Can we bring back freedom of speech?

[Arohk]

This has reached a point where I’ve stopped participating in in-game chats altogether. I haven’t actively spoken in FFXIV since the Stormblood expansion because both the community and the terms of service have changed so drastically.

this paired with the fragile Ego's of most players is really toxic.

you can't tell them if they do somethng wrong
you can't give adivce
you can't tell them do do something better

or they feel offended in their infallibility.

[Zakuyia]

All jokes I think there needs to be a better way to describe free speech vs hate speech where the line is drawn for both sides cause if some giving you advice u feel the neef to report i believe you should recieve a harsh punishment.

[CidHeiral]

If you review the terms of service for this game, it feels like almost anything can get you banned:

Profanity: Bannable
Politics: Bannable (unless it’s LGBTQ-related)
Offending someone for any reason: Bannable

This has reached a point where I’ve stopped participating in in-game chats altogether. I haven’t actively spoken in FFXIV since the Stormblood expansion because both the community and the terms of service have changed so drastically.

If you feel shackled by the ToS that says more about you than the ToS.

[Voryn]

This has reached a point where I’ve stopped participating in in-game chats altogether.
…
For me, it’s simply not worth the risk of having a casual conversation when someone could jeopardize my account over something they personally dislike.
…
I’m tired of treating other players like NPCs, and constantly walking on eggshells to avoid offending someone.
…
I’m simply asking for the ability to talk like a normal human being in 2025 without fearing for my account.

I’m a little intrigued by how you feel your casual conversations and normal human behaviour have had a high enough probability to bring up sensitive topics around internet strangers that you feel you just have to stop chatting altogether to keep your account safe.

I believe in absolutely free speech. If people say something that upsets me, part of free speech is that I can say what I want back to them. This is, of course, outrageous in online communities because they generally operate under the principle that they can say whatever they want, and you must quietly listen. If you do say something back then they will call a GM, or slap a report button.

If you’ve been in online communities you may have realized you can’t really reason with someone who’s being a jerk. It’s unfortunately not like real life where the average person is a not as weird. If you’re being harassed you might as well report them unless you want to waste energy typing, and if it’s just them bringing up a topic you don’t like then you might as well just ignore them (or consider reporting them if the topic is REALLY unreasonable to randomly chat about in a game). We can’t really convince random people on the internet to be reasonable.

[Voryn]

can you please kindly explain, how asking politely for something small like putting up a tank stance is toxic ? Because as i stated already people can report you for that and its already happened.

In the rules’ faq, it actually says directly you’re allowed to politely ask things of people, and uses the example of tank stance. If you got reported and it went as far as getting a penalty then I’d want to ask about how it got that far. I explain mechanics to people too, but haven’t gotten into GM jail.

Expressing your wishes in the form of a request, as in the following example, does not constitute a violation.

"I'm getting attacked by the enemies, can you put on your stance?"

Under the section of Nuisance Behaviour -> Expressions that compel a playing style

https://support.na.square-enix.com/f...&la=1&ret=rule

[Dante131]

In the rules’ faq, it actually says directly you’re allowed to politely ask things of people, and uses the example of tank stance. If you got reported and it went as far as getting a penalty then I’d want to ask about how it got that far. I explain mechanics to people too, but haven’t gotten into GM jail.



Under the section of Nuisance Behaviour -> Expressions that compel a playing style

https://support.na.square-enix.com/f...&la=1&ret=rule

thats great for you btw nobody talks like "I'm getting attacked by the enemies, can you put on your stance?" most will as the tank for stance which people did and probably somebody read it aggresivly ? You know that text messages might tend to have another tone of the actual meaning. me in particular got in jail not really with consequence for explaining a tank swap in an ex trial which people somehow got offended by since then ill never explain stuff again again as in my priv posts since i do not have evidance you are ofc free to not believe me and just expect i insulted somebody been rude or whatever reason might come into your head.

[Moqi]

I'm on PS5 without a keyboard, I have no time for politness because it takes a long time to type. The most commmon response to my single "Stance" comment is still "thank you". And if they don't I just leave, I don't waste time arguing with bad tanks.

[Voryn]

me in particular got in jail not really with consequence for explaining a tank swap in an ex trial which people somehow got offended by

It sounds like this is a case of the GM doing their due diligence to look into things, seeing what happened, and confirming that you weren’t wrong because they didn’t penalize you for explaining mechanics. I wonder about what the GMs do about unnecessary reports, but I’m not that familiar with the rules for that and can’t find them.

While I personally don’t agree that it’s right for your case to lead to being afraid of explaining anything, I do get where you’re coming from with regards to what the examples are like. They’re overly polite to the point of sounding unnatural, and I don’t expect people to be polite to that degree. If I say in a dungeon, “turn on your tank stance so the rest of us don’t die” (which I actually have said a couple times, lol), if the tank somehow gets upset then the rules say they’re correct to report me, even though I expect the GMs to not penalize me.

[Zelgadiss007]

I haven’t actively spoken in FFXIV since the Stormblood expansion because both the community and the terms of service have changed so drastically.

I think its more so that the community has changed, and how the ToS is enforced.
Peeps would rather report someone for hurting their fee-fees than just blacklisting them.

[Gokki]

OP, i think you're the problem (and anyone who relates / agrees). I've engaged in profanity, politics and even offended a few people - never got banned for it. Wanna know why? Because contextually it was appropriate and the outcome was reasonable.


Profanity: saying a slur when i die in a boss fight, or cussing someone when they do or say something stupid, or just roleplaying (that doesn't count i suppose). The game also features a profanity filter so it's stupid to get banned for a filtered term so long as you're not trying circumvent it. Actively spamming insults for no reason gets you banned because you're disrupting the game by abusing game functions - this is what gets you.


Politics - i talked politics just fine, including trump, election results, taiwan, t. square and other things. The reason it's fine is the same - normal discussion is OK, it's when you specifically troll or incite toxicity that may get your account actioned against.


Discussions about gender is not political, it's an intimate personal topic that discussed among close friends or lovers. It's, again, when you make a big deal in public about it that you start disrupting other people with unwanted and unrelated intimate topics that gets your account actioned. Sensitive or intimate topics include: religion, sex, sexuality, gender (those 3 are different btw), taste in food*, gameplay performance in context**, political affiliation or opinions ---> ALL of these can be discussed in game just fine, you simply need to have some common sense and engage those topics in the appropriate context, typically with one or two people that you know are open to discussing it with you.

As for offending others or getting offended myself - that happened a few times. The result was a swift Blacklisting and we never engaged again. it's when someone tries to circumvent these game functions that gets you into trouble.

* It is wise to not argue about taste because, like gender or sexuality, everyone has their own.
** Do NOT criticize a sprout in Sastasha for doing "bad dps" for any reason. It's absolutely OK to do that at max lvl in Savage clears. Still can't reference out-of-game info like parsed damage numbers.

PS: i reserve the right to be wrong, so i'm happy to listen if you have constructive corrections