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

In early 2025, a mod for Final Fantasy 14 named "Playerscope" sparked widespread concern over privacy and "stalking" fears. Reports surfaced that this mod could scrape hidden player data, including character details, retainer information, and any alternate characters linked to a Square Enix account. This capability raised significant alarm within the gaming community.

Playerscope enables users to track specific player data of individuals in their vicinity, sending this information to a centralized database managed by the mod's author. This tracking occurs regardless of whether the user is actively looking at a specific player or merely near others, accessing information typically hidden from in-game tools.

The mod exploits the "Content ID" and "Account ID" systems, introduced with the Dawntrail expansion, which allows for tracking players across different characters. This manipulation enables the blacklisting of players across multiple characters within their service account.

To prevent data scraping, players must join the private Discord channel for Playerscope and opt out. Failure to do so leaves every Final Fantasy 14 player vulnerable to having their data collected, presenting a major privacy risk. The community's reaction has been vocal, with one Reddit user stating, "the purpose is obvious, to stalk people."

Several weeks ago, the mod author announced on Discord that Playerscope was found on GitHub, leading to a surge in its popularity. Due to violations of terms of service, the mod was removed from GitHub but reportedly mirrored on Gittea and Gitflic. IGN confirmed that Playerscope no longer exists on these alternative platforms, though it may still be circulating in private communities.

"We have confirmed that there exist third-party tools that are being used to check Final Fantasy 14 character information that is not displayed during normal game play. The tool is being used to display a segment of an Final Fantasy 14 character's internal account ID, which is then used in an attempt to further correlate information on other characters on the same Final Fantasy 14 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.
• 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. 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.

"The use of third-party tools is prohibited by the Final Fantasy 14 User Agreement and their usage could threaten the safety of players. We will continue to take a firm stance against their usage."

While third-party tools are banned in Final Fantasy 14, tools like Advanced Combat Tracker are commonly used by the raiding community and cross-referenced with sites like FFlogs. Yoshida's mention of potential legal action marks a significant escalation in the game's approach to unauthorized mods.

The FF14 community responds

The Final Fantasy 14 community's reaction to Yoshida's statement has been critical. One user commented, "fixing the game to break the mod isn’t on the list of options they’re considering I see."

Another player suggested, "or you could just see how not to expose the information on [the player’s] client side. Of course this means extra work which they did not plan for, but is Final Fantasy 14 really on such a tight schedule and budget they can't deal with these things properly?”

A third person expressed disappointment, stating, "Kind of a disappointing statement that really fails to acknowledge the root cause of the problem."

As of now, the author of Playerscope has not responded to the ongoing controversy.