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

[Commander_Justitia]

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.

Maybe, that is the thing. If you make it harder to get that info, people will just request more info from the servers all the time, which SE can prevent if they just let it as it is. The issue is even if your profile is set to private, there are still identifier (minions/mounts/levelstatus/gear/title) publicly available, which become more unique the more progressed you are in the game. If someone is really super desperate I imagine they can still find you even with a new ID, especially if they scraped the whole lodestone (this is being done by useful services already since a long time). So as long as those identifiers remain, it will be very hard to get anonymity. So I think its pointless to get a new ID if that part of information is still publicly available. It is either all or nothing. And having a lodestone with just your name, seems very pointless.

The interest/usefulness of the many (3rd party websites like fflogs/ffcollect etc.) outweigh the interest of the few here probably.

During the recent time when big streamers landed in FF14, you noticed that they searched for tools that hide other player characters. It is a requested feature for some time. There are already filters in place in system settings, Minimum-> Maximum Display Limit, but they are still acting purely on random or on the distance to the player to some degree. If they could add filters to only show friends/fc/friends of friends/servermembers etc. I think it would be the simplest solution which also contributes to the total playerbase because sometimes you want to see things without 300 players around it.

[MidnightEquinox]

If you make it harder to get that info, people will just request more info from the servers all the time, which SE can prevent if they just let it as it is.

Sure, and they can also just DDoS at that point. Which makes me ask: has SE never been DDoSed? I can't imagine they have 0 protections against someone spamming requests or what not, or what you're trying to say.

There are plenty of ways of doing this without affecting 3rd party services for anyone besides that player, because it's the equivalent of that player deleting their character, which I am fairly certain all those 3rd party services are capable of handling just fine since it's a real thing that can happen?

I mean, please, some games even did major API switches, Destiny 2 breaks DIM every expansion, 3rd party development is fundamentally volatile and the tools should be able to handle a "no data, sorry" response here and there. Do you actually have concrete examples of a 3rd API being made that will destabilize a whole tool because it can't reach info on a player?

Seems a lot of theoretical concerns about something that may or may not happen and that more key people have proper insight to, compared to the very real issue of stalking.

[AnnRam]

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.

I've been playing since ARR and I can count with my left hand the times that I got queued with people on my friend list or someone I knew by accident.
Even so what would be a problem? if your ""stalker"" got by a miracle in your PT just clear the content, if he/she is trolling then ask to kick him/her out and report for sabotage and they are gonna need to spend another 40 bucks for a new license.

Your people are being so ridiculous.

Imagine how broken and unplayable the Party/duty finder would be if they can't pair you with people that you have blocked,

Enjoy your 1 hour queue roulette.

[AnnRam]

It's not as simple as that at all.

Stalkers are named so for a reason. They often have deep psychological issues. They don't poke once, realize they're blocked or their victim is ignoring them and get bored after 5 minutes. They will explore every option of contacting and harassing their victim and will stick at it for months or even years. They will follow you, make countless alts, harass friends and FC too, pester people you know for info, spread lies and rumours, whatever it takes to get the victims attention.

In real life it's a crime for a reason. It should be treated as such online. In some cases these are dangerous individuals. Games should not enable such behavior, the company should issue strict account bans and allow blacklisting to erase all forms of contact with an individual at the least.

It's honestly disgusting that calling someone a name or mentioning dps is a ban, but flat out stalking is fine and it's on the victim to handle it.

Why those people that you call "friends" are paying attention and believing in words coming from a random alt? Are they truly your friends?
People who are in my friend list aren't real life friends, I don't let any random on internet to know about me just because we spammed a few emotes and spoke about random things one or two days.

"In real life it's a crime for a reason. It should be treated as such online"

Yeah because its your real person and not pixels in your screen.

"Games should not enable such behavior, the company should issue strict account bans and allow blacklisting to erase all forms of contact with an individual at the least."

They don't enable it, SE bans people extremely easy for ANYTHING even calling someone idiot in chat. You want people who are blocked to don't be paired with you in game and that's never gonna happen because it will ruin the Matchmaking.

[Fhaerron]

What do y'all do to even get stalked in games?

Been playing for 8 years and no issues here.

WoW I've been playing for 16 years and no issues there either.

?

[Snorky]

What do y'all do to even get stalked in games?

Been playing for 8 years and no issues here.

WoW I've been playing for 16 years and no issues there either.

?

Do you think a stalker has to have a reason why they stalk somehow you think it's the fault of the person who is being stalked? Okay just because it hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen. But I realize in saying this most people who take this attitude have it about a lot of things because it never happened to them it doesn't exist. I gotta say it's one of the most of ignorant stances someone can have.

[Reinha]

What do y'all do to even get stalked in games?

Been playing for 8 years and no issues here.

WoW I've been playing for 16 years and no issues there either.

?

If the stalking in game mirrors what occurs in real life, I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess that what they "do to get stalked" is likely just existing as a young woman and being social. At least that's how I got all the persistent unwanted attention I've received (not stalking thankfully).

[AnnRam]

What do y'all do to even get stalked in games?

Been playing for 8 years and no issues here.

WoW I've been playing for 16 years and no issues there either.

?

People who talks about their personal lives/family/etc to the four winds in a virtual environment full of random people they have never seen before, giving easy access to their personal information nor contact.
Some people never learned when their parents told them to don't open the door to people they don't know.

[Rinhi]

What do y'all do to even get stalked in games?

some people just exist and get stalked, irl and in game, can you believe that? they might've smiled at them when they were in a store and bumped into each other, they might've used an emote, might've said a certain word in chat, that made the stalker interested in them for whatever reason

People who talks about their personal lives/family/etc to the four winds in a virtual environment full of random people they have never seen before, giving easy access to their personal information nor contact.
Some people never learned when their parents told them to don't open the door to people they don't know.

you don't have to say a peep about yourself to get stalked, please tell me you're trolling ffs

Why those people that you call "friends" are paying attention and believing in words coming from a random alt? Are they truly your friends?

if someone repeats something for months and more and is very insistent about it, the majority of people, even your irl friends, will start to think that there might be some truth to it, even if it's just a tiny smidge, but they will, purely out of self-preservation, because why would someone go through all this effort to lie about someone, right?

[Saimeren]

If someone's standing there staring at you, can't you just teleport away? They'd have to go through a rigmarole just to find you again. Or put yourself in a different instance/shard.