GM Feedback - GM Laghegath

Edit: 11/02/2023

Ashemmi Yarkul @ Goblin has been deleted, and the associated lodestone ID no longer exists.
It seems the message may have finally been heard.

Edit: 10/30/2023
A call to action - you can help:

Stalking and harassment has been ongoing and documented for over a year and a half now, that's just from the opening of this thread. There are years worth of reports on a single player, made by the OP and a number of other affected parties. Somehow this player is allowed to stay, somehow this player seems immune from any reasonable action which should have seen an appropriate resolution.

The player continues to skirt blacklists and remains a problem within the game. The most recent endeavor involves naming an Alt with the exact same name as the OP, then hanging around friends, and passing messages and imagery through them. What this player does, would be illegal in the real world, and SE continues to take no effective action.

You're encouraged to read the thread. A running document that contains many of the run-ins with this player. If you agree that after a year and a half SE should have taken some action, you're encouraged to report in game to let the communities feelings on this activity be known.


/c/ in the profile of Ashemmi Yarkul @ Goblin is actionable. It's an open link that leads directly to smut -- which is carried and posted in game.

Let SE know that you saw this thread as well, and that the community doesn't support the behaviors.


[End of Edit]

GM Laghegath has been professional, and understanding. I can't help but think their hands are tied as my problem remains unresolved. I have spoken to them several times regarding the problem...detailed below.

A player whom I have blacklisted has taken to creating free to play alts and continues to force contact. After blacklist, this army of alts also signs my message book, leaving porn links of modified characters with Futa parts. The links are left on my message book, and said in chat around my home and the FC.

Tonight, a blackmail from the same player. "This will continue unless player z (not involved) gets lewd with me."

Avoiding a blacklist.
Continued harassment.
NSFW image links put in public view.

What more needs to happen to allow this GM to help?

This has been an ongoing issue for months and is not only affecting Ashemmi but her very active FC, which I am a member of. I'm afraid that this person will leave damaging material in my or others in the companies books at our free company house if the house is left unlocked. I can't say I think it's very fair that a longstanding member of the community is not having the proper action taken against someone sexually harassing them for weeks on end.

I intend to continue updating this thread to make visible the issue at hand.

My third report (this week), was summarily closed last night after I made an appeal to speak to a Sr. GM.

The player in question had camped (stalked) in my apartment, pinging my message book to get my attention. I appeared and asked this new alt to leave. The response was to post, per their usual method, an imgr link, the link made a blackmail request for a player not involved to lewd with them, or the torture would continue. A threat was made.

Why imgr? As soon as the content is seen, it gets deleted. Their usual effort involves posting PORN in this method, publicly, to the message book and open chat. Then delete it once seen. Rinse, wash, repeat.
With this method, a GM will never see the content, because nothing but a link happens in game.

So just ignore it, yes? Then someone else, the first person to check out the public link will get a rather indecent surprise. I have dealt with this multiple times, as friends usually look at the links, so the content finds me anyway.

This, a separate issue from simple harassment. The player involved has been asked in very clear words, multiple times, to not engage with me. They have been blacklisted as well. Loading an alt, and forcing contact again is not okay.

just gonna bump this because it feels pretty serious

I got ten days for saying a single 'curse' word in chat, and it wasn't even one of the top-tier bad ones. It was a mid-level one that starts with 'B'.

That being said, how is it that someone behaving in this manner gets no action?

I'd be putting in a new harassment ticket for every incident, and referencing old ticket numbers in every new ticket I submit.

Beyond that, I am not sure what to say. Is there another angle to this? Are we not getting the entire story? Devil's advocate and all that.

I'm just going off logic. Logic tells me that if GMs feel it's appropriate to action someone with a 10-day vacation for saying the B-word once, then the activities you describe would result in instant account closure.

They are back, tonight a different Free to Play alt. Same IMGR links, and this time an f-list. Pictures published to it and all.
The link was said in /say, and in their search info too.

GMs.. How does this person still play? I'd love an answer.

My last report was met with a form response.

They are back again tonight. Yet another porn link left in my address book(s).

Harassment, Stalking, and rather disgusting imagery.

Additional links placed in chat as well, with a group of people standing around.

Tonight has been a busy night. My lovely stalker sent another player to arrange a "meeting", which I refused.
The answer to that, load another alt to come speak with me.

Another one added to the blacklist... Another one reported.

I just dealt with something similar and it feels like it’s just allowed to keep on happening which emboldens people to continue doing so, I had three random people flood my discord and post a lot of hateful/disgusting things and when I banned them they tracked me down in game to my fc house (it was unlocked) and would not leave and kept saying really vulgar things towards me and added messages in the FC book. Nothing happened and it was pretty disheartening to see things like this just happen over and over to others as well

Another alt tonight, another post to my message book, another link to porn.
Square Enix - Sorry, but the response to this is really shameful.
A long term player along with many others have been reporting this player time after time.

Harassment, Stalking, Indecent Language and Indecent Imagery - All against the ToS.
You can do better than this.

If I post their name here, you'll take action and kill the thread in a heartbeat. Can someone, a GM, preferably a Sr reply?

GMs/square cant IP ban people???? thats surprising. even riot (one of the worst game devs out there) hardware bans.

Funny that SE just say to people "post in forum and one day we might see or care about it", World of Warcraft customer service all over again.

Sadly the server you are in is pretty notorious for this kind of action if it is really Balmung like noted in your profile, and probably SE will just say something around "your problem, not mine, don't like it, just transfer servers", but in a polite and mixed way.

And is really weird to see they not taking actions since the Terms of Service update regarding the basically consensual RP/ERP added the point to need to be in a private place and even if ONE person disagree and reported, people should get punished, in this case you can apply this and of course, the main reason, harassment attached which makes even weird since Harassment is straight up at least provided a warn, or was like this back in the day.

This situation is frustrating, because SE probably do not provide tools nor enough freedom for the GMs to ban hammer these people right away, I straight up do not believe in "further investigations", since usually received automated messages and these people keep running around.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...78484/yeah.png

Highly redacted, now the stalker has taken to showing up in FC members rooms. While they are there to make sure that I see the messages.
We really can't do anything about this SE? Seriously?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MakimaNayuta

Funny that SE just say to people "post in forum and one day we might see or care about it", World of Warcraft customer service all over again.

Sadly the server you are in is pretty notorious for this kind of action if it is really Balmung like noted in your profile, and probably SE will just say something around "your problem, not mine, don't like it, just transfer servers", but in a polite and mixed way.

And is really weird to see they not taking actions since the Terms of Service update regarding the basically consensual RP/ERP added the point to need to be in a private place and even if ONE person disagree and reported, people should get punished, in this case you can apply this and of course, the main reason, harassment attached which makes even weird since Harassment is straight up at least provided a warn, or was like this back in the day.

This situation is frustrating, because SE probably do not provide tools nor enough freedom for the GMs to ban hammer these people right away, I straight up do not believe in "further investigations", since usually received automated messages and these people keep running around.

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I haven't received responses on the last few reports, they've gone entirely unanswered.
Betting if I posted the unredacted image above without censoring, there would be fast action taken.

They're back. Followed me around, making demands.

[15:52]Ashemmi Yarkul: I don't care what she does. I don't care what you do. I want it away from me and left out of it.
[15:52]AW - Brynhildr: It is something you said that made her block me
[15:53]Ashemmi Yarkul: I have asked you on dozens of alts to stay away from me
[15:53]Ashemmi Yarkul: To stay out of my spaces.
[15:53]AW - Brynhildr: Will you tell her to unblock?

<---- Snip ---->

[15:59]Ashemmi Yarkul: I don't tell her what to do.
[15:59]AW - Brynhildr: Suggest then?
[15:59]Ashemmi Yarkul: You have been asked to stay away from me, and my spaces.
[15:59]Ashemmi Yarkul: See that you do it.
[16:00]AW - Brynhildr: One favor for anothers?

Clearly it's a "favor" being asked that I'm left alone. It's blackmail. Do this...or I'll keep harassing. Come on GMs.

Sorry to see that this is happening -- it is without doubt disturbing and disgusting in multiple levels; clearly harassment.
The last part about "favor" is laughable as the person is thinking he should get something for stopping his offending behavior.
Square Enix needs to take this issue seriously and investigate / deal with this problem ASAP before it escalates further.

For the past three days another alt has made their presence known. The same link in their search info. Another report, another form response.

There is also a porn link in their search info. It amazes me that SE has done zero about this.

Once more the stalker is back! Posted a lovely link in /say which leads to porn. Imagery of my character with futa parts going at another character.
We get up in arms about billboards... A player gets harassed, and nothing is done? SE, you should really be ashamed at this point.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ashemmi

modified characters with Futa parts.

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Modifying character data isn't b&able offense? GM's Cool with Futa PP's?

Bet if I post a porn link with that imagery in /this/ thread, I get a ban within an hour.
Links aside /stalking/ is an offense. The character following mine around /is/ an offence.
It also continues to be general harassment.

There is some good news to be had, the most recent character hasn't been seen in about a week.
Joy of all joys, a brand new level 2 character popped up with the same name just homed on a different server.
You guessed it, doing the same thing. A new updated site as well, with more images of my character and friends.

They've moved on from Futa parts to attached plastic parts.

Twelve hours later, no response to my report... Let's just add ban evasion to the list of issues.

Can't believe this has been going on since March and is just now getting resolved. Glad things are working out!

One of the misstakes OP does is that he/she seems to respond to the "stalker". Be it with writing to him/her or by moving away because of him/her. One must not give the impression that the behaviour of the "stalker" affects you in any way. Otherwise they feel "succesfull" with their behavior and continue. Without that it loses a lot of its appeal to them I guess.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ACE135

One of the misstakes OP does is that he/she seems to respond to the "stalker". Be it with writing to him/her or by moving away because of him/her. One must not give the impression that the behaviour of the "stalker" affects you in any way. Otherwise they feel "succesfull" with their behavior and continue. Without that it loses a lot of its appeal to them I guess.

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While normally you would be correct, ignoring is usually the /best/ course of action. This spread to members of my FC, to message books, etc. They were ERPing in FC member rooms with the FC members there, spouting (OOC) messages to relay to me for weeks. Sadly, SE did not act for months. What appears to have settled the issue is SE enforcing the ban hammer. Actually taking action on the player instead of ***maybe*** just a conversation. SE's response to this was shameful.

This was super disgusting to read. I'm sorry this wasn't resolved sooner. Not only were you affected, but so were your friends and FC mates who also had to deal with it. This was way more problem than it had to be and could have been easily taken care of by actually investigating and realizing that one person / or several were creating new characters every so often simply to delete / make more? Like, is that in itself not a suspicious act?

Please for all that is good for Eorzea, please get in touch. You deserve positive vibes, not this bulllala.

Update I've directly been left alone for a few months now, it seems the messaging has made it through not to contact me directly. Once a week or so I still get messages from friends who this player is leaving links to their porn, etc, in friends message books. Nothing like using someone's friends to stalk them I suppose.

At any rate, I was floored, my request to speak to a Sr. GM was answered -- after nearly a year. A tell came while I was in duty, and a tell came a minute later with the GM moving on. I sincerely hope that GM answers my response (GM Azilenmity) via support desk, yet I'm incredibly confused as to why it took so long to get a response for an ongoing issue which effects more than one player.

Wondering if the issue has resolved since the beginning of this year of if this horrid situation still continues with no clear action from SE.

They are back, and the gloves are coming off. This shouldn't be a thing for this long.
They've assumed a character: Ashemmi Yarkul @ Goblin
Then opened an F-List for all of the lovely imagery. I don't need to link it, we all know what /c/ is. Yes, /c/ you'll find it.
This is the same imagery, the same disgusting ploy I've seen for years.
This fake Ashemmi has been slinking around friends, making sure that I'm told.
Random, level 1 alts come loiter behind me, and while they don't speak -- it's certainly known.

SE needs to put some teeth behind a blacklist. It needs to protect our player run homes, venues, apartments. It needs to hold across the account, an alt shouldn't bypass it.

I've reported again, as have multiple friends. Nothing has happened, the player remains.

@Naoki Yoshida
@Yoshi-P

We all understand the cultural unease that is possible by being removed from the friends list.
The negatives far outweigh. You have someone here is stalking, disrupting the enjoyable play of others, and peddling smut.
Policy allows them to stay? The potential cultural unease prevents the removal of truly bad people from personal play?
I challenge the mods and GM to put this thread in Yoshi P's hands... This thread is a shame. This thread highlights not taking care of your players.

These stalkers need to find better things to do with their life

Is it time to hunt down their ip address and do the job manually?

In the back of my mind, I'll admit a certain appeal. Sincerely, what I think would be better...
If the community would rally, and speak to SE that this isn't acceptable.

Do it with the pen, so to speak. How many reports might it take, how many can this community produce without a single person spamming?

Actionable items for "Ashemmi Yarkul @ Goblin" :

The /c/ in the profile leads directly to smut.
Include that you saw in /this/ thread, how the player had been stalking and harassing -- with no visible remedy.
Let SE know that /we/ don't appreciate this in our environment.


How many GM calls need to be answered before it's taken seriously?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Elkanah

Is it time to hunt down their ip address and do the job manually?

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They will just use a VPN. They could be running the game in a virtual environment too, masking their hardware specs. But I don't think SE is even capable of banning someone based on hardware with the current way their game works. SE obviously will value having freetrial players over the sub 0,1% playerbase which has issues like this one, so the only reasonable solution would be to limit what a free trial player can do. Unless friends with a player, they shouldn't be able to enter housing or use messaging books - would be a start. There was rumor once about a feature to be able to filter out other players based on your criteria, not sure if a mod can do that already. There could also be a chatfilter to not display messages from freetrial players for cases like this one.

This is all a development solution though, something GM's cant fix, devs do. FFXIV has abyssmal privacy and stalking protection - this has been an issue for years - maybe it is time to polish that image up a little Yoshida-san.

For the meantime the player can try to reduce their attack surface, e.g. by removing the messaging book, disable 'say chat' in chatfilter and stop posting updates here, as the stranger will probably enjoy to read the fruits of his lunacy. And it might also attract other weirdos. Wasting so much time on stalking though...someone is desperate.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Commander_Justitia

For the meantime the player can try to reduce their attack surface, e.g. by removing the messaging book, disable 'say chat' in chatfilter and stop posting updates here, as the stranger will probably enjoy to read the fruits of his lunacy. And it might also attract other weirdos. Wasting so much time on stalking though...someone is desperate.

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Absolutely everything you say is valid. I in fact did remove my message books, but disabling 'say' is a non-starter. A player really shouldn't have to reduce the quality of their game, and limit the important and valuable interactions with other players to protect themselves. I even locked my personal spaces for a long period of time, opening them only when I was present. That's not how the game should be.

While SE may not be in position to ban on hardware, and an IP ban is a futile attempt (sort of). I've proven over and over that the player is one in the same. There is absolutely no way that an alt should come day after day after being reported for things which are against policy and there is a verifiable trail. It's either laziness, or lack of effective policy -- and that's truly what needs to be fixed. Technical things can come later, they can be part of the development plan. Reasonable customer service, ie protecting when an issue is pointed out should be an every day expectation. My goal is to make the community better, to make it safer for those who might be more affected. Staying quiet just lets the problem ride.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ashemmi

That's not how the game should be. [...]

or lack of effective policy [...]

Technical things can come later [...]

Staying quiet just lets the problem ride.

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Yeah it shouldn't be. But I doubt the effective policies always exist in your country, Japan has some cyberbullying laws for example. I think in some liveletter or discussion round they talked about how some players got visits from police lol. So if he is unlucky, maybe that will happen too... It may be easy for you to prove, but from a legal standpoint, for a company - they can't always or are not allowed to.

What they can do easier is "technical things" so this is your best bet. I hate how you will be trackable over lodestone for example, even if you change your name - that needs to change badly - would reduce these type of problems massively. Also it should remove the friend on their list, if you remove them on yours, which sadly won't happen right now. Or how crafted items will show the new name too. Or how you can click on PvP leaderboards on old names and still get relinked to the new profile. It is sadly not a simple change.

And well yeah, nothing is perfect, in the end it is a game huh... I don't play much anymore, I quit my sub like every month I play on purpose even, it gives you an option to give feedback why you quit - for some reason I feel like the data they get from that field is the data they look most at (because it actually hurts their income). Even if you effectively quit for 0 seconds, you can still fill it out.