FF14 Director Yoshi-P Takes Legal Action Against 'Stalking' Mod

In early 2025, a Final Fantasy XIV mod ignited concerns about player stalking due to reports of its ability to harvest sensitive player data. This included character details, retainer information, linked alternate characters, and more.

The mod, "Playerscope," tracked players' data within a certain radius, transmitting it to a central database controlled by the mod's creator. This exposed information typically unavailable through in-game tools, including "Content ID" and "Account ID," facilitating cross-character tracking. This exploited the Content ID system introduced in the Dawntrail expansion, designed for player blacklisting.

Opting out required joining the Playerscope Discord server. Essentially, any player outside this server was potentially having their data scraped, raising serious privacy concerns. The community reacted strongly, with many labeling the mod's purpose as stalking.

Initially available on GitHub, Playerscope's popularity exploded after its discovery. Subsequently removed from GitHub due to terms of service violations, it allegedly reappeared on Gittea and Gitflic, though IGN confirmed its absence from both. However, it may still circulate within private communities.

Yoshida emphasized the prohibition of third-party tools in the Final Fantasy XIV User Agreement, highlighting the potential safety risks. He urged players to avoid using such tools and not to share information about their installation or distribution.

While 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.

Community Reaction

The community's response to Yoshida's statement was largely critical. Players questioned the lack of solutions focusing on fixing the game's vulnerabilities to prevent such mods, suggesting alternative approaches to securing player data on the client-side. Many criticized the statement for failing to address the root cause of the problem. The Playerscope author has yet to comment.