As many know, a few weeks ago players were temporarily suspended for acts of datamining which lead to some controversy, as the social media accounts said players used to distribute the datamined information did not contain their in-game names or any other information that would otherwise link them to their main accounts.
But that's not what I want to talk about, since datamining is a direct violation of policies. Today, as I was browsing Reddit for news, I came across this thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...g_about_party/
For those who do not want to click on the link, a frequent streamer was suspended for 10 days on the basis of slander towards a party member. I will not be linking the clip, but you can find a mirror of it in the Reddit post's comments. In short, he was smacktalking another player for their low DPS, showing ACT and generally just being insulting, after what I assume was a bad raid.
The official quotes from the GM: "Unfortunately, evidence was found of you saying slandering during off-site streams, which is a violation of our Rules and Policies."
"If the video is not taken down, you will receive a more severe punishment."
Note that the GM does not make any mention of ACT parsing.
Now then.
Quote:
◆Offensive expression
"Offensive expression" means an expression in general that inflicts emotional distress by being offensive to another person. Offensive expression may include:
・Aggressive expressions such as violent language/slander/insult/threat.
Offensive expressions are prohibited in all places where expressions can be made in Final Fantasy XIV, including chat (including Quick Chat and Emote), markers, comments and names. Use of an offensive expression in the form of a character name is also regarded as nuisance behaviour.
Taken from https://support.na.square-enix.com/f...6&id=5382&la=1
My main concern in all of this is, nowhere in the clip (am I assume every other time the streamer in question was seen insulting someone) was the slander performed in Final Fantasy XIV. I have looked around in all the available TOS, Rules and Policies guidelines, but nowhere is it stated that actions outside of the game can be taken against a player. If it is stated somewhere, then please show me and close this thread, but as far as I know, players were not informed of any changes on this stance.
And as many players have experienced in the past, SE has repeatedly refused to take any action on violations made "outside the game", which includes but is not limited to RMT - aka, selling content clears in Party Finder.
Now let's say the streamer could now indeed be banned for what they do outside of the game (but is one-time criticism really harassment, especially when there is zero direct interaction between players?). What happens now?
In accordance, not only Twitch, but forms of social media like YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, Discord, Facebook (in 2k19?), would have to be monitored and any "offensive expressions" (belittling, provoking, excessive criticism, lack of consideration, exclusion, offensive speech not limited to just expletives), use of 3rd party software (parsers), or modifications of game files (modding) should have consequences.
Taken from a reply within the Reddit post:
Quote:
jazz71286: This is such a slippery slope and I hate to see SE go down this path.
Moderate in game communication by all means, but they should not have the right to moderate someone else's comments via a third party medium. And to those that say he is streaming their game so they can, that is nonsense. You don't get to enjoy the free advertisement for your game and control the narrative of the video at the same time.
What's next, will we need to censor the names of party members in streams now? Will we need to pause every hour on the hour and praise the dev team? This is censorship plain and simple and we shouldn't stand for it.
While I do not believe they will go the route to moderate ALL forms of media, I also am not willing to tolerate cherry picking of what they want to consider ban worthy. Not only because it is unfair on us, but because it creates an excessively large grey area where players are completely unsure of what is considered okay to do anymore, where streamers and other content creators have to constantly feel the need to monitor their language for fear of getting suspended the next day. Do I also need to bring up the amount of smacktalking over parses that can be seen on a whole bunch of Discord servers?
If SE are taking action against players who have video proof of themselves using ACT to slander another player outside of the game, then they should also be taking action on RMT transactions outside of the game, or forms of harassment and stalking outside of the game.
In the past, this has not been a case that they "can't". It's that they "won't", as there have been countless streams of people using exploits and third-party cheats (actual hacking, not just parsing). These people were reported, but video and screenshot evidence was not accepted. Screenshot evidence of harassment has not been considered valid for years.
I want to make it clear that I do not care if they want to ban players for harassment on basis of ACT numbers, I think that's wrong as well. My issue is with the vague guidelines and double standard take on what's considered a bannable offense.
Thanks.
also pls fix healers
Continue reading...
But that's not what I want to talk about, since datamining is a direct violation of policies. Today, as I was browsing Reddit for news, I came across this thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...g_about_party/
For those who do not want to click on the link, a frequent streamer was suspended for 10 days on the basis of slander towards a party member. I will not be linking the clip, but you can find a mirror of it in the Reddit post's comments. In short, he was smacktalking another player for their low DPS, showing ACT and generally just being insulting, after what I assume was a bad raid.
The official quotes from the GM: "Unfortunately, evidence was found of you saying slandering during off-site streams, which is a violation of our Rules and Policies."
"If the video is not taken down, you will receive a more severe punishment."
Note that the GM does not make any mention of ACT parsing.
Now then.
Quote:
◆Offensive expression
"Offensive expression" means an expression in general that inflicts emotional distress by being offensive to another person. Offensive expression may include:
・Aggressive expressions such as violent language/slander/insult/threat.
Offensive expressions are prohibited in all places where expressions can be made in Final Fantasy XIV, including chat (including Quick Chat and Emote), markers, comments and names. Use of an offensive expression in the form of a character name is also regarded as nuisance behaviour.
Taken from https://support.na.square-enix.com/f...6&id=5382&la=1
My main concern in all of this is, nowhere in the clip (am I assume every other time the streamer in question was seen insulting someone) was the slander performed in Final Fantasy XIV. I have looked around in all the available TOS, Rules and Policies guidelines, but nowhere is it stated that actions outside of the game can be taken against a player. If it is stated somewhere, then please show me and close this thread, but as far as I know, players were not informed of any changes on this stance.
And as many players have experienced in the past, SE has repeatedly refused to take any action on violations made "outside the game", which includes but is not limited to RMT - aka, selling content clears in Party Finder.
Now let's say the streamer could now indeed be banned for what they do outside of the game (but is one-time criticism really harassment, especially when there is zero direct interaction between players?). What happens now?
In accordance, not only Twitch, but forms of social media like YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, Discord, Facebook (in 2k19?), would have to be monitored and any "offensive expressions" (belittling, provoking, excessive criticism, lack of consideration, exclusion, offensive speech not limited to just expletives), use of 3rd party software (parsers), or modifications of game files (modding) should have consequences.
Taken from a reply within the Reddit post:
Quote:
jazz71286: This is such a slippery slope and I hate to see SE go down this path.
Moderate in game communication by all means, but they should not have the right to moderate someone else's comments via a third party medium. And to those that say he is streaming their game so they can, that is nonsense. You don't get to enjoy the free advertisement for your game and control the narrative of the video at the same time.
What's next, will we need to censor the names of party members in streams now? Will we need to pause every hour on the hour and praise the dev team? This is censorship plain and simple and we shouldn't stand for it.
While I do not believe they will go the route to moderate ALL forms of media, I also am not willing to tolerate cherry picking of what they want to consider ban worthy. Not only because it is unfair on us, but because it creates an excessively large grey area where players are completely unsure of what is considered okay to do anymore, where streamers and other content creators have to constantly feel the need to monitor their language for fear of getting suspended the next day. Do I also need to bring up the amount of smacktalking over parses that can be seen on a whole bunch of Discord servers?
If SE are taking action against players who have video proof of themselves using ACT to slander another player outside of the game, then they should also be taking action on RMT transactions outside of the game, or forms of harassment and stalking outside of the game.
In the past, this has not been a case that they "can't". It's that they "won't", as there have been countless streams of people using exploits and third-party cheats (actual hacking, not just parsing). These people were reported, but video and screenshot evidence was not accepted. Screenshot evidence of harassment has not been considered valid for years.
I want to make it clear that I do not care if they want to ban players for harassment on basis of ACT numbers, I think that's wrong as well. My issue is with the vague guidelines and double standard take on what's considered a bannable offense.
Thanks.
also pls fix healers
Continue reading...