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 information, retainer details, linked alternate characters on Square Enix accounts, and much more.
The mod, "Playerscope," tracked specific player data of anyone near the user. This information was sent to a central database controlled by the mod's author, regardless of whether a specific player was targeted or if the user was simply in proximity to others. This went beyond what's accessible through in-game tools.
Playerscope leveraged "Content ID" and "Account ID" to track players across characters, exploiting the Content ID system introduced in the Dawntrail expansion (intended for account-wide blacklisting).
Opting out required joining the Playerscope Discord server. Essentially, every Final Fantasy XIV player outside this server was potentially having their data scraped—a significant privacy breach. Community outrage was immediate, with one Reddit commenter stating the mod's "purpose is obvious, to stalk people."
Weeks earlier, the mod author announced Playerscope's presence on GitHub, leading to a surge in popularity. Following terms of service violations, it was removed from GitHub, though alleged mirrors existed on Gittea and Gitflic (IGN verified these mirrors no longer exist). However, the mod might still circulate privately.
“We've confirmed the existence of third-party tools accessing Final Fantasy XIV character information not normally visible. These tools display parts of a character's internal account ID, attempting to correlate information across characters on the same service account.
"The Development and Operations teams are aware of the situation and community concerns, and are considering:
Requesting removal and deletion of the tool.Pursuing legal action." While concerns arose about potential exposure of personal Square Enix account information (address, payment details), Yoshida assured players this information is inaccessible via these tools.
"We strive for a safe environment, so we urge players to avoid third-party tools and not share information about their installation or dissemination. Their use violates the Final Fantasy XIV User Agreement and threatens player safety. We maintain a firm stance against their use."
While tools like Advanced Combat Tracker (often used with FFlogs) are common in the raiding community, Yoshida's legal threat represents a significant escalation.
The FF14 Community Responds
The community's response to Yoshida's statement was critical. One user commented on the lack of consideration for fixing the game's vulnerabilities to prevent such mods. Others criticized the lack of attention to client-side data exposure prevention, suggesting a failure to address the root problem. The Playerscope author has yet to comment.
