Why do you play?

I see General Discussion is rife with ideas, complaints, and humor.

But I want to talk about the most important thing. Why do we play the game? What draws us to type in that username, password, and perhaps that token too?

I play because I like the story. It's fun teaming up with a bunch of people to do FATEs. I just like helping out. When people help each other this community is awesome. That's why I stay.

I have more than 1-2 friends that play. Sure, the community has its frequent moments of douchebaggery, but it's better than some other MMOs. *cough* Aion *cough* I really enjoy playing the game, and WoW just isn't that fun for me as it used to be.

Story, helping out new people (I really enjoy doing that), playing with friends.

It's just a place where I can get away from life @_@.

There's always something to do in this game. I also have a lot of friends playing it. So I hardly ever get bored.

Everyone I talk to agrees at this point: friends. Game has stagnated with mindless grinds doing rehashed content. I will give SE credit for allowing new players a chance to experience old content with geared players, but at the cost of a veteran's sanity.

I log on and afk while reading forums, just like right now. . .

I play for the opposite reason of most of you folks. I don't really have very many friends at all, and playing this game helps me escape from a very depressing reality. In the game, I am someone who is in a position to help others. I am in a position to be productive and happy and be around people. In real life, well... I won't go into detail, but let's say any friends I have are usually far too busy with their own lives to care about someone like me. So this game is very important to me in that regard.

To have fun & relax

I'm sick a lot, so the game provides me with a variety of entertainment for a low cost that I can do from home and a way to hang out with people from all over the world. :o That and I like video games and FF games especially. ^^

I play because I enjoy being able to team up and help others. I find the gameplay to be a lot of fun and everyone I've met on our server is super nice and friendly.

I also play for all the pretty fashion.

Because it's beautiful. There are a dozen other MMOs that I could play, but none of them would make me catch my breath in wonder half the time. Also, fashion.