I’ve played many MMORPG’s in my life, I’d venture to say most of them honestly, and I can truly say FFXIV has the best community bar none. But what makes it the best?
When you look at FFXIV, you see a game that is loved not only by the playerbase it caters to, but also the developers. When you have a team lead by a man like Yoshida-san, who gets things done and brings to life what most players want, you have a happy playerbase. The love he has for the game is shown each time he speaks about the game, it all trickles back down to the players themselves, and it shows in their actions in game. I’d argue that when players aren’t happy with the development of the game, they tend to get nasty with each other simply because they’re upset at the game. Though that’s my opinion and by no means a fact that can be proven really.
)
Many would argue that it’s because there’s no faction based PVP, like WoW. I would agree, to an extent with this, because many players simply go at it with each other simply because they’re Horde and they play Alliance, or vice versa. Yet you can look at alliance chat, random queues, and LFR and see that people still act toxic regardless as they’re on the same faction. That’s why I don’t really buy this argument fully.
I’ve heard people say that it was because FFXIV is a more mature game, which means it has a more mature playerbase, therefore is less toxic than others. We all know that being older does not equate to being mature. Yet at the same time, the serious tone of the game where each player is the hero of the story does tend to bring a different breed of players than say World of Warcraft.
When I first started playing FFXIV, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Each dungeon was new, I had one of those new player icons over my head, and I thought it was going to be a disaster. I was a healer, I didn’t really need to know the maps, but I did need to know how to heal, which I didn’t. We wiped a few times in my learning process, but it was never an issue. Instead of complaining about me, the other players actually encouraged and helped me learn the game. This isn’t something you see in many games, most of the time they don’t have time to sit and teach you or want to waste time doing so.
A perfect example, at least from my perspective, is World of Warcraft. Random into a dungeon, get a new player that doesn’t know anything, they mess up and cause a wipe, or isn’t doing enough DPS, whatever it may be. What’s the first thing to happen? Instant vote kick initiation. Again, this might not be true for you or your server, but it happened on a regular basis where I played. Very rarely did I see people teach someone how to play, mechanics, whatever it may be. This simple thing of being helpful goes a long way, and I think it’s one of the main reasons people like the community so much.
)
Lastly, it’s been thought that the simple core systems of the game coordinate more community-based interaction and thus it rewards you for not being a dick. I again don’t buy into this concept. The reason is simple, FFXIV didn’t invent the idea of “FATEs,” the idea has been around for a while and other games do it a lot better in my opinion, such as Guild Wars 2. I don’t see it as a driving factor, as people generally go and do the fate and then leave immediately or go hit a couple mobs and then run away, leaving you to finish it yourself. It simply doesn’t foster good will to me.
)
Everything I’ve said so far has been more of a praise to the community. The sad truth is FFXIV isn’t perfect either. Toxic players are everywhere, you simply see less in FFXIV than the others. Any time you have an LFG type feature, you’re going to get bad apples, it’s an inevitable truth. It’s just on a far lesser scale here than in other games. While we’re on the subject, I’ve noticed in the recent weeks since Shadowbringers launch that we’ve had a bit of an elitist mentality going on with healers. Why is this? Healers will go sprint ahead of the tank and pull a substantial amount of mobs, if we wipe, it’s the tank’s fault. Can’t lay blame on themselves, and then they sit and wait for you to votekick the tank. What gives people? I should note, this isn’t sole a healer issue, many people do this, but I see it happening a lot with a healer.
Everyone has their idea of what makes a community great. My opinions will differ from yours, and so on, so hammering down the exact reason why this community is so awesome might be hard to do, if not impossible. So, let me know what you think below! What makes FFXIV’s community so great, or bad if you truly think that. Everyone has a reason, what’s yours?
)
The Moonfire Faire is starting up on Wednesday, and will run through the 26th. Be sure to check it out and grab your special items while you can!
P.S.
)
I got my Frog Suit!!! I actually got all of it, the suit, the mount, and the minion! Big shoutout to the Centurio Hunts discord! Without them, I would probably still be trying to get a single kill. You can join them here.
