Regarding the Revision of the Prohibited Activities and Account Penalty Policy

[Freyt]

It isn't, because yours is one of two sides to the story. For all we know, you could be FoS and tunnel visioned the entire time in there. But going by just what you said, no corrective action would be taken against you because you didn't do anything wrong. However, you could report this person because they ARE harassing you. It's the very definition of it. He/she is also obstructing gameplay by trying to get a chat response out of you during a boss fight. These changes are not in place to punish good players who are respectful and courteous. If you are one of these players, then be at ease.

But I emotionally distressed them, regardless if I intended to or not. If this scenario were to happen today, I would be susceptible to a penalization. Additionally they would also be susceptible to the penalization. However I was not under emotional distress when this occurred, so shouldn't we find an equitable solution and ban me instead? Only then would our emotional damage be equivalent, mine from being banned, and theirs for getting triggered by my healer performance.

[WaterShield]

We're not in for anything. Nothing is going to change.

Hello, Global Community Producer Toshio Murouchi here.

As of some of you may already know, we recently announced a revision to our service policies on the Lodestone. We recommend that everyone read the changes, as they are extremely important.

■Regarding the Revision of the Prohibited Activities and Account Penalty Policy ( NA / EU )

Revised Policies in Question
●Prohibited Activities in FINAL FANTASY XIV ( NA / EU )
●Account Penalty Policy ( NA / EU )

I understand that some of you may feel like account penalties have become much harsher compared to the previous policies, due to changes like the suspension period being extended for certain penalties.

Under the previous policies, some issues were difficult to address due to them being on the cusp, such as actions that were “Negative, but not severe enough to take action.” Additionally, we felt that the 3-day suspension did not have the desired inhibiting effect for some of the more severe issues. Therefore, we decided that a change was necessary. We held numerous discussions internally and ultimately landed on these changes.

We are striving to create a comfortable environment for our players, so that, if they do experience a negative incident, we are able to assist them as much as possible (and, if necessary, get involved in the situation). Please understand that these changes were necessary in order for us to achieve that goal.

On a side note, we have been noticing an increase in issues involving social media, video sites, and live stream channels. Please take this opportunity to go over the FINAL FANTASY® XIV User Agreement and be more mindful of others.
Overall, these policy changes are some of the largest adjustments we have made since the commencement of service, and we will continue to explore ways to provide a better environment for the community. Feel free to let us know if there are certain topics you would like us to improve upon.

Thank you for your continued support of FINAL FANTASY XIV!

Check out the bold parts with special attention to the red.

[Senliten]

You sure can report them. And then sit back and watch as absolutely nothing happens to the person you reported, because the GMs will be able to tell that what you did is a perfect example of abusing the system. This is the kind of dumb example I was talking about. People screaming that the sky will fall now.

C'mon. Be an adult.

Ya know, that's the funny thing about policy changes. What used to be okay or standard practice before, can easily not be okay down the road. You can't say for 100% certainty that nothing has or will change, cause we do not know the new internal provisions GMs will have to do to accomodate this update.

So why risk it? Better to call them out on it for clarification now then to have the first offense occur and no one bat an eye. Which is all that a lot here are simply asking for.

[PharisHanasaki]

But I emotionally distressed them, regardless if I intended to or not. If this scenario were to happen today, I would be susceptible to a penalization. Additionally they would also be susceptible to the penalization. However I was not under emotional distress when this occurred, so shouldn't we find an equitable solution and ban me instead? Only then would our emotional damage be equivalent, mine from being banned, and theirs for getting triggered by my healer performance.

You are problaby not in emotiobal distress. You may be upset, annoyed, etc. But as I said, if you are truly experiencing emotional distress, report and talk to a doctor. Because it's unhealthy and I know it from experience. I understand you are used to thinking of the worst case scenario. But they probably udated the rules due to thenumber of reports that did not technically infringe the ToS, but should have.

[Tempest222]

It isn't, because yours is one of two sides to the story. For all we know, you could be FoS and tunnel visioned the entire time in there. But going by just what you said, no corrective action would be taken against you because you didn't do anything wrong. However, you could report this person because they ARE harassing you. It's the very definition of it. He/she is also obstructing gameplay by trying to get a chat response out of you during a boss fight. These changes are not in place to punish good players who are respectful and courteous. If you are one of these players, then be at ease.

The point is, how any player or GM would view and choose to handle a certain situation is irrelevant, these new guidlines have no boundaries and make it so any GM can handle any situation in any way they feel like, and there is no recourse for the player, as all decisions are final and permanent. Just because you think it would be unreasonable to dole out a punishment in that scenario doesn’t mean every GM would agree, and if they did decide to issue an account penalty they’d be completely backed up by the new “rules” as they are so vague they can be stretched to encompass just about anything.

The guidelines are too vague and are open to literally any interpretation under the sun, amd we are left completely at the whims of GMs who’s personal opinions and biases we cannot possibly guess, amd left in a position of not knowing what types of behaviors will be punished and it what ways since every GM will have a different opinion and will essentially have no concrete rules to shape their decision process.

I mean, case in point right here. If I was a GM my default stance would be to only issue account penalties in pretty severe situations as even something as minor as a warning is fairly serious as any ,ark against an account is permanent and cumulative and over time a handful of cautions could escalate to suspensions or even bannings for minor things that could be solved by the blacklist. In th referenced scenario, assuming both players put in a report, I’d throw out both tickets as my threshold for what constitutes harassment is higher than so,one complaining about lack of heals. Obviously lots of other people would feel punishment was deserved much sooner than I would, and that’s the problem. I’m not saying that my assessment of any situation is more right than someone else’s, just that given essentially no concrete guidelines, there will be very inconsistent punishments doled out for the same sorts of behaviors just based on differences in the opinions of whoever is going over the tickets. There shouldn’t be so much wiggle room.

[PharisHanasaki]

Check out the bold parts with special attention to the red.

Read the full sentence: and we will continue to explore ways to provide a better environment for the community.

[NanaWiloh]

I am not worried about the policy but the people on this thread panicing over it. Your panic makes you most likely to get yourself reported or be a problem for others do too your worry.

[WaterShield]

Read the full sentence: and we will continue to explore ways to provide a better environment for the community.

Which will be further changes... indicating that things in fact will change.

Also I am exercising the part that says "Feel free to let us know if there are certain topics you would like us to improve upon."

[Anger]

This whole issue baffles me. If you don't intend to break the rules why are you concerned? Just don't break the rules and you have nothing to worry about.

If you intend to break the rules then there would be cause for concern.

Some of the issues stated are very obvious right-and-wrong topics. For example, a "reasonable" person would understand that Stalking is not okay.

[Gemina]

I'd rather people had the ability to talk things out with clearly defined rules dictating what is too far.

Just giving an example of what we're in for with the new rules.

Why is it so important for the line to be clearly drawn? Usually the best way to avoid falling off of an edge is just to stay clear of it.

All of this can quite literally pass right over you if you simply play the game and use common sense while doing so.

All of the reactions I have seen in this multi-page topic reminds me a lot of being in a class at school or at work where the rules are continuously bent and broken, until a new teacher or boss comes in and puts a stop to it. It isn't well received because they feel like QoL goes down for them. To all those this applies to, I don't know what to say really. Being an adult isn't always fun, I guess?