Many questions about bard performance either fall into the categories of technical support or music composition, but occasionally questions pop up that are more related to etiquette, that is how a bard (or audience member) should ACT. In this chapter we will try to answer a few of these questions, as well as lay down some general ground rules that everyone aught to follow so that the rest of this compendium can focus on composition and technical support.
This is by far the most asked question about barding. People are, understandably, worried about the fact that using third-party software to play third-party music are technically both terms-of-service violations.
Yes, the TOS for this game states you should not use third party software or mods, and it additionally states you are not allowed to perform “the music of any third parties”. However, the GMs (game masters) for this game simply do not care.
Assuming you behave yourself, the GMs will be your friend, not your enemy. In one infamous instance, a heckler crashed an event being held in Costa del Sol, loudly proclaiming that they had filed a report on the bard performers playing there while parking their large mount right in top of the band, disrupting the event. A GM eventually did arrive, specifically to whisk away the heckler, leaving the bard band to perform Despacito in peace.
There also once was a small group of players who took it upon themselves to mass-report every bard performer they saw in the game. After talking with a few of the bards, the GMs found them innocent of all charges and then turned their attention back to the so-called “Bard Hunters”.
They never bothered another bard again.
The crackdown on third-party software has largely been on bots as well as the use of “parsing” software and other fight-assist tools used in raiding. These tools give players an edge over others in the actual main content of the game, which makes them more of an issue. On the other hand, bard performance is utterly harmless and only helps bring life to the game. Those who don’t like hearing bard performances are free to turn the feature off entirely in their settings. Despite the fact that it’s pretty obvious when someone is using third-party software to perform, there has been little to no reported moderator action related to it.
I have heard of only one reported incident of a bard getting in trouble (outside of typical harassment complaints), and that was because someone was using BMP to play a song on a loop specifically to stay online during a time the game had the “AFK timer” on, which was kind of a stupid thing to do in the first place.
As for the rule on performing third-party songs, that exists entirely as a legal precaution on Square Enix’s part, who is trying to not get sued for songs they don’t own getting played in their game. However, even this rule is enforced extremely laxly, if at all. There’s zero reports of bards getting in trouble for playing songs they shouldn’t in recent years, and currently there are hundreds or even thousands of bard performers out there happily playing Megalovania, Song of Storms, and Toss A Coin To Your Witcher and getting away with it.
Interestingly, at one point in the past the songs “Answers”, “Dragonsong”, and “Revolutions” were specifically NOT on the list of songs bards were allowed to play in-game, and could (allegedly) get you especially in trouble if you played them. For weird legal reasons, the licenses for these specific songs (which were all composed by Nobuo Uematsu) were different than every other song in the game. However, around April of 2022, Square Enix changed the terms of its “Material Usage License” so that it no longer excluded these songs, implying whatever legal questions remained had been sorted.
Overall, the best advice I can give you to stay safe is this: avoid discussing mods or third-party software in-game as much as possible. Yes, even if it’s SUPER OBVIOUS you’re using it. The GMs aren’t going out of their way to hunt down bards, but don’t give them a REASON to come to you. Don’t talk about midis or what software you’re using unless you’re in a private chat with people you trust. For example, when speaking publicly I always refer to my midis as ‘sheet music’, a more ambiguous term that doesn’t imply the use of third-party software. If someone someone asks me in general /say chat if I’m using macro software to play my music, I simply ignore the question and keep playing. On the other hand, if I’m talking privately with another bard, I’m more at ease to talk about midis, multi-boxing, and what software we use.
It’s highly unlikely you’ll get in trouble, but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious, right?
Honestly everything above also applies to the servers in the JP datacenter, despite what you might have heard. You are highly unlikely to get banned for either using third-party bard software OR playing third-party songs.
What is different about the JP datacenter are the players.
While the players in the other servers are happy to hear tunes from their favorite band, video game, or TV show, the Japanese players of FFXIV take the rule about playing third-party songs MUCH more seriously. One might even say they take it more seriously than the GMs themselves. Playing songs you’re not technically supposed to play may upset your Japanese audience more than entertain them!