Square Enix wants you to forget that the stalking issue still isn't fixed

[Anonemoose]

Surely this has to be a breach of some EU nanny state regulation. If European players started complaining to their local EU commissars, I imagine the issue would be fixed relatively quickly so as to not risk SE's access to major markets.

[Gurgeh]

Its not that big of a deal...

Do people REALLY get stalked in this game? Like for real? How doesn't blacklisting address the issue? I'm confused!

The other reason this matters is because it's a strong barometer of how much CB3 give a F, and from there whether we should abandon abandon hope on less important things. Less important being everything.

I'm not reading 'anything' into your brief comment, although I am thinking of others, whether or not this matters I suspect will come down to where you are on the Empathy/ego/narcissism/risk spectrums.
"Do I think this could ever have an effect on me?"
"Do I think this might affect me?"
"Do I care none the less?"

[Gurgeh]

Surely this has to be a breach of some EU nanny state regulation. If European players started complaining to their local EU commissars, I imagine the issue would be fixed relatively quickly so as to not risk SE's access to major markets.

No reasonable threat to 'personal' information, that SQX is the Data Owner or custodian of.

The way this would turn nasty, it's if you disclosed personal information in under a guarded lala character 1 in one 'discord server' A, and then you got the unwanted attention of some nut-job you met in passing in one of those Chaotic discords B that you joined temporarily under a less protected car-girl character 2, said nutjob then goes on the stalk and finds something personal you posted under that lala char they weren't meant to know was you.

But that would not be CB3s problem. Your personal data outside the game isn't their issue. That's a 'YOU' problem they could have helped with by not being the party that rated out your lala as belonging to the owner of the catgirl , if they gave a F. But legally it's a 'you' problem.

[JohnLakeside]

The other reason this matters is because it's a strong barometer of how much CB3 give a F, and from there whether we should abandon abandon hope on less important things. Less important being everything.

I'm not reading 'anything' into your brief comment, although I am thinking of others, whether or not this matters I suspect will come down to where you are on the Empathy/ego/narcissism/risk spectrums.
"Do I think this could ever have an effect on me?"
"Do I think this might affect me?"
"Do I care none the less?"

I kinda just don't believe a lot of the horror stories. I've seen too many Reddit threads about people claiming they were being stalked and when asked if they BLed their stalker, they say they haven't done that for xyz reasons. Even the commenter above talking about how stalkers then target the victim's friends so that their friends no longer want to hangout. Just sounds unbelievable and not worthy of the devs attention.

I suppose there are some bonafide stalkers in FFXIV, I simply don't think its as prevalent as the drama queens and pick-mes would have us believe. Unless I'm missing something and the PlayerScope thingy can somehow lead to irl information being available to the stalker.

[Gurgeh]

I kinda just don't believe a lot of the horror stories....

I get you. Because the impression is that there is a stalker with 10 victims in every linkshell.
But just think of how many players there are in the game (still, for now)
But think about what you know about how 'some' people 'definatly' are.
Think about what the game allows.
There are some things that you can project into the future from working then out, with an absolute certainty.

If I let go of of the 'green' ball it 'will' fall and hit the ground.
You just can't say "well hang on, does any body actually know for certain that that green ball falls? Had anyone witnessed it?"
Yes. From experience we do know. We don't have to witness it.
Sprinting cross a road without looking is bad idea. Eventually someone is going to get hit.
Smoking is a bad idea. Eventually someone is going to get ill.

[MiaBlaze-Cari]

I kinda just don't believe a lot of the horror stories. I've seen too many Reddit threads about people claiming they were being stalked and when asked if they BLed their stalker, they say they haven't done that for xyz reasons. Even the commenter above talking about how stalkers then target the victim's friends so that their friends no longer want to hangout. Just sounds unbelievable and not worthy of the devs attention.

I suppose there are some bonafide stalkers in FFXIV, I simply don't think its as big of an issue as the drama queens and pick-mes would have us believe. Unless I'm missing something and the PlayerScope thingy can somehow lead to irl information being available to the stalker.

Dude, seriously. What do you think a stalker is? Someone that just runs after you like a dog? If you don't want to believe the "horror stories" then lookup the actual definition of stalking. Lookup how stalking is interrelated to harassment. And while you're at it, also lookup as to how Cyberstalking in particular is the issue. This isn't just some "horror story", it's reality. But I assume you're in this "It doesn't happen to me so it doesn't happen to anyone"-camp, which is just absolutely disgusting behaviour. People like you are the reason why victims barely speak up because some clown comes around "Hurrdurr its not that big of a deal".

[Havenchild]

The truth is, they didn't just get this problem and frankly because of the existence of lodestone there is NO way to fix it.

Anyone who thought they could fix it are oblivious to how the mods work in general. The data that's being targetted has always been available since the beginning of mods. Playerscope was only the first to combine several features of other mods that already existed long before it.

Also yes, these forums are overexaggerating the stalker claims when the tools are openly available to BL. People just want to do 0 effort of continuous work despite the fact that SE can do nothing against a persistent stalker. No game could.

[Nadda]

I mean at a certain point, isn't this criminal behavior you should inform the authorities about?

Like, once someone is bypassing the functions in the game with third-party tools, Square Enix has zero control over where does it end? Square can make efforts to stop multiple instances of these infractions.

You can't stop insane people from being insane. You really can't.

If you black listed someone, muted them, and did all those things, and made it quite plain you don't want to see or interact with that person... but they are skirting around the system to continue to harass you and it's taking a toll on your peace of mind and mental health... That's not video game territory anymore.

I empathize with this situation, which is why I think that if you're dealing with a serious stalker online, it needs to be handled with proper legal ramifications. Something far more compelling than anything Square Enix could do.

I'm not sure if other countries have protections against cyberstalking but at the extent that people will bypass features that an ordinary and reasonable person would take the hint, it's more of a criminal thing.

[Alice_Rivers]

People just want to do 0 effort of continuous work despite the fact that SE can do nothing against a persistent stalker. No game could.

SE can't stop it outright, but they can not make it easier for them.

[Havenchild]

SE can't stop it outright, but they can not make it easier for them.

Wishful thinking but there is no "not make it easier" for them. SE didn't suddenly "activate" something that brought PlayerScope to prominence. The ENTIRE game is designed around recognition of a central ID number to your character/account. How do you think the game keeps track of your achievements, your raid progress, your friends and blacklists etc even despite changing your character name? How does your lodestone still attach to your account?

It's because the central ID number does NOT change and that is what the mods go after, which cross reference both forums and lodestone. Any encryption of said data is easily brute forced by a devs infinite time vs SE's dev limited time. There is no such thing as an arms race that SE can win here. To think such is simply delusional and unrealistic, moreso when you have the existence of Lodestone.

You can blacklist sure, but someone who is adamant on stalking can just make a new acc, and you can BL again / SE can IP ban them, and you can still circumvent that as well. It's pointless. No company has ever solved harassment 100% that didn't require national registry numbers to make accounts (ie SSN, or Korea's ID/Phone government registry confirmations)