The 3-Strikes Policy - Is it really a good thing?

[MPK]

How can you break the rules 3 times?! It's insane they even give you 2 warnings!

I haven't broken a single rule yet and don't plan to!

[Doozer]

I haven't broken a single rule yet and don't plan to!

For some reason I doubt that. Not sure why.

[Titansteel]

How can you break the rules 3 times?! It's insane they even give you 2 warnings!

I haven't broken a single rule yet and don't plan to!

To be fair, my OG FF14 ARR account is from the initial US release of the game. I was still in my teens behaving like an angsty teenager. I wasn't a toxic or bad person at all but I still said things in the moment that are out of character for me. It is unreasonable for a grown adult me that's had another 8 years of mature development to still face penalties for something that happened this long ago. In no world, in any setting, irl or in game, is harsh punishment like this reasonable.

This gets muddy the longer you play. Picture WoW for example. I started playing that game when I was 13! I had 2 brothers. I have 3 now and the youngest is almost as old as I was when I started playing that game. Do you see what I mean? I was a literal child when I started playing that game. I'm now an adult with my own child. These things have to be accounted for.

[White_Wolf_X]

Is kinda good but the strikes should also have Expiration date ( don't know if they have currently ) so if you got 1 strike but then 1-2 years pass and you don't break anymore rules during that time then the strike should be removed.

Depending on what you did to get that strike ofc it might take longer or less time for it to be removed.

[Awha]

I get the idea and I agree but I do feel if we do a system to remove strikes it should be for everything. Since if we are going to operate under the premise that people make mistakes but are also able to grow and learn from said mistakes to do better in the future then why should we pick and choose. I get in irl certain things go without forgiveness. This is a different space where people generally are more willing to go against social norms not because they believe in those ideals and are said out of pure ignorance or immaturity both of which can change over time and that should be reflected.

[KenXSSS]

Yeah, this seems pretty insane imo. I'm a newer player so idk too much about this policy, but I've read posts where people are afraid to talk in Duties because they have 2 strikes on their account. Afraid to TALK IN AN MMO, that seems pretty crazy to me. This game has been out for 8 years, and people live in fear of talking just so they don't lose their accounts thats p sad

[Ralph2449]

Honestly throughout my years in online games many people kept saying "You simply cant stop a popular online game community from becoming a cesspool" and I was inclined to believe it since most mmorpgs I played, especially big ones like WoW have global chats that are filled with trolling, bigotry, slurs, personal attacks and sometimes even worse types of talk, many said this was an inevitable effect of the anonymity of the internet in such games, yet SE has proves it is absolutely possible to stop a big game community from turning into a cesspool and that is done by:

Taking your ToS seriously unlike most western companies who dont pay GMs or simply dont bother enforcing their ToS ingame unless something gets out of control
Paying GMs to actually enforce ToS and even talk to the rule breaker which makes it a far more memorable punishment than some silly email "you are banned for 12 hours cuz of X"

By actually doing that you teach people that if they break the rules, they will get punished, unlike in WoW where because most people know reporting wont do anything they dont even bother reporting resulting trade being filled with random vile comments every hour.


Honestly how hard is it for people to not be toxic, to not get mad and start attacking others in chat or to not throw slurs no matter how much you and your buddies like doing that in private because you are told its cool and fun to do that.

And there's 3 strikes for a reason, you can do something by mistake once, but if you keep repeating that mistake a month or two later then you clearly didnt learn.

[Krotoan]

And there's 3 strikes for a reason, you can do something by mistake once, but if you keep repeating that mistake a month or two later then you clearly didnt learn.

A month or two later sure.. you should probably be judged on that fact. But the game has been around for 10+ years and right now you can still be 3rd striking on something you did 10 years ago. If it was for like.. swearing once or seemingly disconnecting when a dungeon was hard do you still feel that should count?

You seem reasonable. You probably have control over your temper and think before typing and talking. Some people don't though and just like we make accommodations for those who don't handle blinding speed dungeon runs we should probably make accommodations for those who run a little more hot blooded sometimes.

[Ralph2449]

A strict three-strike policy would work if they gave us clear cut rules and guidelines, but they intentionally have not to give them as much wiggle room as possible.

people who have been told by GMs that anything is bannable in the proper context

Yet there have been many more people who never had any issues, you cant really have a clear cut guideline in a game with real people because there will always be people who tip toe around that line and pretend "technically this is within the ToS" which is why GMs need a flexible position to judge the situation and stop unwanted behavior.

People simply need to adapt and learn to behave, something they might have not needed to do in any of their previous games which is why most online game chats are so bad these days to the point in WoW even popular streamers say things like 'You have to be trolling" if you play a non meta spec/class/build and I am very thankful SE has a policy against this type of "compelling a play style" attitude some people have in other games and would happily bring it here if they were allowed, thankfully they are not.

You probably have control over your temper and think before typing and talking. Some people don't though and just like we make accommodations for those who don't handle blinding speed dungeon runs we should probably make accommodations for those who run a little more hot blooded sometimes.

I can get that argument but someone could also say what about the opposite minority which would be people who get hurt by online comments, both of those groups are probably small but you can only support one in this case, this is where we get to the more grey area which either choice is understandable really, maybe it wouldnt hurt to have very specific minor cases have a 6 month expiration date(As long as nothing happens before those 6 months)

Honestly FF14 community is a breath of fresh air compared to pretty much all other popular game communities I ve played.
I dont really have this fear of saying anything because I know how to speak without being offensive, I remember it took me like 5 groups to get extreme Ramuh down and in many I would point out things like, "be careful of stacking lightning circles, they hurt", "Think you need to get 3 orbs if you get the linking lighting thing", none of those comments target or attack anyone nor they command people to do X, they very casually explain how something works without aiming anything at anyone.


Though I get the feeling SE is extra draconian in their measures specifically to send a message to the average western gamer who is far to used and accepting of insults, attacks and slur filled "banter" we sadly see in most online games these days

Knowing that fact the only way to fix this kind of normalized behavior is with draconian measures and honestly it is good that someone is actually trying to fix that.