Your Voice

One of the most important elements of building our community is the ability to listen to players’ needs and desires.
This year, we will once again take a look at the subjects brought up in GM calls and with the Special Task Force.


[ GM calls ]
GM calls exist as the primary support method for players in need of help, but they also function as the most accessible way for players to contact the operations team.
We once again researched how many GM calls are made at each time of the day for each region and created the below graph. The following data was taken from all GM calls made for a whole week at the end of May 2009. The red areas indicate when the most GM calls were being made.

Japan
North America
Europe

You’ll notice that each region’s peak times are slightly out of alignment.
During these peak times, you may have to wait some time before your GM call is answered, so please keep your region’s information in mind before making a GM call.

Next, let’s take a look at the topics that are being brought up in GM calls. Like last year, the topic most brought up in GM calls was actions disrupting game balance.

“There are characters that seem to be using illegal third-party programs to automatically fight monsters!”
“A character has been fishing in the same location since yesterday!”

Reports like these regarding characters that may be using third-party programs to illegally obtain items and sell them for real money have persisted as the most common reported, and demonstrate honest players’ concern for and expectations of eradicating such illegal activities.

The GM team uses these reports from users to create policies with the Special Task Force and to make suggestions to the development team.

[ The Special Task Force ]
Next, we will move on to data regarding the Special Task Force’s reports to the GM team and the various policies enacted as a result of users’ reports to the Special Task Force.
The Special Task Force has been performing its operations by gaining information from reports and inquiries provided by FINAL FANTASY XI users and deciding how to deal with problems based on their seriousness. However, because the scale of user agreement violations and the methods used to achieve them have significantly diminished, we decided to stop our monthly status reports. We would like to use the Vana’diel Census as a chance to share the details of our recent activities.
Whenever a problem arises regarding violators of the user agreement, we receive a large number of reports and inquiries regarding that issue, work to resolve the issue, and then the number of reports and inquiries considerably decreases.

The following graph represents the number of reports we have received from users over the past year.

2008  Jan.

Feb.

Mar.

Apr.

May

Jun.

Jul.

Aug.

Sep.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

2009  Jan.

Feb.

Mar.

Apr.

May

Hunters    Mining, Gathering, Logging    Fishing

The above graph indicates the amount of e-mails received regarding hunters and tool-assisted illegal activities such as mining, gathering, logging, and fishing. We will address each of these issues separately.

Let’s start out with the issue that had the most reports, illegal fishing.
Because of the policy we introduced in May 2008, the number of inquiries regarding fishing decreased, but soon afterwards, players emerged using different methods to illegally fish and the number of reports and inquiries increased again. From October 2008 to December 2008, we continually strengthened our activities, and the number of inquiries we received fell to about one tenth of the previous year.

Let’s next take a look at hunters, those troublesome characters that defeat monsters through illegal means, sell the items obtained, and hand off the gil to RMT groups. The number of reports regarding characters thought to be using third-party software to automatically target and attack monsters as they appear has decreased due to several of our actions against hunters.

Lastly, as the number of reports regarding illegal fishing has decreased, reports regarding mining, gathering, and logging have increased. Judging from the graph, it seems that these were chosen to replace fishing and hunting as illegal ways of making gil, but due to our immediate response in dealing with them, inquiries and reports regarding mining, gathering, and logging have all but vanished.

As a result of the Special Task Force’s activities, all of the issues mentioned above have largely been resolved and we believe that players can enjoy the game with minimal interference from violators of the user agreement.
However, these violators usually change their methods and then reappear in the game.
The Special Task Force is dedicated to the eradication of violators of the user agreement through cooperation with FINAL FANTASY XI teams and with the indispensible help of players like you!
We are diligently working on developing a solution to the RMT website advertisements that have been showing up through the tell function since last year. We believe we should be able to address the issue sometime soon.


[ OCR ]
Lastly, we would like to explain a little about the OCR (Online Community Relations) team.
The OCR team is tasked with handling everyday e-mails from users.
The most numerous topics in inquiries are regarding the Community Sites page and different FINAL FANTASY XI contests that the OCR team manages.

Recently, we have received a lot of e-mails from players who would like help in events they are organizing, such as weddings.
The OCR team is currently already involved in helping different group events through actions such as the placement of special objects and so on.

There have also been requests from users who have participated in events we have assisted in or read about them on websites or in the game, expressing interest in receiving the same kind of assistance.

The OCR team is currently involved in the advancement of a project called “Player Event Support” to help players hold events that will create long-lasting memories.

There are many other new services planned, based on inquiries, opinions, and requests from FINAL FANTASY XI users. And not just within the game! We are also involved in the planning of contests and events with fan sites, and much more!
If you have any ideas or concerns about community site management, future events, or even just something that’s popped up in everyday gameplay, feel free to send an e-mail to the team!
We use your suggestions as the driving force to create an active community that everyone can enjoy without worry.