In early 2025, a Final Fantasy 14 mod sparked “stalking” fears amid reports it was able to scrape hidden player data, including details like character information, retainer information, any alternate characters linked to a Square Enix account, and much more.
The mod, named “Playerscope,” allows users to track specific player data of anyone in the vicinity of the person using it. This information is then sent to a centralized database managed by the mod author (no matter if you are looking at a specific player, or just happen to be around other players), and tracks information that players would usually not be permitted to see via in-game tools.
Specifically, the mod offers information on “Content ID” and “Account ID,” which can be used to track players across characters. This was done by manipulating the Content ID system introduced in the Dawntrail expansion, which in turn let players blacklist others across their service account and multiple characters.
The only way to prevent your account data being scraped by the tool is to join the private Discord channel for Playerscope and opt out. Theoretically, every single Final Fantasy 14 player who is not in the Discord channel is having their data scraped. Obviously this is a significant privacy risk, and the community has been vocal in its response: “the purpose is obvious, to stalk people” one commenter noted on Reddit.
Several weeks ago the mod author posted on Discord that the plugin was found on Github, which led to an explosion in popularity. Due to terms of service violations, Playerscope has now been removed from Github, but it was allegedly mirrored on similar websites Gittea and Gitflic. IGN has verified that a Playerscope repository no longer exists on either alternative platform. Theoretically, the mod could also still be circulating in private communities.
Final Fantasy 14 producer and director Naoki ‘Yoshi-P’ Yoshida has now issued a statement on Final Fantasy 14’s official forum regarding third-party mods, clearly referencing the emergence of Playerscope. The statement reads:
“We have confirmed that there exist third-party tools that are being used to check Final Fantasy 14 character information that is not displayed during normal game play. The tool is being used to display a segment of an Final Fantasy 14 character’s internal account ID, which is then used in an attempt to further correlate information on other characters on the same Final Fantasy 14 service account.
“The Development and Operations teams are aware of the situation and the concerns being raised by the community and are discussing the following options:
- Requesting that the tool in question be removed and deleted.
- Pursuing legal action.
“Aside from character information that can be checked in-game and on the Lodestone, we have received concerns that personal information registered on a user’s Square Enix account, such as address and payment information, could also be exposed with this tool. Please rest assured that it is not possible to access this information using these third-party tools.
“We strive to offer and maintain a safe environment for our players, which is why we ask everyone to refrain from using third-party tools. We also ask that players do not share information about third-party tools such as details about their installation methods, or take any other actions to assist in their dissemination.
“The use of third-party tools is prohibited by the Final Fantasy 14 User Agreement and their usage could threaten the safety of players. We will continue to take a firm stance against their usage.”
While the use of third-party tools is prohibited in Final Fantasy 14, the likes of Advanced Combat Tracker is regularly used by the game’s raiding community and cross-referenced using websites like FFlogs. Yoshida’s legal threat, however, is a significant step up in rhetoric.
The FF14 community responds
The Final Fantasy 14 community has responded to Yoshida’s statement in damning fashion. One user said: “fixing the game to break the mod isn’t on the list of options they’re considering I see.”
Another player added: “or you could just see how not to expose the information on [the player’s] client side. Ofc 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?”
“Kind of a disappointing statement that really fails to acknowledge the root cause of the problem,” another person said.
The author of Playerscope has yet to respond.
Photo by Olly Curtis/Future Publishing via Getty Images.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
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