Roleplay/Partyfinder Discrepancies & Policy Enforcement by GM's

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Originally Posted by VeradBV

I know 25+ is cutting it a little young but I'm a strong advocate of letting people experiment early. 30+ is probably the more conservative position.

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Really see I am personally around 45-50 well into their mid life where they potentially have a wealth life experience and knowledge to make the proper choice.

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Originally Posted by VeradBV

You have the power to report at your leisure, and can freely do so regardless of the context of the post.

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Just did. Best of luck.

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Originally Posted by Eoko

I'm surprised we got into the 70s before the trolls really starting lumbering in.

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I mean we can rehash the same damn argument you've had for the past 70 if you want, but it seems pretty cut and dry. How sincere do you want me to get in responding to facile arguments about protecting children?

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Originally Posted by VeradBV

Yes but grooming, sir. Aren't you worried about the grooming.

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Nah. Not really.

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Originally Posted by VeradBV

Yes but grooming, sir. Aren't you worried about the grooming.

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Why did I just hear like 15 miqo'te in my head all say "Brush me, Daddy."? I mean, I would be worried about that many miqo'tes wanting to be brushed. That's a lot of work.

Hello, I saw this thread from one of my Discord servers, earlier today. I sat down and read most of these posts in this thread, and I'll get to the others after I post my own thoughts ... before I forget.

That being said, I am completely split on this.

On one hand, I don't particularly roleplay in this game, at least not often. But I have participated in a few SFW venues by word of mouth rather than PF, and I have enjoyed myself and formed nice (but not lasting) friendships. I have seen so much effort being made on these venues and I can definitely see the appeal. I agree completely about Final Fantasy XIV being an MMORPG, there will always be people who will want to roleplay. Shadowbringers have seen a lot, and I mean a lot, of Quality of Life changes to make Eorzea feel like a second home. And as we've seen, a few people in this thread have stated that this game is their second home, too. I was on the assumption that these changes were for these kinds of players.

On the other hand, I am not a fan of RP venues in Party Finder. Point blank. Sure, you can make the argument that it's at the bottom of the list or that it's not as bad as say the Duty Roulette misrep to sell raid runs. Fine. However, there's a sheer amount of advertisements for RP venues that clog up the Party Finder than the ads previously mentioned. At the end of the day, we currently have an alternative in place, whether the players agree about it or not. However, I understand completely that the Fellowship Finder is so out of the way for new eyes to see, as it should be, in my opinion. The fact remains that people go to Party Finder to form parties to get content done, which a majority of the player base who use the PF do. All these RP advertisements do is take advantage of the fact there will always be new eyes.

@Eoko find it rather hilarious lot'a these folx trying to argue legal semantics when you clearly mentioned early you work in enforcement few pages back now. ♥

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Originally Posted by Eoko

(hi, I work in Enforcement)

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Further as many have said before the issue at hand is NOT just erp but RP as a whole yet honestly it looks willfully/intentionally that y'all keep trying to sweep that part under the rug and just focus on the erp PFs that got hit when a whole bunch were completely unrelated.

From mannnnnny pages back this was posted

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Originally Posted by Teppie

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...58/unknown.png
From I believe a year ago. Why is it only this GM in all these new reports? Is someone going rogue here?

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There have been first hand GM accounts that ERP is not out right banned or against anything, yes its a "black sheep" or w/e you want to bow it up with all pretty.
It's a known aspect, almost every RPG under the sun ends up with a portion of the rp community catering more specifically to adult events, sfw or not, what consenting adults do in their own time is their own matters.

Now, this pearl clutching about minors?
Thirsty twerps will do ANYTHING they can to get into spaces they shouldn't be or are told they are not "old enough" for yet.
What were you doing between 13 and 17? What 18+ forum smut were you reading or heck writing yourself?
Half my high school's english groups were on Forums, Gaia, DeviantArt and FanFiction writing alllll sorts of things and reading "adult" content.

I get that there IS real concern, it is however a unrealistically feasible one to try and contain.
We have NO way of 100% fool proof verifying any sort of age information and neither do SE/FFXIV-mod teams, and to try set such a thing up would take up more resources than it is likely realistic to put towards a never ending, near impossible to 100% nail down data.
Even if they started demanding ID or selfies (which are also inherently not helpful, I have a brother who at 14 was 6ft2 and had a beard that made him look easily 24.)

There is also is real, honest desire, to have actual adult 18+, 21+, 23+ etc, spaces in hopes of having a more "mature" (however you want to define that) audience for w/e content might be taking place SFW or otherwise.
The game is rated for the scripted/designed content provided by the quests and the like, not the social content that inherently comes from FFXIV being a MMO, its written in the warning language on the box of the game if I'm remembering right.
Online content not subject to rating or something like that..

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Originally Posted by existingdark

Nah. Not really.

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That's the spirit.

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Originally Posted by Eoko

Why did I just hear like 15 miqo'te in my head all say "Brush me, Daddy."? I mean, I would be worried about that many miqo'tes wanting to be brushed. That's a lot of work.

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Little worried about your daddy play talk there, but if you insist I'll go dig up the FurBlaster.

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Originally Posted by existingdark

Tell that to Square as content accessible as early as level 28-30 (Questline leading up to Ifrit) there is heavy themes of sexual assault/abuse in the Main Story Quest. Even before the update to make all content up to Heavensward free-to-play, this content was available to any minor without the need for a credit/debit card. But no, please continue to target players who ERP because if it's consensual then how dare they, right?

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As much as the other guy is clearly trolling and doesn't have a valid argument, it's also not a fair argument that because the story showed a petty villain threatening a woman with sexual assault, ERP clubs are within the scope of the game. It's apples and oranges, and even if the clubs are okay, that's not the thing to point to as justification.

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Originally Posted by Istolla-Argante

Thirsty twerps will do ANYTHING they can to get into spaces they shouldn't be or are told they are not "old enough" for yet.
What were you doing between 13 and 17? What 18+ forum smut were you reading or heck writing yourself?
Half my high school's english groups were on Forums, Gaia, DeviantArt and FanFiction writing alllll sorts of things and reading "adult" content.

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I'd still say if you're an adult on Gaiaonline advertising for erotic roleplay then you're absolutely a creep. That's, like, not even REMOTELY an appropriate audience.

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Originally Posted by Penthea

You might want to start using /s because a lot of what you say in sarcasm are what others say with 100% seriousness. Judging from your post count you perhaps have not spent a lot of time on the forums. A lot of threads get very ugly due to debates regarding LGBT people, usually stemming from threads relating to gender locked gear.

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I'll survive, or I won't, and have to grind the MSQ again on a new account. Such is life, but your concern is appreciated.

But we can all agree on the 25+ age minimum right

So looking at the updated correspondence and the guy on Reddit who shared his logs of him reporting ERPers. It sounds like the guy was aiming specifically at ERP advertisements because of the 18+ content being advertised. And not RP events as a whole.

The GM went after both ERP and regular RP and said the PF is not for use of social events and suggested alternative and more disruptive means and addressed nothing to do with ERP. They were happy for them to use /sh so I am still curious how people think this is a GM stopping ERP advertising, they've if anything moved it into the public eye more. If it was in response to this guy's report then this means the GM hasn't even addressed the nature of the complaint.

Correspondence with other GM's suggest it's fine to use the PF for the purposes people were using it as long as the content doesn't violate their ToS...which is how the RP community has always understood it. And there's an example now in the OP where the decision was reversed.

So I think what I can deduce is that the GM's have problems neither with people RPing or ERPing or people advertising either. On the ERP front there's an old screenshot of a GM saying it's fine and this GM wasn't addressing ERP but using the PF for social events, which other GM's ended up saying is fine.

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Originally Posted by Saefinn

So looking at the updated correspondence and the guy on Reddit who shared his logs of him reporting ERPers. It sounds like the guy was aiming specifically at ERP advertisements because of the 18+ content being advertised. And not RP events as a whole.

The GM went after both ERP and regular RP and said the PF is not for use of social events and suggested alternative and more disruptive means and addressed nothing to do with ERP. They were happy for them to use /sh so I am still curious how people think this is a GM stopping ERP advertising, they've if anything moved it into the public eye more. If it was in response to this guy's report then this means the GM hasn't even addressed the nature of the complaint.

Correspondence with other GM's suggest it's fine to use the PF for the purposes people were using it as long as the content doesn't violate their ToS...which is how the RP community has always understood it. And there's an example now in the OP where the decision was reversed.

So I think what I can deduce is that the GM's have problems neither with people RPing or ERPing or people advertising either. On the ERP front there's an old screenshot of a GM saying it's fine and this GM wasn't addressing ERP but using the PF for social events, which other GM's ended up saying is fine.

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Could you provide a link here? I'm interested since I didn't see it on the subreddit in my last pass.

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Originally Posted by Penthea

You might want to start using /s because a lot of what you say in sarcasm are what others say with 100% seriousness. Judging from your post count you perhaps have not spent a lot of time on the forums. A lot of threads get very ugly due to debates regarding LGBT people, usually stemming from threads relating to gender locked gear.

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This. I thought you were serious, and the result of not hitting two extra keys will waste you a LOT of time and energy, should you get banned for not making it clear that you're joking. I mean, if you really wanna (let your account) die on this hill, go right ahead, but it just seems like a really bad idea.

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Originally Posted by Skyler_Magus

This. I thought you were serious, and the result of not hitting two extra keys will waste you a LOT of time and energy, should you get banned for not making it clear that you're joking. I mean, if you really wanna (let your account) die on this hill, go right ahead, but it just seems like a really bad idea.

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Some accounts need to die. Have you seen the posts on this one? They're terrible.

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Originally Posted by VeradBV

I'll survive, or I won't, and have to grind the MSQ again on a new account. Such is life, but your concern is appreciated.

But we can all agree on the 25+ age minimum right

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Lol if only life were so simple that we could put a definitive perfect age to consider someone to be truly mature and well adjusted. I have met some 30 something year old players who I at first thought were teens due to their behaviour. We don't all progress at the same rate, and some peak early in their mental growth.

I get why people would prefer erp to be permitted. I'm just on the fence about it because I know of someone whose younger sister unknowingly ended up in an online relationship with someone far older than her (he was posing as a 17 year old, he was like 35) and it began with erp, so this has coloured my view on it. I know that cases like this are the exception, not the norm. But we live in an imperfect world with imperfect people and I would prefer that at least erp isn't permitted to be openly advertised in something as accessible as PF because of this. I'm okay with people putting it in their search info or something more discreet like that.

But back to the topic of why this thread was made, clearly this whole situation shows that the ui is missing something. The activities of players can show where something is lacking if they use something that may not be for its intended purpose. SE need to put a rp tab in PF or create an alternative and equally accessible way for rpers to advertise without having to resort to spamming in public chat channels to reach as many potentially interested players as possible. I think this is the only solution that would put this whole situation to rest.

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Originally Posted by Istolla-Argante

Now, this pearl clutching about minors?
Thirsty twerps will do ANYTHING they can to get into spaces they shouldn't be or are told they are not "old enough" for yet.
What were you doing between 13 and 17? What 18+ forum smut were you reading or heck writing yourself?
Half my high school's english groups were on Forums, Gaia, DeviantArt and FanFiction writing alllll sorts of things and reading "adult" content.

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I was creepin' into adult fan spaces as early as, what, 12? I knew what I was doing and that it wasn't a place I belonged in, so I kept to myself and minded my own business. The responsibility was on me for ignoring all the warnings and roadblocks on the way in. It's the same with kids these days, if the riots puritanical teens are doing against creators in their own adult spaces are anything to go by. Not saying it was good that I did that or anything, but this was ages ago when the internet was a different place.

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Originally Posted by Penthea

We don't all progress at the same rate, and some peak early in their mental growth.

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"Some people grow up, some people just grow old." Or something.

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Originally Posted by hydralus

I'd still say if you're an adult on Gaia online advertising for erotic roleplay then you're absolutely a creep. That's, like, not even REMOTELY an appropriate audience.

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That's a rather interesting jump to make, valid as it is, yet considering the context of what I was saying.
IE activities of my pears in high school back in 2004/5 was entirely on what they were up to at those teen ages as an example to which; I suspect similar teens in current time do as well.
The programs and sites perhaps have changed, I actually don't know if Gaia is still around; the active hunt and lengths such teens will go to, to gain access, to read or even contribute to the creation of such content, is known quite well.

There was this one fellow in a old Tera Online guild I was part of back in 2014 or so, he, a 14yo, not only pretended to be 24, but used his older cousins images, FB, and such to pass himself off as a 24 yr lass in University, and further got into various relationships with multiple members of the guild before being caught, reported and kicked out of the guild.
Our guild was labeled 21+ only for the fact that we wanted to only be dealing with other adults, lot of the RP we all did was rather slice of life, random everyday nonsense living in the setting of Tera.

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Originally Posted by SecretIsland

Could you provide a link here? I'm interested since I didn't see it on the subreddit in my last pass.

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https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitpostXIV...lr0969/grpbtw/

I don't know if the exact cause, GM name is blocked out, timing seems right, but obviously no guarantee this is the report that triggered it.

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Originally Posted by Ovted

This isnt about ERP this is about RP in general whether if it is a pub or a cafe or dance club they are all effected. on another note talking about naughty stuff is not distributing content. that would be things such as using square to send nude photos and such. Not talking.

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...I said that?

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Originally Posted by Julisia

18+ venues aren't always ERP venues though. Most are just dance clubs with bars service in game adult beverages. What people decide to do with one another beyond that is their business. You can choose to ERP or not, that's a conscious choice. Live and let live. Seems many here don't care for the hearts of others.

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Do you really need an 18+ tag for that? I mean, this is 13+ game and features alcohol, smoking, and dancing... All content in game. Tons of role-play venues I went to served alcohol in character and none of them have been 18+ venues. You can also get emotes of all the dances in the game, including the sexy dances, and buy an emote on the mogstation where your character drinks what seems like alcohol. Don't get me wrong... I don't think all 18+ RP is ERP... I know a lot of it actually isn't. But there's flat out ERP venues, too. They absolutely have a right to exist... But again, as a role-player, I have mixed feelings about them being publicly advertised. Especially since the only articles people write about it were about Hyperion's brothels. As a role-player, I've had to defend other role-players who just like living a virtual life or playing an adventurer from people who think literally every role-player is about weird sex stuff. And I'm not even against ERP as a whole... But I'm not sure I like the idea of that sort of thing being the face of the RP community as a whole.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

An RPG - long established, especially in the context of a JRPG, as a game where you take on the role of a specific character in the pre-written story - is not inherently the same thing as free-form roleplaying between multiple people.

There is overlap in this game, but it's not what the acronym means.

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Except that Final Fantasy XIV has actual role-playing options in game. You're often given dialogue choices meant to give your personal warrior of light a personality you want. It's not as deep as let's say... Fallout: New Vegas or Planescape: Torment... But it's there. Not to mention that the developers mention creating various options for role-players. Specifically. It's absolutely allowed and encouraged.

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Originally Posted by Penthea

But back to the topic of why this thread was made, clearly this whole situation shows that the ui is missing something. The activities of players can show where something is lacking if they use something that may not be for its intended purpose. SE need to put a rp tab in PF or create an alternative and equally accessible way for rpers to advertise without having to resort to spamming in public chat channels to reach as many potentially interested players as possible. I think this is the only solution that would put this whole situation to rest.

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Far be it from me to deny more opportunities to make people suffer my roleplay but any such service will immediately come under the same scrutiny of advertisements in the PF. Nothing really stops that from being a place to advertise 18+/Actual ERP locales and the same reporting, as well as abuse of that reporting, will keep on keeping on. If it's just a categorization issue then sure, that resolves that part. Not all the players who are experiencing squeams at the possibility of 18+ advertisements.

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Originally Posted by Eoko

I mean... every single post of his is from this thread. He tread the line just enough between hateful zealot and utter ridiculous for me to assume he wasn't actually serious. I just find it even funnier he's from Balmung. That's just straight up RP meme these days.

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We have to crawl out from under the rock every so often, release spores to infect others, then retreat before daylight hits us. Don't worry, you're witnessing something natural here.

Not to entertain this too much, but it's obvious who has and hasn't interacted with kids online. It's really not hard to pick out the child. Especially if they do try to sneak into adult spaces.

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Originally Posted by VeradBV

We have to crawl out from under the rock every so often, release spores to infect others, then retreat before daylight hits us. Don't worry, you're witnessing something natural here.

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Very amusing coming from a duskwight elezen. Well done, you gave me a good chuckle :D

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Originally Posted by Eoko

It still isn't what the thread is about. But a mod getting a ton of erp reports and reaching for anything to try to do something about them with no actual evidence to actually hit them with the erp ban would make more logical sense than some GM literally thinking non-content can't be posted in PF. So... enlightening possibility.

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I don't think the problem is as black and white as what the original post was about. Yes, the GM used specific words, no the OP didn't mention ERP. There *has* to be something more. A one-man crusade against all things non-PVE, or an attempt to quell a perceived overrun of ERP without actual evidence. I'm a big fan of Occam's Razor. I'd say the rest that has come in is very enlightening.

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Originally Posted by DreadCrow

But again, as a role-player, I have mixed feelings about them being publicly advertised. Especially since the only articles people write about it were about Hyperion's brothels. As a role-player, I've had to defend other role-players who just like living a virtual life or playing an adventurer from people who think literally every role-player is about weird sex stuff. And I'm not even against ERP as a whole... But I'm not sure I like the idea of that sort of thing being the face of the RP community as a whole.

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I get being defensive about a facet of the game, or just a hobby, that is important to you. However, with every single subculture, it is going to be the outliers, or the "oddities" that people talk about. It happens with everything. Especially when media gets a hold of it. Everything devolves into "weird sex stuff" if it's an article, a news reels, or a TV show (thank you crime dramas, not). If people don't get the difference between RP and ERP, I don't think any level of defense will change their mind. So often people will just dig their heels in. If they can't accept "that's a part of the RP community, but I don't engage in that aspect of it" right off the get go, they likely aren't going to ever really change their initial thoughts on it.

Like I said in my initial post in here, I'm a long time RPer who doesn't RP on FFXIV 95% of the time. I think even if they demand blatant erp adverts to be removed, other methods, or other language will take its place. And maybe that would be better. The community that wants those things will know the codes, those that don't won't get to participate. ERP speakeasy sorta thing. It's a logical progression. Door greeters will greet you, you'll have to respond in /tell with the right phrase for the night. If you don't, the event staff will be notified via Discord/LS that X person is not to be engaged with in any way. Would be a bit more work but not all that much really. And it could put a more innocent, albeit false face forward.

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Originally Posted by DreadCrow

Except that Final Fantasy XIV has actual role-playing options in game. You're often given dialogue choices meant to give your personal warrior of light a personality you want. It's not as deep as let's say... Fallout: New Vegas or Planescape: Torment... But it's there. Not to mention that the developers mention creating various options for role-players. Specifically. It's absolutely allowed and encouraged.

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I'm not saying RP isn't valid in this game, or that it shouldn't be here, just that "the game is about [player-driven] RP because it's an RPG" is not accurate, regardless.

And no, picking your character dialogue within the story (and promptly getting railroaded to the next plot point regardless) is also a separate thing to player-driven RP.

The game has both but they're not the same thing.

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Originally Posted by Eoko

Yes, I saw that as well. However, if that is indeed the person that reported everyone and thus caused all the mess, then that makes even less sense to why erp is being discussed. That person is literally reporting mostly for what they claim are erp advertisements. If that was the report that lead to GM Wyndallus contacting all the people that created the PFs, and he didn't mention the erp factor to any of them, then it leads even more credence to this not being an erp matter and wholly an advertising in PF matter.

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They're not talking to Wyndallus. Wyndallus' name wouldn't fit the name in the censored image where the reports were made. For example, take the 'Greetings' and in the OP's image and it can comfortably fit over Wyndallus' name with some extra. In the censored image, that Greetings doesn't fit. You can also tell the last letter of the GM's name isn't an S. So perhaps it started with ERP bans and some other unrelated mod went ban-happy. Or maybe the censored image is all made up.

Honestly with everything that has occurred and come out of this, the answer to it is quite simple.

The RP community needs to start better policing itself so there's no further GM intervention that ends up with collateral damage.

Still advertise your venues and events in the PF, we have confirmation now from that email that it is indeed fine to use the other tab to do that.

However, adult spaces? Drop the 18+ and anything alluding to Brothels or ERP, ensure you have an age verification system in place for anyone that "enquires" about Adult oriented RP content, but dont disclude people from your venue if they choose not to verify, you just dont let them participate in any adult activities.

It cleans up the language in the PF

It ensures minors are not wandering in to something they shouldn't be

It protects adults that wish to partake in more adult themed activities (drinking, gambling, etc) from potentially bad situations

And most of all, it should avoid another situation like this happening again.

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Originally Posted by Ashemmi

I don't think the problem is as black and white as what the original post was about. Yes, the GM used specific words, no the OP didn't mention ERP. There *has* to be something more. A one-man crusade against all things non-PVE, or an attempt to quell a perceived overrun of ERP without actual evidence. I'm a big fan of Occam's Razor. I'd say the rest that has come in is very enlightening.

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Agreed about Occam's Razor, as I too am a fan of using it.

Occam's Razor tells me that it's one GM who's got it wrong.
- GM went after RP and ERP advertisers
- Their reasoning didn't mention ERP
- Their reasoning was that PF is not for social events
- They said it's fine to use Fellowship Finder or even /sh
- This is the first in years this has been an issue
- Evidence is showing it's only 1 GM
- Evidence shows other GM's saying it's fine to use the PF this way just make sure it abides by ToS
- Evidence from another GM suggests its okay to use PF for ERP but keep the ERP private

The leap to "ERP" seems to come from people's imaginations or from that Reddit post showing somebody reporting ERP advertisements to a GM. None of the GM's actions suggest anything to do with ERP.

Cutting all the assumptions down to one:
The GM is taking action against players using the PF in this way in error.

What that error could be could range from misunderstanding their ruling on PF to a vendetta against RPer's but neither is known.

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Originally Posted by Saefinn

The leap to "ERP" seems to come from people's imaginations or from that Reddit post showing somebody reporting ERP advertisements to a GM. None of the GM's actions suggest anything to do with ERP.

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IF we assume that is the guy, and that his thing isn't editing (Keep in mind, I looked in his comments, he's kinda hostile anyways)...

Then we can attest that his reports were on ERP things, and on the feet pics/rmt/content seller ones as well.

The GM himself only went for one section of that report however, and went to the extreme, targeting more than just anything that was clearly meant for ERP, also targeting normal RP venue's, and even one case of one that had nothing to do with any of it at all (Poor fisher man).

People were making that leap though before that reddit thread. People actually do have this weird mindset that RP is all just smut and you actively also wanna do it with your own character (Please stop messaging me thinking I wanna do that to my lalafell. PLEASE STOP.)

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Originally Posted by JanVanding

However, adult spaces? Drop the 18+
Ensure you have an age verification system in place

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I feel like I just went cross eyed.
If you don't say 18+ then how do you age filter...... do you go up to every person that walks in and ask "Hey, how old are you irl? Can I see some license and registration"?
By the way, how did this thread spiral from being about Party Finder issues to being about whether or not adults should vanish into thin air because children exist and constantly attempt to chase them around.

As others have said..hey. When I was 16? I was all over fanfiction sites. That doesnt mean the site did anything wrong, it asked me how old I was. and I lied! Turns out you get access to fun things when you lie! but that doesnt mean the fun things should pack up-I mean if you really wanted to be particular, the fault should be on Square themselves for somehow still letting kids in. So what's the solution then, delete the game? Youth are youth. They're dumb because they're supposed to be. All you can do is live your life and if you realize someone you're talking to is a kid, direct them to the nearest spongebob episode and then block them and warn the rest of us adults that "hey, we have a nickelodeon escapee running around, make sure not to talk to them". Why am I even talking about this none of this is the point-

Glad to see that GM got snatched up, but I hope they make it a lot more clear what exactly is allowed and what isnt. That's what matters most. I think the idea of having an "other" tab in the Party Finder was a great START, but needs more expanding on. Fellowship was an attempt. Community Finder was a better attempt. but you need something more...instant gratificationy.
No one wants to post on a Fellowship, it's embarrassing feeling.
and the Community Finder while useful for finding FCs isnt as usual for finding events.

Event finder..that should be the next social driven idea that they pursue. Maybe a separate window specifically for players to post current and coming events-current being the big one. People want to see something that's happening right now. Either simply put a separate "RP" tag in the Party Finder, or duplicate the Party Finder but name it the Event Finder. Something like that, ezpz.

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Originally Posted by Jijifli

IF we assume that is the guy, and that his thing isn't editing (Keep in mind, I looked in his comments, he's kinda hostile anyways)...

Then we can attest that his reports were on ERP things, and on the feet pics/rmt/content seller ones as well.

The GM himself only went for one section of that report however, and went to the extreme, targeting more than just anything that was clearly meant for ERP, also targeting normal RP venue's, and even one case of one that had nothing to do with any of it at all (Poor fisher man).

People were making that leap though before that reddit thread. People actually do have this weird mindset that RP is all just smut and you actively also wanna do it with your own character (Please stop messaging me thinking I wanna do that to my lalafell. PLEASE STOP.)

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Agreed. It's possible it went off of that report & it's possible it didn't. I mean if it did then the GM didn't really do anything to resolve or address that complaint.

But you can see it straight from the second post in this thread. The leap that RP means smut. /Some/ RP is smut. I'm on Balmung one of the most notorious servers for smutty RP and the vast majority of events I see? Not smut.

Excuse me if this already came to light, I haven't read the last... dozens of pages. It was brought to my attention late last night, that many of the players hit for advertising RP in the partyfinder were hit with a "profanity" strike or warning, example: "E/RP 18+". Many of these venues being advertised were both regular RP, AND ERP in one. The GM(s) look to be blanket banning advertisements via the partyfinder, with the intent on getting rid of ERP specifically. They seem to have gone scorched earth in the process however.

Can't see any log or proof about the claim that a "fisher" got targeted in this thread. Just one guy repeatedly making the claim and no logs to back it up.

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Originally Posted by SturmChurro

Excuse me if this already came to light, I haven't read the last... dozens of pages. It was brought to my attention late last night, that many of the players hit for advertising RP in the partyfinder were hit with a "profanity" strike or warning, example: "E/RP 18+". Many of these venues being advertised were both regular RP, AND ERP in one. The GM(s) look to be blanket banning advertisements via the partyfinder, with the intent on getting rid of ERP specifically. They seem to have gone scorched earth in the process however.

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Nothing the GM has said or done suggests ERP, this is a separate assumption.

But yes non-ERP advertisers have been targets and seems scorched earth.

The reasoning give was that PF is not for social use, which is contradicted by statements from other GM's and that it's fine as long as they don't break ToS.

The GM's suggestions also included using /sh and by proxy would mean more ERP shouts and would be more in public view than PF listings. So it's not even as if they're clamping down on ERP advertising.

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Originally Posted by Eoko

I mean, he legit hates ACT as well. They just don't often have the ability to get proof of use in any way to enforce it. But he's said a lot of times we shouldn't use it either. No third party. No mods. Some things are just harder to catch, or worth it to people to push until they get a warning. He didn't really care about cosmetic mods at first, but then they started getting really lewd and people were sharing them. And a lot of mods are also rips from other content, so intellectual property and stuff gets involved. His concerns are very legit on those fronts. But people will keep doing and using all those things. I mean, RMT is the biggest thorn in their side and that's also never going anywhere. All they can really do is investigate reports. Even if they did ban keywords for PF adverts, people would just make codes, which would be outlined offsite, which would not be said in game chat. -shrugs- I don't see an issue with Yoshi P and crew putting on the guise of a crack down. I just also know it won't do anything.

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Last time there was a lot of stir due to nude lalafel mods which obviously can be labeled as CP by law authorities. Guess who were behind this and tried to get community on their side to defend them, especially fearmongering raiders that SE will take down ACT? ERPers.

This is exactly same situation again, this entire incident was specifically a person reporting this because of ERP to GM.

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Originally Posted by Saefinn

Nothing the GM has said or done suggests ERP, this is a separate assumption.

But yes non-ERP advertisers have been targets and seems scorched earth.

The reasoning give was that PF is not for social use, which is contradicted by statements from other GM's and that it's fine as long as they don't break ToS.

The GM's suggestions also included using /sh and by proxy would mean more ERP shouts and would be more in public view than PF listings. So it's not even as if they're clamping down on ERP advertising.

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From what I have heard, it still doesn't change the fact that the actual ToS violation being cited has to do with "profanity", and the advertisements many of these players are getting reported for are for "ERP", "E/RP", and or "18+" venues. Those are the players getting specifically targeted via report, and the same players, I've been told, have gotten action taken against, again "profanity". So, yes, while it looks like social use of the PF is now or was frowned upon, players advertising adult activities look to be many of the ones getting pulled into GM jail, and given warnings or strikes. If any regular RP "establishments" are being hit, it looks to be collateral damage, in an effort to clean the PF of adult advertisements.

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Originally Posted by SturmChurro

From what I have heard, it still doesn't change the fact that the actual ToS violation being cited has to do with "profanity", and the advertisements many of these players are getting reported for are for "ERP", "E/RP", and or "18+" venues. Those are the players getting specifically targeted via report, and the same players I've been told have gotten action taken against, again "profanity". So, yes, while it looks like social use of the PF is now or was frowned upon, players advertising adult activities look to be many of the ones getting pulled into GM jail, and given warnings or strikes.

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People have filed direct reports about this and received the response that they are reviewing the actions taken by the GM and "will be taking the necessary actions to correct and resolve any mistakes that were made on their behalf", so if anyone got caught up in a blanket ban without cause hopefully at least those can be reversed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SturmChurro

From what I have heard, it still doesn't change the fact that the actual ToS violation being cited has to do with "profanity", and the advertisements many of these players are getting reported for are for "ERP", "E/RP", and or "18+" venues. Those are the players getting specifically targeted via report, and the same players I've been told have gotten action taken against, again "profanity". So, yes, while it looks like social use of the PF is now or was frowned upon, players advertising adult activities look to be many of the ones getting pulled into GM jail, and given warnings or strikes.

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It's also targeting many non ERP ones too. At no point in the logs is profanity referenced but party finder usage for social purposes.

And if it was profanity I wouldn't expect the solution to be to use /sh or the Fellowship Finder because wouldn't it still be profanity regardless of where it's posted?

There's no separate ToS stipulations for profanity between PF, shout and Fellowship Finder.

So if it IS profanity and this is what they constitute as violating this part of the ToS, then all the GM is doing is saying "go break this rule somewhere else" whilst explaining the broken rule isn't profanity but misusing the PF.

Whilst ERP was the nature of the report we know about, but there is a disconnect between the report and this GM's actions.