Integrity matters

[Aidorouge]

While I find myself disagreeing with some of your points (of which others in this thread have already comment on, so I won't comment further), I find myself in full agreement here. The amount of people I see whenever I visit Crystal DC whose first instinct is to ask for a sync code is annoying, and when I say I have none, they immediately ghost and pretend I don't exist. We may exist in the same space, but we're in completely different games at that point. A major part of playing an MMO over a single-player game or most other multiplayer games is the fact we share the same world and space. If one player's client is so radically different from someone else, that world is no longer shared.

I would see it as dodging a bullet, honestly. If someone's default personality is "moon code?" they probably weren't much of an RPer anyway. Same with the people who cheat, who clearly suck at the game and need a bib and high-chair to function.

While I do object to people modding in such a way that affects others, I tend to pity, not envy, the people who mod so extensively that they're "playing another game" or "the game is playing its self" because they've closed themselves off in a bubble that the majority of the playerbase doesn't, contrary to the claims some people make that "everybody mods". I know I suck at the game, and I definitely enjoy fanservice, but I can't say I was ever so far gone to utilize mods to trivialize content or "enhance" my appearance, and its easy enough for me to avoid other people who do because they can't resist being so loud about it.

It's the same reason I rolled my eyes when people celebrated the banning of Mare despite not personally caring that it was gone now; Those vanilla RPers lost nothing when Mare was active, and gained nothing back when it was gone because even putting aside a replacement mod popping up days later anyway, those Mare users weren't going to suddenly go seeking vanilla players out while apologizing and begging profusely to engage with them because its still two different RP subcultures and the wall would still be there with or without mods.

[VanillaWafer]

I wonder when people will address the large CSAM rings that have formed in FFXIV as a result of the modding community. People flock to FFXIV because they can mod child characters and then use those connections to share real-world CSAM because they found “their people”. Hundreds of people were shown to be in just one of the CSAM rings uncovered lately that were run by and made for kiddie modders. FFXIV has become a haven for pedophiles. Why does Square Enix want this reputation? FFXIV players have already shown up on Chris Hansen’s latest show.

Yeah, that is terrible to find out.

If there are confirmed cases of FFXIV communities being used to facilitate CSAM, that's obviously serious and should be investigated through the proper channels.

But "criminals have used FFXIV/modding communities" and "FFXIV has become a haven for pedophiles because of modding" are two very different claims. The latter needs considerably more evidence than the former.

[Carighan]

They don't care. What they HATE is actually getting in trouble for typing slurs in chat

Yeah, with some of these posters they let slip sometimes what they're actually angry at, and I gotta say, it's poetic to be jealous at something where the devs openly say "Don't harass other players and we don't care" because you yourself harassed other players.

But "criminals have used FFXIV/modding communities" and "FFXIV has become a haven for pedophiles because of modding" are two very different claims. The latter needs considerably more evidence than the former.

The later in fact can be legally actionable slander if it damages someone's reputation in a demonstrable way. That is, suggesting FFXIV is "a haven for pedophiles" can get someone sued by SQEX if it they can show they lose out on money because of those claims.
That is to say, if anyone has knowledge of this, they need to report it to the authorities, and if they don't, then they can get in trouble because of pretending they do. Do not use CSAM for jokes or forum arguments!

[Arthur-Holt]

I wonder when people will address the large CSAM rings that have formed in FFXIV as a result of the modding community. People flock to FFXIV because they can mod child characters and then use those connections to share real-world CSAM because they found “their people”. Hundreds of people were shown to be in just one of the CSAM rings uncovered lately that were run by and made for kiddie modders. FFXIV has become a haven for pedophiles. Why does Square Enix want this reputation? FFXIV players have already shown up on Chris Hansen’s latest show.

That's a job for the authorities thoughalbeitly

[VanillaWafer]

The later in fact can be legally actionable slander if it damages someone's reputation in a demonstrable way. That is, suggesting FFXIV is "a haven for pedophiles" can get you sued by SQEX if it they can show they lose out on money because of those claims.
That is to say, if you have knowledge of this, you need to report it to the authorities, and if you don't, then you can get in trouble because of pretending you do. Do not use CSAM for jokes or forum arguments you're losing because you cannot demonstrate any valid point.

I'm responding to the claim introduced and pointing out that a serious allegation like that needs to be substantiated.

Though just to clarify, are you saying that I used CSAM as a joke or for a forum argument? If so, could you point out where I did that?

[JohnLakeside]

It’s fricking hilarious how accusing anyone you disagree with of being a bigot or a slur enjoyer has basically become a FF14 community staple. Like lol. Just lol.

[TaleraRistain]

To those that seemingly HATE the crafting plug so damn much with burning suffocating uncontrollable rage:

What's the "law abiding non-sinful Christian" way to do it?? To use an online solver or copy-paste the Gillionarie solution into a Macro and spam the same one button for 5 hours?? That's better??

Does anyone actually press the 13 buttons manually every single time they're crafting anything? Even back on PS3 I was already copying Macros from third party websites.

I'm not in the hate plugin with a rage camp but you don't have to copy anything or use any online solvers and you certainly don't have to manual craft. You can write the macro yourself. Especially now that they added HQ stats to Trial Synthesis. I don't use anyone else's macros. I write all of my own.

[Absurdity]

I don't usually care if someone only lightly mods their game (a texture upgrade, minor tweaks to vanilla gear, etc.), but if the end result is completely alien in aesthetic, why not play Second Life at that point?

That's essentially what some people are doing. The reason they're not playing Second Life itself is because this game is slightly less ancient, probably cheaper and doesn't require them to be creative enough to make their own content.
Because XIV still technically has a game attached to the chatroom with graphics.

I wouldn't have as much of a problem if the feature were natively in the game to actually support the chaining of macros, or automatic batch-crafting to HQ -- Basically if this were the developers intended means of actually consuming the content.

Which it honestly should be.
I can't be bothered to check what the plugin does but if it automates the tedium of crafting 500 strength potions then I can absolutely see why it exists.
Bulk HQ crafting in this game is just a massive waste of everyones' time.

It requires no thought or skill, just good gear and like two macros, but it still forces you to sit at your PC and press those macros every 30 or so seconds, for multiple hours.
Which can probably already be automated by a gaming keyboard with macro functions.

[Burmecia]

"This is a problem. I think this is a problem, and I do care about this. Please, devs, consider doing something to this problem!"

"I don't care about the problem, and I don't see anyone doing anything problematic anyway, and if I saw I would know they're doing it for semi-legitimate reasons. So, there is no problem. People should stop talking about the problem, which is not the problem, and doesn't exist anyway. Doing anything to this problem would double the problems - which aren't real problems anyway."

...thanks ff14 forum for some deliciously thought provoking discussion again.

[VanillaWafer]

Snip'd.

For the players going back to WoW, good for them. Of course people will flock to a game they've already spent time, effort, and money on, and I won't blame them. Have fun, I'd say.

But I don't think they're going there in light of recent events.

Because that's a serious issue that absolutely warrants an investigation by authorities, not the court of public opinion. Even then, that still doesn't establish that FFXIV as a whole is "a game for sexual deviants" or that millions of people are avoiding it because of this. Those are separate claims that need their own evidence.

Since this is a topic about integrity, and while I do understand and acknowledge the concern, what exactly do you want me, as an individual player, to do with this allegation?

Because I'm only learning this from other sources, like yourself, and I'm not directly involved at all. Usually, the people who ARE involved should go to authorities and get that handled.

Like what was said here:

The later in fact can be legally actionable slander if it damages someone's reputation in a demonstrable way. That is, suggesting FFXIV is "a haven for pedophiles" can get you sued by SQEX if it they can show they lose out on money because of those claims.
That is to say, if you have knowledge of this, you need to report it to the authorities, and if you don't, then you can get in trouble because of pretending you do. Do not use CSAM for jokes or forum arguments you're losing because you cannot demonstrate any valid point.

Which I now can see this as a broad, general message than rather than a direct reply to me. If that was the case, please make it known that it was general to avoid confusion.

And I absolutely agree with the above statement. I would avoid making more inflammatory statements without the evidence to back that up and painting people with a wide brush, caffe_macchiato.