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

In early 2025, a mod for Final Fantasy 14 named "Playerscope" raised significant privacy concerns due to its ability to scrape hidden player data. This mod was capable of extracting details such as character information, retainer data, and any alternate characters linked to a Square Enix account. Users of the mod could track specific player data of anyone nearby, sending this information to a centralized database managed by the mod's author, regardless of whether the user was actively targeting a specific player or just in the vicinity of others.

Playerscope exploited the Content ID system introduced in the Dawntrail expansion, allowing the tracking of players across different characters and enabling blacklisting across a service account. The only way to opt out of this data scraping was to join the mod's private Discord channel and request removal, meaning every player not in the channel was potentially vulnerable to having their data collected. The community expressed strong concerns, with some suggesting the mod was designed for stalking purposes.

The mod gained widespread attention after its code was discovered on Github, leading to a surge in its use. However, due to violations of terms of service, Playerscope was removed from Github, though it was reportedly mirrored on other platforms like Gittea and Gitflic. IGN confirmed that the mod no longer exists on these alternative sites, but it might still be circulating in private communities.

In response to the issue, Final Fantasy 14's producer and director, Naoki 'Yoshi-P' Yoshida, issued a statement on the game's official forum. He confirmed the existence of third-party tools that access hidden character data and mentioned that the development and operations teams were considering requesting the tool's removal and potentially pursuing legal action. Yoshida reassured players that personal information such as addresses and payment details could not be accessed through these tools and emphasized the importance of a safe gaming environment, urging players to avoid using or sharing information about third-party tools.

Despite the prohibition of third-party tools in Final Fantasy 14, tools like Advanced Combat Tracker are commonly used by the raiding community, often in conjunction with websites like FFlogs. Yoshida's mention of potential legal action marks a significant escalation in the game's stance against these tools.

The Final Fantasy 14 community has reacted strongly to Yoshida's statement, with some expressing disappointment and frustration. Comments ranged from criticism about the lack of plans to fix the game to prevent such mods, to suggestions that the game's developers should focus on not exposing sensitive information on the client side. The community's response highlighted a perceived failure to address the root cause of the issue. The author of Playerscope has not yet responded to the controversy.