Make the Gil Spammers STOP!

[Skyblade]

Ok, so I just started playing (don't blame me, I didn't mean to break half my bones right after the game was released), and, unfortunately, therefore missed the opportunity to make a character on with the EoFFers.

Perhaps it's a side effect of being on a server that is still allowing new characters to be made. But as soon as I completed the tutorial, I found that the gil spammers WILL. NOT. STOP.

The chat bubble is completely filled with gil sale websites, and new ones are popping up every few seconds.

How do I get these jerks to shut up, and why is there no option to report them?

The majority of them seem to be coming as shouts (though I don't know if there are chat channels), so is there a way to block those?

[Jiro]

I think we have to wait for the blacklist function to actually be implemented. I'm getting fucking tells from gil spammers and it made the game unplayable on my laptop. Now, at least, I have progressed away from the common areas where gil spammers lurk.

[Elpizo]

Simply blacklist them for now, Square Enix is working on a way to deal with them.

[LocoColt04]

You can remove shouts via chat filters, but sometimes you want to see them. I recommend creating a new chat tab for use when you're in town and only turning on important things, like /say /party /linkshell /freecompany and anything else you see fit.

Furthermore, you can report gil spammers through the Help Desk report options, by choosing "cheating" as the reason for the report.

And yes, in the meantime, beef up that blacklist.

[Loony BoB]

Blacklist can be found under Social Lists and it's a vital thing whenever you head into a new city area, sadly. A disappointing side effect of the game being successful. :( I have about 30 of them on my blacklist at the moment.

As for chat window suggestions - I have one 'Chatter' window which includes all forms of chat and emotes at the top left of my screen, and have filtered out shout and yell from my 'general' chat tab which sits at the bottom left. Makes life easier.

[Aulayna]

The tell one is easy to solve, you can just make a macro and add it your action bars:


/blist add < r >

This will blacklist the sender of the most recent tell you've received. :) Remove the spaces after and before the angled brackets.

[o_O]

You can also target the spammer and type "/blist add" to add them to your blacklist. "/blst" simply opens up your blacklist.

I use the method that Aul posted, but unfortunately it only works for /tells. For the /shouts, I just blacklist them manually. I currently have around 100 spammers on my blacklist. :/

[Mirage]

Target the spammer? I dunno, I'm getting all my messages from people I can't even see.

[Tavrobel]

If they're sending you purple tells, then you can macro the auto-blacklist to replies. If they're doing the /sh so that a whole zone hears it, they're probably standing by a aetheryte, so just walk up to them, click them, and block them.

Blizzard Square Enix recently did a temp-ban wave for anyone over a few million gil on non-legacy accounts. Supposedly, they're going through each account one-by-one to see if they aren't RMTing.

[Elskidor]

I'll sell you 500k for 5.99!

[Mirage]

If they're sending you purple tells, then you can macro the auto-blacklist to replies. If they're doing the /sh so that a whole zone hears it, they're probably standing by a aetheryte, so just walk up to them, click them, and block them.

Blizzard Square Enix recently did a temp-ban wave for anyone over a few million gil on non-legacy accounts. Supposedly, they're going through each account one-by-one to see if they aren't RMTing.

Walking to an aetheryte sounds a lot slower than just typing their names in manually

[Dr Unne]

Make a chat tab that displays only FC+LS+Party+whatever else is relevant, and never click away from that tab while you're in a city. That's what I do. Map chat is a lost cause until SE fixes it.

[Tavrobel]

Walking to an aetheryte sounds a lot slower than just typing their names in manually

... teleport?

[LocoColt04]

Walking to an aetheryte sounds a lot slower than just typing their names in manually

... teleport?No no, Mirage meant that you can just pick Blacklist from the menu and type in their name, rather than hunting them down and selecting them from a crowd.

[Loony BoB]

Yeah, there's no way in hell I'm going to teleport away from what I'm doing (so I have to run back afterwards) at a cost of my own gil just to try to hunt down a gil spammer.

[Tavrobel]

No no, Mirage meant that you can just pick Blacklist from the menu and type in their name, rather than hunting them down and selecting them from a crowd.

Ohh. Right, that drop menu.

I really haven't needed to blacklist anyone. The accounts will be deleted/banned and remade instantly. For those with legit names, they're undoubtedly stolen or made from a Chinese bot farm.

Though I sympathize with being annoyed with spammers, it's a fruitless feeling endeavor. I have long since learned to mentally block the spamming. Be annoyed as much as you want. It will never stop, barring some insanely draconian efforts by SE, or a whitelist; but then, you'd have the same problem but in reverse.

For a game that won't let you invite people into dungeons unless they are already in the same zone as you or on your friends list (same-realm only!), or a God-hand-Duty-Finder-level-coordination attempt, a whitelist would be even more intolerable in practice.

Alternatively, put the chat in "combat log" only, because a game involving people should be played trying to avoid said people. yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Loony BoB]

I actually like to read valid shouts, so 'mentally blocking' isn't going to help. Valid shouts have earned me a fair amount of gil. ;)

Dunno about what it's like on your server (if you're playing) but it's spammed every second on Sargatanas.

[Tavrobel]

I stopped playing because the server transfers weren't made available before the end of the first month's sub.

It seems to be bad on every server, though I expect it to be much worse on the legacy servers. Ultros originally. I planned on going to Leviathan to play with my guildmates, but decisions are 3 hard 5 me.

Main cities have permanently scrolling chat boxes; Mor Dhona and Coerthas, as well. You might find some quiet time in the non-frequented areas, like East/South Thanalan or Northern Shroud. Western La Noscea (wineport/Costa) isn't filled with gold spammers, but it's filled people who are Fate grinding.

Admittedly, I think SE has done a good job in handling potential RMT issues, both in execution (banwaves with a case-by-case analysis) and in gameplay design (gil is almost useless as currency; i.e., compare to Diablo III, only a very small incentive to buy gil). Unfortunately, as is the point of this thread, the UI does not make anyone's life easier in dealing with RMT. Though I agree and sympathize with the assertion of the thread, I should not be your source for empathy.

[Aulayna]

They don't actually simply re-make the accounts if you Blacklist them, the same spammers will be there for days, if not weeks until Square Enix actually bans them or gets the owner back on the account. At this point they will dig out another account they have access too. They (the RMTs) don't have anyway of knowing if people have blacklisted them. 99% of the accounts will be compromised ones. RMTs aren't exactly in the business of giving other people real money.

You can actually enjoy relative peace for quite some time, outside of the odd tell, if you blacklist the ones in cities and eventually it gets to the point where it's just 2 names a week or so you'll be adding (unless you add the /tell ones too).

[Elskidor]

These guys need a job too. Quit being cruel and trying to get them fired. How would you feel if someone got you fired, because the got annoyed of hearing you advertise? Have to put food on the table some how. I'd actually love to do this type of thing for a living...if it was legal, lol.

[Mirage]

It is legal. It is however against the terms of service, and therefore it is perfectly fine to be upset over it.

[Elskidor]

I remember doing this in early day EQ when coin would increase weight, and being encumbered would make you walk incredibly slow. Everyone that did it tried to keep it a big secret, but it would be so obvious when sometimes a toon would be flying through and suddenly stop to make a trade with another toon in the bazaar, and then suddenly they would be so encumbered they could barely move as they slowly trotted all the way to the banker. It's funny looking back, because making money in mmos has really never been all that hard, where spending RL cash to make ends meat should ever have to be an option with the possibility of getting banned..

[Tavrobel]

You may see being banned as an issue. These people don't. Why play through the beginning of the game, where I don't ever feel strong, when I can just pay someone to give effective access to end-game content? Whether or not they have a real time constraint or they are spoiled, microwave-generation brats who pay using mommy's credit card, no matter the outcome, they win in their minds.

Banned versus uninstalling; there isn't a difference, it just means one less player and one less subscription.

[Shoden]

Yeah, there's no way in hell I'm going to teleport away from what I'm doing (so I have to run back afterwards) at a cost of my own gil just to try to hunt down a gil spammer.
That's why they exist, not to sell but to make you waste gil just to silence them but where one falls a hundred may rise to take their place!
Its almost depressing... So I turned off /yell and /shout

[Mirage]

Uh... what? You do know that it's fully possible to silence them without finding the characters, right? It's even faster.