Third party tools are a game design failing in a multi-platform game

[LianaThorne]

Viera hats? Doesn't particularly bother me but for Square Enix, it does open an interesting thing to decide, what do you actually do? The same mechanisms that allow Viera hats also allow lewd modders to being their models, textures and even animations into the game (yes this is a thing now) which is something Square Enix have very much been vocally against. Not to mention that they also sell cosmetics in the optional cash store so for the men in suits, there's a business incentive to blocking third-party client-side cosmetic changes.

Bard bots are a similar thing. Aside from the usage of bard bots during Endwalker release to stay logged in which I know a few people that did so they didn't have to queue in the evening once they got home from work, it's just a little tired. Congratulations, you're the thousandth bard that's played Dragonsong using a third party program and it's even more obvious when an entire group of bards turn up with the same name. That said, you also have third-party programs that can play the entire MSQ and we've all see gibberish named sprouts playing the MSQ because it's been botted for years. SE can actually see when you're in performance mode anyway so this is really straightforward to moderate anyway and could still exist after this.

Unless they just implemented an anti-cheat in the nuclear way that auto moderated every detection, it would require Square Enix to make actual moderation policy decisions that they problem need to make at this stage. They're massively on the back foot of being able to manage all this additional functionality that's increasing in quality and quantity everyday. I can appreciate that quality of life changes people enjoy but even in this recent debate, everyone has a different idea of what QoL actually means and in the middle of all this is Square Enix being totally hopefully in moderating any of it regardless of how major or minor it actually is.

Bolded Point #1: Lewd models have been a thing for years. It's nothing new.
Bolded Point #2: This sounds like jealousy to me, but if it bothers you there's a little thing called muting Performance in your sound settings.
Bolded Point #3: This is false otherwise people would be getting banned as soon as they turn on any music related plugins or within a few days after using it. Clearly this is not the case as there are many individuals who have made in-game careers off of barding and continue to thrive.
Bolded Point #4: They have made a decision on it. They outright have stated that it's against the ToS, however they will not put anything on our PCs to detect what players are doing. This literally means: Hey we're going to say this is wrong but we can't stop you from using it unless you get yourself in hot water by using them publically.

Ultimately hun, your original post reads like you're upset that console players can't use mods or plugins and want them banned, even though if you were able to get a PC we both know you'd probably use them yourself. That's not the fault of the PC community that consoles are not able to mod (yes I am aware that Bethesda has done it in the past but they're a rare exception), nor is it on Square to level the playing field or pick sides and risk a riot by either side. Direct your anger where it matters, at the people who actually develop and produce consoles.