Mod users in FFXIV are getting out of control

[Seig345]

So honest question as I haven't seen it brought up in the thread yet: what about the players that do make their characters look like themselves?
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I agree, there are people for whom their avatars are as direct extensions of themselves. You have full autonomy over your character through their appearance and actions.

It's unfortunate to know that some people are perving your avatar's representation on their client, but unfortunately anyone might see someone passing down the street IRL and lust after them and/or draw inappropriate art of them without their ever knowing. That's simply a risk you take by existing in the world with other people. People don't need a mod in order to produce nude recreations of your character, so I'm not sure how necessary it is for an MMO to crack down on this kind of thing beyond suspending players who happen to be caught.

[Remus]

I like how the OP just changed their character to a level 1 level gladiator on Mateus when they were a Au RA on Gilgamesh at a much higher level. I think OP is trying to hide lul.

[Dualgunner]

So honest question as I haven't seen it brought up in the thread yet: what about the players that do make their characters look like themselves?

In that case it's like imagining someone's face with someone else's body. In this game you have no control over body shape, it's all uniform, so all you control is your character's face (from pre-baked faces) and hairstyle. So really, it's photoshopping someone's hair onto a model's face onto a celebrity's body. It's not even that person's concern *until* it starts getting used to directly harass that person.

I like how the OP just changed their character to a level 1 level gladiator on Mateus when they were a Au RA on Gilgamesh at a much higher level. I think OP is trying to hide lul.

Honestly it's a reasonable reaction since people started (allegedly, but I have no reason to disbelieve atm) harassing OP in game because of this thread.

[Seig345]

I like how the OP just changed their character to a level 1 level gladiator on Mateus when they were a Au RA on Gilgamesh at a much higher level. I think OP is trying to hide lul.

If people were harassing me, I'd hide too.

[Vashiepoo]

I agree, there are people for whom their avatars are as direct extensions of themselves. You have full autonomy over your character through their appearance and actions.

It's unfortunate to know that some people are perving your avatar's representation on their client, but unfortunately, anyone might see someone passing down the street IRL and lust after them and/or draw inappropriate art of them without their ever knowing. That's simply a risk you take by existing in the world with other people. People don't need a mod in order to produce nude recreations of your character, so I'm not sure how necessary it is for an MMO to crack down on this kind of thing beyond suspending players who happen to be caught.

Pretty much this. You're not your character no matter how much you want to be you're not and never will be. It's an unhealthy mindset when you start thinking of a character in a video game as yourself.

[HyoMinPark]

So honest question as I haven't seen it brought up in the thread yet: what about the players that do make their characters look like themselves?

Be that as it may, there is still a difference between a naked avatar, and you naked in real life. I said it a few pages back, but I'll say it again here so you don't have to search if you didn't see it: the main issue I take with OP is their approach, and then equating someone posting naked pictures of a virtual character to someone posting naked photos of themselves in real life. They are not the same thing, and cannot be equated as such, no matter how much of oneself one places in their character. That's my opinion on that.

I also take issue with the OP's insinuations that this is common trend among modders. The vast majority could not care less about your character being naked or in modified outfits on their screen. They mod for their character, not someone else's.

You can say "it stays on the client side" all you want, however when completely unwilling participants are being told to dress/design their own avatar a certain way to "deal with it or avoid it," then suddenly it does affect them. No one should be forced to avoid certain glamours of all things just because someone else wants to view everyone and their mother naked. No one should be forced to look up an NSFW mod they're not interested in just to figure out what should be avoided in game for it. Not to mention it would just become an eternal chase, because we all know good and well more and more glamours would get added over time to work around that.

This relates back to what I said about fear-mongering. Most modders do not mod to perv on other people's avatars; they do it to enhance their own characters. If people wanted to make OP's character naked, for example, they don't even need mods for that. There's already a program they can easily use to alter a photo that has been around for years: Photoshop. Are we going to start telling people to fear Photoshop as well? Why be afraid when the modders themselves don't care that your specific toon is naked or in modified outfits?

I don't like playing the "but the children!" card, but one example is that a lot of minors play this game (like 5-12 year olds). Can you imagine they or their parents' reactions if a nude of their character was discovered online? It's not the kid itself but it would absolutely do something negative. And are you really going to tell a parent "well you should have looked up this mod and made sure your kid didn't wear x glamour!"?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you have to actually be 13 to "legally" be able to play this game; I'm pretty sure there something in the ToS about minimum age required. And why would they find their character naked online? Are the going around specifically looking for it? What if it's not their character but one that looks just like it in the screenshot? Or, what if the screenshot was, for example, photoshopped? This seems like an implausible scenario to me.

[Vashiepoo]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you have to actually be 13 to "legally" be able to play this game; I'm pretty sure there something in the ToS about minimum age required. And why would they find their character naked online? Are the going around specifically looking for it? What if it's not their character but one that looks just like it in the screenshot? Or, what if the screenshot was, for example, photoshopped? This seems like an implausible scenario to me.

The minimum age required to play XIV is 13 so if this lady knows a bunch of 5-12 year olds running around they should probally get on reporting them. Second
From the ESRB site about xiv "Some female characters are depicted from low camera angles,with lingering camera views of their buttocks (i.e., up-skirt shots).Dialogue contains suggestive references; for example, "The netmaster's probably up in his office polishing the mast just thinking about her," "stick yer manhood in the forge," " I don't think I'd let my 5-12 year old play XIV on that alone.

[KaivaC]

I like how the OP just changed their character to a level 1 level gladiator on Mateus when they were a Au RA on Gilgamesh at a much higher level. I think OP is trying to hide lul.

Considering that OP is being harassed after this thread came out, well, yeah, it's understandable. Do explain how this is a 'lul' moment? I don't agree wholeheartedly with the OP, but I fail to see how somebody being harassed is worthy of laughter or implied ridicule. I know you certainly wouldn't enjoy it if players started harassing you every time you logged in.

[Kaitoo]

i feel you op, sadly we must deal with the creeps and their unsatisfied sexual desires

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Obviously most folks aren't going to have the exact body proportions, but there are players out there that make a point of getting their character to look as close to how they look offline as possible. The character's still not technically them, but any unwanted "nudes" being posted would hit closer to home in those cases. Is that still a case of "just deal with it," or is that walking along more dangerous territory? Are you really going to tell them that they shouldn't design their character how they want, just like a lot of folks have already said "well don't wear x glamour then"?

Bluntly stated, yes. I do not mean to come across callous, however making a virtual character appear similar to yourself does not alter the fact they are still virtual pixels and cannot be compared to a real life person. No real world harm will come from someone seeing your virtual "self" naked. And we have yet to even cover how the limited nature of FFXIV's character creator makes actual mirror copies of oneself impossible. You will have sweeping generic characteristics your avatar does at best.

While being uncomfortable is entirely subjective, avoiding outfits because someone, maybe, possibly has a nude mod active will likely drive you paranoid. If you cannot see it, why does it matter? Would you be equally offended if someone imagined you in your underwear/naked to absolve their anxiety? That is essentially what client side mods are; someone's imagination.

I don't think the modding community as a whole should be targeted or condemned (heavens no!). However I don't think OP's concern should be apathetically swept to the side either. There's just too many ways it could go wrong, which is why MMOs these days typically put methods in place to try to prevent mods. I don't like playing the "but the children!" card, but one example is that a lot of minors play this game (like 5-12 year olds). Can you imagine they or their parents' reactions if a nude of their character was discovered online? It's not the kid itself but it would absolutely do something negative. And are you really going to tell a parent "well you should have looked up this mod and made sure your kid didn't wear x glamour!"?

And those minors have no business playing as the game is rated Teen. Minors also play Call of Duty, but it isn't Activision's problem if they are offended, hurt or in anyway negatively impacted when the game is rated above their age. Putting the technical aside, how is a teenager negatively impacted by seeing a naked body in a video game? This inherently implies nudity as a whole is something bad and shameful before a certain age. I find that a far worse message to send a teenager. Regardless, they will only see nudity if someone links a screenshot, which is a great way to get yourself banned in-game. What I would tell the parents is to report the person sending your kid screenshots like that because they're an idiot. If said kid found pictures on Reddit or Twitter, well, that has nothing to do with Square Enix. Both sites also implement a NSFW check, which someone has to turn on to see said images. So...