How do you all deal with stalkers?

[caioferreira]

I used to "go all out", name shame and all, until they realised too many ppl knew how abusive and creepy they where, that always "helped" me, but I am facing a different issue where I don't want to do this, so I ask you all, what would you do? Or do you have any experiences with stalkers where I can learn from you?

[Stormpeaks]

I used to "go all out", name shame and all, until they realised too many ppl knew how abusive and creepy they where, that always "helped" me, but I am facing a different issue where I don't want to do this, so I ask you all, what would you do? Or do you have any experiences with stalkers where I can learn from you?

Sadly this game encourages stalking, lodestone link stays the same when you name change / world change, you also stay in people's friend lists after doing a world / dc change, so basically if someone has you in their friend list and want to track you, they have the red carpet for it.

Dont think there is much you can do really except to try and stay away from them in any way possible

[Larirawiel]

Sadly this game encourages stalking,

I would not say, that the game encourages it. Encouraging means, that a stalker would get some ingame bonusses for stalking. But stalkers do not have real obstacles to stalk someone, yes. There should be more than a simple chat filter. Maybe an account total block or something. And if a player uses the renaming service then a new lodestone URL should also be generated.





Cheers

[Kaurhz]

I would say in the first instance to report, if it happens again, I would suggest considering a name change, and then if it persists report once again which would give more weight to the fact of stalking and would make it easier for action to be taken.

With some fortune, some of the people will get sanctioned accordingly for it, they'll get the 'memo' and they'll back off and probably spread the word that despite their lack of a moral compass, they can still get sanctioned for it.

I would equally say in the future to be cautious of those whom you add, especially in a gaming community. Unfortunately, whilst you can delete people from your friend list, this is not a two-way job - I believe you would still remain on their list which can make it more difficult to get away from it. - Unfortunately, the powers that be somehow don't see why this system is an obvious issue.

[Stormpeaks]

I would say in the first instance to report, if it happens again, I would suggest considering a name change, and then if it persists report once again which would give more weight to the fact of stalking and would make it easier for action to be taken.

With some fortune, some of the people will get sanctioned accordingly for it, they'll get the 'memo' and they'll back off and probably spread the word that despite their lack of a moral compass, they can still get sanctioned for it.

I would equally say in the future to be cautious of those whom you add, especially in a gaming community. Unfortunately, whilst you can delete people from your friend list, this is not a two-way job - I believe you would still remain on their list which can make it more difficult to get away from it. - Unfortunately, the powers that be somehow don't see why this system is an obvious issue.

Name change doesnt work, lodestone link doesnt change, and if they have you in their friend list they will see your new name

[Kaurhz]

Name change doesnt work, lodestone link doesnt change, and if they have you in their friend list they will see your new name

The point is to really take the intent from it, if people go that far then it's very difficult for any GM to ignore, even when they're feeling kinder than usual. Granted, they shouldn't need to in the first place. Because frankly stalking behavior should lead to a 1-way ticket to a banned boulevard, pending review.

[drtasteyummy]

stalk them back

[Toutatis]

Report, block, ignore. Do as if they don’t exist. Answering, stalking them, engaging in any way with them only encourages them to continue. They want reactions and if they don’t get any, they’ll eventually lose interest.

[Boblawblah]

Report, block, ignore. Do as if they don’t exist. Answering, stalking them, engaging in any way with them only encourages them to continue. They want reactions and if they don’t get any, they’ll eventually lose interest.

This, any sort of engagement is a win for them. If they're a part of a group of friends and your friends won't help shut the behavior down, separate completely from the whole group. Don't underestimate crazies.

[Chie_M]

First, of course, I blacklisted. Then, he starting both following me around on his main, and making alt after alt after alt. I took screenshots and reported every instance of in-game stalking. I took screenshots of out-of-game events (ie, he kept adding me on sock puppets on Discord and Steam).

Materia opened, so I moved to Materia. He left his main on Mateus, and continued his army of alts to harass me on Materia. I continued to take screenshots and to report the behaviour, quoting the ever-growing list of prior ticket numbers in my reports.

SE never suspended his account. They very clearly do not take this seriously. So I deleted my main and started over again.

He used a third-party tool to pull my IP address from Discord. He would create sock puppets, join servers that he knew I was in, and then spam my IP address and my (now changed) universal gamer tag. He would threaten to sexually assault me.

As he was now acting outside of the game, I no longer needed to rely on Square Enix. I put all of my screenshots onto a USB and took it to the local police station. The stalking began when he claimed that he was in love with me, so I had his full legal name, city of residence, and several unsolicited pictures from him to aid in my police report.

I never heard from him again. But I still don't post on my main on the forums. I have a new discord account and I don't add people I haven't met IRL. I don't add people to my in-game friends list. And, unfortunately, I don't participate in the action-adventure RP community any more.

Edit: And before anybody tells me I just should have ignored him to make him go away, I did. I never responded to any of it. Real stalkers do not get bored. They get dangerous.