It's almost like SE encourages stalking in this game...

[Floortank]

For those who are unaware, this means that so long as you know a person's character ID, you can simply type it into the URL (e.g., na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/[CHARACTER ID]/) and know what their current character name and location is..

By "location" do you mean it says what server or data center you're on? Because it doesn't reveal your character's zone location or "position" location, yet you described an instance of someone always being within sight of you, even out in some empty zone where there's nothing to do.

Even if lodestone showed your location, it still only updates every few hours or so. I played for about 1.5 hours tonight as a MCH and logged, and I'm still on there as DRG from my logout 18 hours ago.

Players can /search you in the game with a command string, so you being stalked directly inside the game is not related to the Lodestone.

EDIT: To make myself clear, I sympathize with you, but the removal of the Lodestone profiles would not stop someone from following you in game. While it would make it so that you could server transfer, fantasia, or name change unnoticed, and thus shake your stalker, these options do not exist primarily to deal with stalkers and should not be treated as such, nor should people be compelled to leave their server, change their name, change their appearance, or leave their FC to deal with a stalker.

The thing is, if you have evidence of a person following you from zone to zone, and you report it, a GM can 100% confirm that they're moving into zones right after you are. They can also check player keyboard inputs and see that they're typing your name into a search string or pulling you up within the search menu. A GM can tell whether someone has just incidentally returned to Limsa while you're there, or if they followed you across multiple zones over the course of the day. This information is not invisible to them, and they do not "do nothing." If you have more than just coincidental evidence of someone arriving where you are consistently and bothering you, report it.

It is 100% a prohibited activity per the prohibited behaviors document.

[_Pigzig]

what are they gonna do when they find me, dance with me?

[Floortank]

Sure, but there's absolutely, positively no need to obsess about it, worry about it, have anxiety over it, etc.

How can I say that with confidence? Well... do you obsess, worry, have anxiety and fear driving to work daily? Driving to work, you have about a 1 in 10,000 chance of being killed in an auto accident, if you live in the United States.

If you live in the United States, you have about a 1 in 15,000 chance of being murdered at all during a calendar year. I cite 'all murder' figures just to make a point. Actual murders performed by stalkers ranges from (depending on which data you believe) 20% to 80% of all murders. We can split the difference on that data and call it 50%. That's 11,000 murders for 330 million people, or about 1 in 30,000.

1 in 10,000 you die from an auto accident: "No worries. I do 75 in the 65 all the time."
1 in 30,000 you die from murder: "ZOMG this is terrrible!"

What gives? Where are all the threads on being a better driver? Instead we worry about virtual stalkers?

Actually, screw threads on better driving, even. Where the hell are threads on home safety? 173,000 people died in 2020 of accidents at home. That's a whopping 1 in 2000 chance, per year, per person. In other words, you are fifteen times more likely to die from a fall in the shower as you are from a stalker.

Don't even get me started on eating healthy (heart disease, the #1 killer of humans), quitting smoking, avoiding / controlling diabetes and getting regular cancer screenings. Shoot, even murder doesn't get a spot in the top ten ways to die. Suicide does, though. Show me all the mental health threads, now?

/Mindblown at priorities so far out of whack. Seriously, folks.

"You shouldn't worry about the stalker who is going to murder you, because we all die eventually anyway. Just relax and let them do it."

[Myrany]

Where do you guys keep finding all these stalkers?

In my case its an ex husband (abusive relationship) that 20 years later still stalks me online and in RL when his life goes badly and he needs to share the hurt.

So yeah I take security seriously

[GeminiReed]

By "location" do you mean it says what server or data center you're on?

Yes. Many people attempt to shake their stalkers by transferring and getting a name change. Unfortunately the Lodestone defeats that. If they know your id then they know your name and server. From there it's as simple as doing a player search.

[Poporito_Popoto]

Sure, but there's absolutely, positively no need to obsess about it, worry about it, have anxiety over it, etc.

How can I say that with confidence? Well... do you obsess, worry, have anxiety and fear driving to work daily? Driving to work, you have about a 1 in 10,000 chance of being killed in an auto accident, if you live in the United States.

If you live in the United States, you have about a 1 in 15,000 chance of being murdered at all during a calendar year. I cite 'all murder' figures just to make a point. Actual murders performed by stalkers ranges from (depending on which data you believe) 20% to 80% of all murders. We can split the difference on that data and call it 50%. That's 11,000 murders for 330 million people, or about 1 in 30,000.

1 in 10,000 you die from an auto accident: "No worries. I do 75 in the 65 all the time."
1 in 30,000 you die from murder: "ZOMG this is terrrible!"

What gives? Where are all the threads on being a better driver? Instead we worry about virtual stalkers?

Actually, screw threads on better driving, even. Where the hell are threads on home safety? 173,000 people died in 2020 of accidents at home. That's a whopping 1 in 2000 chance, per year, per person. In other words, you are fifteen times more likely to die from a fall in the shower as you are from a stalker.

Don't even get me started on eating healthy (heart disease, the #1 killer of humans), quitting smoking, avoiding / controlling diabetes and getting regular cancer screenings. Shoot, even murder doesn't get a spot in the top ten ways to die. Suicide does, though. Show me all the mental health threads, now?

/Mindblown at priorities so far out of whack. Seriously, folks.

So what's one of the top stories in Dallas tonight?

Young woman shot in her car after finding a tracking device on it two weeks ago.

The man arrested is 30 years older and is suspected of stalking her.

https://www.fox4news.com/news/man-ar...e-been-stalked

Also left out are the stats for non-murders, i.e. rape, assault, molestation, suicide, etc. due to stalking.

[Nishira]

I don’t understand why this information can’t be changed to ‘private’, it seems like such an easy fix which would give quite a few people peace of mind. Everyone dealing with stalkers has my sympathy, I know how stressful it can be.

[Knot_D]

It seems this stalking culture only happened on NA or EU? Because I never met one in my entire gameplay on JP, probably because they don't care about you at all...

Even so I don't mind someone stalking me because I'd love to make friend with them

[Floortank]

Yes. Many people attempt to shake their stalkers by transferring and getting a name change. Unfortunately the Lodestone defeats that. If they know your id then they know your name and server. From there it's as simple as doing a player search.

This is widely known. His specific examples all relate to someone following him around in the game from moment to moment and being where his character physically is, though. Lodestone invisibility won't help with that.

I understand the point about server / data center tracing, but people should not be obliged to use server transfer as a means of dealing with harassment. Making lodestone profiles private doesn't help victims who can't or won't transfer, and the situation it creates would have people telling victims that it's their fault for not changing servers.

The prohibited actions document suggests SE views stalking severely. It must be reported so the accounts involved can be flagged.

EDIT: In the future, linked data centers will make the "solution" of changing data centers non-viable.

[SaberMaxwell]

Let's not forget that if one knows your real name, these days it's so easy to simply look someone up. Pay $4 to Whitepages.com and boom, all current and past addresses and phone numbers unless the person has removed themselves (most have not.) Or Any other people search.

How about we discuss your social media, and how very much OSINT you are putting out.

Cyber security major here. If you only knew the easiness of stalking outside of a game, you wouldn't care about what's going on in the game. The world is a scary place.

Also cyber security major. Can confirm all of this 100%. It's so easy to begin social engineering attacks, whether it be for purposes of stalking someone or breaking into their accounts, because people have a penchant for oversharing on social media to the point you almost don't even need to run whois on people anymore.