Instant Temp Bans

[Kaethra]

So if someone got banned for Harassment, seemingly out of the blue. By someone who tends to be friendly and doesn't do anything creepy like stalking people, or using ethnic or homophobic slurs. Then they probably got hit for:

・Obscene/indecent expressions

What does that mean? Your guess is as good as mine.

The fact that it isn't clearly defined leads me to believe this is likely what the cause was for the ban (assuming of course that all information provided thusfar is correct, factual, and complete, and we're going to give the benefit of the doubt because that's what polite people do).

This could have been a crude joke cracked somewhere. Something in bad taste, or whatnot. Lets just say that SE has a super conservative approach to this sort of thing coming from a culture where indency and the like are taken very seriously. Personally I think they should apply NA cultural norms to this sort of thing when applying them to NA, but that's just me. I will say when my new representative takes office they will be getting a letter about the strictness of SE's new rules and see if they can't apply pressure to alleviate some of them at least within the US. Discusion of the reasoning behind wanting to do this is well beyond the scope of this thread. If you're interested in discussing it, feel free to make a new thread.

But in either case, we are where we are now. That means no crude jokes. No innuendo jokes. None of that. Nothing that anyone could find gross, disgusting, lustful, or any of that. Like I've said in another thread. Keep your communications in game to a minimum. Use discord for any sort of friendy communication. SE has made its rules far too strict to communicate in game for most of us. Just take a look at their ruleset to see for yourselves:

https://support.na.square-enix.com/f...6&id=5382&la=1

The part under Offensive Expression is particularly troubling. By those rules you cannot even tell a tank to put on tank stance. "・Expressions that compel a playing style" Cannot tell someone to tank pretty much. But then again a tank not tanking is "Obstruction of Play" So when someone does something annoying. Don't tell them. Report them. Rules are truly setup to be a First one to Report, Wins means of resolving player to player conflict. SE wants to handle our problems for us.

[Racen]

Personally I think they should apply NA cultural norms to this sort of thing when applying them to NA, but that's just me. I will say when my new representative takes office they will be getting a letter about the strictness of SE's new rules and see if they can't apply pressure to alleviate some of them at least within the US. Discusion of the reasoning behind wanting to do this is well beyond the scope of this thread. If you're interested in discussing it, feel free to make a new thread.

But in either case, we are where we are now. That means no crude jokes. No innuendo jokes. None of that. Nothing that anyone could find gross, disgusting, lustful, or any of that. Like I've said in another thread. Keep your communications in game to a minimum. Use discord for any sort of friendy communication. SE has made its rules far too strict to communicate in game for most of us. Just take a look at their ruleset to see for yourselves:

first of all, your "representative" isn't going to do anything, they have no power over SE, and there's no leverage for them to do anything. second of all, if you can't communicate in game at all without getting warned or suspended, I would say the problem doesn't really lay with other people, sounds like this is a you issue. if the same thing keeps happening over and over and the only common thread is that you're the one involved in it, you can probably rest assured that you are the reason.

[Ashgarth]

This could have been a crude joke cracked somewhere. Something in bad taste, or whatnot. Lets just say that SE has a super conservative approach to this sort of thing coming from a culture where indency and the like are taken very seriously. Personally I think they should apply NA cultural norms to this sort of thing when applying them to NA, but that's just me. I will say when my new representative takes office they will be getting a letter about the strictness of SE's new rules and see if they can't apply pressure to alleviate some of them at least within the US. Discusion of the reasoning behind wanting to do this is well beyond the scope of this thread. If you're interested in discussing it, feel free to make a new thread.

SE's policy is basically "You can report anything and we will decide if the person was being an asshole", which they seem to be enforcing just fine. Everyone who I've seen complaining about unfair banns so far turned out to be either lying or complaining about how calling someone a useless retard is not an insult.

[Vidu]

This could have been a crude joke cracked somewhere. Something in bad taste, or whatnot. Lets just say that SE has a super conservative approach to this sort of thing coming from a culture where indency and the like are taken very seriously. Personally I think they should apply NA cultural norms to this sort of thing when applying them to NA, but that's just me. I will say when my new representative takes office they will be getting a letter about the strictness of SE's new rules and see if they can't apply pressure to alleviate some of them at least within the US. Discusion of the reasoning behind wanting to do this is well beyond the scope of this thread. If you're interested in discussing it, feel free to make a new thread.

Why though? Its their game, their rules. Quite frankly this request is a little bit disturbing... you seem to be aware that some jokes/expressions might be considered bad taste by other people, but because they wouldnt be considered that in your "culture" its suddenly okay to say them?
And how would that even work? Are there less strict rules for NA-servers? Or for all people with an NA-service-account? Can I insult NA-people with my EU-account, because its appropriate in their culture? And what kind of culture is that even that considers it alright to be rude or vulgar infront/with/to strangers? Its certainly not one I'd like to come in contact with... It really shouldnt be that difficult for an adult (or a teen for that matter) to behave friendly and politely around people they dont know. You dont need to express your "culture" if it involves obscene or rude language in a DF-party. You can always keep that in private chanels.
Remember: You only get in trouble if someone reports you! And its really not that difficult to keep it together in party-chat. Being american isnt an excuse.

[Izanagi_Fiaresu]

So if someone got banned for Harassment, seemingly out of the blue. By someone who tends to be friendly and doesn't do anything creepy like stalking people, or using ethnic or homophobic slurs. Then they probably got hit for:

・Obscene/indecent expressions

What does that mean? Your guess is as good as mine.

The fact that it isn't clearly defined leads me to believe this is likely what the cause was for the ban (assuming of course that all information provided thusfar is correct, factual, and complete, and we're going to give the benefit of the doubt because that's what polite people do).

This could have been a crude joke cracked somewhere. Something in bad taste, or whatnot. Lets just say that SE has a super conservative approach to this sort of thing coming from a culture where indency and the like are taken very seriously. Personally I think they should apply NA cultural norms to this sort of thing when applying them to NA, but that's just me. I will say when my new representative takes office they will be getting a letter about the strictness of SE's new rules and see if they can't apply pressure to alleviate some of them at least within the US. Discusion of the reasoning behind wanting to do this is well beyond the scope of this thread. If you're interested in discussing it, feel free to make a new thread.

But in either case, we are where we are now. That means no crude jokes. No innuendo jokes. None of that. Nothing that anyone could find gross, disgusting, lustful, or any of that. Like I've said in another thread. Keep your communications in game to a minimum. Use discord for any sort of friendy communication. SE has made its rules far too strict to communicate in game for most of us. Just take a look at their ruleset to see for yourselves:

https://support.na.square-enix.com/f...6&id=5382&la=1

The part under Offensive Expression is particularly troubling. By those rules you cannot even tell a tank to put on tank stance. "・Expressions that compel a playing style" Cannot tell someone to tank pretty much. But then again a tank not tanking is "Obstruction of Play" So when someone does something annoying. Don't tell them. Report them. Rules are truly setup to be a First one to Report, Wins means of resolving player to player conflict. SE wants to handle our problems for us.

Dude I thought you were serious till that line. Don't give away the troll.

[Kaethra]

Dude I thought you were serious till that line. Don't give away the troll.

I was serious, even that line. But like I said, make another thread if you wish to discuss the reasons why.

[Izanagi_Fiaresu]

I was serious, even that line. But like I said, make another thread if you wish to discuss the reasons why.

IF you think this is a big enough deal that you need to contact your congressman? Then that tells me that you need a hobby outside FFXIV.

First of all. Freedom of Speech only goes as far as the government not arresting you for calling the President a Cheeto.

Second of all. There are WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more important things to call your representative about than how a company moderates their video game.

Of all my years gaming. That is the most INSANE neckbeardy thing I've ever heard.

[Hash_Browns]

I was serious, even that line. But like I said, make another thread if you wish to discuss the reasons why.

D-do you think Freedom of Speech applies here..?

[Jimmymagic]

WHOA.....this went from a vague ban to civil rights and amendments....geez

We were in an instance/dungeon when this happened btw. On discord he did not receive any notification only went straight to jail. Oh and he told me that this was more than just one offense but no details what the offenses were.

I love FF games in general and have been a huge fan since black screen "DOS" most of you probably never heard of. Im totally hooked on this game since I came back from beta and started back up last August.

My whole point of the thread is how can you justify and distinguish what is worthy of temp ban or perma ban. Seems to be Squenix is beyond implementing anything that could be just and fair because of over sensitivity and taking comments out of context.

My FC leader is not a jerk imo but others may think different I get that. Personalities are gonna clash on all MMO's within groups. This banning thing is bugging me and almost convinced to stop playing.

[Vidu]

WHOA.....this went from a vague ban to civil rights and amendments....geez

We were in an instance/dungeon when this happened btw. On discord he did not receive any notification only went straight to jail. Oh and he told me that this was more than just one offense but no details what the offenses were.

I love FF games in general and have been a huge fan since black screen "DOS" most of you probably never heard of. Im totally hooked on this game since I came back from beta and started back up last August.

My whole point of the thread is how can you justify and distinguish what is worthy of temp ban or perma ban. Seems to be Squenix is beyond implementing anything that could be just and fair because of over sensitivity and taking comments out of context.

My FC leader is not a jerk imo but others may think different I get that. Personalities are gonna clash on all MMO's within groups. This banning thing is bugging me and almost convinced to stop playing.

What people have been trying to tell you though: the GMs dont take things out of context. They have access to all chatlogs, so they can see what was said before and by whom and they consider this context.

Saying that personalities are gonna clash is as bad as excuse as saying "its american culture to swear and make rude jokes" - in a group-enviroment you still need to control yourself (and as an adult you should be able to). There is no reason to be anything but polite to other people you meet in game - you dont need to tell them you love them, but keeping a neutral, polite tone is all thats required to not get banned when dealing with strangers. If you want to be rude or sarcastic or make crude jokes its really not to much to ask to keep that within your own circles. Saying "Thats just how I am!" doesnt give you a free pass to run around and be that way towards people if that way is or can be considered rude.

Why is that such a difficult concept to grasp...?
And: if your FC-leader was a repeated offender I dont even know what to say anymore... if you're truely unable to play without saying things that are bad enough for people to go through the length to report you (remember: only if someone reports you, GMs will do something) maybe you should just disable the chat...

Little Edit: At least to me its pretty clear that repeated offenses - which seems to be the case for your FC-leader? - are pretty good grounds for more severe or even perma bans. You got your warning, you continued with your behaviour so apparently the warning wasnt enough.