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Final Fantasy 14 aims to crack down on real money trading

The Party Finder has gotten clogged up with real money traders and Square Enix is looking to fix that.

Ozzie Mejia

October 27, 2021 12:15 PM

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There's a lot that you can do in Final Fantasy 14. Conversely, there isn't much that you can't do, but Square Enix is making an effort to clarify exactly what activities are prohibited. The MMORPG's development team has noticed a rise in real money trading and is taking steps to put a stop to it.

The following was posted to the Final Fantasy 14 Lodestone:

Until now, when we discovered fraudulent recruitment listings by RMT vendors in the Party Finder, we first investigated for RMT activity before issuing penalties. However, many of these listings directed users to external websites, meaning an extensive process was required to substantiate allegations of RMT activity. This meant these fraudulent listings were routinely visible on a daily basis, a situation which has persisted until now.

Furthermore, as RMT vendors disregard normal gameplay and are only concerned with RMT activity, many of their fraudulent recruitment listings were created in the "Duty Roulette" category of the Party Finder. This meant that they were prominently visible upon opening the Party Finder menu, which became a major hindrance during normal gameplay.

Although various methods were considered for resolving this issue, in the interest of taking swift action without requiring extensive investigations, we have deemed it necessary to prohibit the advertising of RMT services and the creation of recruitment listings in incorrect categories within the Party Finder, actions which are routinely done by RMT vendors.

We apologize for the relatively restrictive nature of these changes compared to how the Party Finder was being used until now, and appreciate your understanding.

Real money trading has apparently been running amok in FF14's Party Finder system and this is Square Enix's attempt to curb the practice. Square Enix, for its part, will continue to closely monitor real money trading, even instances that aren't reported, and appears prepared to issue penalties to violators. These policy changes only look to be directed at real money traders, as those looking to exchange in-game currency through the Party Finder can still do so.

Square Enix's latest announcement comes with the Endwalker expansion's release just weeks away. Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker is set to release on November 23 on PC, PS5, and PS4. If you want to learn more about that expansion, you can check out our recent hands-on preview.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?