Final Fantasy 14 Director Yoshi-P Threatens Legal Action Against 'Stalking' Mod

In early 2025, a Final Fantasy XIV mod ignited concerns about player stalking after reports surfaced detailing its ability to scrape sensitive player data. This included character details, retainer information, linked alternate characters, and more. The mod, "Playerscope," tracked players' data, sending it to a central database controlled by the mod's creator. This occurred regardless of whether a specific player was targeted or if the user simply happened to be near other players, revealing information normally inaccessible through in-game tools.

Playerscope exploited the "Content ID" and "Account ID" systems, introduced in the Dawntrail expansion, to track players across multiple characters. This system, intended for blacklisting across accounts and characters, was manipulated to facilitate this data harvesting. The only way to prevent data scraping was to join Playerscope's private Discord and opt out, meaning potentially every Final Fantasy XIV player outside that Discord was affected—a significant privacy breach. Community reaction was swift and critical, with many pointing out the mod's obvious purpose: stalking.

Weeks ago, the mod's creator announced its presence on GitHub, leading to a surge in popularity. Subsequently, due to Terms of Service violations, Playerscope was removed from GitHub, though alleged mirrors appeared on Gittea and Gitflic. IGN verified that these mirrors no longer exist. However, the mod might still circulate within private communities.

Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida, Final Fantasy XIV's producer and director, issued a statement on the official forum addressing third-party mods, clearly referencing Playerscope. The statement acknowledged the existence of tools accessing normally hidden character information, including parts of a character's internal account ID used to link other characters on the same service account. Yoshida stated that the development and operations teams are exploring options, including requesting removal and pursuing legal action. He reassured players that account details like addresses and payment information could not be accessed through these tools. The statement urged players to avoid using third-party tools, refrain from sharing information about them, and emphasized that their use violates the Final Fantasy XIV User Agreement.

While third-party tools like Advanced Combat Tracker are commonly used by the raiding community and integrated with sites like FFlogs, Yoshida's legal threat represents a significant escalation.

The FFXIV community responded critically to Yoshida's statement. Many criticized the lack of solutions focused on addressing the root cause of the problem, suggesting that fixing the game's vulnerabilities to prevent such mods would be a more effective approach than legal action alone. The Playerscope author has yet to respond publicly.