New rules on "Prohibited Behavior"

I understand that someone in your company convinced you to step it up on "harassment" in your video games. Maybe that someone is in an unassailable/untouchable position high up in the company, and so it isn't going to be possible to reconsider this course, but here I am anyway to voice my opinion.

So far, FF14 has been a very warm, welcoming, and fun community to be a part of. Aside from gold spammers (whom I report whenever I port to Limsa), there has been no weirdness with this community.

That is especially of note because I am a troll, and I love being entertained by other trolls. You may think that makes me a bad person. Some people will swear up and down that this is the case, but it isn't. I do not harass people. I do not stalk people. I do not sexually frustrate or cajole people. I simply make sarcastic comments, be edgy, and poke fun at things that people post.

As an example, someone asked me for fashion tips the other day on a stock character with no gear or glamour on. I didn't report them. I didn't reply. I laughed, and I moved on. But I wasn't sure that what they were saying was sarcastic or in earnest.

Under your NEW rules, I could have reported them and gotten them into trouble. This is ridiculous.

I want to say again; I am a troll, but I am not a bad player nor am I a bad part of any community that I take part in. I pay my monthly fee, I do not harass people, and I do not do anything that is ACTUALLY inappropriate. I enjoy edgy humor, and it is a wonderful escape from real life when it happens.

I love your game. It has grown on me. I want to continue to love your game. You have an amazing community in this game, and they all (I am sure) want the good times to continue. Now, strictly because I enjoy laughing at jokes on the internet, I will have to not only watch what I type, but watch what I do and how I do it in-game. Even innocuous things are now up for review because you have decided to make intent of the accused unimportant. It doesn't matter if I intended to simply help someone out with a boss they were clearly not understanding, if they didn't ask for my input, that could be considered "Prohibited" if they simply FEEL upset or harassed by my advice.

This is a terrible change in policy. It opens the door to abuse of the system, it will overtax your GMs, and it will inevitably erode and destroy the wonderful community you ALREADY HAVE in the game.

Your game already has a report and block function which solve 99.99% of all problems that crop up in the game and have done for as long as they have been in the game. The other .01% of cases a GM or local authorities can handle it

There is no problem in existence that demands these policy changes in order to fix it.

I love this game and the people in it. Please reconsider this change and allow us to keep escaping to this great place you have built. Please do not turn this fun place into a minefield of mysterious offenses, backstabbing, and paranoia.

"Your game already has a report and block function which solve 99.99% of all problems that crop up in the game and have done for as long as they have been in the game. The other .01% of cases a GM or local authorities can handle it"

Unfortunately, this is not the case from what I have seen. I've seen players park large mounts in the middle of community events to grief. I've heard of stalkers using the player search function to follow their victims in the open world. I've seen people run up to open housing plots where a group of players is trying to buy from the placard and spam flashy skills and dissonant bard performances in the middle of the group. I've seen max level gathering and crafting bots go unbanned for years because they are using tooling more sophisticated than the Special Task Force detection program. None of these issues can be solved by blacklisting the offending player.

Also- I've seen that you are concerned about the intent behind possible questionable actions. The wording of the policy changes state that GMs can use their discretion. This means if some one files a frivolous report that could possibly maybe technically break the new rules, the GMs are not obligated to act against you. If anything, the new policy takes intent even more into account.

As for lighthearted trolling- as long as you keep it to people who you know are fine with those interactions, you should have nothing to fear. No one is going to try to police what you do with closed friend groups. However, if you troll in public channels without caring who might be hurt, then it would be best to take those statements private. Not just for the sake of not being banned, but for the overall community health.