The latest Final Fantasy 14 account ban wave purged over 3000 accounts from the MMORPG this week alone. According to a new report, the Final Fantasy 14 account ban sentence was issued to thousands involved in Final Fantasy 14 RMT (real money trading) and other “prohibited activities”, with suspensions handed to others.
The report, published yesterday, is the latest entry in a series of notices that go way back. A seven-day period between September 27 to October 3 saw 3,347 accounts terminated for RMT and otherwise engaging in activities deemed against the game’s terms of service, with 12 accounts being banned for botting.
These are permanent bans, too, with temporary suspensions dished out to over 50 other accounts suspected of botting. It goes on to say that 1,317 accounts were banned for “RMT advertising”, though whether these numbers are included in the larger RMT figures isn’t made clear.
Anyone who has played Final Fantasy 14 at just about any point in time are likely to come across RMT advertisements in the chat channels of congested in-game locations. While rarely seen as a major issue in-game, Final Fantasy 14 bots are noticeable. Usually observed as multiple identical characters with gibberish names stacked within each other teleporting around a map or otherwise moving simultaneously, they’re a rare sight these days, but one most players have come across at some point in their adventure.
Bot tools in Final Fantasy 14 aren’t as covert as those seen in games like Runescape (where scripts were once a popular choice of automation). They’re not hard to spot and report, but Square Enix seems to sit on these reports and ban suspected accounts in waves.
The main takeaway from the latest Final Fantasy 14 account ban wave is that while Square Enix clearly takes action against those found breaking the rules, number of accounts terminated for botting appear far lower than many would expect. They’re an uncommon sight in the game, but seeing one typically means seeing a full group of eight at once, meaning a ban of only 12 accounts could mean only one or two people were reprimanded for their botting actions.
