#mare synchronos

Fly too close the sun, overreach what's allowed, get vocal & public about it…here we are.

Mods will continue to exist. They're fun utilities but are, in the end, disallowed by the TOS.

Just a heads up for people who use Mare Synchronos in FFXIV: it's getting shut off as of 6 AM EST tomorrow (8/22/25) because of a legal inquiry received by the owner. For those who aren't familiar, it is (was) a mod that would allow you to show your character in its modded state with anyone you'd traded access codes with. This is against TOS, as is all modding in XIV, but Square Enix has historically overlooked mod use as long as you're not being really obvious about it or using it to harass others. No word about whether the legal action came from them or someone else, and I doubt we'll ever know for sure.

One more heads up from bsky:

Its true tho. Time for yall to start writing up some detailed TRP3s for your modbeasts on Balmung /j

I've spent the past month and a half recovering from burning out on Bozja stuff with my FC (which went well! but also left me so tired), and I was just starting to think about catching up on tumblr/bsky and working on some glam projects again.

And… now this stuff with Mare Synchronos getting taken down.

I wasn't a big Mare user myself. I was in a single syncshell with a few friends, and at most it was neat seeing the creative customizations they used with their characters. I didn't really care if they saw my own minor character tweaks in return. So in a narrow sense, I'm disappointed, but it barely affects my personal experience of the game.

But in the wider sense, it… feels like being stabbed again, when I'm already bleeding out.

On and on, there's been a steady drumbeat of cherished online spaces being decimated. Tumblr's situation becoming increasingly unreliable. The grotesque death throes of the rotting corpse that was once twitter. Discord beginning the enshittification slide in preparation for its IPO. The Mastercard/VISA restrictions on "adult" content and the terrible effects it's had on Steam and itch.io. The new age "verification" law in the UK causing a nightmarish mess, and similar laws being pushed in other countries too. Tons more stuff I'm forgetting and/or not aware of. And on top of it all, AI slop infesting anything and everything, including the comments on AO3.

It's been a miserable year, and now one more little spark of joy has been extinguished.