Questions about ToS and Windower

[Meyi]

Doubt SE would ban for this, in fact they tolerate windower as far i know, or they would need to ban 50% of they player base. But don't ask them if is "OK" or "SAFE" as is again they ToS. Just don't push your luck with stuff that would give you "game advantage" again other player.

This is direct proof that someone is using Windower, though. In general it's difficult to differentiate someone using windower and someone not using windower, unless they dug through the files installed. With direct proof comes punishment. Technically, this is a "game advantage" as someone who can speak Japanese and type in it now has advantage over people who can speak Japanese but cannot type in it (PC legit/PS2/XBox360).

I've personally argued for either being able to purchase the usage of the IME as a foreigner or allowing us to copy/paste into legit windowed mode myself. Anything to allow us to speak to our Japanese friends more successfully is welcome in my book. The biggest reason they ignore us is because they don't want to deal with English and Romaji, and I can't say that I blame them (though it does piss me off when auto-translate goes ignored, but I digress)...

Basically, Windower is against the ToS. If you make it blatantly obvious that you use it, I'm fairly sure they'll do something about it. Using Japanese on a client that is not Japanese is a good way to shout out your console of choice. From what I've witnessed, it seems in terms of Windower itself, it's a "don't tell don't ban" kind of policy.

Odds are high this topic will be locked soon for guideline boundary material. At least you'll know there are people supporting Japanese IME for nonJapanese players.

[Greatguardian]

The official stance will always be that it's against the rules. No one working for the company will ever be allowed to tell you differently, period. People have been suspended/banned because of JP text in their bazaars/search comments in the past, though this mostly happened to people who were GM'd maliciously by people who didn't like them.

If you want the honest, practical truth? No one is going to care one bit. If you want the official stance? It's against the rules, and they'll never, ever say otherwise.

[Alhanelem]

I know that this is a general question WHICH i would really love to get answered by the developer / producer as i think it's a fair question to ask

The only answer you will get from SE about any third party tool is "it's not allowed." However, the one in question is so prevalent that it's basically become a "don't ask, don't tell" or "It's not fight club, don't talk about it" sort of thing.

Since the only way they can know someone is using it is to have someone tattle-tale on you (They cannot and do not ever scan your computer for programs) It's hard to catch people anyway.

[Greatguardian]

Well, they used to scan our PCs for third party tool usage back in '04-ish But there was such a huge uproar about privacy invasion that they quietly removed that feature almost immediately. Fun fact for the day~

[RAIST]

Technically, this is a "game advantage" as someone who can speak Japanese and type in it now has advantage over people who can speak Japanese but cannot type in it (PC legit/PS2/XBox360).

This is no more an advantage than someone who can speak/read/type in French, German, Spanish, or the Queen's English....

There are also those JP players who can read/speak/type english to some capacity as well... so, by that comparison you would be labeling those "legit" JP players as cheaters.

On this particular issue, being able to type in non-arabic characters for an Eastern language in an NA/EU client is not breaking the game....if anything, it is more leveling the playing field.

[Daniel_Hatcher]

Well, they used to scan our PCs for third party tool usage back in '04-ish But there was such a huge uproar about privacy invasion that they quietly removed that feature almost immediately. Fun fact for the day~

As they should have, you don't give them, in the same sense when you install any software you don't give them the right to scan anything on your computer.

Its already been answered by a GM in a topic exactly like this one.

I don't think they really bother anymore unless you are using some of the borderline botting aps, most of my friends tell me that GM's told them that they don't care anymore...yet to see a screenshot though >_>

They would never say that.

Truth be told, they probably don't care, they still wouldn't come straight out and say they don't though.

[Meyi]

Well, they used to scan our PCs for third party tool usage back in '04-ish But there was such a huge uproar about privacy invasion that they quietly removed that feature almost immediately. Fun fact for the day~

I remember when the Windower board was pretty worried because some specific file used by Windower was being scanned for. That was back when the administration said to run updates in normal mode.

[Haruka-Ash]

Non-Japanese players, by default, don't have access to the IME interface that allows them to talk in all the funny squiggles we see our friends from the Far East use. In comparison, they're actually able to type English characters, e v e n i f t h e y w i n d u p w e i r d l y s p a c e d o u t. Unfortunately, a non-JP account caught using JP characters risks punishment, because it's obvious they tinkered with the client to do so.

what if i use a japanese console and japanese client?

[Zumi]

SE didn't pay MS licensing fees to license IME for the NA/EU versions of FFXI so therefore they are disabled. They didn't want to pay the fees for the NA/EU version cause it would just cost them more money for a feature most NA/EU users would not use.

Therefore it would be somewhat illegal to use Windower to enable IME in FFXI when it is disabled by design.

[Rohelius]

I use my phone to translate J>E E>J and i always just use Romaji since there is no real need to use the in-game translate for everything, i also don't know what the difference is between it and actual Japanese characters since i don't speak it, but its never failed to get an answer from people so i don't see why you need Windower for something available from the internet with the games Windowed mode.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand windower is marketed just like steroids, they call it a "Enhancement" and not a edge which i think is just total BS since its clearly an edge over anyone not using it.

One click of a button and you can change every single equip for a spell/ws/day/weather you name it while if you play by the rules you only have 5 lines for commands....

Don't be lazy and play by the rules.