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 emerged that the mod was capable of scraping hidden player data, including character and retainer information, as well as any alternate characters linked to a Square Enix account. This mod enables users to track detailed information about other players within their vicinity, sending this data to a centralized database managed by the mod's author. This tracking occurs regardless of whether the user is specifically targeting a player or simply near other players, and includes data that is not normally accessible through in-game tools.

Playerscope notably accesses "Content ID" and "Account ID," which can be used to track players across multiple characters. This functionality was achieved by exploiting the Content ID system introduced in the Dawntrail expansion, which was designed to allow players to blacklist others across their service account and multiple characters. The only way to opt out of this data collection is by joining a private Discord channel associated with Playerscope. This means that every Final Fantasy 14 player not in this channel is potentially having their data scraped, raising significant privacy concerns. Community members have voiced their alarm, with one Reddit user stating, "the purpose is obvious, to stalk people."

The mod gained significant attention after the author announced its availability on Github, leading to a surge in its popularity. Due to violations of terms of service, Playerscope was subsequently removed from Github, though it was rumored to have been mirrored on platforms like Gittea and Gitflic. IGN confirmed that no such repository currently exists on these alternative platforms, but the mod could still be circulating within private communities.

Final Fantasy 14's producer and director, Naoki 'Yoshi-P' Yoshida, issued a statement on the game's official forum addressing the issue of third-party mods, specifically referencing Playerscope. The statement highlighted the mod's ability to access and display parts of a player's internal account ID, which could be used to correlate information across different characters on the same service account. Yoshida assured players that personal information such as addresses and payment details registered on Square Enix accounts cannot be accessed by these tools.

Yoshida outlined the development and operations teams' response, which includes requesting the removal and deletion of the tool and considering legal action. He emphasized the importance of maintaining a safe environment for players and urged them to refrain from using third-party tools or sharing information about them. The use of such tools is prohibited by the Final Fantasy 14 User Agreement, and Yoshida reiterated the game's firm stance against their usage.

While third-party tools like Advanced Combat Tracker are commonly used by the game's raiding community and referenced on sites like FFlogs, Yoshida's legal threat marks a significant escalation in the game's approach to mod usage.

The FF14 Community Responds

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