Official Statement: Regarding Mod Usage and Culture

[All_Nonsense]

I'm not gonna summarize, he wants us to read it so let's read it properly

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...5eb456d2183251


I normally come here and annoy the people on the forums with circular logic and placing various degrees of intricate bait, but I'll say something fr this time: This is a completely logical, sensible statement that makes a lot of sense, and I completely understand where Yoshi P is coming from. There are other issues that people can discuss like customization options being lacking and other stuff, but the fact of the matter is that Yoshi P had his back to the wall. The last thing I want is Visa or Mastercard sticking their dirty hands in this game and forcing us all to install some stupid kernel-level anticheat.

ik how this thread ends but let's see how civil we can keep it for now

[All_Nonsense]

Oh yeah, one last thing at the end for those who read (if you don't read the statement then your opinion(s) on the matter of mods will carry very little weight btw. Listen to his counterargument fairly): Thoughts on that? Looks like the wait might not be as long as we think? Time will tell

[Dastan]

This guy has a seemingly unlimited amount of patience with this community...

This also confirms what I already knew. They do not have a problem with you using mods, so long as you don't use them to affect other people's game and play. As long as everything is only on your end, and you are not using it to abuse others, you're good. You can even share (appropriate) screenshots with others online. Just don't use the official trademarks. Every other "Visual mod" that might be nsfw, keep it private amongst yourselves and don't harass people with them or shout about it in public chats.

[AvoSturmfaust]

Hahahahaha its exactly what i said, Money speaks like always, it clearly was because of the possibility to mod Ingamestore Shit and SHOW it to others which had to spend Money, it is exactly how i said it, i love it and with the increased server cost prices etc even if he said they dont wanna increase Sub Prices, wait for it, it still will happen sooner or later

[Jeeqbit]

Listed just about every reason I came up with for why they did it.

Like you said, there is that Visa and Mastercard issue and SE has already had to switch payment processor not long ago.

Then there is the "identity required to use the internet" thing in the UK that politicians are trying to spread into other countries.

Then it's pretty obvious people were using it to get around the mog station and that it was generally going out of control.

[Catwho]

This is a good, reasonable statement from Yoshi P, and the crux of why Mare in specific was targeted comes down to this, among other things:

The issue is that any mod which makes changes visible to others requires the manipulation or rewriting of game files, which is fundamentally even more problematic and destructive.

Blanket permissions for a third party app to modify your .DAT files passively is extremely risky. Although the app was curated to prevent malicious files or gross stuff from getting shared, it's core functionality still allowed unlimited access to the system data, and all it would take is one malicious actor to spread a virus across thousands of players.

Yoshi P doesn't care what you do to your local computer. But they don't want you messing with other people's computers.

[Alice_Rivers]

You can even share (appropriate) screenshots with others online. Just don't use the official trademarks.

Given the bit about how certain mods overwrite game files, I wonder if it would be worth it for CBU3 to run a file integrity check on launch and where visual files have been modified use an alternative watermark that indicates the image is a modded version of the game?

[Tulvi]

This guy has a seemingly unlimited amount of patience with this community...

This also confirms what I already knew. They do not have a problem with you using mods, so long as you don't use them to affect other people's game and play. As long as everything is only on your end, and you are not using it to abuse others, you're good. You can even share (appropriate) screenshots with others online. Just don't use the official trademarks. Every other "Visual mod" that might be nsfw, keep it private amongst yourselves and don't harass people with them or shout about it in public chats.

And this is actually a big step forward, that Yoshi said this clearly and addressed even NSFW mods. Reading comprehension is not very strong with this community, which is why we already see so many misinterpretations of this, in a way, breakthrough statement.

Up until now, the “don’t ask, don’t tell” mentality was deduced by the community from somewhat vague statements about mods in which Yoshi always only repeated that all mods are against the ToS, but then never acted against them actively (up until Mare ofc.). Now we have his personal opinion on the matter, clearly stating that he personally doesn’t mind / understands mods for purely personal use. I kinda have a feeling he went much further in his today’s statement than his colleagues from SE’s legal team would like him to. In a sense, he actually is giving a blessing to usage of visual mods for personal use (in a roundabout way, not directly ofc.). He does this by explaining the cases in which SE and himself are forced to act - when it’s a legal issue or affects someone else’s gameplay / alters or affects someone else’s visuals of the game or experience.

The modding community now has a clear confirmation of what they could until now only deduce:
1. All mods are against the TOS, but:
- A: SE will only act against mods that are based around syncing and sharing
- B: As long as you don’t post screenshots of your modded character on social media (especially NSFW ones), SE won’t take action.

A much clearer confirmation of this is actually a huge thing for everyone, not just the modding community, because now we know in exactly which cases SE will take action.

[BlisteringFrost]

Hahahahaha its exactly what i said, Money speaks like always, it clearly was because of the possibility to mod Ingamestore Shit and SHOW it to others which had to spend Money, it is exactly how i said it, i love it and with the increased server cost prices etc even if he said they dont wanna increase Sub Prices, wait for it, it still will happen sooner or later

Why are you even here if this is the conclusion you come to? Like.... lemmie break it down.

You're gloating, you are. You know it. Everybody else can see it. That's fine. You're gloating how your assumption seems to be correct, and this assumption shows a clear enough disdain to not play the game. But not be willing to meaningfully criticize it either. Maybe you still are paying that sub, but you're still complaining it will probably see a price increase in the future. It's a possibility. But that begs the question are you paying because you're severely addicted? Or are you not subbed and just want to be no better than a simian flinging its own feces at people staring at it through a glass panel at the zoo?

Like I just don't get how you come to the logical conclusion here that anybody would feasibly care to see what you have to say -- if this is what you have to say -- on a forum where people would reasonably still be consuming the product they're discussing.

This guy has a seemingly unlimited amount of patience with this community...

This also confirms what I already knew. They do not have a problem with you using mods, so long as you don't use them to affect other people's game and play. As long as everything is only on your end, and you are not using it to abuse others, you're good. You can even share (appropriate) screenshots with others online. Just don't use the official trademarks. Every other "Visual mod" that might be nsfw, keep it private amongst yourselves and don't harass people with them or shout about it in public chats.

It always comes back to the First Rule of Fight Club. I'm more curious to see when people will try to twist this into thinking Yoshi admitted SE sent a C&D when nothing of the sort occurred in the entirety of the post.

[Rithy255]

Ok so I'd be on board if this actually did more to prevent these companies from possibly acting in the future as it stands getting rid of that certain mod doesn't really do a lot to prevent these visuals from showing up online and possibly upsetting a company to the extent we have to possibly deal with Visa or Mastercard intervening I could be wrong but I don't think this changes that. People can still share "tools" with other it just becomes a more slower process.

Theirs a extent of "good" where hopefully what this does is make people less vocal about tools in the future, less likely to share that sort of stuff online and help put people in check a little more, people shouldn't feel left out for not using something which could hold risks.

I'm glad they put out a response even if I do not fully agree with the whole thing this type of clarity is better then nothing.