So we were asked about HS/SS’s official stance on the JAN22 bans.

Easy enough: Don’t cheat.

Elaborating on that some more, though… Sooraya and I have no direct relation or friendships with players who have Salvage gear or relics or any other endgame rewards (Apart from Dynamis stuff). For me and Soo, this is a perfect example of not being able to care enough because it hasn’t hit that close to home. We understand and acknowledge the bitterness, disappointment as well as the heartbreak of the many broken linkshells in the game, but you must realize that SE had been going through a year worth of logs after they patched it and really must’ve done their homework.

That doesn’t take away that I personally feel that it couldn’t hurt at all for SE to be more elaborate on their banning-process, just to clarify the bannings. I hear stories from all over the community where they say that they’ve seen people still in-game of which they know have taken advantage of the exploit. That SE hasn’t given everyone a “fair” treatment.

Soo and I actually had a discussion about this. Would people respond the same way if the banned people were faceless RMT? We don’t think so at all. They would probably be the first people to cry out that SE should ban them immediately. But for a lot of players, this has hit really close to home and no matter how objective they claim to be, they all let their hearts speak.

While I do understand yourself or your friends being upset over losing your character after pouring your time and effort, your heart and soul into it, shouldn’t you be more disappointed with yourself for knowingly doing something wrong? You’re coming off easy here with no immediate real-life impact, seeing as it’s just a game. Granted, a game with probably the best online community I’ve ever been in before, but the psychological rewards, the bonds you have with the real people beyond the avatar, those should weigh a lot heavier than your personal gain.

As a linkshell leader, I cannot imagine wanting to do anything that could potentially be the end of your circle of friends. FFXI is a group game. You do things together. Everyone has their own goals, I know. I do too. But that’s no reason to risk another player’s experience from something they enjoy. I think I feel the worst for the players who got punished, who had no idea what the alliance/party leaders were upto. In the case of a permaban, they absolutely did not deserve it. But those who chose to take advantage of such a bug should know better. I’d imagine that after spending so much time in the game and accomplishing so much, you really WOULD know better than to risk that.

Soo and I are all about community. This show proves it. We love FFXI because of the friends we’ve made, the things we can do with them. Even supposedly insignificant events like Garrison end up being a lot of fun for a lot of our LS members, especially the ones who recently joined and said that they had never done anything like this at all. It almost makes me hesitant to do endgame events at all, which makes me sad because I really want to try everything in this game.

Bottomline: This huge drama actually stems from the fact we’re a community and we’re being torn apart at some levels. We understand that. Square-Enix did the right thing in my opinion, but it definitely wouldn’t hurt to have more elaboration. I’m sure after this PR nightmare (only because you made it so, though), things will be cleared up. But remember: FFXI is an adventure, and we’re in it together. Don’t ruin it for others for your personal, selfish gains.

With that said, I found this to be a kinda funny jab at the whole thing.

Discuss at the forums..