The End of Stalking, Blacklist & Lodestone

[KisaiTenshi]

Also, we really should have the option to blacklist a player without directly finding them in the world. Even if it was just within Player Search.

The only downside to this change to the lodestone is that players using third party tools/sites won't be able to scrape it as easily. Note "as easily", since blacklists often just work at an account/username level, so really all a third party tool would need to do work around player blacklists is scrape the site while logged in (thus making it easier for SE to ban them.) This means finding and filtering out bots will become impossible to do via the lodestone. Double-edged sword, as that also means that streamers/youtubers/etc who have gone out of their way to hide the server name and their character name while streaming won't be stalked via the lodestone.

I read through the earlier part of the thread and apparently the RP'ers are more concerned about the changes than the typical player. All I can say about that is maybe agree ahead of time that something is Kayfabe, and not to use the blocking system to prevent SE from seeing it as abuse. Players not part of the story will just likely ignore it rather than go through the effort to block it.

Popular players on a server might still generate a disruptive event and blocking someone's 200-player groupie train might not work as intended. I also don't see "blocking everyone in limsa" to increase your framerate from happening unless they're spamming chat. One "other" game that had the "everyone congregates on one area, that spams chat" problem, resulted in players often blocking everyone in a populated area temporarily because players would spam the chat that would induce a DDoS on players with slower hardware.

[Manamaru]

Who else is happy about this incoming update!?

I didn't realize it was automatically account wide. Now if only it would also automatically remove you from the other person's friend list and things like that. (Because even if you de-friend them, you still show up on their friends list and will show up when you appear online, as tested with a trusted friend).

This is a blessing that I'm so looking forward to. No more unwanted advancements, no more annoyances. No more certain people trying to rope me into their crap. I can have peace without any of that drama, baggage, or egging on.

[Reinha]

Edit: on the internet safety issue

My friend replied to me with a thanks. He added that the links were in posts for player giveaways where he had to post to the FFXIV Twitter X, the platform formerly known as Twitter account. He's got them all deleted now but hmmmm

Hey everyone, better stop entering those giveaways! Square Enix wants you to share your real life information with stalkers via the FFXIV X account.

Yeah, not a good idea to share private data online. Everyone should also follow the basic principle of never cross posting on different topics on the same account on any platform. Always make a separate profile for work, private/family life, anonymous gaming, dating/social activities, politics and support groups. For example, I use a throwaway X account for Square Enix campaigns that has no connection to other facets of my life.

[sindriiisgaming]

i fear sadly. this is not the perfect solution but its decently better

[MsMisato]

Pray that the lodestone changes make it harder to profile characters on everyones favorite unofficial high score website.

highly doubtful. from what i recall being told it pulls the data from the person parsing so if you're in a party with a person parsing for site you will be there and two you don't have to be on that so called website to have your name posted =/

[Bright-Flower]

Unlikely, based on how it works it will still capture even if your lodestone profile even if its private.

I believe there's something you can put i your lodestone description or something to tell that site not to include/show your data. It's still unfortunately you have to set that up though instead of said site being opt in to start with.

[Emitans]

I believe there's something you can put i your lodestone description or something to tell that site not to include/show your data. It's still unfortunately you have to set that up though instead of said site being opt in to start with.

tomestone-hidden
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[Araxes]

I am excited to never see a godforsaken club shout ad ever again.

Same here Friend. First thing my Wife and i will do is putting everything that includes Twitch, Club, Gamba and so on in this Filter.

So glad they made this change.

[EZGIL]

I get it, this entire player base is mentally ill... isnt it?

[Edmund_Blackadder]

This is a good change especially for those of us who sadly have had to deal with harassment or stalking in the game.

Sometimes you are not comfortable with conflict, challenging someone or confrontation - this offers a good solution to block people who invade every aspect of your online space in the game for what reason I have no idea.

I consider myself a happy to lucky person and talk to everyone in game, when I'm not playing with friends I will find a quiet spot in the Roost and just chill learning to play some songs on the harp. One day this player approached me *emote* cheered my playing - so I thanked them - they started to talk to me in /tell and we had a brief conversation - they explained how they were terribly lonely etc and had no friends in the game, so I offered a hand of friendship and said well you can add me as a friend - we can do some dungeons etc.

This was my biggest mistake - what started off as genuine fun doing dungeons and trials - turned into something I was not comfortable with. This person started to hound me in the game almost every time I was online with messages "come to my house I want to show you a new room", if I would be standing in Mor Donah whilst leveling my alt job somehow they would teleport there and stand next to me and say "what are you doing?" "questing" "I will join you" whilst I found it inconvenient I just didn't challenge them and say please stop you are making me uncomfortable.

This carried on and then they started to get really pushy with messages like "come on discord" "send me a face pic please" the conversation became a little seedy. I really was not looking for any of this!

I was so uncomfortable because of it, I stopped playing on my main character and created an alt just to get away from this person.

Because I could not confront them about their behavior as I am not comfortable with conflict and didn't want to hurt them or upset them as I don't know their RL mental health situation I ended up paying for a server change - that was the only solution that was left open to me.

TLDR: For people like me this is a good change.

P.S.: If you are the person in question reading this, I hope you find a good friend IRL who makes you happy, but please learn to give people their space and try not to be too pushy with people!