’s up to the developer to respond to the problem quickly lest it wrecks the game’s economy. This time, Square Enix was on the ball and terminated thousands of troublesome accounts breaking the game’s rules.
“Real money trading (RMT) and other illicit activities upset the balance of the game and, as such, are prohibited under the Terms of Service,” stated a news post on the game’s official website. “We have confirmed that a number of players are engaging in these illicit activities and have therefore taken the actions listed below.”
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If you’re unfamiliar with real-money trading, then you’ve probably not played any online game where players can trade items. Typically, game designers want players to complete quests and acquire items for themselves or trade for them with an in-game market. Real-money traders, however, will offer to give you items, in-game currency, powered-up characters, or similar objects and/or services in exchange for real-world money.
In total, there were over 10,000 FFXIV bans relating to this issue. The majority of them were focused on people selling items for money, although there are a few outliers that were engaged in other activities prohibited by the game’s terms of service:
- Participation in RMT/prohibited activities
- Accounts terminated: 9,626
- Accounts temporarily suspended: 19
- Botting activity (Using any number of third-party tools that allow for automation)
- Accounts terminated: 3
- Accounts temporarily suspended: 25
- RMT advertising
- Accounts terminated: 782
In total, 10,408 accounts were terminated for offensives related to real-money trading and a paltry 19 accounts were suspended.
“We will continue to take stringent disciplinary action against any accounts involved in RMT/prohibited activities,” concluded the news post on the FFXIV bans. “Players should take care to avoid any activities that violate the Terms of Service.”
