"Yoshi-P Threatens Legal Action Over 'Stalking' Mod in Final Fantasy 14"

In early 2025, a mod for Final Fantasy 14, known as "Playerscope," raised serious concerns about privacy and "stalking" after it was discovered to be capable of scraping hidden player data. This mod could access detailed information such as character details, retainer information, and any alternate characters associated with a Square Enix account. The mod enabled users to track the specific player data of anyone near them, which was then sent to a centralized database managed by the mod's creator, regardless of whether the player was being actively monitored or simply in proximity to other players.

Playerscope exploited the "Content ID" and "Account ID" systems, introduced in the Dawntrail expansion, to track players across different characters. This was achieved by manipulating the Content ID system, which also allowed for blacklisting across service accounts and multiple characters. The only way to opt out of having one's data scraped was to join the private Discord channel associated with Playerscope and explicitly opt out, meaning that theoretically, every Final Fantasy 14 player not in the Discord channel could have their data scraped. This posed a significant privacy risk, leading to community outcry, with one Reddit user commenting, "the purpose is obvious, to stalk people."

The mod's popularity surged after its code was discovered on GitHub, but due to violations of terms of service, Playerscope was removed from the platform. It was reportedly mirrored on other sites like Gittea and Gitflic, though IGN confirmed that no Playerscope repository exists on these alternative platforms. The mod might still be circulating in private communities.

Final Fantasy 14's producer and director, Naoki 'Yoshi-P' Yoshida, addressed the issue on the game's official forum. He acknowledged the existence of third-party tools that access hidden character information and mentioned the tool's use of internal account IDs to correlate information across characters on the same service account. Yoshida stated that the development and operations teams were considering removing the tool and pursuing legal action. He reassured players that personal information such as addresses and payment details could not be accessed by these tools and emphasized the importance of maintaining a safe environment by prohibiting the use of third-party tools.

While third-party tools are generally banned in Final Fantasy 14, tools like Advanced Combat Tracker are commonly used by the raiding community and referenced on websites like FFlogs. Yoshida's mention of potential legal action marks a significant escalation in response to these tools.

The Final Fantasy 14 community's reaction to Yoshida's statement was overwhelmingly critical. Players expressed frustration over the lack of plans to fix the game to prevent such mods, with one user suggesting that the game should be modified to not expose sensitive information on the client side. Others felt the statement was disappointing for not addressing the root cause of the issue. The author of Playerscope has not yet responded to the controversy.