Re: Regarding the Use of Third-Party Programs and Player Safety

[SongOfTheWind]

This doesn't make sense. The blacklist feature blocks another player and their alts. Therefore, the client needs to know some info about those alts so it can block them.

It makes perfect sense in the world where the client is not given authority to do account wide blocking. When you block me, as in, my character - you, as a client, is not supposed to be entitled to information beyond that. The server is supposed to know what other characters I have, not you. You only need to get appropriate information about the characters around the world based on what your blacklist is. How that blacklist to character is resolved is for the server to decide, not you.
Does it make more sense? Yes, this is more complex than just blocking individual characters, but more often than not - if you can’t make it right just don’t make it at all is the best approach.

[Exmo]

It makes perfect sense in the world where the client is not given authority to do account wide blocking. When you block me, as in, my character - you, as a client, is not supposed to be entitled to information beyond that. The server is supposed to know what other characters I have, not you. You only need to get appropriate information about the characters around the world based on what your blacklist is. How that blacklist to character is resolved is for the server to decide, not you.
Does it make more sense? Yes, this is more complex than just blocking individual characters, but more often than not - if you can’t make it right just don’t make it at all is the best approach.

You're taking about moving the whole feature server side, which is different to what I was replying to. Moving the feature server side is an option but it's vastly more complex and expensive. Whether it's for much of a gain is open for discussion. Although it's how a small, small number of players use alts, I don't know if SE consider them as a security mechanism to mitigate stalking. Has there ever been a statement to this effect? I doubt they view alts as a matter of privacy, so they probably view the problem caused by this exposed ID as being already resolved by the blacklist feature - your stalker might know of your alts but they can't harass you in game once you blocked them. Determined stalkers will create an entirely new account to bypass your blacklist, but the reporting feature is in place to help people as well. I don't know, I'm only speculating based on what SE have and haven't said so far, but I suspect they might have a different perspective on the whole thing. Maybe they'll give a statement some point in the future that makes their stance clearer.