Sexual harassment

[Kerwin]

If that kinda thing is funny to you then I don't know what to say... at least not on the forums... without catching a ban...

It's funny. It's just another round of FC drama.

[Rogatum]

It's funny. It's just another round of FC drama.

I agree, those feels when FC drama in a game on the high end has 800k active players across each region makes it to PC gamer. FFXIV is in the big time boys, step up from kotaku. I did get a good laugh reading that.

[Abelfei]

It's a video game. At any point you can blacklist or turn it off. Get over it.

[KisaiTenshi]

It's a video game. At any point you can blacklist or turn it off. Get over it.

But the damage is already done. Speaking from experience.

Young people, especially those who have just started playing this game or any MMORPG, are often victimized by people who not only know better, they use their position as leverage. Hence, FC leaders, people who run sub-reddit/discord/forums, etc are in a position over other players that they can easily abuse.

One of the reasons I repeatedly say not to join random FC's, is because of this kind of danger. If you didn't enjoy playing with those people, or haven't even begun to play with anyone, a bad FC is the quickest path to being pulled into something you don't want. Speaking from experience, the only thing worse is the "marriage" component in MMORPG's that players somehow players take more seriously than a real relationship.

A previous MMORPG I was in, the first guild I joined, the guy who ran it tried to treat me like a piece of property and would get mad any time I played with anyone but him. It was like getting the full experience of a bad relationship without the physical or sexual assault. Ironcily that guy quit at some point, I took over his guild and then left it for the top guild on the server which I had more fun with but really could not get over how that short experience destroyed what was left of any trust in people online.

[Theodric]

There's - unfortunately - a lot of people in this game who are capable of being very charismatic but have ulterior motives, manipulating others for their gain. It's why I urge everybody to be very wary of popular players who are surrounded by those who give them nothing but praise.

Nobody is perfect. I've seen a lot of artists on Balmung, for instance, who abuse their popularity to set their followers on whoever disagrees with them on even the most minor of issues.

I've seen entire FC's crumble because one member gradually turned even close friends against each other with subtle nudges and deceptive words.

So anyone who tries to downplay such scenarios is at best naive and worst likely guilty of such behaviour themselves. It is not as simple as just 'blocking' or 'reporting' such individuals. They know how to play the 'game'. They do it well. They also tend to do most of the incriminating things outside of the game itself.

[Lunaxia]

snip

Well put. Abuse and harassment goes far deeper than the name-calling, stalking and offensive messages that most people associate with those terms. More often than not, it's perpetrated by someone the victim knows and even trusts, gradually occurs over time and the warning signs do not immediately present themselves. As you said, the abusers are usually charming, manipulative and highly predatory, and they single out vulnerable people they sense they can control. The victim is usually in too deep before they're even aware of what's happening.

Speaking from experience, it's not until you're away from it that you look back and realise what was actually going on.

[Remyogic]

I'm having a hard time understanding how a set of polygons can be sexually harassed..........