Roleplay Party Finder Account Suspensions

[milkhorn]

To put some perspective on it, my wife is one of the people that was suspended. This is the first video game she's ever truly gotten in to in her life because I encouraged her to play it. Through it, she found the RP community and wanted to give back, hence opening a venue. There was zero malicious intent and honestly, she was playing off what other venues were doing at the time and even now.

Yet when the GM went to talk to her, they offered zero explanation for the suspension. A player who has never had a single black mark against her and they pulled her in to basically say "You're suspended because of a single PF. I'm not telling you what PF or why. Go read the TOS." She asked if there was someone else she could talk to and the GM said it would take a while. She was so overwhelmed and confused and then was ported to Radz-at-Han with no explanation and suspended instantly.

If having 18+ venues isn't allowed, just tell us. She wasn't going out of her way to deliberately cause trouble. She wanted a safe place for RPer's to have some fun and kill time once a week. If doing ERP is against the TOS, even in private and consenting circumstances, then let the general public know or make some kind of statement so people who want to follow the rules are able to. Let those who think they can get away with it have their fun and take the risk but don't punish players who love this game, play every day and use it as a means of escape suffer because the rules are too convoluted and are up to the interpretation of each individual GM.

It's the same with our venue, our small community we've catered to is just looking for a safe place to enjoy FFXIV the way we do. It is EXTREMELY unhelpful to go 'you know what you did wrong' to people who genuinely do not know. It's unfair, and there is no way of knowing what you're supposed to be fixing if they don't tell you what it is you've got to fix. They've told us before (and it's in the exception from prohibited activities) that ERP is allowed between consenting players. If we are not doing so in public, our party finder doesn't suggest it, and it is clear cut that it is not for minors then.. what is the issue? If it has solely to do with the third party site, we need to know as well that we are not allowed to do such. Communication is needed before punishment, period.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

To put some perspective on it, my wife is one of the people that was suspended. This is the first video game she's ever truly gotten in to in her life because I encouraged her to play it. Through it, she found the RP community and wanted to give back, hence opening a venue. There was zero malicious intent and honestly, she was playing off what other venues were doing at the time and even now.

Yet when the GM went to talk to her, they offered zero explanation for the suspension. A player who has never had a single black mark against her and they pulled her in to basically say "You're suspended because of a single PF. I'm not telling you what PF or why. Go read the TOS." She asked if there was someone else she could talk to and the GM said it would take a while. She was so overwhelmed and confused and then was ported to Radz-at-Han with no explanation and suspended instantly.

If having 18+ venues isn't allowed, just tell us. She wasn't going out of her way to deliberately cause trouble. She wanted a safe place for RPer's to have some fun and kill time once a week. If doing ERP is against the TOS, even in private and consenting circumstances, then let the general public know or make some kind of statement so people who want to follow the rules are able to. Let those who think they can get away with it have their fun and take the risk but don't punish players who love this game, play every day and use it as a means of escape suffer because the rules are too convoluted and are up to the interpretation of each individual GM.

They did... It's in the guidelines....

Example 2
In the case of role-playing involving mildly sexual expressions (such as erotic role-playing) with a consenting group of two or more players, if it is conducted in a private area, it will not be considered a violation unless a report is made.

However, if you encourage or invite a player to participate in such role-play without being certain of their consent, there is a high possibility that you will be reported and penalized. Please be very careful.

As you can see, expressions that fall under this category are generally prohibited, so if even one player who witnessed such an expression finds it offensive, there is a high possibility that it will be reported. What is considered offensive will vary from person to person, so if you believe there is any chance that you may offend someone, you should refrain from making such expressions.

Please note that Square Enix may issue a penalty at its discretion even if a report has not been filed but the act was found being conducted in public areas such as Say and Shout, search comments, Party Finder, on online video/streaming services, if the behavior is found to violate real world laws, or if it may be considered a problem based on the game's entertainment board ratings.

[Ecl1pse]

Also, I'm fairly sure Scrapyard is a fight club of sorts and there's a PF right now in Crystal DC advertising an 18+ maid theme brothel and cafe. Those of you with the argument of "you advertised an 18+ place!" should consider that there are many other venues who advertise in the exact same manner, some with 5+ PF's, and face zero repercussions.

[Ecl1pse]

They did... It's in the guidelines....

Example 2
In the case of role-playing involving mildly sexual expressions (such as erotic role-playing) with a consenting group of two or more players, if it is conducted in a private area, it will not be considered a violation unless a report is made.

However, if you encourage or invite a player to participate in such role-play without being certain of their consent, there is a high possibility that you will be reported and penalized. Please be very careful.

As you can see, expressions that fall under this category are generally prohibited, so if even one player who witnessed such an expression finds it offensive, there is a high possibility that it will be reported. What is considered offensive will vary from person to person, so if you believe there is any chance that you may offend someone, you should refrain from making such expressions.

Please note that Square Enix may issue a penalty at its discretion even if a report has not been filed but the act was found being conducted in public areas such as Say and Shout, search comments, Party Finder, on online video/streaming services, if the behavior is found to violate real world laws, or if it may be considered a problem based on the game's entertainment board ratings.

But all acts of ERP are done in complete private, in private rooms. Not in the public or even in /tells. The PF we suspect that was reported was posted on a Thursday, advertising hiring. Also, if this is the reason for the suspension, why wasn't it given? You can't suspend someone for one violation (in this case, it was stated it was profanity) and then point to something else as a defense. Also, that doesn't come from the TOS. That comes from the guidelines. Does it fall under the same rules, even though this was stated as a violation of TOS?

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

But all acts of ERP are done in complete private, in private rooms. Not in the public or even in /tells. The PF we suspect that was reported was posted on a Thursday, advertising hiring. Also, if this is the reason for the suspension, why wasn't it given? You can't suspend someone for one violation (in this case, it was stated it was profanity) and then point to something else as a defense. Also, that doesn't come from the TOS. That comes from the guidelines. Does it fall under the same rules, even though this was stated as a violation of TOS?

The guidelines refer to the tos. It's the "this is what we look at for tos violations.

They were advertising the venue that has erp/sexual activities in PF. Which by said guidelines, is not allowed.


https://support.na.square-enix.com/f...&la=1&ret=rule

[Ecl1pse]

The guidelines refer to the tos. It's the "this is what we look at for tos violations.

They were advertising the venue that has erp/sexual activities in PF. Which by said guidelines, is not allowed.


https://support.na.square-enix.com/f...&la=1&ret=rule

That's fair. Thanks for clarify. But I guess my question is that why a venue that didn't advertise ERP/sexual activities was also banned for the exact same reasoning and for the same time frame?

[technole]

There is a bit of "we don't want to tell you how to get around it, but there are probably ways to" on how they do things. It's similar to calculating damage using 3rd party tools, that kind of special conversation has to be kept out of the game unless you know all people in the party and chat are comfortable with the topic. It's kind of spelled out that way in the prohibited activities page as well. Knowing your surroundings and if you do something that could be a problem, you open yourself up to risk.

Hence openly advertising 18+ material is enough to get attention. It's not just a circle argument here but more of if a lot of people believe it's a problem, the GMs tend to side that way as well. The laws and rating are spelled out in that page, as I wasn't making it up just some have not read into detail and know the context why it was added there in the first place. There are random people out there willing to report any party finder with questionable content or just being in the wrong category. I'd personally rather put report energy into people who openly harass people in-game rather than a PF listing.

[Driavna]

I need to remind this to people:

Press: What is your official stance on player-run “brothels,” wherein two consenting players have cybersex in exchange for in-game currency? [This was a contentious question, and one that Yoshida seemed blindsided by. -Ed]

Yoshida: First of all, there is a user agreement that all players have to agree to before they can even start playing Final Fantasy XIV. Within that user agreement is a clause that prohibits any unacceptable conduct to this end, including behavior that infringes upon laws. Any players who violate those rules will be punished by banning or other penalties. This applies no matter which end of the exchange a player is on. Everyone who plays Final Fantasy XIV is subject to investigation for violating the terms of service, period. Because Final Fantasy XIV is a worldwide game, there is the potential for players from many different regions to interact with one another, and we have legal support available to assist us in investigations to this end in many countries. If you see someone engaging in this type of behavior, we ask you to report it.

Original: https://www.cgmagonline.com/intervie...naoki-yoshida/

So, if your venue offer "mature" services once reported you get a suspension. Get enough suspensions and your account go bye bye. Also, even if you put that kind of information outside the game if the person that reported you provide links and a GM consider those valid that stuff will be used against you.

It's like putting a lew pic on twitter with your char name/server on them. SE will ban that person.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

That's fair. Thanks for clarify. But I guess my question is that why a venue that didn't advertise ERP/sexual activities was also banned for the exact same reasoning and for the same time frame?

The only other person here who posted refused to post their venues name, so we don't know this. It's all hearsay because of that.

[Jojoya]

To put some perspective on it, my wife is one of the people that was suspended. This is the first video game she's ever truly gotten in to in her life because I encouraged her to play it. Through it, she found the RP community and wanted to give back, hence opening a venue. There was zero malicious intent and honestly, she was playing off what other venues were doing at the time and even now.

Yet when the GM went to talk to her, they offered zero explanation for the suspension. A player who has never had a single black mark against her and they pulled her in to basically say "You're suspended because of a single PF. I'm not telling you what PF or why. Go read the TOS." She asked if there was someone else she could talk to and the GM said it would take a while. She was so overwhelmed and confused and then was ported to Radz-at-Han with no explanation and suspended instantly.

If having 18+ venues isn't allowed, just tell us. She wasn't going out of her way to deliberately cause trouble. She wanted a safe place for RPer's to have some fun and kill time once a week. If doing ERP is against the TOS, even in private and consenting circumstances, then let the general public know or make some kind of statement so people who want to follow the rules are able to. Let those who think they can get away with it have their fun and take the risk but don't punish players who love this game, play every day and use it as a means of escape suffer because the rules are too convoluted and are up to the interpretation of each individual GM.

So she should appeal the moderation action. She should ask for clarification of what the problem was.

Part of the reason they posted an updated prohibited activities notice was to offer clarification to players attempting to abide by the ToS. That need for clarity should extend to what GMs reveal to players who have had action taken against their account.

If GMs are still resorting to vague references, the clarification the update was intended to provide is not happening.

Also, an 18+ restriction doesn't make a venue a "safe place" so there's no reason to advertise it as such.