Party Finder

[Dale]

Have you played FFXIV (not trying to be rude it's a serious question). I haven't played very many MMOs, only FFXI and FFXIV and I understand the bad rap that party finder gets in a lot of MMOs but in FFXIV it's called a duty finder (matchmaking, auto connects you with people) and Party finder is honestly just a bulletin board. It's only server base so or more less it's not different from shouts and yells, in making friends aspect. I would say it's even more personal.

I'm sorry I've been thinking incredibly hard about it and though I respect your concern with it I can see no downside to the community that's left in FFXI. With only 1000-1500 people on at one time on the busiest server (I play on Bahamut now) I find it very difficult to make new friends when I was close to my old ones in my fantastic linkshell Nightmare Brigade. With them mostly gone now and me switching servers I got into a new linkshell but they already have set groups for higher level content and if I wanna do a PUG I have to stay in town to listen to shouts which is utterly boring and counterproductive.

I can see maybe one downside and that is a lot of towns would be a lot more empty. If you see that as a downside then so be it but for me that an upside, plus all the bazaar people will still be there.

I've played it and you're right, it's basically just a bulletin board for the server. I've used it several times - for things like hydra and chimera. I think once for a coil run. Stuff like that.

It's a nifty tool for getting a group. But the problem with tools like this is it discourages social interaction among players and people just end up relying on quick fixes to get groups rather taking the time to get to know one another and organize events among themselves. And having played other MMORPGs for many years with tools like this, such as FF XIV and WoW etc... I've just come to the conclusion that the harm these types of tools do outweighs the good.

You make a good point that FF XI is an older game and many of our friends have stopped playing. It can be a real pain sometimes to find enough friends to do an event with. But for all of that difficulty, I still find it worth it in the end.

MMORPGs are at their best when creating and maintaining a social foundation is the key to success and friends or allies can't be taken for granted. Because the minute they can - the atmosphere of the game quickly deteriorates and the player base becomes spoiled and no longer appreciate one another. They instead begin to obsess over spread sheets, dps, hps, efficiency etc. and start looking at other players as job applications rather than individuals. And the game ends up suffering as a result, both in terms of gameplay and the quality of its community.

As I said, I used to be a huge supporter of tools like the one you advocate. But no longer. Now I think if players want to defeat something they can't do alone - they need to do it the old fashioned way and go out and make a friend or enlist an ally. Is it hard work to make friends and have to bother with all of the social complications and time involved? You bet it is. But it's also the best insurance that players appreciate the investment involved and respectfully treat one another as potential allies. There are always exceptions to this of course. But generally I believe it to be the case.