Not to long ago I quit playing Aion, a bunch of my friends tried getting me into the game but once we reached our 30s the grinding took over and most of us turned towards botting. As for me, like I said I decided to leave the game, not just because of the grinding but the whole experience felt like a Final Fantasy game without a soul, plus the community didn't help much considering it seemed it  was comprised 40% of WoW players trying to turn the entire game into a barrens chat board, another 40% of botters and gold farmers, and a final 20% that actually liked the game but were willing to delusionally defend the game even when the faults were true.

If you go take a look at the Aion forums right now it's just an endless stream of one group of players complaining about the grind, another group defending the game going so far as to suggest there is none, and a final group of trolls that are just riding them all.

So now that I looked towards the FF14 community, I'm wondering if it'll be different. You might suggest that it's the game that makes the community, but my belief is that it's the community that makes the game.

.....

I guess in the end I'm just hoping the FF14 community doesn't turn out like Aion, I spent years enjoying this series and I'd hate to see another MMO attempt to turn soar considering today's MMO gamer.

I think the game can help foster a good community though. I am guessing that FFXIX will have people grouping up more to do things, and this will naturally help the community grow stronger and more mature I think. If the game requires grouping and a player is a jerk all the time then that person will begin to get a bad reputation, and nobody will want to group with him other than close friends.

Right now I have a feeling everyone will say the community is strong and friendly, because they are all the big fans looking forward to the games launch. Once the game launches though, and more people join into that pool of fans things will change. I have a feeling to get the best community possible a game really needs to be a niche game with a very small player base. I think thats why eve-online has the community it has. They might not always agree, but when I played it had large amounts of people working together. Not too many games can acomplish something like that.

Originally posted by BloodDuality

I think the game can help foster a good community though. I am guessing that FFXIX will have people grouping up more to do things, and this will naturally help the community grow stronger and more mature I think. If the game requires grouping and a player is a jerk all the time then that person will begin to get a bad reputation, and nobody will want to group with him other than close friends.

Right now I have a feeling everyone will say the community is strong and friendly, because they are all the big fans looking forward to the games launch. Once the game launches though, and more people join into that pool of fans things will change. I have a feeling to get the best community possible a game really needs to be a niche game with a very small player base. I think thats why eve-online has the community it has. They might not always agree, but when I played it had large amounts of people working together. Not too many games can acomplish something like that.

Very true the grouping effect would create a stronger community, in most MMOs today the fact that they can be soloed usually ushers in the "me generation" types like Ronald Reagon is the president of that company...0o

But another question I have in mind is how is the community going to deal with the nay sayers; everyone has the right to criticize a game and I've seen countless times where a community grows insecure because of negative feedback.

That is the problem Aion is facing right now, word of mouth is already driving away players and the community that is trying to keep it together is growing delusional in defending their game.

Well i one thing im sure of is that there will be alot of grouping activity. This is one thing that make communities stronger. When you start a game and you only work with yourself, or have only been promoted to work by yourself, you tend to only think of yourself during the game. FFXi wasnt like that though it was a little too much when it came to the group play and group setups.

Since teh grup setup that was in ffxi doesnt exist in this game, i think that group play will end up being a much better experience for guildleves. Also since there is minimum PVP, you wont have the bad seed pvpers that do nothng but try to grief you.

Overall i have never seen a better community in gaming then n ffxi.

 This is the one thing I'm going to be concerned with the way the game is setup could draw in a bunch of immature WoW kids thus ruining the game. If it turns into a Barrens Chat I will just not even bother with this game and I'm sure all players from FFXI who give it a try and see this will feel the same way. I just really don't see a game catering to both crowds unless they make 2 versions of the game which nobody is willing to do. They want the WoW crowd and FFXI crowd but the only problem is the 2 wont be bale to co-exsist. 

Originally posted by Jackio81

Originally posted by BloodDuality

I think the game can help foster a good community though. I am guessing that FFXIX will have people grouping up more to do things, and this will naturally help the community grow stronger and more mature I think. If the game requires grouping and a player is a jerk all the time then that person will begin to get a bad reputation, and nobody will want to group with him other than close friends.

Right now I have a feeling everyone will say the community is strong and friendly, because they are all the big fans looking forward to the games launch. Once the game launches though, and more people join into that pool of fans things will change. I have a feeling to get the best community possible a game really needs to be a niche game with a very small player base. I think thats why eve-online has the community it has. They might not always agree, but when I played it had large amounts of people working together. Not too many games can acomplish something like that.

 

Very true the grouping effect would create a stronger community, in most MMOs today the fact that they can be soloed usually ushers in the "me generation" types like Ronald Reagon is the president of that company...0o

But another question I have in mind is how is the community going to deal with the nay sayers; everyone has the right to criticize a game and I've seen countless times where a community grows insecure because of negative feedback.

That is the problem Aion is facing right now, word of mouth is already driving away players and the community that is trying to keep it together is growing delusional in defending their game.

I don't think word of mouth is driving players away from Aion, but rather the game itself is driving away said players. Any new mmorpg that is released is going to be flooded with WoW players, because they seem to make up the majority of the gamers in the genre right now. Aion becomes a grind and that type of gameplay is mostly foreign to much of the WoW community. Honestly, that will be the lynchpin that holds Aion back to a degree.

However, the thing we need to remember is that Final Fantasy is a brand name that has an extremely large following of its own. Many gamers who never played a mmo (including FFXI) will pick up FFXIV based on name alone, and that will be a benefit to the community as a whole. Not because it will foster an environment of fanboys, but because the community will largely contain gamers who have a passion for the FF name alone. When people feel passion for something, they tend to take the good with the bad, but give positive feedback on how to help correct the bad.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it. Communities have a tendency to police themselves, unless it becomes too big for its britches (aka WoW).

Originally posted by Lexin

 This is the one thing I'm going to be concerned with the way the game is setup could draw in a bunch of immature WoW kids thus ruining the game. If it turns into a Barrens Chat I will just not even bother with this game and I'm sure all players from FFXI who give it a try and see this will feel the same way. I just really don't see a game catering to both crowds unless they make 2 versions of the game which nobody is willing to do. They want the WoW crowd and FFXI crowd but the only problem is the 2 wont be bale to co-exsist. 

Well you will be seeing players like that too, it's just part of the MMO experience as a whole.

From my experience you can't allow yourself to be driven into playing their games because that perpetuates it, and eventually even the 12year old WoW gamer will notice that the game has much more to offer than sit around the noobie area making "Chuck Norris" jokes and decide to partake in the rest of the game seeing as no one wants to play "barren's chat."

LoL

 I highly doubt the commentators here will be a good indication of what the in-game community will be like.

Originally posted by Jackio81

Not to long ago I quit playing Aion, a bunch of my friends tried getting me into the game but once we reached our 30s the grinding took over and most of us turned towards botting. As for me, like I said I decided to leave the game, not just because of the grinding but the whole experience felt like a Final Fantasy game without a soul, plus the community didn't help much considering it seemed it  was comprised 40% of WoW players trying to turn the entire game into a barrens chat board, another 40% of botters and gold farmers, and a final 20% that actually liked the game but were willing to delusionally defend the game even when the faults were true.

 

If you go take a look at the Aion forums right now it's just an endless stream of one group of players complaining about the grind, another group defending the game going so far as to suggest there is none, and a final group of trolls that are just riding them all.

 

So now that I looked towards the FF14 community, I'm wondering if it'll be different. You might suggest that it's the game that makes the community, but my belief is that it's the community that makes the game.

.....

I guess in the end I'm just hoping the FF14 community doesn't turn out like Aion, I spent years enjoying this series and I'd hate to see another MMO attempt to turn soar considering today's MMO gamer.

I think your wrong here. The text in the red. The game makes the community. When FFXIV launches I can promise you that the community will be rotten from the start. Everybody flocks to the new game.  If ffxiv makes people put effort into it for them to advance it will begin to weed people out.

FFXIV already has a devoted following from the old and and current ffxi fans. So as long as SE doesnt alienate their loyal fans the game will be here to stay for a long time, and IMO thats the a secret to a great community.  When an MMO is designed for 3-4 months of playing a community never has time to form properly anyways. When I started FFXI I was seeing the same people for years. Another thing that made the community was the ability to change jobs. Some peoples name were well known because they never had to level an alt. There was people I never said 2 words too but I would see these people all over the places.

The game by far makes the community an in turn the community makes the game better.

Originally posted by toddze

Originally posted by Jackio81

So now that I looked towards the FF14 community, I'm wondering if it'll be different. You might suggest that it's the game that makes the community, but my belief is that it's the community that makes the game.

 

I think your wrong here. The text in the red. The game makes the community. When FFXIV launches I can promise you that the community will be rotten from the start. Everybody flocks to the new game.  If ffxiv makes people put effort into it for them to advance it will begin to weed people out.

The game by far makes the community an in turn the community makes the game better.

This reminds me of the nature vs. nurture debate in child psychology.  Likely the answer is similar.  A game's design can 'predispose' a community towards gaining certain elements but a community can overcome that (for better or worse.)

Considering the community that formed within FFXI there's a good chance a similar community will form within FFXIV.  But there's no gauruntees.  We'll just have to wait and see what happens by six months after launch.

You ever play FFXI ? if you did you would know that game has one of the best/smartest/and friendliest communities of any game out there.

And I am not even bullshitting about this. FFXIV will have those same people playing the game. I am sure at start u will see others who try it out but the game itself does not tend to hold a lot of these peoole for very long for obvious reasons.

Originally posted by Stuckov

You ever play FFXI ? if you did you would know that game has one of the best/smartest/and friendliest communities of any game out there.

And I am not even bullshitting about this. FFXIV will have those same people playing the game. I am sure at start u will see others who try it out but the game itself does not tend to hold a lot of these peoole for very long for obvious reasons.

Im hoping that the old FFXI community will stick to this game. With the entire talk about Solo scaring them off, I hope that they do end up sticking around. For the most part, I do believe that you will see the same players from the previous community in this one. Hell, I stumbled across some old friends email addy's that I had from FFXI. I decided to drop them a line and they are on board already! So, that makes about 10 of us and we are all close. I think we will end up keeping the LS closed off till we can learn some stuff about this game. But for the most part... We are looking for the same kind of adventures in a new world. Im really glad that they kept the previous format from FFXI.

**Dont let the solo aspect scare you. Just think back to FFXI and you will realize there will be limitations on the soloing capacity. Grouping will be the priority...  Well that is my belief but thats me!**

I have talked to almost everyone of my friends from FFXI , old and new, the ones that quit years ago due to different reasons and the ones that still play it and they ALL will be playing and cant wait for FFXIV. I think we all agree that FFXI was not perfect but was good enough to make us love it. And while FFXIV may not be perfect we all believe that enough of FFXI will be present in it plus the many new surprises and addition to make us love it even more.

I have absolutely no doubt that the community of FFXI will find its way into FFXIV.

Originally posted by Proximo521

Originally posted by Stuckov

You ever play FFXI ? if you did you would know that game has one of the best/smartest/and friendliest communities of any game out there.

And I am not even bullshitting about this. FFXIV will have those same people playing the game. I am sure at start u will see others who try it out but the game itself does not tend to hold a lot of these peoole for very long for obvious reasons.

 

Im hoping that the old FFXI community will stick to this game. With the entire talk about Solo scaring them off, I hope that they do end up sticking around. For the most part, I do believe that you will see the same players from the previous community in this one. Hell, I stumbled across some old friends email addy's that I had from FFXI. I decided to drop them a line and they are on board already! So, that makes about 10 of us and we are all close. I think we will end up keeping the LS closed off till we can learn some stuff about this game. But for the most part... We are looking for the same kind of adventures in a new world. Im really glad that they kept the previous format from FFXI.

**Dont let the solo aspect scare you. Just think back to FFXI and you will realize there will be limitations on the soloing capacity. Grouping will be the priority...  Well that is my belief but thats me!**

Hope you are right about the solo aspect not killing the game, it sure does scare me.
 

IMO there is little reason to question people wiating for FF14 about how the community will turn out. We have no idea... I think we, as a small group awaiting the game, have portrayed characteristics of an FF11 community, and I appreciate it.

I can only hope that after launch this comradery(SP) overides any new sort of gameplay brought into FF14 from other games such as WOW.

We will see the same strong FFXI community.

Although there will be those carebear WOW players at the start, they will leave once they find out how hard FFXiV will be to advance, and will tak ea year to hit Max level and not 2 weeks...

Group based games make you need to have a good rep. And that's somethign WoW players wont understand

Originally posted by CDCosta

 

Group based games make you need to have a good rep. And that's somethign WoW players wont understand

That's funny to me simply because....

Early on in EverQuest that was kind of true.  Especially if you played a cleric and kept "the list".

Yet a few years into that game the Grief guilds appeared and rep wasn't a factor.... from the MMO's I've played in recent times that hasn't changed.

Then again I never thought FFXI was hard... 

Originally posted by Antarious

Then again I never thought FFXI was hard... 

If you played at JP or NA launch, for the first year or so, it was pretty challenging.

There were no online walk throughs, and no exp reduction, no level sync, or Fields of valor, none of that easablity they put in.

You had to figure shit out on your own.

Of course from a few years ago up til now it's no longer hard.

No i am sorry OP but it IS the game that makes the community.Different ideas and mechanics attract different kinds of people.

FFXI was mainly a group based game,no soloing or egotistical ideas in the game.IMO once you get into soloing a lot ,players do not care what they say or who they piss off ,because they don't need anyone,that is why forced grouping creates a much more stable community.

Also when you need others to always help you get things done,you tend to learn to interact with others better,while these other games,they pretty much solo,then you only group for like 10 minutes to kill a boss.Unfortunately this seems to be the direction FFXIV is taking,a solo game that only groups up to kill that boss.

One area that can/could also help is limiting players to ONLY one LS.I felt FFXI LS system was a complete joke as the majority of players were carrying many LS for selfish reasons to get help.A LS should be a community inside the community,you don't show up only when u need help,but show up to interact with others and offer help.This does not mean you cannot interact with others in the game,it just means you actually have a LS you call home,and are not some LS hopper looking for help,witch i noticed a lot of.

I also liked the way EQ2 did the guild thing,where size did not matter ,it was more important to have good individuals.I don't like these guilds that just invite a couple hundred players to act like it's some competition to  see who can get the most players.

Originally posted by Wizardry

No i am sorry OP but it IS the game that makes the community.Different ideas and mechanics attract different kinds of people.

FFXI was mainly a group based game,no soloing or egotistical ideas in the game.IMO once you get into soloing a lot ,players do not care what they say or who they piss off ,because they don't need anyone,that is why forced grouping creates a much more stable community.

Also when you need others to always help you get things done,you tend to learn to interact with others better,while these other games,they pretty much solo,then you only group for like 10 minutes to kill a boss.Unfortunately this seems to be the direction FFXIV is taking,a solo game that only groups up to kill that boss.

One area that can/could also help is limiting players to ONLY one LS.I felt FFXI LS system was a complete joke as the majority of players were carrying many LS for selfish reasons to get help.A LS should be a community inside the community,you don't show up only when u need help,but show up to interact with others and offer help.This does not mean you cannot interact with others in the game,it just means you actually have a LS you call home,and are not some LS hopper looking for help,witch i noticed a lot of.

I also liked the way EQ2 did the guild thing,where size did not matter ,it was more important to have good individuals.I don't like these guilds that just invite a couple hundred players to act like it's some competition to  see who can get the most players.

 

Yes there were these types of people, and we all knew who they were. That is more of an internal LS problem.  Something like this is the players responsible to police themselves,  not have the game do it for you. Thats a cheep way out. 

I loved the LS system. It allowed for freedom to form alliances with different LS to accomplish differnt things without the need to be a zerg guild. I had an HNM shell (main) SEA shell, Dynamis shell, and Limbus shell. The sub shells were people from different Ls's.

I will wait and see what SE has in store for Guilds in this game. I believe there will be much more importance placed on this system and that the whole system will be new and fresh, requiring a new way to play.