Final Fantasy XIV’s director and lead producer, Naoki Yoshida, has made a statement following the revelation that an FFXIV plug-in allowed players to engage tracking of name changes, alt accounts, and server movements – potentially allowing in-game stalking.
In a statement published on Jan. 24 on the FFXIV Lodestone forums, titled “Regarding the Use of Third-Party Programs and Player Safety,” Yoshida tackled the issue of player-tracking plug-ins in FFXIV.
In the post, Yoshida stated that they were both asking that the tool be removed, and were pursuing legal action against the creators.
Image Credit: Square Enix
Yoshida Says SE Will Pursue Legal Action Against Player Tracking Plug-In
In the post Yoshi-P acknowledged the existence of the plug-in but didn’t directly name it:
“We have confirmed that there exist third-party tools that are being used to check FFXIV character information that is not displayed during normal game play. The tool is being used to display a segment of an FFXIV character’s internal account ID, which is then used in an attempt to further correlate information on other characters on the same FFXIV service account.”
The plug-in in question is almost certainly PlayerScope, which went viral earlier in January for its potential to track player name changes and sever moves.
The tool, which was reportedly designed to prevent stalking and in-game harassment, but actually facilitated it, used an opt-out system – meaning unless you installed PlayerScope and manually opted out, it could be used to track you.
Listed among PlayerScope’s features were:
- Automatic Alt Account Detection
- Character Name and Home World History Logging
- Retainer History and Marketboard UI
- Location History
- Customization History
- A log of when this information is added
While this program could be used to track specific players you knew the names of, it also scraped nearby characters’ data in-game. As mentioned, it was notionally created as an anti-stalking program – a way of making a more comprehensive blacklist to avoid harassment and tracking.
Perhaps unwittingly, PlayerScope managed to instead create the perfect plug-in to engage in stalking and targeted harassment, allowing perpetrators to track victims even after name changes and server moves.
However, in his statement, Yoshida was quick to assure FFXIV players that the data that PlayerScope and other plug-ins were able to gather was only in-game or Lodestone data, and no personal information, such as real names, addresses, etc.
Still in the wake of a potential player privacy disaster from this FFXIV tracking plug-in, it’s good Square Enix is stepping up with legal action against the creators.
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