Square Enix takes action against Final Fantasy XI economy woes

Over 700 accounts terminated as MMORPG creators (finally) react to major trading problems

February 9, 2006

Square Enix has announced that it has taken action against what it calls "Real Money Trading" or RMT in its massively-multiplayer online role-playing game, Final Fantasy XI.

Of late, the economy of Final Fantasy XI's fictional world of Vana'diel has been in dismay, as human players have been cheating the system to gain large amounts of money (Gil, the in-game currency), and then sell the funds online for real money. In addition to creating in-game player conflicts and unusually rich players, the problem has caused the cost of in-game items to rise to astronomical levels. Items that are necessary for success in the game are almost impossible to obtain without resorting to purchase of game currency with real funds.

Square Enix says that it has terminated over 700 'Gilseller' accounts that were involved in large-scale RMT, and that it has taken over 300 billion Gil out of circulation in the game's economy.

Given the current trading prices of Gil in the real world, that's over 4.5 million U.S. dollars worth of Gil.

In addition to removing players and seizing virtual money, the company has made modifications to the game that make it harder for players to accumulate vast amounts of wealth through exploitation of the game's systems.

Square Enix claims that its efforts have already been helpful in the fall of prices of several items in the game's auction system.