Hrm... probably used to look for bugs. I.e, somebody calls in, "I just fished up Sea Horror in Southern San D'oria, and I can't summon Fenrir to one-hit it!" or something. So instead of using player's gear, they have their own special stuff to fish things up with. I doubt GMs need to fish in order to get money. :P
i think its just for asthetic value only...just like the rest of the Judge's Equipment...
GM'S CAN DO NOTHIN BUT WHAT THEIR JOB ENTITLES THEM TO DO...no one seems to know that ~___~
-they cant fish -they cant socialize (unless with someone in violation of FFXI agreement or someone affected therein) -they cant cast magic -they cant do quests or missions -and finally THEY CANT FIGHT (so dont say you saw a GM fighting something and killing it in one hit. you will only make urself look really stupid...)
Everyone who posted here seems legitimate and seems to know the job of a GM...that rant was for anyone coming in that didnt know, im just trying to save them their pride...
Yes GMs can fight things, but not kill in one hit. The reason they have all the high stats armor is for killing things in case others cant. I wish I still had the pictures, but I remember once for fun we let Marchelute go in the dunes. Trained him to Selbina and then he was just lose. He slaughted about 20 people before a GM showed up and killed him. They can fight but they won't unless thay have a real reason to. Also I have been told by members of my old LS that when they went after Kirin (and lost horribly) the last few people alive ran and trained him to the zone. People called GMs cause no one could get into the zone at all without being killed instantly. A few GMs showed up and killed Kirin.
So like I said they can and will fight...if they need to but are not suppose to just to show off.
I'm not sure you can count producers as GMs. Some people do and they can do all the above that you mentioned they can't. I'm sure Sagesundi, Azagba, and other producers/developers use this to bug test. (Almost exclusivly on the Atomos server)