Regarding the Revision of the Prohibited Activities and Account Penalty Policy

[GhibliTheSW]

So that means by virtue of playing the game in any way, I am both simultaneously offending people and being offended by people having different play styles that aren't conducive to mine.

Thus, 100% of people are ban-able just by virtue of playing FF14.

Great rules.

[NessaWyvern]

And? No mod is going to take action just because, "Well, under some extreme circumstances, 'hi' could potentially be construed as offensive; bans all around."

Civilized interaction isn't under attack here.

Well, I'm pretty sure people have been reported and had disciplinary action before for spamming "Hello!" and "Nice job!" in the Feast when someone messes up, so I wouldn't say it's completely left-field.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...chat_commands/

[MuseTraveller]

Gm's are human too. You think that a guy having a bad day who's had to look at multiple reports taking your comment to offense is going to give you leniency?

No such thing as crooked cops, right.

There are MANY examples of lesser offenses getting players banned from the forums.

I do agree here but again if you are watchful of what you say and not intentionally harming anyone, why should you worry so much?
This is also a good example of, well I expressed my opinion, I can't change anyone's so... this is where my replies end.

I do understand the worry but I think it's really exaggerated. Just play nice, help people out if you can, leave politely if you can't and enjoy the game.

[Celef]

And? No mod is going to take action just because, "Well, under some extreme circumstances, 'hi' could potentially be construed as offensive; bans all around."

Civilized interaction isn't under attack here.

Who knows ? It GM discretion so how can we be sure how sentences will be interpreted by GM ?

[MoonMiracles]

Expressions that any reasonable person would find offensive.

This is my only real, "big," thing that needs to be changed/removed. The fact of the matter is that, "Reasonable," is extremely subjective and everyone has a wide and varying degree on what they consider offensive or inoffensive. Leaving it up to GMs means leaving it up to their bias (and yes, it's biased, as they must decide for themselves whether or not they personally would find the comment(s) offensive).

While I'm sure that this policy was put into place with good intentions, it's easily abused, and it's easily misrepresented by new and old GMs alike (language barriers, tolerance levels, management environment, etc). Ultimately, I think this point, in particular, should be removed (as many other points already cover offensive behaviors that would fold into this rule).

Expressions that unilaterally reject another person's opinion.

Unilaterally: used to indicate that something is done by only one person, group, or country involved in a situation, without the agreement of others.

I think this particular bulletpoint just needs better phrasing. There's a reason people are misinterpreting this to be, 'You can't have disagreements anymore!' Different playstyles exist depending on difficulty and preferences. And there are plenty of "hot topic" debates about what "is" and "isn't" acceptable to do in XYZ situation (everyone remembers the Cleric Stance discussion). And that's just tackling game-related things and not the plethora of conversations/debates that happen online. If someone comes in and says, "No, I think X way of playing is wrong/ineffective/etc," this phrasing leaves it open that they could be banned for it. It's just messy and I think the phrasing could be cleared up.

Expression that contravene public order and morals.

This is another one I know came from a good place but definitely needs clarity. Given the political state of some places XIV is housed in, this is a policy that gets messy real fast. Also, the use of "morals," here is probably unnecessary and is a major grey area.


Ultimately, I think a lot of the changes were necessary and I'm thankful for them. But, I think that this update needs a "hot fix" on terminology and possible removal of expressions that any reasonable person would find offensive.

[Geigerette]

I see no problem with these. Be a good person, be excellent to one another and be a compelling, and valuable member of the community and ones account should remain in good standing. We have too many jerks to deal with day to day in real life, and games are to get away from that for some people. Don't take your bad day out on others period, but especially don't do it in a game.

[Rowde]

GMs are human too... and capable of applying common sense. Tired GM is just as likely to say "seriously, you're wasting my time reporting a player because they called a Lalafell short?"

Doubly so if dismissing it means all they need to do is click the delete button instead of having to take action.

Yeah except you aren't taking what they actually write in the report into account...

If their report provides a viable reason why the word "short" triggers them, then it would be considered valid under these new terms. After all, there technically wasn't any reason to specifically call out that when the "offending" player simply could have said "I didn't see the other player there." They didn't have to call them "short" on top of that.

[Rockette]

I do agree here but again if you are watchful of what you say and not intentionally harming anyone, why should you worry so much?
This is also a good example of, well I expressed my opinion, I can't change anyone's so... this is where my replies end.

I do understand the worry but I think it's really exaggerated. Just play nice, help people out if you can, leave politely if you can't and enjoy the game.

Because of this.


Re-read this thread. There are a people who have been banned up to 4 times for the same offense, via multiple emails (perhaps multiple GM's approving a flag?) a system that is clearly broken and we have no indication of any corrections. Of course there are legitimate needs for rules and consequences but don't be so blind. Look at the hundreds of examples of this going wrong.

There is no appeal process. There is now no streamlined rule set. All decisions are final.

[KaivaC]

Well, I'm pretty sure people have been reported and had disciplinary action before for spamming "Hello!" and "Nice job!" in the Feast when someone messes up, so I wouldn't say it's completely left-field.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...chat_commands/

And therein lies a core part of the problem. People don't know how to take criticism anymore, and bad play is rewarded with with a coddling mentality. Yes, this is a casual game for the most part - that doesn't mean people need to walk on eggshells in fear of getting reported for pointing out things. This whole 'please don't say anything even slightly negative' mentality that we seem to be going towards and the devs seemingly pushing towards it is creating a disturbing trend.

I'm interpreting this revision as a step towards that direction.

[hynaku]

They should just add single player option. Where you be by yourself and no others around. It would make it a lot easier on them.