One of the most important elements of our community is the ability to listen to players' needs and desires. For the first time in a census, we introduce a section where we take a look at the subjects brought up in GM calls and with the Special Task Force.

【GM calls】
The GM Call is a simple and immediate method for voicing your concerns at any time.
Let's take a look at how many GM calls are made at each time of the day.

The following data was taken from all GM calls made for a whole week in the middle of April 2008. The red areas indicate when the most GM calls were being made, the yellow areas indicate relatively busy times, and the green areas indicate when the least GM calls were being made. It seems that the data is perfectly lined up with the times most users for each region are logged in, but there tend to be more yellow areas on the weekends. Also, immediately after version updates, it is common for the majority of the areas to turn yellow and on some occasions, even half of the day to turn red.

≪GM Calls by Region≫*Times are printed in the local time for each region.

Next, let's take a look at the topics that are being brought up in GM calls.
The pie chart below is based off of the same data as the GM Calls by Region graph.
The topic most brought up in GM calls is “Actions disrupting game balance” and accounts for around 30% of GM calls. The most common complaint is regarding characters suspected to be using external third-party programs and, along with “Bug reports,” has been an important source of information for the Special Task Force and FINAL FANTASY XI development team.

The second most common topic is “Inappropriate behavior.”
We have unfortunately received many reports regarding problems that should have been sorted out through conversation, growing worse and worse until a character is harming another through abuse of the game system. Through these reports and conversations, we have managed to reduce the problem and are looking into changing the game system and GM Policy in order to solve these problems in an easier manner.

The next most common topic is “Opinions/Requests.”
Subjects of all different kinds from support to the game system are being brought up in GM calls all the time. In addition to e-mails provided to us by FINAL FANTASY XI users, this is one of the main ways version updates and the GM Policy are changed.

≪GM Call Topics≫

*For details regarding the pie chart, please click here.


【The Special Task Force】
Now let's take a look at the statistics regarding the Special Task Force.
Since its founding in September 2006, the Special Task Force has banned around 7,000 violators of the user agreement a month, and frozen around 13,330,000,000 gil. The most important element to our activities has been the information provided by FINAL FANTASY XI users.

Let's take a look at the data regarding the mail form since its establishment in June 2007 up until March 2008, as well as the content of these reports.

A total of 66,882 e-mails have been received by the Special Task Force as of now.
The most common subject of these reports has been the use of cheats to automatically repeat particular actions.
The majority of these characters automatically engaged in particular actions have been illegally fishing on the coastline or waterside. Continuing on, the next most common reports are regarding characters known as hunters (*), the use of illegal tools/software, and the use of synthesis or auction houses for RMT. At one time, all of these violators of the user agreement ran amuck and were very common, but currently, the range of their activities has grown considerably smaller and they are heading towards extinction.

*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.

≪Topics in e-mails to STF≫

As demonstrated, the voices of FINAL FANTASY XI players allow us to gauge the community's health and are our most valuable source of information for improving the game.

Because of information we've received from players and posts on community sites, we learned of the seriousness of unauthorized access and the threat it has been carrying all over the internet, as well as the importance of this problem to FINAL FANTASY XI players. As a result of our investigations into this problem, we updated our policy in April 2008, expanded the range of our aid, and greatly shortened the length of time from a request for aid until the completion of that aid.

In the background of many of our plans and policies, we have had the voices of the players in mind. They have been absolutely indispensable to all of us in the development and management teams.

*For details on unauthorized access, please click here.