Regarding the Revision of the Prohibited Activities and Account Penalty Policy

[PharisHanasaki]

I don't think you completely understand the broadness of these rules being punt in by SE and the lack of any definitions tied to them

I do. I'm also aware that I agreed to the terms that stated that my account does not belong to me, nor anything related to it.
And it also said that my account coukd be terminated at any thing for any reason, without SQEX having to notify me.
I'm still fine.

[Xtrasweettea]

I do. I'm also aware that I agreed to the terms that stated that my account does not belong to me, nor anything related to it.
And it also said that my account coukd be terminated at any thing for any reason, without SQEX having to notify me.
I'm still fine.

Then you will be completely fine with having yourself getting disciplined for things you say in chat or perform in the game that could be harmless to you and your closest friends, but not to 3rd party who is witness the action or can see the words you typed on the screen. You will be good with being disciplined, even if it is no more than a warning at first, for such words and actions due to the broadness of the rules and the lack of SE defined terms.

If you can accept those things, then good for you. That is your sub money.

[Melichoir]

Then you will be completely fine with having yourself getting disciplined for things you say in chat or perform in the game that could be harmless to you and your closest friends, but not to 3rd party who is witness the action or can see the words you typed on the screen. You will be good with being disciplined, even if it is no more than a warning at first, for such words and actions due to the broadness of the rules and the lack of SE defined terms.

This was one of my concerns with the rules broadness as well. Things you and those close to you know to be jokes, or beliefs you may hold, or etc can be used as a method of punishment if someone who is not even aware of the context or part of it hears it. If the person who reports has a certain belief or bent, or the GM does, then people can be banned or suspended over things that they really honestly shouldnt be. Thats a core issue with the "emotional distress/offense" reasoning: If someone finds it offensive, context be damned.

[Lium]

Then you will be completely fine with having yourself getting disciplined for things you say in chat or perform in the game that could be harmless to you and your closest friends, but not to 3rd party who is witness the action or can see the words you typed on the screen. You will be good with being disciplined, even if it is no more than a warning at first, for such words and actions due to the broadness of the rules and the lack of SE defined terms.

If you can accept those things, then good for you. That is your sub money.

That won't happen. You and many others posting here are running to the worst possible places with this. Contrary to what you guys think, no one cares about you or what you say. The vast majority of players are only concerned with whatever it is they're doing.

If you never had a problem before, you won't have one now.

[Melichoir]

That won't happen. You and many others posting here are running to the worst possible places with this. Contrary to what you guys think, no one cares about you or what you say. The vast majority of players are only concerned with whatever it is they're doing.

If you never had a problem before, you won't have one now.

No one is saying the vast majority, problem is were saying a vocal minority will in regards to these kind of concerns. And this we have evidence of thsi happening on other platforms that instill similar broad and ambiguous ToS. From games to Social media, the broad user base is silent on most of this. Its a smaller more contentious segments of that base that are hyper vocal and resort to using adn abusing the system. This is what some people are concerned with. Im not sure why you think that this wont happen when weve seen it happen on other platforms and games. Why should we expect this to be any different.


The great irony I think is that people arent opposed to GM intervention as we can see situations where people are clearly abusing the system, but most people want very clearly defined rules and territories. This is not whats being given to us.

[Fyce]

That won't happen. You and many others posting here are running to the worst possible places with this. Contrary to what you guys think, no one cares about you or what you say. The vast majority of players are only concerned with whatever it is they're doing.

If you never had a problem before, you won't have one now.

This is simply not true. SE clearly told us that they want to take things in their own hands from now, because their previous stance on the matter -ie: "let the community regulate itself"- isn't working anymore. SE will regulate cases that they wouldn't review before. It's a full on 180° turn from what they have done until now. Brushing that off as easily as you do is simply being either ignorant or careless.
So far, you don't have a single proof or even clue as to what SE clearly defines as "abusive behavior". We are talking about a japanese company with their own views on that definition. And that's what they now want to enforce with this "major change to [their] fundamental policy".

In short, things that were previously handled by the community itself are now going to see SE get involved and ultimatly have the last word regarding what they think is offensive or not.

I sincerely wish I was able to have your optimism and willingness to think that "nothing will change", or that it's as simple a "don't be a jerk" even if you actually have no idea what SE think being a jerk is... But the thing is, people have legitimate reasons to think about the worst case scenario. The official forums are the best example of SE's possible harsh policy. Thinking "that won't happen" where there are obvious precedents is not everyone's default stance when their account is at risk of getting striked and -because of SE's Account Penalty system- eventually banned.

It does affect everyone. Everyone's behavior will be under SE's jugement and possibly banhammer, which wasn't the case before. At least not so strictly. Heck, that's the point, we don't actually know how strict they want to be.

[Lium]

I sincerely wish I was able to have your optimism and willingness to think that "nothing will change", or that it's as simple a "don't be a jerk" even if you actually have no idea what SE think being a jerk is...

It's not optimism, it's realism. I can bet you my next month's sub fee that your account will be fine. I can promise you my account will be completely okay going forward. I (sort of) understand where many of you are coming from with the concerns about the vagueness of the new rules, but I really think this is just hyperbole. People just freaking out for no reason.

Just look at the posts in this thread. "Welp. Guess I can't talk to anyone anymore." "If I tell a healer to DPS a little I can get banned now!" Just no. No you are not. Posters have already tried to tell me that some of the things I've said in this thread are violations under the new rules. One guy/gal even said they were going to report me.

Guess what? I'm fine. You will be, too. I cannot stress enough how little people care about you. And I'm not saying that in a bad way. People are just more concerned about what they're doing. (Myself included.) And for the odd person that does report you for something that seems like a non-issue, the GMs can look at chat logs. They can see what's going on. I can promise you they won't take action on a scenario like what I described above. And by the way, I'm basing my opinions on many other MP games I've played that have had similar rules changes.

People freaked out in those games, too. Nothing happened.

[Melichoir]

Ive seen teh opposite where broad ToS were implemented. Overtime, the toxicity and abuse ramped up, not down, as the player base turned into a "gotta pull the trigger first lest I be banned" or people were less likely to associate with people they didnt know. Rules like these tend to push for the race to the bottom, not clear up the issues.

[Thatusernameistaken]

It's not optimism, it's realism. I can bet you my next month's sub fee that your account will be fine. I can promise you my account will be completely okay going forward. I (sort of) understand where many of you are coming from with the concerns about the vagueness of the new rules, but I really think this is just hyperbole. People just freaking out for no reason.

Just look at the posts in this thread. "Welp. Guess I can't talk to anyone anymore." "If I tell a healer to DPS a little I can get banned now!" Just no. No you are not. Posters have already tried to tell me that some of the things I've said in this thread are violations under the new rules. One guy/gal even said they were going to report me.

Guess what? I'm fine. You will be, too. I cannot stress enough how little people care about you. And I'm not saying that in a bad way. People are just more concerned about what they're doing. (Myself included.) And for the odd person that does report you for something that seems like a non-issue, the GMs can look at chat logs. They can see what's going on. I can promise you they won't take action on a scenario like what I described above. And by the way, I'm basing my opinions on many other MP games I've played that have had similar rules changes.

People freaked out in those games, too. Nothing happened.

Anyone who has played Heroes of the Storm will be very worried about these changes. Blizzard implemented an automated report system where you could report someone just for picking a Hero you didn't like...AND THEY WOULD ACTUALLY GET SUSPENDED. The forums were flooded with people who got banned with absolutely no reason given as to why, and most of them were legitimate players legitimately playing the game the way they thought was best for the team. But someone disagreed with them and reported them...and they were actually suspended. I played for a while after they made this policy, and the voice chat in my games was absolutely silent after this because we were all scared of getting banned. This, combined with a few other major problems with the game, eventually led to it being so unpopular Blizzard pulled the plug on it.

People have every right to be worried about this.

[Nedkel]

This is simply not true. SE clearly told us that they want to take things in their own hands from now, because their previous stance on the matter -ie: "let the community regulate itself"- isn't working anymore. SE will regulate cases that they wouldn't review before. It's a full on 180° turn from what they have done until now. Brushing that off as easily as you do is simply being either ignorant or careless.

What does "isnt working anymore" exactly means, because as far as i know FFXIV has the most kind community in the entire mmo genre.