Modders did it to themselves

[Xurtan]

Healer outrage started back in Stormblood, because for anyone that mained the role the writing was on the wall for homogenization and loss of class identity.

[Haru304]

In truth, I think it's pretty absurd to have over two hundred thousand players using an extremely convenient third-party mod facilitated by an equally convenient third-party tool, that's prolifically normalised and accepted to the point it just becomes common knowledge, and also expect people not to spill the tea. There are already numerous popular (and not so popular) forks of the mod in question being bandied around ad nauseum, with Discord servers in the thousands of users... so, yeah, no lessons on discretion really learned here, or heck, 'mod safety', or whatever.

Personally, I used to be very averse to the idea of mods, up until just late-game Endwalker when I developed a more accepting attitude towards them because they have the potential to improve the overall experience of the game.

For every mutant or fan of the playground out there, there's a lot more people simply enjoying a nicer looking hair cut, a thicker beard, additional body scars, etcetera. And for every mod out there that someone might dislike or find to be at odds with immersion, there are... countless that folks will doubtlessly enjoy.

I genuinely think that 99% of the time, paid mods are a large no no, but I also don't like monthly subscription based MMORPGs cash locking some of their most awesome content behind further pay walls.

When it comes to... player safeguarding, particularly where minors are concerned, it falls to people to be personally responsible, and I take great issue with people shamelessly linking randoms to carrd profiles brimming with either warped edits or pure, more often -far- from vanilla bits of smut. It's largely a problem that boils down to individual discretion, and of course, supervision.

Thankfully, data suggests that an overwhelming number of players are 18+, and that the game typically doesn't appeal to younger folks, and that applies to this genre of MMORPG across the board. Nearly every community you'll find in game has pretty strict restrictions about being aimed at 18+, with corresponding Discord servers, that, -game not withstanding-, often have at least one explicit NSFW channel. (I don't really get it but whatever)

My hottest take, largely, is that Square Enix moderation is pretty 'meh' across the board, and moderators were -definitely- not taking pro-active action anywhere near as much as they should be doing. You cannot convince people that discretion is required unless they see real consequences for their actions being routinely executed. You cannot expect everyone, in a group that numbers in the hundreds of thousands, to comprehend the importance of 'fight club', if there is no consequence for blabbing about fight club. And people, who're still screaming in shout chat about every fork out here, have not learned a thing, because they do not comprehend the broader consequences for the modding community. Even after having their favourite toy taken away.

[Aidorouge]

A YouTuber recently showed what the game looked like with Mare and Synchshells.
And it's just as Mare's creator admitted: "A lot of it is absolutely disgusting and problematic — to the point where he openly said he's lost some faith in humanity"—
and that can absolutely ruin the fun and perspective on the game for many.

It also showed, that neither the players' appearances nor their emotes can be trusted to be what you see, and that's just a very bad feeling/realization to have.
You're constantly questioning what you're seeing and don't want to sit next to characters you don't know.
And that, in turn, destroys the immersion enormously.

And not only that, but players can also "abuse" other players' characters and their minions and post screenshots of their actions on Discord.
Or you might be invited to an in-game wedding and later find out that everyone except you was naked.
And let's not pretend that only Rohblox has a problem with groomers/stalkers.
18+ clubs are openly advertised. There is no age verification for these things, and the game is rated 12+ in my country.
This means that the game simply cannot be safely recommended to minors – which also leads to fewer players (of the good kind) and sales.

That aside, Mods also affect the store in more than just one way.
Many people will tell you, that they only purchased something because they saw a modified version of it.
However, the ability to change appearance and races at any time through mods also leads to a loss of sales.

Both approaches, in turn, lead to a loss of players and money.
But only one approach is morally correct (to me at least).
And if nothing changes, then the game should definitely be given an "18+" age rating in every country.

I don't really care how other people are doing up their characters with mods any more than I care how they dress up using in-game items. Which I might add, there's a number of official items that could be deemed "problematic" due to how skimpy they are, and then there's always been that discourse where some people think items SHOULD be gendered locked because they don't want to see males in female clothing, or even think females should ALWAYS be in skirts/dresses. I'm also pretty sure "immersion" was destroyed when they let us fight in bikinis/speedos and mascot outfits, to say nothing of the current complaints over fantasy versus sci-fi versus modern glamour design.

It's not like "abuse" with emotes and the like isn't possible without using mods either. I've had on at least three occasions where some random male character (all Au Ra for some reason) ran up behind my character and did some kind of shout/screaming emote that made it look like they were humping up into my female character, which I'm not even sure is report-worthy (so I didn't try) because its someone using in-game things Square-Enix provided them and not a third-party tool (and it's not like they said anything crass in the chat either in case anyone thinks they could have been smacked for that). If they were using a mod to make their emote even more crude while posting screenshots of it somewhere else, I would literally have no way of knowing, so worrying about it would be exhausting and futile.

And the game is already "not safe for children" when the first dungeon you can do in the entire game at level 15 literally has a prison cell where pirates keep their kidnapped and raped victims. So if we're playing that card, Square-Enix needs to go back and scrub a lot of glamours and dialogue from their own game before they start wagging fingers at "inappropriate" content coming in from third parties and that arguably, children shouldn't be playing this game in the first place when the game its self will shout such kid-friendly things like "kill the men, take the women" at them.

[Andras63]

I have a question. Is it really necessary to do something that is prohibited by the terms of use? You agree to the terms of use when you play the game, so if you want to use mods, you shouldn't agree to them in the first place.

People who use mods that are far removed from FFXIV characters or engage in sexual acts in-game don't need to do that in FFXIV, right?
Why not just do it in SIMS or VR chat?

If you say, "My identity is..." the answer is, "Then express it somewhere else. This is not the place to express your identity."

[MsMisato]

I have a question. Is it really necessary to do something that is prohibited by the terms of use? You agree to the terms of use when you play the game, so if you want to use mods, you shouldn't agree to them in the first place.

People who use mods that are far removed from FFXIV characters or engage in sexual acts in-game don't need to do that in FFXIV, right?
Why not just do it in SIMS or VR chat?

If you say, "My identity is..." the answer is, "Then express it somewhere else. This is not the place to express your identity."

you realize engaging in sexual acts before mare was thing right? they used in game emotes. I remember when posts were crying about the push up emote being used all over the place. for real go touch some grass. You're alwasy going to find bad things every where. this stuff this modding lewd stuff has been around since ffxi....

[Andras63]

you realize engaging in sexual acts before mare was thing right? they used in game emotes. I remember when posts were crying about the push up emote being used all over the place. for real go touch some grass. You're alwasy going to find bad things every where. this stuff this modding lewd stuff has been around since ffxi....

There are romantic elements in the game, so I can understand the ending, but doing it in public or posting it on social media seems a bit perverted...

That said, you can't take off your underwear or have sex in the game, so I don't think it's a problem as long as you don't overuse emotes.
*Engaging in sexual acts or sexual chat in public is a violation of the Terms of Use, even if you are not using a mod.

[MsMisato]

There are romantic elements in the game, so I can understand the ending, but doing it in public or posting it on social media seems a bit perverted...

That said, you can't take off your underwear or have sex in the game, so I don't think it's a problem as long as you don't overuse emotes.
*Engaging in sexual acts or sexual chat in public is a violation of the Terms of Use, even if you are not using a mod.

you would be surprised what people did before that third party tool came along with the push up, squat emotes. but as someone said in game, its mostly for clout, the updoots, upvotes, likes and such.

This was as bad when adventure plates became a thing. people posing in highly sexual suggestive ways lol.

[Oizen]

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...5eb456d2183251

Welp we got our official answer: Optics and they're mad people were wearing Mogstation glamour without paying for it.

I have a hunch their investors are breathing down their neck as to why their revenue is dropping so hard, so they're grasping at straws and Mare became the scapgoat.
Personally, if I was unhappy with the money my product was making, I'd alter my product into being one people want to stay subscribed to and keep playing. Mods definitely cost SE some money sure.
But I bet its pennies compared to the amount of lost money caused by their burnt good will and Post Endwalker - Dawntrail.

[Wyssahtyn]

"p-pwease buy more from the cash shop or we might have to incwease the sub price"

[Masekase_Hurricane]

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...5eb456d2183251

Welp we got our official answer: Optics and they're mad people were wearing Mogstation glamour without paying for it.

I have a hunch their investors are breathing down their neck as to why their revenue is dropping so hard, so they're grasping at straws and Mare became the scapgoat.
Personally, if I was unhappy with the money my product was making, I'd alter my product into being one people want to stay subscribed to and keep playing. Mods definitely cost SE some money sure.
But I bet its pennies compared to the amount of lost money caused by their burnt good will and Post Endwalker - Dawntrail.

No they was mad at people SHARING the glamour that people hadnt earned/paid for etc. Also due to new UK laws. This is why they said share the article instead of cherry picking comments.