Japanese FFXIV streamer receives a suspension for using add-ons.

[Shurrikhan]

But it's never been a neutral stance. https://youtu.be/e_i6mjiGerU?t=131

They keep saying for people not to use them.

Specifically the part at 2:42
"So to reiterate, third party tools are not allowed, please do not use them"

Aye, and do not use calculators (1:16), Excel (2:08), or anything else for the game that is not the game itself.

Brilliance at work, there.

[Havenchild]

Aye, and do not use calculators (1:16), Excel (2:08), or anything else for the game that is not the game itself.

Brilliance at work, there.

Are we watching the same video? Because I clearly see him state a "question" but not actually stating either as such and instead eluding to an expanded conversation people will force the devs to have if they say "THIS" is allowed but "THIS" is not.

Assuming your reading comprehension of the English language is on point, at 2:13 he is referring specifically to ACT.

Why try to misinterpret his words on purpose?

[Shurrikhan]

Why try to misinterpret [Yoshi-P's] words on purpose?

That's the problem, though. The current ToS, both then and now, is incredibly subject to interpretation. And the dev's in-practice interpretation of it has newly changed.

By the definition given, looking up XIV guides online is a violation of the ToS. The use of Discord while playing XIV, Yoshida even clarified, is technically against the ToS. This was already clear, but the question was what, then, is reasonable to enforce.

Originally, use of third-party tools was a charge only in addendum. When Arthurs was banned, it was first and foremost for (inciting) harassment, not for ACT, because the prior was the actual harm done. When suspensions were given for the use of addons that provided data not already visible, the primary charge was quite simply cheating, because that was the actual harm done.

Now --no matter how early on the, by the developer's own admission, vague and excessive bounds of the ToS were set-- that interpretation has shifted.

XIV's way of handling ToS policy, "Let's claim a mile so we can claim an inch, or maybe a foot, or meter... maybe a kilometer," is not good for anyone, especially if that actual, enforced claim notably shifts. It moves focus away from the actual costs of bad addons or bad behavior from the likes of cheating or harassment to empty technicalities and is not stably defined by the XIV team's actions, which matter a whole lot more than boundaries the makers of which admit to being excessive and vague af.