Sexual harassment

[Solarra]

Sexual Harassment is a problem yes... yes its bad. But the problem is when people don't bother to do anything about it.

I agree and I'm glad we are having this discussion now and looking at what we can do about it.
It's certainly not new and I don't imagine many people think it is. However, I think there has been a distinct shift in attitudes recently. When I was younger, harassment was something you were expected to deal with quietly on your own, people didn't talk about it much and when they did, victim-blaming was rampant (you'd be hard-pressed to get any support). Online abuse was something most of my friends avoided by not saying they were female or even pretending to be male.

I've already covered what I think we could do as a community in my first post, so the next question is,

Could Square do more?
Clearly the recent articles about The Moogle Post are not the sort of publicity the company wants.
I think there are a few issues that they could address:

- Make dropping someone from your Friends List automatically remove you from theirs.
This is a big one, if you change your character's name, the new name pops up on their list and it isn't hard to work out who you are.
- Make 'divorcing' someone mean their wedding ring either disappears from their inventory or is disabled, so they cannot teleport to you.
- Remove the ability from FC leaders to lock members out of the FC house, thereby cutting off access to personal rooms (which means affected members cannot leave the FC)
- Allow PS4 users to hide their ID (even if you make a new character, that shows who you are).
- Allow us to hide our ID on the Lodestone.
- Make black-listing someone mean they cannot teleport to you using the RAF crystal or contact you in any way.

From an earlier thread on the subject of the Friends List -

People not on your Friends List but who have you on their friends list can...
• Teleport to any estate you're associated with (personal, FC, apartment)
• Moogle mail you
• Teleport to the nearest aetheryte to you if you're a new adventurer

I think we've established that the most serious harassment tends to come from people who have posed as friends and gained someone's trust, so changing these things would help people deal with that sort of situation much more effectively than they can at present.

Edit: Since the new App will synch with your Friends List, I think it's even more important that Friends List removal only being one way should be looked at ASAP

[Baingoleth]

- Make dropping someone from your friend's list automatically remove you from theirs.
This is a big one, if you change your character's name, the new name pops up on their list and it isn't hard to work out who you are.
- Make 'divorcing' someone mean their wedding ring either disappears from their inventory or is disabled, so they cannot teleport to you.
- Remove the ability from FC leaders to lock members out of the FC house, thereby cutting off access to personal rooms (which means they cannot leave the FC)
- Allow PS4 users to hide their ID (even if you make a new character, that shows who you are)
- Make black-listing someone mean they cannot teleport to you using the RAF crystal or contact you in any way.

All of these things should be implemented.

[NephthysVasudan]

<snip>

Valid points all across the bow so to speak....but this detracts from the heart of the issue.
You speak of Quality of Life features that honestly are needed.
But these features are for a broad-spectrum of reasons...not just Sexual Harassment.
SE could implement them all they way....still won't stop it.

It starts with people....those who give it..and those who...well are victimized by it. If the victims don't step up and bother to say anything. Nothing happens.
And likewise - false accusations ALSO hurt people. This is why I do not like this thread-naught..save but a few posts such as yours.
Easily caught up in a flame/drama/troll fest.

Again...I'd love those features to be implemented....but they are "in a different zip code" - that just happens to coincidentally help the problem..but it won't solve it. People always find a way....sad truth anymore.

[Solarra]

@ Nephthys
I don't think we are going to stop it. I'm being realistic here, it is going to happen. So accepting this, I think it's only practical to look at ways we can minimise the damage.
Just raising awareness is useful I think. The more people know about how harassers operate the easier it is not to be taken in, either as a victim or as a bystander they might turn to for support if someone is brave enough to call them out on their behaviour. It's very common for harassers to try and make out they are the one being wronged, as seems to be happening in TMP case.

You're also right about the tools I proposed giving people to help deal with harassment if it happens to them in FFXIV, they are simply general QoL improvements. So if Square takes notice and implements them, everyone wins.