Are toxic players good for FFXIV?

[Vahlnir]

"if these unsavory players are flocking to your game, it means you've made something compelling"

The thing is that is what he wants to believe.

People will flock because they are forced. Those negative players are only changing from 1 environment to the next not because "you've made something compelling" but because it's the next thing they have to "tolerate" when they move on their own accord.

A ferocious animal taken from its original habitat is not suddenly less ferocious simply because he moved to a zoo or that the zoo did something right to "draw" them in.

People aren't really forced to play this or any game, so they can join and leave on a whim. Aside from that your following comparison is spot on, or at least I get what you're saying and agree.