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Man Arrested for Stalking Woman in Final Fantasy XIV Game

Officers from Hyogo Prefectural Police's personal safety section and Hyogo's Tarumi police station arrested a 38-year-old male resident of Tokyo's Chiyoda ward on Tuesday for allegedly stalking a 28-year-old female player within the online video game Final Fantasy XIV, and later on social media services such as Twitter and LINE.

According to police, the suspect allegedly harassed the woman from March 20 to May 16 earlier this year, sending 22 messages asking her to talk with him, or else he would reveal past conversations to her family.

Tarumi station police stated that the two met through Final Fantasy XIV in 2019, and began to send each other messages in-game and through social media, but the woman later blocked all messages from him at a later time, and he began using his character in the game to follow her character around. According to the investigation, the suspect denied some of the charges, saying, "There were no romantic feelings."

As of October 2022, Final Fantasy XIV had 27 million registered accounts.

Source: Kobe Shimbun via Siliconera, Hachima Kikō