Quote Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato View Post
Exactly. There are many aspects of Final Fantasy XIV that are now wholly dependent on third-party programs and all-powerful cliques that aren't governed by Square Enix. For example, if you stumble upon a hunt in the overworld, you are not allowed to kill it like a regular mob. Doing is against the Prohibited Activities and will get you reported by the ruling clan. Square Enix likes this because they can have people "run the community" for free, much like volunteer moderators on other sites. And many people love this because they have a vested interest in maintaining existing power structures to exclude other players. If you don't own the particular Discord, you have no power and do not have the right to freely participate in a game feature. Many of you like this, and because of that, the Final Fantasy XIV community is a laughing stock across the Internet. It's unsustainable, but the rest of you knew that, didn't you?

A lot of people sadly don't look that deep into how XIV functions internally community wise until the drama spills out and what you just said, is spelled out for them, in laymens terms.