Square Enix steps up to protect employees against harassment by toxic fans

Video game fans can be very passionate and there are times when it goes overboard. These things happen usually due to some in-game changes or decisions by the company and can turn into full-on harassment of employees. To prevent that, Square Enix has announced a new ‘group customer harassment policy’.

Square Enix boasts some of the most successful video game IPs but is widely known for Final Fantasy. In order to reach that point, regular feedback from the community is quite important. However, there are times when people misuse these features to harass others. These things can happen via different means.

The company warned that proper actions against these activities. While they did not specify what kind, it most likely depends on the severity of the situation. These can range from in-game bans to legal actions which won’t be surprising.

“Such actions do not only prevent our employees and partners from engaging in their work with a sense of security but also cause disruptions to other customers. Square Enix will not tolerate harassment and will take action as necessary,” the company wrote.

Also Read: Following poor launch of Life is Strange, Square Enix is asking for feedback

Square Enix squares up against harassment

Under the new policy, any act of violence or violent behavior like intimidation, coercion, and abusive language will be considered harassment. There are other things also included under the harassment policy which can lead to similar consequences. Things like personal attacks, defamation, stalking, breach of privacy, or any form of sexual harassment also count.

Pestering employees for repeated unreasonable demands regarding in-game compensations, unban requests, exchange of products, or any other form of demand will also bear the same consequences. “Excessive requests for the provision of products and services exceeding socially accepted norms or unreasonable and excessive demands for punishment of our employees” was also listed by Square.

It’s hard to tell if this new policy came into effect after something happened or was planned for a long time. There have been cases in the past where voice actors for Final Fantasy characters experienced something similar from FF shippers regarding character relationships inside the game.