So I got my RP identity stolen by this guy...

[Unnamed Mercenary]

9 hours ago, Warren Castille said:

I'm curious about this. I know the no-call-outs rule but...

 

This is sort of unprecedented, right? Someone's allowed to flag outside pages and say that's not them, right? I mean, imagine if the mod group here suddenly had a tumblr of graphic ERP being posted on the daily. It's okay to point out that's not the source, yeah?

 

Edit: That is, in fact, exactly what was pointed out.

 

Pointing out someone may have taken your character's name and appearance - fine

Notifying people about the servers you play on and with which characters - fine

Linking to your own personal/character-related blogs/posts offsite - fine (as long as it's not to advertise a product/service/something costing actual money without being mod-approved)

Linking to something that violates the FFXIV Terms of Service (mods, porn, parsers) - not fine

Calling out a user with enough determining traits that anyone could find that user - not fine 

• Typically, that'd mean their name or lodestone link.
• But if I said "that guy who runs this event in Fesca's Wash every saturday at 10 PM Eastern time," I don't think many would find it difficult to know who I was talking about.

 

In the example you gave, there could be a post about how the mods aren't posting ERP of their characters daily, but that's honestly something better handled in private messages or DMs in whatever service it's occurring on. Tumblr has a variety of methods to report stolen/abusive/hateful content. As does Twitter. And likely most other social networks and services. Drawing attention to the idea that someone is impersonating the staff and writing up ERP or making porn of them would likely make people curious to find it, exacerbating the issue.

 

5 hours ago, Xihsa'li Tayuun said:

The thing is, the FFXIV terms of service also states that impersonation of another person is against the rules.

 

And if he just made a character with my name, and appearance and did what he did behind closed doors, that wouldn't be enough. But the fact that he posts as my character, using screenshots stolen from me... is kind of like... I think grounds for impersonation at this point.

Also, the culprit has been known to me all this time. It was obvious due to the way he posted his discord handle on his own tumblr, and having been using that same handle, when dealing with my FC as a member. I also know who he is on these forums, and on the Omega community server.

 

Yes. Here's the thing though, then there are just two counts of the ToS being violated. They don't cancel each other out. Making a public post to notify others that you only play on Omega with that name is fair. Letting people know that you don't have characters on Balmung or Mateus is also fair. Letting people know that there is someone else using your former character appearance and name on those servers is yes, still fair. 

 

But all of that is still a player dispute. Rather than going "I know who it is and THEY POST HERE," I'd have recommended contacting that user over shared mediums. RPC has private messages. The chat system (should you both be online) is also private. Discord has direct messages. It also has server administrators in most groups. Were any of those utilized before the public post that's now directing attention towards this user? (Especially when you state you know they've looked at your profile, gotten screenshots, etc.)

 

If so, then yeah, making a public post to tell people you aren't on Balmung/Mateus is something to do. The goal here's to resolve the issue without turning it into the latest gossip,  thing to gawk at, or witch hunt, which are all too common in any site/forum/discord/tumblr group that has more than one user.

 

And like Nero's post said, you can contact the staff any time. We've all got access to the Requests and Feedback forum, which will only show you your own threads/topics. All communication there remains private. Moderators and Admins (like Nero) can also be messaged directly as well, although I'd personally push for Requests and Feedback section unless you're contacting a staff member in regard to actions taken by another staff member. (Then, you'd probably want to go to Nero and a couple others directly).

[Xihsa'li Tayuun]

55 minutes ago, Unnamed Mercenary said:

 

But all of that is still a player dispute. Rather than going "I know who it is and THEY POST HERE," I'd have recommended contacting that user over shared mediums. RPC has private messages. The chat system (should you both be online) is also private. Discord has direct messages. It also has server administrators in most groups. Were any of those utilized before the public post that's now directing attention towards this user? (Especially when you state you know they've looked at your profile, gotten screenshots, etc.)

 

 

All of the above has been done. The person has been contacted. This has been dealt with by reports in the appropriate channels, BEFORE... I made this post. This post over here was to let people know those characters are not mine and I want nothing to do with them, and that my screenshots, my identity -and- my concept are being stolen without my consent - most likely from these forums too.

 

After the initial anger flew off, I edited the post, realizing that there was too much information there. It was my fault for not having the patience in the first place and for that I apologize.

Edited April 14, 2018 by Xihsa'li Tayuun
fixed wording to be more accurate

[Xihsa'li Tayuun]

And for the record, the person responsible blocked me on all mediums without ever saying a word explaining to me what he was doing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not much else I can do, but let people know, that ain't me.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

2 minutes ago, Xihsa'li Tayuun said:

After the initial anger flew off, I edited the post, realizing that there was too much information there. It was my fault for not having the patience in the first place and for that I apologize

 

It's cool. These things happen and it's often in the heat of the moment that rules might get disregarded. What I try to do in those moments is write up my post as a draft, and then give it an hour or two to cool down. Recheck it or ask another people to just to verify that it all looks good and hasn't crossed any lines.

 

1 minute ago, Xihsa'li Tayuun said:

And for the record, the person responsible blocked me on all mediums without ever saying a word explaining to me what he was doing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not much else I can do, but let people know, that ain't me.

 

That's what discord admins are for, for the Omega/EU one, as an example. Or the RPC staff here if the person's making posts as your character, etc. Like my previous post, telling people it's not you is all good. 

 

--

 

Although a bit off topic, half the time I see posts like these, it's always Miqo'te. I don't think the naming conventions help when people want to be part of a known clan, or the whole Tia/Nunh thing. And with single/double syllabic names typically, they're not hard to make duplicates. In your case, yeah, the person definitely appeared to have taken your concept and cloned it, but there's also been a bunch of "stolen concept" cases where people just came up with the same/similar ideas. Like "desert,"  "exotic dancer," and "tan skin."

 

Best you can do in these situations is try to stay calm and collected and just let people know who you are and where you play. If they run into not-you elsewhere, it can be easily checked.

[Xihsa'li Tayuun]

2 minutes ago, Unnamed Mercenary said:

 

It's cool. These things happen and it's often in the heat of the moment that rules might get disregarded. What I try to do in those moments is write up my post as a draft, and then give it an hour or two to cool down. Recheck it or ask another people to just to verify that it all looks good and hasn't crossed any lines.

 

Best you can do in these situations is try to stay calm and collected and just let people know who you are and where you play. If they run into not-you elsewhere, it can be easily checked.

 

I figure I acted a little rashly there, yeah. Was very late in the night and I just couldn't believe someone I'd once upon a time trusted had the gall to do that to me, so... yeah. I was very upset. I still am. But I did try, even in my anger, to be careful not to blast his identity in any way that would harm him for real. Could've been a TAD more careful with it, though.

 

And I did have that fleeting thought of 'should I check the RPC rules before posting this', but in the worst of it, surpassed that thought with 'I'm in the right, and he's doing something that's obviously bad, surely I can post something if I'm careful with what I divulge'. That I take full responsibility on.  Y _ Y ;;

 

Didn't sleep more than 3 hours last night due to anxiety over this shit, so I'm still not exactly chill, but... having friends and a supportive community helps. So thanks, and sorry. 

[Perth]

On 4/14/2018 at 4:34 AM, Aegir said:

Eh~ if someone steals from you, they steal from you. Just keep going. Move forward and let them linger on old ideas. Nobody can play your character better than you can anyway.

 

That's a good way to put it, however theoretically if this person impersonating OP roleplays themes seriously crossing lines even on OOC legal levels or makes a bad name for themselves under OP's name, OP will be associated with that bad business. Impersonation carries heavy consequences, and the victim of impersonation is indeed a victim.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Perth
Grammar

[Xihsa'li Tayuun]

9 hours ago, Perth said:

 

That's a good way to put it, however theoretically if this person impersonating OP roleplays themes seriously crossing lines even on OOC legal levels or makes a bad name for themselves under OP's name, OP will be associated with that is bad business. Impersonation carries heavy consequences, and the victim of impersonation is indeed a victim.

 

That's kinda my worry. That he's doing shit just to stain my rep. That's the primary reason I reported him to SE.

[Faye]

16 hours ago, Xihsa'li Tayuun said:

 

That's kinda my worry. That he's doing shit just to stain my rep. That's the primary reason I reported him to SE.

Unfortunately, I have spoken with someone who mentioned they had a bad experience with your coypcat on Mateus (fortunately, they're aware it's the identity thief and not you).  That's why I think even if someone hasn't intentionally copied you (though in this case, it looks pretty obviously intentional), it never hurts to throw out a statement somewhere that "Hey, my only FFXIV characters are (insert character names) on (insert server(s) here)."

[Xihsa'li Tayuun]

On 16.4.2018 at 3:02 AM, Faye said:

Unfortunately, I have spoken with someone who mentioned they had a bad experience with your coypcat on Mateus (fortunately, they're aware it's the identity thief and not you).  That's why I think even if someone hasn't intentionally copied you (though in this case, it looks pretty obviously intentional), it never hurts to throw out a statement somewhere that "Hey, my only FFXIV characters are (insert character names) on (insert server(s) here)."

 

Yeah. All I can do really. I'm glad I found out. I was also told that someone had cringed seeing me on the RPC forums, after they'd had bad experiences with my copycat... So like... I'm GLAD... that I know now so I can go and say to the world: "that ain't me!" x___x

[Tregarde]

Having read through this thread... I am so sorry you've had to go through this. The whole situation makes no sense, what could possibly motivate someone to do this? Couldn't the copycat have found a better way to use their time and energy?

 

At least we're warned, and now I know to avoid this person if we cross paths on Mateus (and even warn others if I see them engaging).  Hopefully SE does something about it before too long.

[Xihsa'li Tayuun]

2 hours ago, Tregarde said:

Having read through this thread... I am so sorry you've had to go through this. The whole situation makes no sense, what could possibly motivate someone to do this? Couldn't the copycat have found a better way to use their time and energy?

 

At least we're warned, and now I know to avoid this person if we cross paths on Mateus (and even warn others if I see them engaging).  Hopefully SE does something about it before too long.

 

Hope so indeed and thanks.

 

I would be perfectly fine with this person, if he made his own things. But at this point, I'm inclined to believe there may be some mental problems or some weird juvenile fixation into stealing other people's things that motivates him.

 

Otherwise, why keep roleplaying my character for months? For just a prank, it seems a little excessive, especially since I never found out until way after we'd already parted ways. 

So yeah, I share your feelings of 'WTF' entirely... Baffles the mind, this entire thing.

[Dwassyith Swanra]

Also, a note:

Even after this whole ordeal, the guy keeps changing his Discord tag, he keeps turning on and off his Tumbrl page and still actively uses the character he has stolen, uncaring of the discomfort he has caused to the OC's creator, the original Xihsa'li Tayuun.

Something worth keeping in mind for whoever will deal with the fake alter-ego on servers that are not Omega.

[Teirra]

It just frustrates me that this player hasn't stopped using the character. It is just awful seeing my friend having to deal with this especially when this is still going on. Xihsa'li is a talented writer and a wonderful person to roleplay with. It is sad to see her character being represented differently and to hear that individuals are having bad experiences with the fake Xih.