ToS policy violation examples regarding vulgarity within an FC needs to be discussed

[Link941]

"Furthermore, in a Free Company with 10 members, if 9 of the 10 members tolerate the behavior but one does not, and one member files a report and we confirm that a violation has taken place, a penalty will be issued. You should also be aware that even if 9 of the existing Free Company members tolerate certain behavior, if you are joined by a new member who does not tolerate it, at that point your group is no longer unanimously tolerant of the behavior and may be penalized if a report is made."

I'm sorry but this is a massive oversight. If you look at this and think this is ok then I'll show you how I can abuse and exploit this: all I have to do is FC hop while pretending to be ok with vulgarity and report anything I think is vulgar enough to warrant a violation strike on a person's account and wreak havoc ruining people's accounts. If I pretend to be a super sensitive person who simply didn't know what they were getting into then the GMs have no reason to refuse me even if they think I'm lying. Secondly, this is just illogical to begin with. What is and isn't ok within an FC's culture should be dictated by the owners and officers, no one else. If you don't like how they talk then... just leave? Why even enforce this? I'm sorry, I see zero sense in it. Every other example in the document is fine. But not this, this needs to change.

[Vahlnir]

So basically profanity can be reported...like before. It's just not very likely in my opinion, but all it takes is one person. Literally nothing has changed.

[ryouma17]

thank god my FC consists of just me and my alts, so if anyone reports me i'll know who it was

[Vencio]

I feel more rules are yet to come & just its increasingly concerning that you’ll have to step far more carefull on tiny eggshells where every crack can at times be indirect, unintentionally or misinterpreted & thus making you culpable due to that.

This is going to further isolate us from one another & though its a game, just like rl, avoid bad apples & don’t expect to be catered every time due to something making you uneasy.

Can’t control every action that people will do at you or generally at everyone & just react on that.

Why in the world have most people just not follow blacklisting? Very simple ,

Blacklist >> Report >> move on

I truly love you Square, but getting more concerned at your stances & recent changes…

[lezard21]

thank god my FC consists of just me and my alts, so if anyone reports me i'll know who it was

I'd kick those guys if I were you. They can't be trusted.

Jokes asides, sadly I think this is the way to go going forward. Have your own personal FC for the storage. Don't talk in chat. Don't disconnect during raids.

Between these, Trusts and BLU's Basic Instinct it seems Squarenix is determined to turn this MMO into a single player experience as if it were a regular FF.

Next we will get Savage and Ultimate Trusts.

[Link941]

The rules technically haven't changed, other than the party finder stuff, yeah. But this example itself can easily be used as leverage to mass report and actually get people penalized. When things were more grey area, it was just accepted that as long as an FC chat wasn't directly violating ToS then it was fine. But now ONE person not being ok with anything vaguely "vulgar" can get everyone in trouble even if everyone else consents and its clearly stated what the FC is like? Thats a huge change right there.

[Vahlnir]

The rules technically haven't changed, other than the party finder stuff, yeah. But this example itself can easily be used as leverage to mass report and actually get people penalized. When things were more grey area, it was just accepted that as long as an FC chat wasn't directly violating ToS then it was fine. But now ONE person not being ok with anything vaguely "vulgar" can get everyone in trouble even if everyone else consents and its clearly stated what the FC is like? Thats a huge change right there.

Which is, again, no different than before.

[Vencio]

I'd kick those guys if I were you. They can't be trusted.

Jokes asides, sadly I think this is the way to go going forward. Have your own personal FC for the storage. Don't talk in chat. Don't disconnect during raids.

Between these, Trusts and BLU's Basic Instinct it seems Squarenix is determined to turn this MMO into a single player experience as if it were a regular FF.

Next we will get Savage and Ultimate Trusts.

Which is why is absurd & just seems to further reinforce that idea more of a single player RPG now

[lezard21]

Which is why is absurd & just seems to further reinforce that idea more of a single player RPG now

Indeed and it is a shame that it's happening so soon after XIV was praised as one of the best MMORPGs ever after everything it went through to get that title

[Feronar]

I don't really like the idea of SE policing FC chat like that, except in cases of serious harassment, bullying, obscenity, etc. For the most part I think FC officers should be able to police their own chat channels as they see fit.

My idea: Require all Free Company and Linkshell leaders to select a chat policy from a drop down menu: Family Friendly, Off-Colour, or NSFW. The policy will be listed on any FC/LS recruitment listings, and be shown to any player invited to or attempting to join a FC/LS. The extent to which SE will police FC/LS chat will depend on the chat policy selected by the FC/LS leader.

Family Friendly: All rules apply that would apply to any public chat channel. Harassment, bullying, and offensive material is prohibited. SE will enforce the chat rules just as they would on a public channel.
Off-Colour: Swearing and modestly dirty jokes are allowed. Harassment and bullying is still prohibited. Parental controls can be used to block a minor player from joining or creating an Off-Colour FC/LS.
NSFW: Highly dirty jokes, vulgarity, and "spicy" chat are allowed. "Spicy" chat is only prohibited if it is abhorrent, i.e. involving animals, underage people, the dead, non-consenting, etc. Harassment and bullying is still prohibited. Players can only join or create an NSFW FC/LS if they are 18+ years old, as registered during account creation.

If you join or create a FC/LS with an Off-Colour or NSFW chat policy you will have to click though a pop-up warning that by joining you consent to being exposed to potentially offensive chat, and that SE will not intervene in policing chat that stays within the selected chat policy.