‘Final Fantasy 14’ players sent to in-game jail by Square Enix for using mods

Square Enix has sent two Final Fantasy 14 players to an in-game jail after both were caught using third-party modding tools.

Earlier this week (May 9), Final Fantasy 14 director and producer Naoki Yoshida released a new statement that addressed the use of third-party tools in the massively multiplayer online (MMO) game. The post clearly reads that “the use of third-party tools is strictly prohibited” and says that players who use them will have their accounts suspended or permanently banned for repeated offences.

Despite the new statement, a number of players have continued to use mods, and just this week, two players who were streaming the game have been pulled into an in-game jail by moderators for doing so (via, Kotaku).

One player named Bagel Goose was in the middle of completing a raid with their party until they were kicked and the notice “A Game Master has removed you from the duty” appeared on the screen. Afterwards, the streamer was teleported to an in-game jail cell, and can be heard explaining the situation to their party, until a Game Master appears. Bagel Goose’s teammate shared on Twitter that they have also been suspended from Twitch for a week for “cheating in a multiplayer game.”

Another player known as Hiroro was also teleported mid-stream to the Mordion Gaol dungeon because they were using mods. Although the streamer later deleted the footage from their Twitch and YouTube channels, screenshots were saved showing the player’s prison sentence.

One Reddit post suggests that streamers using mods were targeted by people on message boards in order to get them suspended, with one post saying, “Hey, let’s see if we can get these streamers banned.”

Final Fantasy 14 mods vary in purpose, some may be for cosmetic uses to make the game’s HUD look different, while others are used to display helpful tools in duties such as a damage counter. Although these mods don’t necessarily mean the players are cheating, they are still against the MMO’s rules.

In the same Square Enix statement from May 9, Yoshida said that the team intends to review the current HUD to make mods unnecessary for players.

In other news, Starfield and Redfall have been delayed to 2023.