I’m going to use these bots in a good way, and not just because I want to simultaneously annoy the people who believe me to be paid by Square Enix to prop up Final Fantasy XIV, but also to greatly annoy the people who think I’m getting paid to associate Runescape with the cheater’s paradise that it is.
I came across these bots in Final Fantasy XIV, and promptly reported them via the in-game support system. While I was taking down each of their names, however, it did dawn on me that these bots might actually be a good sign. Back when I played Tabula Rasa in its year of existence, there were never any gold farmers. I think, overall, there was one guy (not even your stereotypical gold farmer, it was some guy in Utah if I remember correctly) we all knew who tried selling currency and high level armor for money, and he was simply flamed out of global chat, and then his account would be banned. No, he wasn’t particularly good at it.
Granted, Tabula Rasa was not a game to gold farm. Gaining currency was easy enough that you would expect heavy inflation, but there wasn’t much worth buying from other players, so not much of a market formed. The player base was also tiny enough that there was no one buying. Now, I’ve spoken with other players who tell me that the bots I saw on my server (Karnak server) are much more prevalent on some other servers, and this tells me two things: Foremost, there has to be a decently sized community, because there is a market for currency/items. Secondly, Final Fantasy XIV has an economy, because there is a desire to buy gold to buy things with.
When the gold farmers leave Final Fantasy XIV, that’s when you’ll know the game is dead. Until then, however, this truck is still…trucking?
MMO Fallout 