A Final Fantasy 14 mod called PlayerScope will possibly be the target of legal action from Square Enix. In a new statement, the MMORPG’s director Naoki Yoshida, better known as ‘Yoshi-P,’ warns players about third-party tools that can be used to obtain their player data. It follows growing concern in the FF14 community about the increasing use of PlayerScope, which can collect a large amount of information connected to a player’s account including the names of all their characters, statistics about their playtime, and even data on which areas of the game they have visited.
PCGamesN previously reported on the emergence of PlayScope, which one member of the Final Fantasy 14 community described as a “stalker’s wet dream.” The mod is a third-party plugin that scrapes the data of FF14 players and uploads them to a server, where others can easily search them. In concerning images seen by PCGamesN, but not shared publicly to protect players’ identities, the account data of female streamers and players were posted to Discord where respondents debated whether they would “rape or shoot” the account owners.
Though Yoshi-P does not name PlayerScope specifically, the director of the MMORPG has published a statement regarding third-party tools that collect data, and explains that Square Enix may pursue legal action. The director stresses that information including players’ real-life addresses and payment details cannot be accessed using these tools
“We have confirmed that there exist third-party tools that are being used to check FF14 character information that is not displayed during normal gameplay,” Yoshi-P says. “The tool is being used to display a segment of an FF14 character’s internal account ID, which is then used in an attempt to further correlate information on other characters on the same FF14 service account.
“The development and operations teams are aware of the situation and the concerns being raised by the community and are discussing the following options: Requesting that the tool in question be removed and deleted [and] pursuing legal action.
“Aside from character information that can be checked in-game and on the Lodestone, we have received concerns that personal information registered on a user’s Square Enix account, such as address and payment information, could also be exposed with this tool. Please rest assured that it is not possible to access this information using these third-party tools.
“We strive to offer and maintain a safe environment for our players, which is why we ask everyone to refrain from using third-party tools,” Yoshi-P says. “We also ask that players do not share information about third-party tools such as details about their installation methods, or take any other actions to assist in their dissemination.”
In terms of whether mods are allowed in Final Fantasy 14 in general, historically, the boundaries have been unclear. Yoshi-P affirms that third-party tools are not permitted, but many players may use ‘client-side’ mods that alter the game in superficial ways, and that only apply to their account and their experience. Nevertheless, the game’s terms of service strictly prohibits mods outright.
“The use of third-party tools is prohibited by the Final Fantasy 14 user agreement,” Yoshi-P reiterates, “and their usage could threaten the safety of players. We will continue to take a firm stance against their usage.”
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