First reported by Massively OP, Final Fantasy 14 producer Naoki Yoshida has issued an announcement on the sport’s boards concerning a player-made plugin that may reveal non-public account particulars in-game. Yoshida would not title a specific mod in his put up, however he’s virtually assuredly referring to PlayerScope, a plugin that has drawn criticism from the FF14 neighborhood for compromising gamers’ privateness within the precise approach Yoshida describes in his put up.
“We have confirmed that there exist third-party instruments which are getting used to test FF14 character data that’s not displayed throughout regular gameplay,” Yoshida wrote. “The software is getting used to show a section of an FF144 character’s inside account ID, which is then utilized in an try and additional correlate data on different characters on the identical FF14 service account.”
In response, Yoshida says that the Square Enix Development and Operations groups are discussing a response, with their foremost choices being requesting the mod’s removing and deletion, or “pursuing authorized motion” towards its creators or websites internet hosting the mod. Yoshida pressured that participant handle and cost data aren’t in danger: “It isn’t attainable to entry this data utilizing these third-party instruments.”
A thread by consumer Inv0ker_of_kusH420 (good) on r/ffxivdiscussion from earlier this month outlines the privateness violations made by PlayerScope. The foremost perform of the mod is displaying a participant’s account quantity, permitting one to make connections between numerous “alt” characters, one thing commenters level to as a significant stalking concern. It will get worse although: Commenter wetsh0elaze truly downloaded PlayerScope to establish the way it works. You should log into PlayserScope with a Discord account, and the information you see with PlayerScope is uploaded to a distant server, which means that its writer is compiling a database of account numbers and their related information.
It’s the Google Glass/Meta Ray Bans factor the place not solely is a consumer’s personal privateness compromised by utilizing this service, however everybody round them can be surveilled with out their consent. I’m additionally struck by the parallels with non-public data “folks finder” providers that hoover up private data with out consent and should be opted out of. One such service was the supply of a current information breach that uncovered billions of Social Security numbers within the United States.
Yoshida’s put up ends with a barely ominous reminder that “third social gathering instruments” are towards FF14’s phrases of service, and that Square “will proceed to take a agency stance towards their utilization.” I’m not an FF14 participant myself, however I perceive the usage of benign third social gathering QoL and UI plugins to be extraordinarily widespread on PC. Hopefully Square will thread the needle and take care of downside actors like PlayerScope with out harmless mods getting caught within the crossfire. Even in that case, although, I’d nonetheless be extra mad on the shady stalker spyware and adware builders over Square Enix.
