Should Ukrainians get a free/lowered Sub?

I should get free sub because i stubbed my toe this morning

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Originally Posted by AnPo

With questions above, why not everyone pretend to be russian via vpn then? it's 3$ for russians

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Doesn't Square take action against this? Pretty sure that Steam does.

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Originally Posted by Lustre

If you said this about any other culture you'd be labelled a racist... why does the skin colour matter?

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Because it seems awfully odd how people are silent about a lot of this, and then suddenly there's a surge in outspoken support when it's a majority white European country that's the subject of war.

the hot takes in this thread are amazing

Certainly not

? And where was this energy for any of the other disasters/displaced players of the past? Because your favorite streamer says something needs to change, Yoshi needs to jump out of his chair and adjust it immediately? I watched that video that was linked, of her talking about it, just now. What I think is... it was a bit...how do you say. It felt more like she was making demands at a company. Demands that she's never mentioned or shown much interest in before this. Which is not a good look in any way shape or form-because had she never went to Ukraine in the first place (remember, she's an American)-had she never gone there to begin with to go live with her boyfriend...would she still be advocating this hard? She's only this passionate about it because she's lived there for a while. Because it personally effected her. Which, there's nothing wrong with that in itself, but see, she's never advocated this passionately for any of the OTHER disaster victims in the past, nor will she likely in the future either. THAT'S where the problem lies. You can't just go, 'aww thats sad' when its other people but then when its you, ring the alarms, sound the sirens, and gather the pitchforks. That's disingenuous.

-By the way, why are we framing this as an only Ukrainians thing still? Google 'Countries currently at war'. Some of them have casualty numbers similar to Ukraines situation right now. Many displaced, many uncertain. Many who may have enjoyed FFXIV too but can't. But why arent they mentioned by her? and I know someone will go 'waah why are you strawma-' Stop running away from reality. Ukrainians are not actually the only ones suffering. Maybe its not politically correct to state, but it is purely reality. They just are not. So why make a special exception for them, but not anyone else? Companies don't get to selectively pick groups like she's asking them to-that looks wrong and leads to having to make changes for everyone.

What they can do-what Zepla can focus on, is trying to get SE to accept their currency better. THAT point is completely valid and good. It should be much easier for them to pay. But this right here- "(Reading a viewers comment) 'You think they should give them one year of free play time?' At least as a minimum that might be a good thing that they can do right now" No, that's a little annoyingly transparent. Unless she's advocating for this to happen at every single disaster/war now, it shouldn't be brought up. Just keep the focus on accepting their currency. Not giving them a free year or super slashed cost compared to everyone else.

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Originally Posted by Misplaced_Marbles

Streamer said so. Streamer just looking out for number one. Streamer gets paid for nothing regardless, but saving are always nice.

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I really dislike the mentality of: "A streamer said X, so it must be true!"
Streamers say many things, but that doesn't mean it's true or even valid. They're primarily looking for more support, views, and popularity which means more money while they're also trying to spend less. Just bringing the topic of Ukrainians or any hot political topic to the table is enough to spread like fire in the community which all contributes back to the streamer itself.
I don't watch streamers myself, but even without reading names, I'm pretty confident the streamer in question who said Ukrainians should pay less just because they're Ukrainians is the same streamer who fled the country and got a nice beachy house on the first day wherein everyone else was struggling to escape and have a spot in the street to sleep in.
That goes without saying, a little thinking is all it takes to realize the idea of providing discounted subscription prices to a specific group of people is bad because...
1): The obvious misuse of the discount via VPNs and fake documents.
2): Outrage from the local Japanese players because a local company is giving special privileges to a foreign group of players while they had none over the years.
3): Ukrainian players will start demanding even more privileges, while other nationalities will start demanding too. At a later point, minorities will also get in the line and everyone will be demanding special privileges to be given to them.
4): Similar to the second reason, it would be unfair towards players from countries affected by natural disasters and conflicts too and could be seen as a "We care more about them than you" type of behavior.
5): Following all of the above, the results would be a damaged reputation and a cut in revenues. This is obviously bad from a business perspective (They're not a charity) and it will also grab the attention of investors who would question the company's decisions. This might get investors more involved in the company's decision-making and more to the point we might get another company to behave like Blizzard where they're devoting themselves to appease the investors (As if things with SE aren't enough...).

It's just terrible...

TLDR: Streamers bad. Charity bad. Helping bad.

Inspirational, all of you.

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Originally Posted by AlyaNimfa

TLDR: Streamers bad. Charity bad. Helping bad.

Inspirational, all of you.

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Do the same for all the countries at war, be it in the Middle East, Asia,Africa and everywhere else, and sure, otherwise no.

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Originally Posted by AlyaNimfa

TLDR: Streamers bad. Charity bad. Helping bad.

Inspirational, all of you.

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Stop paying your sub and donate the money instead.

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Originally Posted by Ranaku

Little disclaimer at the start, i am neither Ukrainian (so i wouldn't profit from this in any way) nor do i want to discuss any of the factors that lead to this problem. I think we can have a good discussion without falling into political debates. So this here only about players that get affected by situations like war.

I think by now many of you have heard about the problem Ukrainians have with their sub fees, since their currency isn't supported by SE they need to pay in Euros which can lead to them having to pay almost or even more than two days of work for their subscription. Not to mention that many of these fellow players, no matter where they come from, lost their jobs through circumstances that they didn't wanted/caused or can control in any way.

So my question is this, should SE gift people from such war-torn places free gametime? Or at least lower their subscription cost significantly so they can afford it? Most people in the US/EU have to work 1-2 hours to get the money for their sub, Ukrainians having to work basically 8-16 times (or even more) that much just to get an escape from their reality seems really really unfair to me personally.

And just to say it again, this is about our fellow players. This is not about the political turmoil that is going on around it. They are civilians and XIV is an escape and home for them like it is for all of us so please respect that and this thread.

Link to a Zepla Video about this topic: https://youtu.be/rz8LsVJDeXI

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More than just Ukraine is dealing with war. No SE is not handing out discounts because your country is at war no more than if you're slammed with a hurricane.

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Originally Posted by Stormpeaks

Do the same for all the countries at war, be it in the Middle East, Asia,Africa and everywhere else, and sure, otherwise no.

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You're aware not every country has access to FFXIV right? For example, FFXIV isn't supported nor localized for Spain (or any Hispanic country, for that matter). I sincerely doubt Syrians are worried about their subs anyhow, lol. Ukraine apparently is.

It's a little different.

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Originally Posted by Tetsujin

You're aware not every country has access to FFXIV right? For example, FFXIV isn't supported nor localized for Spain (or any Hispanic country, for that matter). I sincerely doubt Syrians are worried about their subs anyhow, lol. Ukraine apparently is.

It's a little different.

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Wait what? I know the game isn't localized for Spanish-speaking communities... but what's this about it not being supported there? What are you conflating here? xD
It's not the same as "not having access", otherwise my in-game neighbours from Zaragoza have some explaining to do.
That, and considering I live next to Spain in another country whose language isn't supported by Square Enix, I'm now doubting my own ability to log in ._.

Ok so? The national currency not being supported nor the price being adjusted to the said countries economics isn't solely limited to Ukraine. They also aren't the only ones bearing the consequences of that specific war. Hell I myself live in Central Europe country with average income lower than one in Western Europe yet forced to pay exactly same sub fee. And exactly same price for games in general since nobody adjust those for regional market as well.

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Originally Posted by NekoMataMata

Doesn't Square take action against this? Pretty sure that Steam does.

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Nope, they tried to make actions, but after some time they rolled back. Still 289 rubles but this part wasn't mentioned on site

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Originally Posted by Ranaku

Little disclaimer at the start, i am neither Ukrainian (so i wouldn't profit from this in any way) nor do i want to discuss any of the factors that lead to this problem. I think we can have a good discussion without falling into political debates. So this here only about players that get affected by situations like war.

I think by now many of you have heard about the problem Ukrainians have with their sub fees, since their currency isn't supported by SE they need to pay in Euros which can lead to them having to pay almost or even more than two days of work for their subscription. Not to mention that many of these fellow players, no matter where they come from, lost their jobs through circumstances that they didn't wanted/caused or can control in any way.

So my question is this, should SE gift people from such war-torn places free gametime? Or at least lower their subscription cost significantly so they can afford it? Most people in the US/EU have to work 1-2 hours to get the money for their sub, Ukrainians having to work basically 8-16 times (or even more) that much just to get an escape from their reality seems really really unfair to me personally.

And just to say it again, this is about our fellow players. This is not about the political turmoil that is going on around it. They are civilians and XIV is an escape and home for them like it is for all of us so please respect that and this thread.

Link to a Zepla Video about this topic: https://youtu.be/rz8LsVJDeXI

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Short answer: All EXISTING ukranian accounts should receive a reduced sub.

Long answer: No, because cheaters will buy cheap accounts/sub to bot.

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Originally Posted by Tetsujin

You're aware not every country has access to FFXIV right? For example, FFXIV isn't supported nor localized for Spain (or any Hispanic country, for that matter). I sincerely doubt Syrians are worried about their subs anyhow, lol. Ukraine apparently is.

It's a little different.

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Quite a few actually are.
The sub for FFXIV is equal to about a months wages in some Spanish areas.

This seems like a pretty clear example of people not fully understanding the nuance and complicities of each countries economy and problems surrounding them.

Nothing that we nor SE can do will actually solve the core issue that exists in another country; and it's pretty insulting to think that what they need is a lowered video game subscription; because that is far away the least of their worries and concerns.

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Originally Posted by Tetsujin

Ukraine apparently is.

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How do you know? Cause 1 streamer said so?

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Originally Posted by Ranaku

So yeah if you think that it is fair that players, all around the world, have to pay a huge portion of their income just for the sub then yeah i can't help you tbh, you are way too stuck up in your own greed then. And with that i am out of here, a total waste of time as usual.

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It's not realistic to have special rates for some countries though. It's not greed. Steam used to have regional pricing and it was removed for this game.

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Originally Posted by Oizen

I should get free sub because i stubbed my toe this morning

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I should get free sub cause my dog stepped on a bee.

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Originally Posted by Sotaris

I should get free sub cause my dog stepped on a bee.

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Lol! Reminds of this.

Also, no. Many countries out there suffer from war and poverty. Hell, all the first world countries are falling into another recession! So again, no. Ukrainians were given more than enough as it is by the whole dam world. A sub reduction is not necessary.

Also, this is a video game. Take your real life politics on Twitter where the millions of bots on there will clap and agree with you.

Ukrainian civilians who are suffering as a result of war and other corrupt government shenanigans are in need of provisions, not video game subscriptions. I'm not dismissing general suffering that most people go through, but if you can just log into FFXIV, things can most certainly be a lot worse for you.

Never got a discount when we had lockdowns from covid and loosing your jobs from it.

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Originally Posted by Midareyukki

Wait what? I know the game isn't localized for Spanish-speaking communities... but what's this about it not being supported there? What are you conflating here? xD
It's not the same as "not having access", otherwise my in-game neighbours from Zaragoza have some explaining to do.
That, and considering I live next to Spain in another country whose language isn't supported by Square Enix, I'm now doubting my own ability to log in ._.

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Friend, just because you can log in, it doesn't mean it's supported in Spain. I played Dragon's Dogma Online all the time. I wasn't actually supposed to be there, but they weren't about to turn my money (yen) away. I promise you that if we still had Pesetas in Spain, the currency wouldn't be supported, and your friend wouldn't be able to play unless he converted to Euro. Let's not get into semantics about what access means in this context.

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Originally Posted by Sotaris

How do you know? Cause 1 streamer said so?

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The operative word here is apparently. I don't watch Streamers, but I would assume Zeppla knows what she's talking about if she's Ukranian and supporting the "cause".

... right?

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Originally Posted by DixieBellOCE

Quite a few actually are.
The sub for FFXIV is equal to about a months wages in some Spanish areas.

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Which? Purely out of curiosity, I'm a Spaniard you see? Last time I checked, which admittedly was a while back, Square didn't support/give access to anyone in Hispanic countries. Hell, what you descirbed sounds like the opposite of accessible but like I mentioned earlier, I don't wanna get into semantics. Just curious.

I mean, I'm sympathetic to the desire to still stay in a game -- it's social contact and sometimes a very effective distraction from other stresses -- but I also don't think a regional free subscription is practical. (Or likely.)

Leaving aside the fact that trying to do business in the EU in multiple currencies is a nightmare -- hence why I suspect the game's subscription rates will always remain in Euros, rather than having ones specific to any given country and their national currency -- what I think SQEX could do that would be a good compromise just in general would be to allow full subscriptions to fall back to the free trial.

Yeah, falling back to the free trial would prevent you from playing post-Heavensward content (or jobs, for that matter), and would impose a number of irritating limitations on your account. But even unable to afford the subscription, you'd still be able to log in, chat with folks in your FC, and run at least some content with them to unwind.

But right now, once you've subscribed, there's no going back; you either pay the subscription (or use game time-cards) or you take a break from the game.

In the meantime? If we really want to help folks out, rather than pressuring SQEX to revamp their EU structure such that they can do regional-specific pricing or support multiple currencies -- which would not be an overnight process even if they did do it -- it wouldn't be terribly hard for some in the playerbase to set up a community effort to buy a bunch of the EU game time-cards (in digital form), pool them together, and then give the codes to folks in the Ukraine who are in a bad spot financially and who could still use the social contact and chance to unwind that a game can offer.

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Originally Posted by Soge01

Lol! Reminds of this.

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lol yep, was a meme.

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Originally Posted by Tetsujin

The operative word here is apparently. I don't watch Streamers, but I would assume Zeppla knows what she's talking about if she's Ukranian and supporting the "cause".

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I think she's an American who just happens to live in Ukraine and has for several years. Maybe she's got citizenship. I don't watch her to I couldn't tell. Only see some of her videos pop up in my YT feed every now and then.