SE, don't invite that journalist to Fanfest... ever.

[Enla]

They exist, but even if you're an RPer--you might not know about them. That's why I related them to illegal drugs.

Saying there aren't ERP brothels and such is akin to saying "there's no illegal drugs in my town!" It's so short-sighted that it comes off incredibly ignorant. Of course they're not going to advertise in the public space or cold call you to advertise. But if you dig around some discord servers or branch out--you'll find them.

All I can say is don't take absence of evidence to be evidence of absence. I can live my entire life in my town and never meet a drug dealer or see drugs. But that doesn't mean that my neighbor isn't currently getting high or even a dealer himself. So before you go around boasting how there's no ERP on Balmung--maybe you should try to get behind closed doors and see what's actually there?

Ultimately, I don't think sex is bad. It's a basic part of being human. But when people freak out and act like it's taboo--I feel like more attention should be brought to it. Either normalize it--or condemn it. This gray area stuff Square-Enix does with botting, nude mods, and ACT is nuts.

Except I never said they didn't exist? Just that they aren't as common as you're making them out to be. I even cited my own experiences with them and touched on that ERP does happen on Balmung, we just don't have dozens of houses related to that. A fact that's exemplified by the fact that's no end to stories of ERPers sneaking into normal player housing because there aren't that many open places for them to go. My own RP partner /and/ his wife on two separate occasions walked into people using their personal houses for just that. Maybe re-read my post before you call me ignorant please.

[JackHatchet]

I agree, there's probably not dozens. I would guess maybe 10-15 on each server, Balmung and Mateus. With maybe 3-5 being active on a weekly basis.

[Hycinthus]

Normally I'd agree with you.

Except you are literally coming in here with a thiny-veiled 'but my moral high ground!' stanning for a guy who used a free trip to a fan event to...

1) Not do any research beforehand (if he was actually being honest about not knowing anything, which is still pretty damn bad considering what his job is)
2) Wasted everyone's time by asking the highest level SE staff involved with the game a public question that could have only resulted in two kinds of answers, one very clickbaity and one generic non-answer for very obvious reasons
3) Is on record to have harassed multiple attendees at the event and disparage the efforts they put into their creative cosplays
4) Wrote an asshole article about the fanbase after the fact, and little to nothing about anything that was announced pertaining to the actual game

I mean, nothing about this is even for legitimate journalistic works like criticizing how the company handles its finances or time management, or DLC practices, or anything. The guy made a conscious decision to screw with a fan gathering involving high level SE staff in full view of many other journalists in attendance as well (who probably had actual questions to ask and had to listen to this douchebag trying to bait the staff into saying something clickbaity). You literally have to go out of your way to screw this up.

Maybe if the asshole isn't interested in the actual game itself, maybe it stands to reason that he and the rest of the site should be completely blacklisted from anything SE-related. I mean, they probably wouldn't miss not being able to cover any future SE products or being able to review something like KH3 in a normally starved month like February at the same pace as actual legitimate websites, if multiple people in the staff decided they can afford to be this disrespectful towards a fan gathering of all things. (Again, consider that someone made the decision to send this ONE person, and someone else must have read over their colleague's article and decided this was a perfectly okay thing to publish instead of telling off this colleague for being a dumbass.)

SE doesn't have to suffer fools, and neither do we.

Apologies if I'm a bit naive to Fanfest, (and not trying to be sarcastic), but perhaps the journalist is really trying to approach this from a new perspective, and there's really no requirement to do research beforehand. Sometimes it's good not to have too much background before experiencing new things so you can see it unfiltered.

Maybe that's the premise of what the editor in chief of his publication sent him in for: go in with a fresh and blank slate, and just report from a laymen's perspective. Who knows right?

Again, his conclusion is not that bad: basically it's not for him, but it's cool.

[Hyperia]

Yoshi P is 'the' guy who has authority on the direction of FFXIV. He's the game director. IF he wanted to curb ERP (or even botting)--you'd think there'd be more effort, eh?

SE will only address player concerns that are reported to them. They rely on the players to help them enforce their terms of service. Do you really think it would go over well if SE implemented a system that automatically scanned all chats, emotes and player actions? It would be suicide for them if they did, thus, they only deal with ERP issues or any other TOS violations when reported.

[EusisLandale]

Apologies if I'm a bit naive to Fanfest, (and not trying to be sarcastic), but perhaps the journalist is really trying to approach this from a new perspective, and there's really no requirement to do research beforehand. Sometimes it's good not to have too much background before experiencing new things so you can see it unfiltered.

I'm not so sure your problem is being naive about Fanfest so much as it is being so about gaming journalists.
They have long since passed the point where one should assume incompetence over malice, though the former is still very much so there in many cases. No, they specifically aim to piss people off, to insult them, to make things seem as awful or bizarre as they can. Well thought out informative stuff just doesn't get enough clicks, they need rage, they need mockery, and they need you to bail on the article and go click on another one as fast as possible. The sudden shift around from mockery to "yeah it's pretty cool just not for me" is a thinly veiled attempt to beg SE to not ban them for behaving like that.

[JohnSpawnVFX]

Sure, because complaining on a forum where everyone will agree with you isn't apathy.
I'm sure complaining about this in a gardening or a fishing forum would be more effective, according to your logic. Yes, let's not talk about this in the place where the people affected by it are. Let's keep the whole process hidden from them.
My "Apathy" gets me into spending time, IRL and IG, to introduce people to RP, through different means, with varying results, it got me into arguments with people that were opposed to the whole RP/cosplay thing because they thought that was a fetish, and it got me into convincing them that MAYBE, it's just something people do for fun, and maybe, they can find it cool as well. My Apathy is getting me into actually changing things, as much as I can. We can't change the way a whole website considers RP/cosplay, but if we make society change, then those websites will be considered trash, and THEN, it won't happen.
Suppressing discussion about an article that sets RP/cosplay two steps backs and demeans fans and game staff alike seems to be what your apathy has gotten you into.
But hey, I guess it's easier to complain here than to actually get out of your way to try to convince people who do not agree with you. Can't blame you. But don't blame me when you don't know what you're talking about.

If your posts about this issue so far are indication of your contribution to fight the issue, then people on this forum are doing way more torwards it than you. You do seem apathetic torwards it, except when called out by pulling the "armchair protesters" card. Well, I don't see you out on the streets protesting or enlightening people, so as far as people here are concerned, you're an armchair protester as much as they are.

[Bellsong]

Sure, because complaining on a forum where everyone will agree with you isn't apathy.

My "Apathy" gets me into spending time, IRL and IG, to introduce people to RP, through different means, with varying results, it got me into arguments with people that were opposed to the whole RP/cosplay thing because they thought that was a fetish, and it got me into convincing them that MAYBE, it's just something people do for fun, and maybe, they can find it cool as well. My Apathy is getting me into actually changing things, as much as I can. We can't change the way a whole website considers RP/cosplay, but if we make society change, then those websites will be considered trash, and THEN, it won't happen.

But hey, I guess it's easier to complain here than to actually get out of your way to try to convince people who do not agree with you. Can't blame you. But don't blame me when you don't know what you're talking about.

An article like this is going to reach a lot more people than you or I ever could by ourselves. I RP regularly outside of FF, so I understand bringing new people into it and the ideas people have about it based on articles like these. Anyone who RP's will have to deal with people who don't get it or have a heavy bias, but the point of this thread isn't to show RP/cosplay isn't a fetish, most people here understand that. It's to try and make SE aware that the company they hosted for coverage didn't give a crap about their game or their player base, to avoid some of that bias and misunderstanding spreading even more in the future.

Get off your high horse and realize the people making their voices heard here want just as much change as you do. And, that they might be doing more than just posting here like you seem to foolishly imply.

But hey, I guess it's easier to act all haughty like you're the only one that truly cares because all you can see here are people posting their unhappiness with a choice SE made and totally ignoring the fact that SE reads their forums and will respond when enough people make it clear something is wrong.

And it's called an "echo chamber" not "apathy" if everyone agrees with each other over and over. Not like that ever happens here anyways though.

[Stanelis]

Aside the fact that what he said about cosplayers was uncalled for (sure we all know a few cosplayers who are on the "peacock strut" side, but not all cosplayers are like that), I think his article was okay. Especially his question about ERP was interesting.

[TroySoFab]

I'm not too sure why people get upset over things like ERP. Its just people saying nasty things in chat and spamming emotes. There is a profanity filter and blacklist if you don't like seeing the nasty words, and you can report someone if they are spamming emotes on you in an inappropriate way. If they are using tell and not spamming emotes on you, then it doesn't effect you.

[SoulEchelon]

snip

Uh, no. No to literally all of this.

Just because there's a race that has cat ears =/= this game is made for ERP. I guess according to you, Hello Kitty Online is one big cesspool of eroticism.

Just because there are some provocative outfits and fan service =/= this game is made for ERP. Provocative outfits and fan service are a cornerstone of almost every mmo out there, and almost every game in general. Sex sells. That doesn't necessarily mean every game featuring it is made purely for it.

Just because there's a mod scene =/= this game is made for ERP. Skyrim is overloaded with "Adult" mods. Was that game made specifically for them? No. If it was, then the base game would most certainly feature far more eroticism than it does (Which it doesn't. At most you'll get a flirty npc and vague innuendo.)

Just because Yoshi-P doesn't feel the need to waste his time trying to ban people from being "intimate" in whispers or other private chats ingame =/= this game is made for ERP. And, as Hyperia mentioned, implementing a system that targets private ERPers would be insanely intrusive to everyone and thus do more harm to the game than anything else.

And finally, comparing FFXIV to Second Life is....Wow. No. just.....No. Have you played SL? Do you know how it works other than "It's that game with usermade porn in it"? Because there is no comparison, and trying to shoehorn "mods" into the equation doesn't work either.

FFXIV mods are not endorsed by Squeenix or Yoshi-P, and using any mods that can directly affect the game is a bannable offense. Most of these mods are clothing-based; changing colors or making edits. Others however do fall into the X-rated territory. But these are client-side and don't affect anyone other than the person who installed said mods - without Squeenix's approval. Basically, if FFXIV is made for ERP simply because it can be (barely) modded, then every game out there that can be modded to include nudity are also made for ERP. Yeah, slippery slope much?

SL's very foundation is being modular. People buy and sell their creations in a Linden Labs-run marketplace (LL is the company behind SL), and thus are fully endorsed. They run the gamut of G rated to triple X, and practically everything (aside from pedophilia and a few other things thank goodness) gets the green light as long as it's labeled correctly. I'd argue and say SL itself wasn't made specifically for "ERP"ing in mind. It was made to be a completely user-generated world. LL does not supply the users with adult animations or built in genitalia to their avatars. That's all made and imported by the players of the game. But anyways I'm heading off track.

Basically, I disagree with everything stated in your post. FFXIV =/= SL, and is not made for ERP. You can't fault the developers for what the players do in the privacy of their private residences or chats.