Do you ever think about how people play games to escape yet...

There's a massive crowd of people on FF14 that seem determined to bring real life aspects to the game?

A huge part of ffxiv's culture is gpose, but there's such an obession over it that it's almost like being on instagram. I haven't looked at my insta since the pandemic ended, but I was recently thinking and it just hit me that FFXIV is basically virtual insta at this point.

social aspects in mmo always have irl stuff in it. its not just mmo like ffxiv

all social media will look like instagram like fb, twitter, reddit, discord.

Some may create Fragments or reflections of themselves, or what they wish.
[or their own characters that are into that live]

I always knew some would go deep into it.
[be it vanilla, or chocolate. or even more.]
I've only taken screenshots when I felt that either the information needed to be saved, a glamour to examine<though not exactly copy, more like Dissect if said items will be of use or not. most do not> or if I find the moment is good to take.
[But never place "Additives" to the game]

Though slightly hard to tell what exactly of the "Insta" "lifestyle" you mean some take in Eitherys. is it the negative One upPersonship. or something else.

(The few times I've bothered to use Insta I followed, then deleted the account. three times and decided it was a waste of time.)

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Originally Posted by NekoMataMata

There's a massive crowd of people on FF14 that seem determined to bring real life aspects to the game?

A huge part of ffxiv's culture is gpose, but there's such an obession over it that it's almost like being on instagram. I haven't looked at my insta since the pandemic ended, but I was recently thinking and it just hit me that FFXIV is basically virtual insta at this point.

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This game is doing a wonderful job in terms of the social aspects of the game. This is part of the MMO you know...

This topic didn't take the turn I expected. I'll take obsessive gposing over people ranting in-game about vErY ImPoRtANt TOpIcS any day though.

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Originally Posted by kevin_satron

social aspects in mmo always have irl stuff in it. its not just mmo like ffxiv

all social media will look like instagram like fb, twitter, reddit, discord.

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Maybe, but considering how most social media has harmful effects on peoples mental health, is that really something you want to emulate?

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Originally Posted by Kansene

This topic didn't take the turn I expected. I'll take obsessive gposing over people ranting in-game about vErY ImPoRtANt TOpIcS any day though.

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Weird deflection and I have no idea how you got there.

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Originally Posted by NekoMataMata

There's a massive crowd of people on FF14 that seem determined to bring real life aspects to the game?

A huge part of ffxiv's culture is gpose, but there's such an obession over it that it's almost like being on instagram. I haven't looked at my insta since the pandemic ended, but I was recently thinking and it just hit me that FFXIV is basically virtual insta at this point.

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I would say the mods take it to that level of being like insta. Vanilla posing still has some innocence to it, where the mod crowd gets into the more unhealthy stuff like body image. There are a few outliers with some people creating some genuinely funny scenes, but for the most part it's some sad stuff to look at.

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Originally Posted by NekoMataMata

Weird deflection and I have no idea how you got there.

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Deflection?

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Originally Posted by Kansene

Deflection?

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I have zero idea of what you're trying to say or point out, or how it really relates to the thread, so sounds like a deflection.

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Originally Posted by NekoMataMata

I have zero idea of what you're trying to say or point out, or how it really relates to the thread, so sounds like a deflection.

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To elaborate on my initial post:

I expected the topic to be about wanting escapism, and having it ruined.
Most commonly I experience this in the form of people bringing real-life drama, politics or other controversial and jarring topics into said escapism venue.

I was then surprised to find that the post instead spoke of gposing and how it feels like instagram.
I thought that to be a far less intrusive thing to escapism than the expectation I had going in, and expressed my preference for the latter over the former.

As a non-native speaker I might have worded myself in a manner that got lost in translation, or otherwise been too brief or unclear. For that I apologize.

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Originally Posted by Kansene

To elaborate on my initial post:

I expected the topic to be about wanting escapism, and having it ruined.
Most commonly I experience this in the form of people bringing real-life drama, politics or other controversial and jarring topics into said escapism venue.

I was then surprised to find that the post instead spoke of gposing and how it feels like instagram.
I thought that to be a far less intrusive thing to escapism than the expectation I had going in, and expressed my preference for the latter over the former.

As a non-native speaker I might have worded myself in a manner that got lost in translation, or otherwise been too brief or unclear. For that I apologize.

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I agree that this might be the lesser of the two evils, if we're going to compare them but I don't think that makes my observation any less valid.

I very, very rarely see people shouting about rl activities in-game though, and I spend quite a bit of time afk at Limsa near the market board. I assume that GMs would take action if they saw it, and most people know better.

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Originally Posted by NekoMataMata

I agree that this might be the lesser of the two evils, if we're going to compare them but I don't think that makes my observation any less valid.

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Absolutely, I can see the annoyance factor for sure.

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Originally Posted by Kansene

To elaborate on my initial post:

I expected the topic to be about wanting escapism, and having it ruined.
Most commonly I experience this in the form of people bringing real-life drama, politics or other controversial and jarring topics into said escapism venue.

I was then surprised to find that the post instead spoke of gposing and how it feels like instagram.
I thought that to be a far less intrusive thing to escapism than the expectation I had going in, and expressed my preference for the latter over the former.

As a non-native speaker I might have worded myself in a manner that got lost in translation, or otherwise been too brief or unclear. For that I apologize.

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Yeah I kinda came in here thinking the same. I love Gpose and never really linked it being similar to Insta because... well, I'm not getting any younger and the only thing I've made on social media in the past 2 decades or so, is a Facebook lmao.

(a Twitter as well when I was on the PS4 because it was quicker to send it there to pull off for my PC than usb storage, but I don't actually use it.)

According to the forums, there’s an unlimited amount of gameplay content, so it’s really puzzling why people are using this game as a Second Life replacement. Many people say that modders, gposers and the “insta” players are all a minority. However, Mare has 20,000 people online at any given time. Those who don’t use Mare are even more numerous. And while there’s certainly an overlap between social players and raiders, the vast majority of parties in North America are for clubs and venues, not raids.

People need to re-think the broad consensus that FFXIV has an unlimited amount of gameplay content when people opt to spend most of their time not playing the game. And, as we can all predict, the social scene will only grow from here. While many people say that post-Endwalker has a ton of content, it’ll be two years until we get a new expac. You might not think that’s a big deal, but not everyone in FFXIV is satisfied with replaying ARR content all day. Some people are clearly not interested in farms and reclears.

This is what FFXIV is now, and unless if the game opens up to more long-term grinds, there’s no turning back.

https://files.catbox.moe/pvdr3y.jpg

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Originally Posted by NekoMataMata

There's a massive crowd of people on FF14 that seem determined to bring real life aspects to the game?

A huge part of ffxiv's culture is gpose, but there's such an obession over it that it's almost like being on instagram. I haven't looked at my insta since the pandemic ended, but I was recently thinking and it just hit me that FFXIV is basically virtual insta at this point.

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The people you're talking about don't play FFXIV, they live through FFXIV. It's why so many people piss their pants whenever the plugin/modding community looks bad, their actual existence is at threat if Square Enix were to remove clamp down on it.

A small portion of the XIV player base are terminally online and if you do anything that threatens that, you soon bring out the worst in these people. (It's why actual discussions around mogs/plugins get brigaded so much by certain people).

I think it's funny that people make Twitter and Instagram accounts for their OCs if they're not otherwise living as their OC anyway. Especially when it's all modded characters that look like they've come straight out of Second Life or IMVU. Bonus points if they're selling cosmetic mods or gshade/reshade configs for real money.

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Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

According to the forums, there’s an unlimited amount of gameplay content, so it’s really puzzling why people are using this game as a Second Life replacement. Many people say that modders, gposers and the “insta” players are all a minority. However, Mare has 20,000 people online at any given time. Those who don’t use Mare are even more numerous. And while there’s certainly an overlap between social players and raiders, the vast majority of parties in North America are for clubs and venues, not raids.

People need to re-think the broad consensus that FFXIV has an unlimited amount of gameplay content when people opt to spend most of their time not playing the game. And, as we can all predict, the social scene will only grow from here. While many people say that post-Endwalker has a ton of content, it’ll be two years until we get a new expac. You might not think that’s a big deal, but not everyone in FFXIV is satisfied with replaying ARR content all day. Some people are clearly not interested in farms and reclears.

This is what FFXIV is now, and unless if the game opens up to more long-term grinds, there’s no turning back.

https://files.catbox.moe/pvdr3y.jpg

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Or, hear me out, those people not doing the content elephant be doing the content even if it had a broader range and more content released.



These people are only here to mod the game and play second life. That's it.


Also, can I just say I don't understand why mods like these are so popular? They look awful. I'm not going to say the current models and textures we have are amazing HD masterpieces, but almost every gpose modder I see just has their character full of terrible looking flat textured models.

I'm confused, how is using gpose and posting screenshots on social media "bringing real life aspects" to the game? Because people are posting things outside of the game and/or the lodestone? ( o´∀｀o).。o○ ꏂ ?　꒱
When I read the title of this thread, I read it the same way Kansene read it, bringing IRL events and rhetoric into the game/official forums.

Isn’t it kind of inevitable that any fantasy world with social aspects will end up having real world things bleed into it? I can understand like setting up a social account to share pictures appreciate the games art designs, in-game rendering, glamour design etc.

At the same time though I do feel like using ffxiv as a means to portray an idealised version of yourself is…unhealthy. Like setting up an Instagram and taking a bunch of pictures of scantily clad Miqo’te women when you’re a fat guy (MMO many men online lol). Not that there’s anything wrong with playing whatever gender you want; but setting up an account as if the character is the ‘real you’ doesn’t seem like the best coping strategy. Then again, if that’s what they want to do who am I stop them lol. If it makes someone happy (and they’re just posting normal selfies of their character), does it really matter what they do? Obviously it’s a whole other kettle of fish when it comes to sexualising them though.

I guess what I’m saying is: outside of problematic uses of things like GPose or screenshotting, does it really matter what people do with the game. I’d like to hope that ‘problematic’ is something extremely rare lol but I have no evidence to support that other than wanting to believe in the basic decency of human beings lol

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Originally Posted by Connor

I guess what I’m saying is: outside of problematic uses of things like GPose or screenshotting, does it really matter what people do with the game lol

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These plebians don't play MY way, what I consider valid and "actually playing the game" instead of posing and playing with their Barbies, clearly these are the terminally online who need to go outdoors and touch grass and not me, the one scoffing at them from my ivory tower.

While I have deleted all of my social media accounts (and thankful I did), yeah I'd have to agree it's pretty thick in this MMO. That could be culturally driven as well, as the Japanese culture is just as obsessed with it. It shouldn't get in the way of others' game-play though and that is where I have a problem with it.

I was actually in a a group not more than two days ago where the tank was stopping before each boss and doing their posing and emote shit and not pulling while we were all there waiting.

Needless to say, I had enough by the second boss and just started pulling as healer. I think they got the point.

So I read this novel about a weird light novel the other day about someone reincarnated in a romance game in a nobility setting that solves her problems with the power of modern weaponry.

And I realized I was trying to emulate that in game.

People socialize in MMO. Wow, what a surprise.

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Originally Posted by Johners

The people you're talking about don't play FFXIV, they live through FFXIV. It's why so many people piss their pants whenever the plugin/modding community looks bad, their actual existence is at threat if Square Enix were to remove clamp down on it.

A small portion of the XIV player base are terminally online and if you do anything that threatens that, you soon bring out the worst in these people. (It's why actual discussions around mogs/plugins get brigaded so much by certain people).

I think it's funny that people make Twitter and Instagram accounts for their OCs if they're not otherwise living as their OC anyway. Especially when it's all modded characters that look like they've come straight out of Second Life or IMVU. Bonus points if they're selling cosmetic mods or gshade/reshade configs for real money.

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That explains a lot. Helps me to understand why people here are immediately getting aggressive. I'm not making threats, saying people have to quit or whatever, just making an observation, but there's already a handful of angry people here.

People do use MMOs as an escapism, and quite frankly, that people use it as an escapism make it all the more enticing for people to incorporate parts of themselves IRL into their character, as the whole point is that they see their character as an extension of themselves in a fantasy world, disconnected from the woes outside.

Kaurhz: I think its a little deeper to be honest..these days, people seem more afraid than they were when I was younger..they jump at shadows, fear strangers as if everyone is going to put them in danger, then theres the constant in your face news cycles..maybe for many the game is a better world than the one they have to deal with outside the front door.

Youve touched on a very valid point, and, I think that runs a lot deeper..when people see the game as an extension of themselves..maybe its also a subconscious expression of where they would want to be rather than the world they live in now. i mean, ask many today where they would want to live, give them a choice between an idyllic city and the world outside, which would you choose?

Gridania vs wherever you live now?

Ive come from a time when none of what we see now existed...and maybe, you do have the right of it...ask yourself this: did they push themselves into this fantasy world..or has the world they lived in made this the better choice every day?

Its a frightening thought when you consider how we even got to this crossroads. Good post, Kaurhz, you may be more right than you realise.

*Old man croaky voice* "Back in my day!!"

Escapism always existed. People just failed to learn how to deal with it. If it's not videogames, it was roleplaying, if not roleplaying, it was reading and writing crap. Even before the internet became a major thing, you had people utterly lost on television shows. Now, are we only going to blame the younger generations for it, or have the older generations do a trash job at teaching them better?

^^ just saying, older peeps: stop blaming youngsters' issues only on the internet and start looking into who failed to properly teach them the values you want them to exhibit~

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Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

According to the forums, there’s an unlimited amount of gameplay content, so it’s really puzzling why people are using this game as a Second Life replacement. Many people say that modders, gposers and the “insta” players are all a minority. However, Mare has 20,000 people online at any given time. Those who don’t use Mare are even more numerous. And while there’s certainly an overlap between social players and raiders, the vast majority of parties in North America are for clubs and venues, not raids.

People need to re-think the broad consensus that FFXIV has an unlimited amount of gameplay content when people opt to spend most of their time not playing the game. And, as we can all predict, the social scene will only grow from here. While many people say that post-Endwalker has a ton of content, it’ll be two years until we get a new expac. You might not think that’s a big deal, but not everyone in FFXIV is satisfied with replaying ARR content all day. Some people are clearly not interested in farms and reclears.

This is what FFXIV is now, and unless if the game opens up to more long-term grinds, there’s no turning back.

https://files.catbox.moe/pvdr3y.jpg

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So, the issue with your thought process here is that you seem to assume people are partaking in the "social" aspects of the game because there is a lack of content.

I find most people just doing the social stuff are doing so because they choose to do so, not because they have nothing left to do. Obviously there would be some outliers.

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Originally Posted by Xaruko_Nexume

I find most people just doing the social stuff are doing so because they choose to do so, not because they have nothing left to do. Obviously there would be some outliers.

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Gamers who are social and express themselves through in-game photography and fashion?! What a time to be alive! (*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ))

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Originally Posted by NekoMataMata

There's a massive crowd of people on FF14 that seem determined to bring real life aspects to the game?

A huge part of ffxiv's culture is gpose, but there's such an obession over it that it's almost like being on instagram. I haven't looked at my insta since the pandemic ended, but I was recently thinking and it just hit me that FFXIV is basically virtual insta at this point.

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Community went to shit after Stormblood, now the game its basically a Second life viewer with people advertising MARE/Instagram in their profiles.

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Originally Posted by AnnRam

Community went to shit after Stormblood, now the game its basically a Second life viewer with people advertising MARE/Instagram in their profiles.

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"I tell you what, community went to crap after 1.0"

Wtf is mare, is it an app that makes your chocobo a horse?

As long as humans come together there will always be social aspects to it. I'm not sure what you mean.

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Originally Posted by Picker

Wtf is mare, is it an app that makes your chocobo a horse?

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Not yours. Other peoples'.

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Originally Posted by Picker

Wtf is mare, is it an app that makes your chocobo a horse?

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Mare Synchronos is a Dalamud plugin that syncs cosmetic mods between game clients. You have to opt in to who you share with but that way you see people's changes in game rather than through screenshots. You'll often see people put Mare Lamentorum in their search information to signal that they're using this third party tool.

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Originally Posted by Johners

Mare Synchronos is a Dalamud plugin that syncs cosmetic mods between game clients. You have to opt in to who you share with but that way you see people's changes in game rather than through screenshots. You'll often see people put Mare Lamentorum in their search information to signal that they're using this third party tool.

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That...actual sounds pretty cool. (●´∀｀●)
Don't know why you all are doom-and-gloom about it.

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Originally Posted by Mimilu

That...actual sounds pretty cool. (●´∀｀●)
Don't know why you all are doom-and-gloom about it.

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Well, from what I've seen from most comments, it's about how shameless those people are with it.

See, for it to work, you need people to have a code that represents your account in Mare. People are posting that code on search info profiles, which means they're basically advertising the fact they're using tools that Square Enix is against. Those people are not only in danger of getting the ban hammer, they're also putting spotlight on the tool and risking Square shut it down... if Square were to actually take actions against these tools, that is :p

In principle, yeah, people use it so others can see them how they choose to see themselves in the game. At least, when it comes to modding.
But if you're going to draw attention to both yourself and it, then it becomes questionable.

That, and... well, given the nature of this thread, people apparently don't like it that people are treating the game as more than what the devs want it to be treated. The devs did make GPose and glams, but modding takes it a step further.

But considering how little there is in terms of gimmicks in the game, can you blame them? Most we have is BLU and Bard Performance, latest emotes seem to be rehashes of eachother.

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Originally Posted by Midareyukki

Snip

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The issue isn't really Mare, it's the people selling cosmetic mods and gshade/reshade presets. That's one way for Square Enix to take the nuclear option sooner rather than later, these people really shouldn't be making their own cash stores in a game that already has a cash store.

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Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

According to the forums, there’s an unlimited amount of gameplay content, so it’s really puzzling why people are using this game as a Second Life replacement. Many people say that modders, gposers and the “insta” players are all a minority. However, Mare has 20,000 people online at any given time. Those who don’t use Mare are even more numerous. And while there’s certainly an overlap between social players and raiders, the vast majority of parties in North America are for clubs and venues, not raids.

People need to re-think the broad consensus that FFXIV has an unlimited amount of gameplay content when people opt to spend most of their time not playing the game. And, as we can all predict, the social scene will only grow from here. While many people say that post-Endwalker has a ton of content, it’ll be two years until we get a new expac. You might not think that’s a big deal, but not everyone in FFXIV is satisfied with replaying ARR content all day. Some people are clearly not interested in farms and reclears.

This is what FFXIV is now, and unless if the game opens up to more long-term grinds, there’s no turning back.

https://files.catbox.moe/pvdr3y.jpg

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Lmao what is that monstrosity in that picture? Thanks for the good laugh.

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Originally Posted by Kansene

This topic didn't take the turn I expected. I'll take obsessive gposing over people ranting in-game about vErY ImPoRtANt TOpIcS any day though.

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The short version, though, and is a plus for FFXIV, to me, is that all that is simply ignorable.
People doing social stuff doesn't bother me, when people don't try to force others to do it their way.

On the other hand, if you don't min/max 'properly' in WoW, you can barely play the game at all. You must 'follow the guide' or be cast out! YMMV. Dragonflight's pictures are pretty, but it's still the same people dominating the playerbase. I'll pass, thanks.

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^^ just saying, older peeps: stop blaming youngsters' issues only on the internet and start looking into who failed to properly teach them the values you want them to exhibit~

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"The youth of today will be the death of our society, they do not listen to their teachers, are arrogant and have no respect"

- written on the inside of an Egyptian pyramid ca: 1200 BC :D:D:D