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

[MidnightEquinox]

@Packetdancer

Overcomplicating things a bit, I think. Here are my Privacy Settings for the Lodestone: https://imgur.com/a/RdRgIpO

See the "* Character profiles are always public"? That's a decision someone made. With that, I agree with the OP: this does make stalking folks a bit too easy. It was not a good decision.

Add a line to the Privacy Settings to hide the character, as a starter bandaid. It should only affect the person in question then if the various services can no longer reach the information, but is that even done via the Lodestone itself? I don't know the full details of FFXIV 3rd party tools ecosystem, but that's what things like API keys are for, since in general companies also do not want to get bombarded with requests.

Even creating basic barriers to entry, a lot of people won't be motivated to learn how to query a server API to stalk someone, vs opening a very conveniently provided webpage.

ID that remains stable across character name changes and server transfers

This is only relevant to the true primary key. It's not relevant to the ID used on a website. They may or may not be the same. These are unrelated concerns entirely.

And, no, these things would not be more expensive performance wise in any discernible way in standard implementations, the work involved here would be mainly done by a database and they're extremely good at this sort of thing.

You could also force people to go through the character search interface each time, thus generating a unique per-session URL that expires after like 10 minutes, but that's actually likely more expensive in I/O because you're leaving it up to the user to bound the search results (rather than restricting it to a given name spelling on a specific server).

I could not follow this at all. Generating a unique per session URL has no bearing on whether or not a search is bound. Generally, any sort of search that involves pagination already generates unique ids for a page anyway...

[Chie_M]

My stalker has just started making alts on Materia in order to harass me now that I've moved data centers for the fourth time, and GMs respond to my reports the same as ever. Lovely.

[Conundrum]

My stalker has just started making alts on Materia in order to harass me now that I've moved data centers for the fourth time, and GMs respond to my reports the same as ever. Lovely.

If it's as you describe* You could try reaching out to some gaming press about their inaction.

*I never assume anyone is telling the truth in these cases.

[gumas]

as someone who never saw this happen, how does it exactly work?

i mean i can understand if in real life you have a stalker, it feel uncomfortable, afraid, etc. but in game? its not your body in there, and there is no free pvp in the game too, they can follow us yes but then what? spam? we can blacklist them right?

iam genuinely curious

[Johaandr]

At first i thought stalking werent such a big wuss until i experienced it myself ingame.
I got harrassed, s-harrassed, treats in discord etc etc.

I moved from Odin to Spriggan for a good damn reason.
Person still made an alt just to harrass me bahahaha but irl schedule saved me.. also my in game routine.
I find it dumb overall why people has this obssession to harrass over a damn game. Filthy ppl.
Thank god im working alot irl and do stuff so i cant be on «tab» from that person.
I tend to «delete» ppl i dont like in my brain quickly. It takes time until you be left alone from that person.
But that can also vary.

Yes this is a publIC GAME. Ppl dont deserve to be harrassed anyways.

[AnnRam]

/Block
/Ignore
/Report

Move on, simple as that.

It takes 2 seconds to block someone permanently, if they want to keep doing it, block again.

[Shironeko_Narunyan]

/Block
/Ignore
/Report

Move on, simple as that.

It takes 2 seconds to block someone permanently, if they want to keep doing it, block again.

The game even puts you in the same light party with people you blocked. You can block someone and they still have you on their friend list.

It's not quite as easy as you think.

[Chie_M]

If it's as you describe* You could try reaching out to some gaming press about their inaction.

*I never assume anyone is telling the truth in these cases.

I don't keep up with gaming press. Who could I contact? I have screenshots of his actions stalking my main across four data centers.

[MidnightEquinox]

You can block someone and they still have you on their friend list.

Now this decision I don't understand at all.

[Beytran70]

I don't keep up with gaming press. Who could I contact? I have screenshots of his actions stalking my main across four data centers.

I think a site like MMOChampion or Kotaku would be your best bet because they report on MMOs and hot button issues like this a lot. Just browse some news gaming sites and find a journalist you like the looks of their work and find an area on the site where you send in info and stories.