Why is the playerbase so mentally fragile now

[Avoidy]

they don't even tell you what they've banned you for, so it's not like someone who got banned could be like "aha, yes. the way I asked that man to improve his tanking was the reason" and then show it to the rest of us as an example of how not to act

frankly, due to the asinine way in which moderation is handled in this game, it's way harder to know what's permissible than it ever should be. and since the tos says that "forcing a playstyle" is against the rules, that's such a broad concept that most people just go "eh, fuck it" and say nothing or play with their friends exclusively.

speaking as someone who's never been given any disciplinary issues, mainly because I just keep my mouth shut instead of commenting on all the stupid bullshit I used to see in dutyfinder. also OP is 100% right; this community wouldn't last a day in any other mmo because in other mmos they're not afraid to just tell you flat out that you suck if you suck, and they're not concerned with writing it out diplomatically because they don't give a shit. in many ways, it's what makes the xiv community special in a good way. but in some cases it's incredibly grating. going and playing other mmos has been like a breath of fresh air. just the blunt honesty and willingness to help people improve quickly without any of the walking-on-eggshells bullshit one puts up with in this game. hell, people joke around and act weird in other games because they're not worried someone will get butthurt and report them for it. in this game, I know most people don't say a word in content with randoms because even the smallest thing might get misunderstood or twisted into something it's not, and then the next thing you know you're in the gaol with a gm who won't tell you why you're there, but he'll happily put a strike on your account. it's so fucking stupid, honestly.

people acting like this isn't a big deal have got to be being facetious. Yeah, it hasn't happened to you. Until it does. And then you're wondering what the hell you even said, and you'll never know because they'll never tell you. Maybe you just said the word "hell" and it offended somebody. Maybe you called the boss ugly, but the illiterate guy in your group (who's basically been an anchor this whole time but everyone was too polite to say anything) misunderstood and thought you were talking about him, and now a day later you're in the gaol and the GM is like "haha I can't tell u why ur here but u've been a bad boy ". How can anyone respect this stupid-ass system, like for real. Vague ToS policies, emotionally fragile snitches, and opaque moderation policies, what a winning combination. When it comes to taking quick criticism (i.e. a critique that isn't run through a public relations firm and rewritten 3 times to make sure it's as report-proof as possible) without melting down I've literally met people who're more capable of taking feedback in maplestory. God damned maplestory. I'll just be like "hey don't go with that build bro, there's no reason to do it" and they're like "oh shit? thanks for the heads up bro." But in this game I'll be like "hey bro, you should turn on your stance so our dps stop dying" and they'll either ignore me or come up with some subjective argument about why all playstyles are valid including theirs that is literally stopping us from progressing.