Option to privatize or opt-out of lodestone displaying character. Show your support!

[SturmChurro]

I really, really like the idea of lodestone, but yeah the stalking thing is kind of bad.

[VeyaAkemi]

IDC how it sounds. If you gain unfair advantages in the game and you are publicly shamed for it, I don't believe you should be able to escape that. Maybe it will encourage people to do mechanics more genuinely.

Its also like if there was an infamous harasser / exploiter, why should we lose track of them?

Okay, first of all, this is deranged, it is just encourging mob mentality and witch hunts, in the particular recent cheating scandal, the devs already had handed out official punishments, it's nobody business to do anything further, and attempting to do anything further is still harassment, the motivation behind it doesn't matter.

And if someone is an infamous stalker, they aren't going to be impeeded, they will just create new alts to stalk on and bypass blacklists, if they have half a brain they never used their main character to begin with.

[FireMage]

It's not easy to shut down in game harassment though.

https://youtu.be/XGa7y_RaLeg

[Senn]

https://youtu.be/XGa7y_RaLeg

If someone keeps making alt characters, creating a new account, or creating a trial account to harass you, it's not easy to shut down that sort of harassment. I don't think it's right for the victim to have to delete their character along with all their progress, achievements, mogstation items, etc... just to get away from a toxic person.

I do endgame content like savage. I parse in the purples and oranges (not that I use act or anything), and I've cleared ucob, and am looking forward to clearing the other ults. I want my party members to pull their weight, and I know how it feels when they don't. So don't go thinking I can't relate to you from a raider's perspective because I can. But harassment and stalking is the bigger issue here.

[FireMage]

If someone keeps making alt characters, creating a new account, or creating a trial account to harass you, it's not easy to shut down that sort of harassment. I don't think it's right for the victim to have to delete their character along with all their progress, achievements, mogstation items, etc... just to get away from a toxic person.

And they can easily be taken care of. It's called a blacklist

[Rilifane]

And they can easily be taken care of. It's called a blacklist

Ah, you mean that great feature that only blocks someone from sending you /tells, seeing their messages in chats and seeing their PFs?
But that can still pair you with them in PF if neither of you listed it, in DF without restrictions and doesn't do shit against alts? Alts that can always find you even after name/ server changes thanks to the lodestone?

If you genuinely believe a /tell from a single character is the biggest problem with harassment and it's all sunshine and rainbows after you blacklisted that person, you clearly never dealt with real harassment, let alone paired with stalking.

[Senn]

And they can easily be taken care of. It's called a blacklist

That won't help if they keep bypassing the blacklist by creating alts. Are you even listening?

[Kaurhz]

Lodestone should be an opt-in system, honestly.

That won't help if they keep bypassing the blacklist by creating alts. Are you even listening?

Don't mind that one - It's difficult to string together a sentence, let alone a coherent one with a sophisticated argument.

[Gemina]

Yes you're right, but that's not always the case.

No, it isn't always the case. But for the most part it is, and what's dismissed is the accountability. While the person being harassed/stalked is definitely the victim, they refuse to look at certain truths about how they got into that situation in the first place. People hate to hear the truth unless it benefits them. It's just how it is.

If your concern is that toxic people can abuse the system by "disappearing", well... they are already doing that. A toxic person can already stalk and harass someone by making an alt, making a new account, or free trial account. They are already hiding themselves. What difference does it make if they private their lodestone? Which, by the way, they can still be reported and banned even if they do private their lodestone. This might even be better in the long run because if people choose to be toxic on their main account and not on an alt, they can get banned and lose their stuff - which probably means they're less likely to do that kinda thing on their main.

All of this can be said about the victim trying to evade their stalker. Like the terminator, they will continue to pursue the victim, so why give them another means to do so? This is a common issue in legislation, and idiot lawmakers often fail to see how proposed/passed bills can often benefit the criminal more than it does the general public. I'm not saying you're an idiot, and I don't oppose protecting victims from these jerks. Your heart is in the right place.

If your goal is to be toxic and harass/stalk someone, why would you do it on your main account? Like, why would you risk a ban on your main character?

Toxic people are gonna toxic. The victims of their harassment and stalking are sitting ducks with no way out of the situation.

Remember how some players who have been banned or faced some kind of disciplinary action from the devs were caught while streaming? The reason why people will do these kind of things on their mains is the same reason why a criminal who gets a slap on the wrist will continue to commit crimes. It's because the action they face for their trespasses is of no consequence to them. Toxic players in FFXIV know they can be arseholes because they know that SE won't do what is necessary to rid the game of them. Even in your OP, it was mentioned that the cheaters of Omega Ultimate are being harassed, which means they were not permanently banned. So what exactly is going to stop the next band of cheaters when SE releases the next Ultimate encounter? Toxic players don't even need to create an alt, or start a free trial to commit their atrocities, and genuine, wholesome, and honest players shouldn't need to make their lodestone private, create an alt, or otherwise start all over again to avoid them. That is the point I am trying to get across.

[FireMage]

Ah, you mean that great feature that only blocks someone from sending you /tells, seeing their messages in chats and seeing their PFs?
But that can still pair you with them in PF if neither of you listed it, in DF without restrictions and doesn't do shit against alts? Alts that can always find you even after name/ server changes thanks to the lodestone?

If you genuinely believe a /tell from a single character is the biggest problem with harassment and it's all sunshine and rainbows after you blacklisted that person, you clearly never dealt with real harassment, let alone paired with stalking.

Imagine thinking you can be stalked in XIV. Yikes