Square Enix Creates New Policy To Protect Employees From Toxic Fans

Square Enix has announced a new anti-harassment policy that aims to protect its employees and partners. Square Enix has stipulated what constitutes harassment in its book, and has laid out what it will do in the event that it encounters such behavior from its customers.

In this day and age of interconnectivity via the internet, threats and harassment against members of the gaming industry have become unfortunately common. The behavior is far from limited to Square Enix, with some notable examples including death threats against the actress portraying Abby in The Last of Us 2, and Nintendo being forced to cancel a live event due to threats of violence from a so-called Splatoon fan. Now, Square Enix is taking steps to attempt and protect its people from similar actions.

In a policy laid out on the Square Enix website, the game developer has taken a stance against those who would harass its employees and partners, including everyone from support staff members to as high up the corporate ladder as its executives. The policy states that while Square Enix wants feedback from its fans and customers, customer harassment is unacceptable, and it has laid out exactly what constitutes harassment in its book and how it will react to any such encounters.

Square Enix considers harassment to be things like threats of violence, defamation, obstruction of business, trespassing, and so on. The document lays out exactly what Square Enix considers to be outside the bounds of normal customer feedback. In the event that such behavior is encountered, Square Enix reserves the right to deny services to said customers, and in cases of "malicious intent," the company may choose to protect its staff by pursuing legal action or getting the police involved.

Square Enix Anti-Harassment Policy

Harassment:

• Act of violence, violent behavior
• Abusive language, intimidation, coercion, duress, excessive pursuit or reprimand
• Defamation/slander, denial of personality, personal attack (including email, contact in contact form, comment or post on the internet), advance notice of wrongdoing, advance notice of obstruction of business
• Persistent inquiries, repeated visits
• Trespassing by visiting or staying in an office or related facility without permission
• Unlawful restraint including via telephone calls and online inquiries
• Discriminatory speech and conduct regarding race, ethnicity, religion, family origin, occupation, etc.
• Infringement of privacy by taking pictures or making video recordings without consent
• Sexual harassment, stalking, repeated stalking behavior

Undue demand:

• Unreasonable changes or exchange of product or request for monetary compensation
• Unreasonable response or request for an apology (including face-to-face response or request for an apology specifying the position of our employee or partners)
• Excessive requests for the provision of products and services exceeding socially accepted norms
• Unreasonable and excessive demands for punishment of our employees

Unfortunately, action like this has likely become a necessity for developers like Square Enix. Some gamers have sent angry and threatening messages to a variety of members of the game development industry, including voice actors and performers. In recent times, this has included the voice actor for Wuk Lamat in Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail, Sena Bryer, who received extreme backlash when transphobic netizens took offense at Bryer's gender identity. However, going a few years back, it was revealed that Square Enix had received multiple threats of death against its staff in 2018, and one such death threat over Square Enix's gacha mechanics led to an arrest in 2019. Square Enix also had to cancel a tournament back in 2019, due to similar threats to the aforementioned ones Nintendo recently faced.