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

[Exmo]

bump. this needs to be handled SE.

we aren't going to magically forget that the bl system you implemented to help prevent harassment, did the exact opposite.

Have there actually been any cases of the plugin being used to further stalk players on their alts? We all know that's what it's for and in theory it can be used to that end, but has it happened yet?

[BigCheez]

Have there actually been any cases of the plugin being used to further stalk players on their alts? We all know that's what it's for and in theory it can be used to that end, but has it happened yet?

Hold up, let me just ask the entire playerbase real quick.

[Rinoa_353]

Have there actually been any cases of the plugin being used to further stalk players on their alts? We all know that's what it's for and in theory it can be used to that end, but has it happened yet?

It has with me, a stalker I have been dealing with has been wandering around me as my alts they shouldn't know about

[MisterNublet]

it make it worse to provide this information at all. nothing stops a person who already have the criminal mind for stalking someone to create a new account. You dont even have to buy the game since we have such a generous free trial. So people can have multiple accounts just to do harmful activitys. Please dont pretend like people would not do that, people have multiple accounts even without criminal minds in their head. So how it make it worse ? You have a database now which shows everyones character and the alts. Here an example for this situation.

Outside of finding out a players alt characters, I have zero idea how knowing a players retainer names and previous location history is such a big deal.

"Generous" Free Trials.

Free Trial Players cannot use the "shout," "yell," or "tell" in-game chat options during the Free Trial.
Free Trial Players cannot access the in-game market board during the Free Trial.
Free Trial Players cannot trade with other players during the Free Trial.
Free Trial Players cannot send in-game letters using the moogle delivery service during the Free Trial.
Free Trial Players cannot create or join a Free Company during the Free Trial.
Free Trial Players cannot log into the official forum, or Companion application during the Free Trial.
https://support.na.square-enix.com/r...&tag=freetrial

Not really a whole lot a stalker can do with a free trial account.

Person A ( attract the stalker by whatever action undercutting market / or not have the same intrest in the person or whatever ) blocks a person
Person B ( the blocked ) is intrested enough to stalk Person A or harras Person A or whatever.
Person B realizes oh i am probably blocked
Person B decides to switch to a new account and there we go nothing will stop them
Person A switches to an alt character to escape
Person B knows this and can just continue his actions on this character.

This is the most basic case of how things can go wrong. But it can gets worse.

Person A uses situational awareness and blacklists Person B's new account.

Let’s talk about people who use online games as an escape or a safe space separate from their real life. Imagine a teacher, CEO, or business owner dentist, doctor, IT people,someone expected to maintain a certain public image. If they engage in roleplay (RP), ERP, or just act differently in-game, and someone with a grudge gets access to their in-game activities, it’s not impossible that this information could be used to harm them in real life.

Sure, this might sound extreme, but in today’s world, doxing and harassment happen all the time. It’s naive to assume this won’t be misused.

Unless I'm wrong, the plugin doesn't extract or show personal information. Not giving away personal information over the internet is basic online safety. So unless the teacher, CEO, business owner, dentist, doctor, IT people, etc are telling people in game their personal history, no one is gonna know.

Which one of this cases might or might not happen doesnt really matter since every case is bad and to say its the tools fault is just tone deaf if you and your team which gets money every month created the posibility for such tool.

Hard to understand what this sentence is even saying. It's both the Devs and the plugin authors fault. It is fine to tell CB3 to get their act together, but lets not exaggerate the issues.

It has with me, a stalker I have been dealing with has been wandering around me as my alts they shouldn't know about

Did you blacklist them?