Would you be opposed to SE implementing a program to scan for addons/parsers?

[KuroMaboroshi]

Who would have thought, the rare thread on the forum that restores faith in humanity rather than drain it. Seeing so many people speak out against invasive anti cheat systems is a welcome change of pace!

WoW has an anti cheat on its client and I have never heard of it causing any issues.

If blizzard can do it, pretty sure SE can do it as well.

They undoubtedly could, but the performance issues are in my opinion the least important of problems that come with Anti Cheat software.

Privacy and security weigh far more heavily. And there, while Square Enix would undoubtedly do its best if they were to take such a step, even the the most well-intentioned devs' best efforts are simply not sufficient. Kernel-level anti cheat (which would be neccessary to prevent the code injection that most mods, custom launchers, fixes for XIV's awful netcode etc. are based around) will always be a security risk. Even if you trust a developer, to err is human, and when you operate on that level of system access, any error, problem, or weakness in the software can create a weakpoint that can be exploited by savvy criminals.
And attacks on uniform, widely deployed software scale incredibly well.

That makes points like this one...

The innocent have nothing to fear. I support it.

...so misguided. And while some people might even have no problems with criminals gaining access to information or data about them, rights are there to protect the vulnerable, which is why it is important to defend them on principle, making the whole "nothing to hide" argument so dangerous.

[Zfz]

If blizzard can do it, pretty sure SE can do it as well.

Glamour dresser vs transmog, retainer system vs bank and simple market, promised add-ons but withdrew vs very active and creative add-on scene...there are things Blizzard did more than 10 years ago that FFXIV still is citing technical difficulties for.

[dspguy]

The problem is... the argument that "players that are against a third-party checker have something to hide" is not a valid argument. It goes under the presumption that some other company should be allowed to see what's on our devices.

I don't invite police into my house daily to check that I'm not cooking meth. Nor should we invite SE into our computer.

[CP2833787]

The innocent have nothing to fear. I support it.

That is some downright dangerous thinking in general.

It's also worth mentioning that the cheaters will always find a way around stuff like this, Anti-Cheat software almost never works and digs hard into the RAM of a computer causing performance drops.

The most likely scenario is it "works" by driving most of the player base away due to needing an expensive computer to play without severe performance issues. Which would put FFXIV back in the same boat it would have been in 1.0

[Arrius]

The problem is... the argument that "players that are against a third-party checker have something to hide" is not a valid argument. It goes under the presumption that some other company should be allowed to see what's on our devices.

I don't invite police into my house daily to check that I'm not cooking meth. Nor should we invite SE into our computer.

Likely you unwilling did already that with some programs and launchers that have the option to send your PC specs to analyze and perform surveys with it.

[Axxion]

as soon as they do something like this, i will either A) my time playing ff is over or B) continuing playing it but run it in a vm. Nobody needs to know whats on your pc

[Havenchild]

Doesn't matter to me. I've played several games all my MMOing career of 20+ years that have used anti cheat software of various kinds. Never had an issue. People who claim to have an issue are a fraction of the playerbase and probably already have qualms with the game for various other reasons and using it as an excuse to just peel the final bandaid off. If people think enjoyers of the game will walk away in droves simply because anti-cheat software of any kind comes out, they are sorely mistaken. Most people who engage with online MMOs already interface with anti-cheat software almost 90% of the time.

Now the main issue is how effective it would be, which seems to have varying results depending on the company. I've known some games to have such tight security, hacking/botting/modding by and large went caput instantly and games benefitted from it. I've seen some that turn into an arms race and others that pretty much can never keep up with the mods/hacks and just affect legit players. The game doesn't survive on mods like something akin to WoW does so getting rid of them isn't gamebreaking. Visual mods and QoL stuff disappears for those that use them, but if we can't have people in the community responsibily using them (especially on the highest most publicized stage) then we probably don't deserve to have them at all.

[Mcg55ss]

That is some downright dangerous thinking in general.

It's also worth mentioning that the cheaters will always find a way around stuff like this, Anti-Cheat software almost never works and digs hard into the RAM of a computer causing performance drops.

The most likely scenario is it "works" by driving most of the player base away due to needing an expensive computer to play without severe performance issues. Which would put FFXIV back in the same boat it would have been in 1.0

An expensive computer lol you are delusional. It doesn't cause the issues people claim and vast majority of games with anticheat the anticheat goes unnoticed not slowing anything. Now will it completely stop cheating, doubtful but it would act as deterrence

[Midareyukki]

An expensive computer lol you are delusional. It doesn't cause the issues people claim and vast majority of games with anticheat the anticheat goes unnoticed not slowing anything. Now will it completely stop cheating, doubtful but it would act as deterrence

From personal experience with them, yeah they do. Not while you're playing, but they act before when you launch it. Either way, you'd not only have someone circumvent the anticheat either way through some finnagling, you'll also risk disabling stuff that doesn't cause cheating but does still help people play the game. You know, the stuff SE is only implementing now because they realized people wouldn't stop using those tools since they couldn't get any decent alternative in-game? And all sorts of false flags just because "your firewall isn't configured correctly".

[Oizen]

My biggest concern with them adding a program that does this isn't even privacy, this game is already held together with virtual duct tape and silly puddy, and I've noticed a steep decline in the game's overall performance since Endwalker dropped.

Adding an anticheat on top of it would make the game lag even more.


Would be fucking hilarious watching the mass fall out and salt among people obsessed with modding the game though, might be worth it just for that.