Regarding the Revision of the Prohibited Activities and Account Penalty Policy

[AxlStream]

Surely “dismiss the ticket” is just as fast, if not faster, and likely requires less investigation and/or paperwork.

Working in a helpdesk environment myself, dismissing a ticket will be held against you in reviews.

[Senliten]

Surely “dismiss the ticket” is just as fast, if not faster, and likely requires less investigation and/or paperwork.

That would imply SE is allowed to simply dismiss. While I can't say what SE's SLA agreement is, the broad scope of what the new rules implies, sounds more like they are turning into one of our more well known 'hated' level 3 backbone. Which while I can't say how the backbone division goes, I can say that from another area of their Field Service Side, there is a monthly % to keep. That would mean if the wording for reporting was too strict, then broadening it, leaves open to more tickets, to either be resolved with a warning, closure, or dismissal. How SE wants these tickets to be treated however is up to them, but the current newly stated rulesets give implication that it can be anything goes, as long as it meets SLA. That is where the concern should be. As SE has not given us any incentive to trust their better judgment, given how GM's all have their own varying opinions which will cloud judgment.

But at the end of the day, SE is a company and has a performance record to meet, keep, compete, and defeat


And before any asks why I would spout this: Am a Field Service Tech for 5 years that has their hands working along more than one big name corporate and retail entities in the same day. Each one has their own set SLA's and expectations to meet for job completion, some can let you dismiss PEBKAC like tickets after contacting the person and doing just a quick troubleshoot *cough* turn it off then back on (at this point I'd ask why a lvl 1 and even end user troubleshoot ability got to lvl2 hands) while others expect you to make sure the said PEBKAC doesn't occur once again (reboot the pc, update the drivers, test keyboard functionality while on site, etc). The takeaway from that example however is "It is all in how the contract is all signed."


EDIT: Hell, I'd go jokingly so far to say that maybe 'backbone provider that shall not be named' bought rights to perform SE's helpdesk work for FFXIV, but not in that regional area so can't really state it as truth, just try and make a light joke of how there is a pattern there.

[Millybonk]

Undefined/vague policies are my favorite plaything:

• Square Enix reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to (i) determine which activities are prohibited -> The list of examples doesn't matter as SE can overrule it when they feel like it
• Obscene/indecent expressions -> I can report everyone who doesn't use proper English
• Other actions that are generally regarded as actions that inflict deep emotional distress on another person -> If anyone disagrees with my opinion they inflict a deep emotional distress upon me and will be reported by default
• In the case of a group action, all of the members involved will be subject to penalties. -> I can get a whole 24man raid punished for the behavior of 1 person?
• "Nuisance behaviour" means speech or behaviour that hurts others or obstructs game play -> If someone kills a random mob in my vicinity which I wanted to kill too he will get reported by default, as he obstructed my game play
• Expressions that provoke or belittle another person, such as excessive criticism, negation/ridicule -> Talking about facts like your random tank trying to eat every single AoE is now prohibited?
• Expressions that unilaterally reject another person's opinion -> Can I report your GM staff for this? They rejected my opinion.
• Expressions that any reasonable person would find offensive -> A reasonable person would find every expression of another person offensive, so I'll report anyone by default
• Other expressions that are offensive to another person -> Can I use my grandma as a reference point and report everyone, as clearly everything regarding FF14 is offensive for my grandma
• This means obstructive behaviour such as group blocking of passages or facilities along which many players pass or obstructing another person's game play progress, for example by overlapping an important NPC deliberately for a long time. -> What's next: I'm only allowed to play how SE determines is right?
• Exploiting Square Enix programming bugs or glitches -> One of my favorites: It your fault for using a bug we didn't find/care to fix and which we didn't communicate beforehand, therefor almost akin to a though crime
• If the Game Master (GM) gives an instruction based on the Terms of Use and/or other rules, failure to follow the instruction is a violation -> Clearly that also entails that a GM has to abide the same Terms of Use and can be reported for all those other ridiculous points too, right?

[Rivers23]

Reading this thread, it's just mind boggling how certain players and SE itself are treating a portion of players. If you're a player who doesn't want to improve, everyone else has to adapt to you. If you consider any type of advice harassment, people have to put up with you. Bottom line: always adapt to the least skilled player in the group and just shut up because SE is telling you to carry them or bite a penalty.
I'm sorry to say this but I think SE is going the way of Blizzard - catering to people who have least dedication and effort invested into to the game. The people who buy Fanta potions and glams from the cash shop. For that 10% of players who care about being decent at the game, we'll just throw some subpar content their way to keep them busy. And we'll muzzle them so they can never ever even suggest to other players that it might be a good idea to improve their skillset. Mind you, even the suggestion, however polite, can be understood as harassment by a lot of people, I've witnessed that many times.
My sub ran out yesterday, how convenient.

[Millybonk]

Catering towards the lowest common denominator, in this case people who do MSQ, a dungeon here and there and log off.
I reckon the majority of people fall under lowest common denominator, which combined with the every increasing plague of political correctness and avoidance of honest opinion/criticism led SE to this abomination of terms.
The terms are vague by default to enable SE to interpret a situation in their favor.

Considering I work in QA and breaking things is my job: what would happen if I report the post of the community rep of this tread using those new terms, as that particular post caused deep emotional distress in me, having to censor myself from now on.
Does he get banned?

[LastFireAce]

"provide a better environment for the community"

By destroying social friendship of the community for thos small Snowflake and giving major power to Game Master that can abuse it for any reason.

Some rule good, majority of it is bad. Can't agreed with it but im being force to agreed to it or lose 4-5 years of investment in XIV.

You could even ban me right now for disagreeing with yout opinion, the how bad it gotten.

[Dragonhand]

I honestly regret pre-ordering shadowbringers. It's the first time I decided to pre-order anything and I pay this since 1.0

[WaterShield]

Hello, Global Community Producer Toshio Murouchi here.

As of some of you may already know, we recently announced a revision to our service policies on the Lodestone. We recommend that everyone read the changes, as they are extremely important.

■Regarding the Revision of the Prohibited Activities and Account Penalty Policy ( NA / EU )

Revised Policies in Question
●Prohibited Activities in FINAL FANTASY XIV ( NA / EU )
●Account Penalty Policy ( NA / EU )

I understand that some of you may feel like account penalties have become much harsher compared to the previous policies, due to changes like the suspension period being extended for certain penalties.

Under the previous policies, some issues were difficult to address due to them being on the cusp, such as actions that were “Negative, but not severe enough to take action.” Additionally, we felt that the 3-day suspension did not have the desired inhibiting effect for some of the more severe issues. Therefore, we decided that a change was necessary. We held numerous discussions internally and ultimately landed on these changes.

We are striving to create a comfortable environment for our players, so that, if they do experience a negative incident, we are able to assist them as much as possible (and, if necessary, get involved in the situation). Please understand that these changes were necessary in order for us to achieve that goal.

On a side note, we have been noticing an increase in issues involving social media, video sites, and live stream channels. Please take this opportunity to go over the FINAL FANTASY® XIV User Agreement and be more mindful of others.
Overall, these policy changes are some of the largest adjustments we have made since the commencement of service, and we will continue to explore ways to provide a better environment for the community. Feel free to let us know if there are certain topics you would like us to improve upon.

Thank you for your continued support of FINAL FANTASY XIV!

I honestly regret pre-ordering shadowbringers. It's the first time I decided to pre-order anything and I pay this since 1.0

I too regret pre-ordering now. I've already redeemed my early access code so I do not qualify for a refund.

I'm thinking I'll try for a refund anyway and pull my sub. Not interested in supporting this project any longer if this is the direction they are taking it.

I've never so much as gotten a warning from a GM in this game. However I do not feel like living under fear of easily abused rules when I should be able to simply feel safe by not going out of my way to ruin someone else's day. Now I have to live with the fear that anyone with an agenda can weaponize these rules to attack someone through official channels, with no recourse should someone be wrongly punished.

It leaves me feeling unsafe. I do not consider this a comfortable environment any longer.

[Ssmiley_Bjakkzz]

Woohoo this will be fun! Bye bye scumlords and helluu Eorzea!

[Dragonhand]

Woohoo this will be fun! Bye bye scumlords and helluu Eorzea!

Are you calling people scumlords?