Yoshi-P Warns of Legal Action Against 'Stalking' Mod in Final Fantasy 14

In early 2025, a mod for Final Fantasy 14 named "Playerscope" raised significant privacy concerns among players. This mod was reported to have the capability to scrape hidden player data, including character details, retainer information, and any alternate characters linked to a Square Enix account. The mod allowed users to track specific player data of anyone in their vicinity, sending this information to a centralized database managed by the mod author, regardless of whether the user was directly targeting a player or simply near other players. This tracking included data that is typically not accessible through in-game tools.

Playerscope exploited the "Content ID" and "Account ID" systems, which were introduced with the Dawntrail expansion, enabling the tracking of players across different characters. This was achieved by manipulating the Content ID system, which also allowed players to blacklist others across their service account and multiple characters. The only way to prevent data scraping by Playerscope was to opt out via a private Discord channel set up by the mod author. This meant that every Final Fantasy 14 player not in this channel risked having their data scraped, posing a major privacy threat. The community's reaction was swift, with one player noting on Reddit, "the purpose is obvious, to stalk people."

The mod gained significant attention after its source code was found on Github, leading to a surge in its popularity. However, due to violations of terms of service, Playerscope was removed from Github and allegedly mirrored on Gittea and Gitflic, though IGN confirmed that the repository no longer exists on these platforms. There is a possibility that the mod continues to circulate within private communities.

Final Fantasy 14 producer and director Naoki 'Yoshi-P' Yoshida addressed the issue on the game's official forum, referencing Playerscope without naming it directly. His statement highlighted the use of third-party tools to access character information not visible during normal gameplay and emphasized that such tools could attempt to correlate data across multiple characters on the same service account. Yoshida assured players that sensitive personal information like addresses and payment details could not be accessed through these tools. He outlined the development team's response, which included requesting the tool's removal and considering legal action. Yoshida stressed the importance of maintaining a safe environment for players and reiterated that the use of third-party tools violates the Final Fantasy 14 User Agreement.

While third-party tools like Advanced Combat Tracker are commonly used by the raiding community and referenced on sites like FFlogs, Yoshida's statement marked a significant escalation in the game's stance against such tools. The Final Fantasy 14 community responded critically to Yoshida's statement, with some players expressing disappointment over the lack of a plan to address the root cause of the issue directly within the game's client-side security. One player commented, "fixing the game to break the mod isn’t on the list of options they’re considering I see," while another suggested that the developers could work on preventing the exposure of sensitive information. The author of Playerscope has yet to respond to these developments.