RP Party finders being reported AGAIN without so much as a reason.

[Kewitt]

"Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB"

That is true but that now how the media would portray it.

Fox new how ffxiv is grooming your child full story at well now because news is 24 hours a day.

As far a TOS they don't have to explain anything and they can cut you off for any reason.

[LittleImp]

It's hard to take RPers seriously when it comes to this because of this genuinely hilarious bad-faith fantasy they engage in and pretend [18+] totally doesn't imply ERP 95% of the time. Anyone who spends a lot of time amongst Roleplayers knows this is complete and utter disingenuous BS. I'm four years deep on Balmung and have interacted with hundreds of roleplayers socially in that time. I've had more or less a front-row seat to the metamorphosis the RP community has gone through; ERP was always a thing, but the game began to develop an outside reputation for it and people migrated exponentially from other platforms to get in on it. I think SE is catching on and wants to ensure the games public image isn't taken in that direction.

There's absolutely a time and place for degeneracy. There are a lot of wonderful platforms where it's acceptable and encouraged to link up with other consenting adults with similar interests and let your desires run wild. FFXIV just isn't that place, and I'm glad the GMs are stepping up and policing it.

[fuumin]

It's hard to take RPers seriously when it comes to this because of this genuinely hilarious bad-faith fantasy they engage in and pretend [18+] totally doesn't imply ERP 95% of the time. Anyone who spends a lot of time amongst Roleplayers knows this is complete and utter disingenuous BS. I'm four years deep on Balmung and have interacted with hundreds of roleplayers socially in that time. I've had more or less a front-row seat to the metamorphosis the RP community has gone through; ERP was always a thing, but the game began to develop an outside reputation for it and people migrated exponentially from other platforms to get in on it. I think SE is catching on and wants to ensure the games public image isn't taken in that direction.

There's absolutely a time and place for degeneracy. There are a lot of wonderful platforms where it's acceptable and encouraged to link up with other consenting adults with similar interests and let your desires run wild. FFXIV just isn't that place, and I'm glad the GMs are stepping up and policing it.

You can act like the purity police all you want, but I literally just stand there roleplaying mixing drinks all night twice a week, which is not exactly what I would consider degeneracy. An age tag shouldn't matter, and neither should a random, non-explicit word? If it's a word that can literally be found in-game, why can't a player say it? That's ridiculous.

[Saefinn]

It did sound like said GM back pedalled a bit and I think some kind of official statement ought be made rather than clumsy GM responses of them trying to avoid saying something they're not supposed to would help a deal. Especially here where it sounds like where it is both okay and not okay because GM has to be vague, but at the same time, he was less vague than others

By all means contest it and if the actions get reversed you know it's a GM problem, if they don't, you know it's intentional.

With that said, by now it looks pretty clear this is about advertising 18+ RP in PF, whether rightly or wrongly, that's what's being targeted.

When this all got cleared up last time regular non-18+ RP was caught in the crossfire. Since then I've not heard of non-18+ RP PF's being taken down. And the statement sounds like they were trying to go after legitimate violations. And they explicitly said it's fine for RP and social use.

So I deduce that:
- Regular RP Advertisements are fine.
- 18+ RP Advertisements are not.

Which I think is fair. It's not an 18+ game even if online interactions are not rated. An 18+ warning isn't enough to keep away horny teenagers. The law in some countries can be very harsh on people who engage with minors even when they lie about their age. I am all for leaving to their own devices and ERP because people do it in private and don't force it into view of anybody. Heck the advertisements don't bother me personally either but there are risks of public advertisement and it sounds like they are stamping down on said advertisements.

Yes, I am aware 18+ doesn't always mean ERP, but let's face it, in most scenarios it is. And even then, they might see other 18+ advertisements inappropriate too.

But I can empathise with the continued vagueness, because it seems many have been left under the impression it's all fine and it was cleared up. Heck, I was left under the impression they were dealing with case by case advertisements and it was about whether the people engaging were breaking the law. But it sounds like it might be blanket 18+ ones they going after.

Either way, safest bet, contest it, if you're still found guilty of wrong doing, let the community know so they know they shouldn't be advertising 18+.

[LittleImp]

You can act like the purity police all you want, but I literally just stand there roleplaying mixing drinks all night twice a week, which is not exactly what I would consider degeneracy. An age tag shouldn't matter, and neither should a random, non-explicit word? If it's a word that can literally be found in-game, why can't a player say it? That's ridiculous.

Because Square Enix holds players to a separate standard than that of the content of the game. The games content is vetted by an external authority, considered acceptable and given a rating. It's static. Random interactions between players aren't, which is exactly where the ToS and moderation comes in. "Online interactions not rated" exists solely to protect the external rating authority, and has little to do at with the way the operating company of the game chooses to moderate player content.

Think of it this way;

Kids read books in school all the time that contain language they'll be disciplined for using. The content of the books are static, and the parents and teachers have agreed its acceptable for them to be exposed to it in that context.

But again, it's hard to take this issue seriously when the RPers that try to come and argue on these boards about this often have things like.. publicly accessible carrds, flists and venue sites that lay out in explicit terms exactly what their interests are. The very OP of this thread is no exception.

[Jeeqbit]

Being specific could identify the reporter, because it will probably jog your memory to who was involved and then you might be upset at them. Sometimes the reporter will even be obvious despite that, so they advise the reporter to blacklist in case.

For an advert an exception could be made, because there isn't a way to know who reported these.

I think enough information was provided though. Reminding you about the age rating of the game indicates that they thought the event was, in all reasonable likelihood, inappropriate.

[SenorPatty]

Given their past declared stance on the matter, I feel like there's some keywords they're okay with and some their not when used in combination with the 18+ tags.

Iirc, in that previous thread that got locked up, the rp venues had the 18+ listings but suggested only night clubbing activities. The gms did not have a problem with those type of adverts.

This gm saw "dalliances" with "18+" and probably made the immediate assumption that the whole thing was about sexual activities.

If what I said holds true, then moving forward, Rp venues should simply avoid using words in their advertisement that are defined or partially defined as sexual activities.

[Alaray]

Being specific could identify the reporter, because it will probably jog your memory to who was involved and then you might be upset at them. Sometimes the reporter will even be obvious despite that, so they advise the reporter to blacklist in case.

For an advert an exception could be made, because there isn't a way to know who reported these.

I think enough information was provided though. Reminding you about the age rating of the game indicates that they thought the event was, in all reasonable likelihood, inappropriate.

Specifics should be provided on a platform you pay to use. Full stop.

If you figure out who the reporter is, and then harass them, the GM's should then be pulled back to do their job again. It's not like GM's don't have the capability to deal with the situation if it's properly brought to their attention. And they're there for some reason, even if going after PF RP adverts while letting that one dude shout all kinds of obscenities in Novice Network on Aether seems to take precedence for... whatever reason. Unless they finally dealt with him, lol.

This level of ambiguity is stupid. Almost intolerably stupid.

As for the content of the ads; removing [18+] won't do anything if people think it will. It'll be the exact same event, just without the tag attached to it. It's kind of a moot point, and the only lesson here is: run your 18+ event, just don't say it's 18+ lol

[Bsrking5]

I dont get how this targeted but the RMT is left to abuse the party finder in multiple ways.

[Kaurhz]

How about we just do the courteous thing and stop advertising 18+ venues in a public space whereby people not of appropriate age are exposed to them in the first place.

I feel like if you're going to quote a dictionary meaning, you should probably quote the whole thing instead of picking and choosing what part suits your narrative, dove.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
dal·li·ance
/ˈdalēəns/
Learn to pronounce
noun

a casual romantic or sexual relationship.
"Jack was not averse to an occasional dalliance with a pretty girl"

brief or casual involvement with something.
"Berkeley was my last dalliance with the education system"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sure, but it isn't exactly a very clever idea to advertise 18+, whilst simultaneously using the dalliance. Any reasonable individual will infer they're talking about a casual romantic or sexual relationship (the former and not the latter).