Roleplay/Partyfinder Discrepancies & Policy Enforcement by GM's

[Airyll]

Party finder is for finding a party, if they wanted it purely for content, they could just restrict the categories better

It blows my damn mind that there are people here who don't understand this concept.

Considering that almost every other type of content has a category of its own, I want a genuine answer about what type of party the roleplay PFs are "hiding". Is it a recruitment advert? If that's the case, I could be really pedantic and say that recruiting for a static is actually a social feature, since you aren't intending to run content immediately and you're instead trying to organise a group of people to attend events at a specific time. Which, gee, if you phrase it like that... sounds identical to the roleplay PFs, which are people organising parties for people to attend events at a specific time in order to do content. Are we going to tell people recruiting for a static to go use the Fellowship Finder, too? (No, of course these people aren't, because everybody silently acknowledges that while Fellowship Finder is nice in principle, in practise it's a little bit lacking.)

What other kinds of parties could the roleplay advertisements be hiding, if not static recruitment? Can't be FATE parties, they have a category. Can't be Treasure Maps, they have one too. Eureka and Bozka? No, they have their own. Unsynced BLU alliance raids? Oh wait, that just shows up under the Alliance tab so no, can't be that...

I'm not even being sarcastic when I ask the question: what parties are the RP adverts actually hiding, when almost every other type of content in this game has its own tab and every single one of those tabs will show up higher on the "All" PF list than the "Other" tab does.

[Nakarumi]

As if a tab for non-game content (sometimes with lurid details attached) doesn’t already alienate people from a T-rated game and put SE in a bad light.

This is simply Square cleaning up the seedy part of town.

Why does Square even need to say “don’t post adult content publicly in the 13+ game?” They smack people with bans for merely using naughty words elsewhere, so why is this a surprise?

You're argument is half valid. Sultry adult content may be unwanted and uncalled for but you're throwing out the entire pantry for only a couple of bad apples. This does not resolve, nor address the central problem. I believe an additional category to the PF is a perfect compromise to the problem of what people do and do not want to see but until that is initiated... The problem is the overall content being used as a means to put "marks" on people's accounts when they're not doing any wrong at all. Especially when it's something that may simply be unwanted but NOT against the rules that are clearly written in the TOS. The actions that took place as described in the OP, are not justified.

[Kaurhz]

Talk about a chip on yah shoulder! Most RP PF I have seen have been for SFW venues like bars, taverns etc Heck I know somebody who uses PF to advertise art parties. Just tarring everyone with the same brush.

Sure, most are SFW, but the point is; is that it validates posting it up irrespective of whether it is or isn't intended for mature audiences, especially when it is something that can and should really be done through the use of Fellowship Finder. If people see advertisements for inappropriate stuff even on a fairly infrequent basis then that is reason enough for it not to be suitable to do so through PF.

[Nakarumi]

Sure, most are SFW, but the point is; is that it validates posting it up irrespective of whether it is or isn't intended for mature audiences, especially when it is something that can and should really be done through the use of Fellowship Finder. If people see advertisements for inappropriate stuff even on a fairly infrequent basis then that is reason enough for it not to be suitable to do so through PF.

This argument would sadly invalidate the use of any kind of custom PF then. The Other tab was meant to cover anything that the pre-factored categories couldn't cover. Roleplay falls into that description. If we all of a sudden discount that from being classified as OTHER qualifiable, then we may as well say that anything that isn't pre-factored into the PF criteria selection is no longer allowed by that same philosophy.

[Valterre]

This is honestly just ridiculous.

So if PF is only to be used for forming parties for attempting content at the time of it being put up, why are the same 4-5 ads for run selling constantly up on Crystal? Not only that, but they're deliberately classified under Expert/Levelling Roulette to get themselves placed at the top. If you're nuking RP off Party Finder, are you taking down '___'s AFK Club', 'Selling 1-80 Levekits', 'Lonely au ra looking for gf' and the like too?

There are people still advertising buying/selling housing plots in PF despite all SE's efforts to stop the market altogether. RP ads are the least of their worries. Let's just be honest and acknowledge the fact that there are subsets of the playerbase who absolutely despise the RP community and that's likely why those ads are being reported way more than anything else. Whether it's through a lack of understanding that maybe 10% of ads I see on a daily basis are for 'adult' venues, or perhaps a bad experience dealing with an ERPer themselves, most people can't seem to understand that most of us aren't here for that.

SE are always raving about how much they love the community aspect of FFXIV and how amazed they are at the community events that get put together by its players... so why are you restricting the advertising of those same events, RP or not? What is the 'Other' category for if not for content, which all has its own section? Nobody misuses the categories for RP, it all goes under other which usually falls to the bottom of the list. It's so easy to bypass if you're not into it.

[RickmanUK]

If the Party Finder is just for "Content" like parties for Dungeons and Raids, then surely the best step for it would be to set-up a system for all the Social Aspects into it's own one. So a "Social Finder" as a hud for all the Fellowships, FCs, RP, Statics, Crafting sales/Melds etc. This is if the Party finder is to be used only for "Content to do now/asap".

This would still have the issue that people will report things they don't like, and would still need to be kept under check.

[SturmChurro]

RP is content when there's an RP tag you can put on yourself, or put on your house. If it's accessible and encouraged in game, then it's content available.

Clearly, according to the GM, it is not.

The GM looks to be encouraging them to use chat channels instead which feels even more disruptive, so looks like we'll be seeing it regardless.

I saw fellowships, but I think I read chat channels "within reason", so hopefully we don't have to see too much of it. Too bad fellowships or whatever are apparently bad (never used it). I do think RPers should have an avenue that's neither chat spam, or in the PF.

ERP shouldn't be allowed to be advertised anywhere in-game however.

[Saefinn]

Yay, kick the brothels off PF. Keep at it, GM team! I don't even care if we lose "pls send feet pics" or "feeling depressed pls give attention" listings as collateral.

I burned through my entire blacklist with ERP/18+ ads on Aether in about three weeks. That's with only a few (10 or so) runsellers, and none of the SFW RP social blocking.

The only thing I can say, with the deepest sincerity, is get dunked on.

Except "venue" and "social event" doesn't mean "brothel". Yes I know those communities exist and whilst I personally don't have a problem with them because, hey, who am to judge what consenting adults get up to? Though I can see why the devs might not like people using PF to advertise that type of RP, particularly as they'd need to be seen as acting against anything pornographic given laws in varying countries. Just like their stance with modding too.


But that's only a small section of the RP community, their venues and their social events. I run 2 venues and have ran many social events, all of them within the game's stated ratings. My venues are a Limsan themed bar and a steppes themed ger/yurt, which is used for hosting storytelling and sometimes performances. The RP community can be pretty creative with these sorts of things can create some cool stuff...it's not all sex, most of it isn't.

The devs recognise the value of RP in FFXIV & how big its RP community is and recognise it as a completely legitimate way of playing the game to the point they have added small features here and there to accommodate the RP community.

But really this is not the issue the GM has, it's whether the Party Finder is being used appropriately. To which I say the "proper" use is not very well communicated and it is very useful for the purpose people are using it for. The Fellowship finder isn't actually very good for finding social events that are happening unless you are a member of said community running it. So there's no advertising events to people outside of that scope (and you may host events to bring people into that scope). I feel a solution could be, as there is a demand for it, either: a party finder tab used for this purpose and other advertisements that don't strictly fall under its intended purpose or upgrade the fellowship finder to advertise events outside of your fellowship so people can see what's going on "now" within the communities or as spaces to advertise in game stuff (like people looking for a static - it doesn't just have to be RP related use) and the bonus is incentive to use the Fellowship finder more.

[KalinOrthos]

Clearly, according to the GM, it is not.

Then frankly, said GM is wrong.

[Nakarumi]

If the Party Finder is just for "Content" like parties for Dungeons and Raids, then surely the best step for it would be to set-up a system for all the Social Aspects into it's own one. So a "Social Finder" as a hud for all the Fellowships, FCs, RP, Statics, Crafting sales/Melds etc. This is if the Party finder is to be used only for "Content to do now/asap".

This would still have the issue that people will report things they don't like, and would still need to be kept under check.

I find this to be a fair assessment as well. Pushing the RP community to the side into 'alternatives or workarounds' that are unequal and can't reach the same demographic that partyfinder does (especially in the context of allowing other PFs to remain such as selling clears and marketing FCs or craft services) is considered to be completely discriminatory and prejudice against the entirety of the roleplay community as a whole. Shouts, linkshells, and Fellowships are EXTREMELY limited in their outreach and exposure and would be a means of segregation from a service that is supposedly allowable to all other aspects of the gaming community.

If a separate function or feature was implemented to allow us the same ease of access for both venues and those seeking venues, then I could find this to be an amenable resolution.