Please add something to FFXIV that disables 3rd party software interactions.

[villadelfia]

All your combat log data is saved to your PC. Parsers simply take this file and read it real-time for you. It's not cheating, it doesn't violate the TOS, and it is a great tool to use if you want to get better...if you're interested in that kind of thing.

Now to the real point--no, you can't hide from it. You can choose to improve or not, but wanting it eliminated so you can hide subpar performance is not happening. As Fleece Johnson puts it, "The choice is yaaaaws."

I don't know where this misconception keeps coming from. FFXIV does not save combat logs to a file, and the combat log available in-game is not sufficient to calculate your DPS because DoT ticks are not represented in it. The parser that everyone uses has two options available for parsing:

1. Memory reading: This one is less accurate because it has the same issue as the in-game log, being a lack of DoT ticks.
2. Network Sniffing: This one reads the actual network packets the game sends and receives. It's not possible to detect it from within the game without installing a kernel mode driver, and it's more accurate since it can sniff the dot tick amounts from the packets. Only disadvantage is that it doesn't work when the windows firewall is enabled.

The .log file you are talking about is generated by this program, not by the game. If you don't believe me, delete the log, go hit a striking dummy without your parser running, and try to find the log that the game allegedly saves.

Is it even possible, though, from a systems engineering point of view? Things like:

• Is it possible for an application to tell whether one specific input action received is automated or human? For example FFXIV currently accepts input from Windows TSF services, which itself could possibly be considered a third party tool.
• Is it possible for an application ito hide its network traffic such that not even the operating system can inspect it? Because if the OS can inspect it, then any tool that gets Administrator priviledge necessarily will be able to inspect the traffic.
• Even if all of the above are possible in practice, what are the ramifications and impact to the system while the game is running? Would FFXIV have to literally take over the whole system and the only way to interact with anything other than FFXIV is to log-off and close FFXIV?

I suppose if FFXIV is ran inside a sandbox pre-configured by Square Enix to allow only FFXIV to run, it may be possible? But I feel this is going beyond what a game company is capable of and is more likely done for software that requires the highest security, for example financial institute authentication service applications.

Well, they could close down many avenues of botting...

• They could disable input from a non-physical device... But that would completely break the game for people needing accessibility features, and dedicated botters could and would make kernel drivers to mimic a physical device. And even if they made that impossible, it would be cheap to make an actual physical device that's controlled by bot software.
• They could limit where and how the game can be run by for example having anti-vm detection and only allowing the game to run in true fullscreen... But that would be a dreadful play experience for legit players, and it could be worked around by kernel hooks. And many virus scanners automatically detect anti-vm measures as malicious behavior.
• They could disable trading, but then they would just use the marketboard to sell gil... And if that was made impossible too, it would severely impact real players...

The moral of the story is that every measure has a countermeasure, and while it would indeed affect bots... It would only do so until they have worked around the issue, while real players have to deal with it forever. Bots are perfectly content to put in the work to keep their cash flow going, and all their tactics exist because they work. They wouldn't be spamming the main cities and the novice network if that didn't get them sales.