If you’re a part of the Final Fantasy XIV community beyond a certain level of engagement, you are no doubt aware of the game’s extensive modding community and the continuing debate around it. Today’s news is not about debating the ethics of that community or how the game manages it, but it comes around to a mod that a player developed for the game called PlayerScope. In a nutshell, the mod uses a combination of the game’s public-facing character profiles and backhanded skullduggery to link characters to Discord accounts, retainers, alts, and so forth, essentially preventing anyone from ever doing something as simple as playing on an alt without being outed.
Oh, and the person who designed this mod required players to join a Discord server to opt out.
Players who were not really on board for the stalker engine to be a thing sounded the alarm, and now producer and director Naoki Yoshida has sounded off on it as well. While Yoshida does not specifically name PlayerScope, he describes its functionality specifically and notes that the mod is against the terms of service while informing players that the game’s team is simultaneously looking into requesting its deletion and “discussing […] pursuing legal action.” He also reassures players that there is no way to view encrypted data with this tool such as payment information or personal data. It’s quite clear that PlayerScope is cooked as both a mod and a concept, so you should not attempt to use the stalker engine.
In far more positive news, the game’s next letter from the producer is on deck for February 7th, with the promise of the first preview for patch 7.2 as well as the usual slew of additional news. Players can tune in at 6:00 a.m. EDT, although it’s all right if most of our readers have their audio on mute for the event since it will be in Japanese except for the slides.
