Twitch streamers still blatantly cheating on stream.

[Remish]

What advantage is being gained by having texture mods? Nobody has yet answered this.

I don't know how much more clearly I can put it... it is possible to simultaneously believe/agree/concede/acknowledge that all third-party mods/programs/applications/whatever are against Terms of Service (which I did, often and repeatedly), while also stating some are not cheating by definition.

Are texture mods against ToS? Yes. They are. I have never argued otherwise. Being against ToS != a cheat, though. Against the rules, yes. In violation of SE's terms, yes. Something that necessarily requires modification of the game in explicit opposition to the ToS, yes. BUT NOT A CHEAT.

Why is it so hard for people to concede this? Words matter. And people are adhering to this "mods are inherently cheats with no exceptions" position, presumably because it removes any need to accept that your black-and-white morality isn't a universal, objective truth before which all the evil, sinning mod-users must prostrate themselves. Sorry, I don't accept your false dilemma. I reject your position that cosmetic modifications are cheats, because you are seeking to end the debate in your favor by virtue of declaring victory on definitional grounds.

I don't have to smoke marijuana to opine on the morality or validity of the laws against it (whether pro- or anti-). However, neither do I become a wacky sovereign citizen who states laws are meaningless, nor an authoritarian nutjob who worships "the law" as an infallible thing that can never be changed. I say:

"yep, these are the rules as they stand, I for one obey them, but I can see why some people think they're silly",

or I say

"right now, the rules say the devil's lettuce is illegal, in accordance with my personal convictions... should they be changed, I will acknowledge that what was illegal is now legal."

Acknowledging existence of and abiding by current rulesets doesn't preclude discussion on whether such rules should be in place; conversely, being "on the right side of the rules" doesn't make your position infallible or above debate or discussion.

To answer your question about the texture mods being cheats. I would need to make a comparison from other game communities. I dabble in the speedrunning communities for other various retro games here and there. Lately I have been into the Randomizers and partake in some of the tournaments that a couple of them have set up. Texture Packs are flagged as cheating in both speedrunning and Randomizers because they can be created in ways that give a player an advantage. When I say texture packs, I don't necessarily mean shaders which aren't quite the same thing; but we still ban them regardless because of people's vague self-imposed definitions of them to circumvate the system. Some texture packs are made with quality-of-life gimmicks that make it easier to perform certain tricks. Lighter or darker markings on the floor or wall to indicate a safe spot for mechanics or when you want to jump for certain tricks. Sometimes they can fade dark rooms out or have lighter floor paths for areas where you aren't meant to be able to see where you're going. Which do give an unfair advantage to other runners. Now does this apply to FFXIV? Idk, texture packs for this game would have fundamentally different applications. But as far as we from the speedrun communities are concerned, a texture pack is a cheat yes.