Will you quit if this game becomes raid-centric?

[Preypacer]

I started playing FFXI when I was a kid. I'm not a kid anymore and I have alot more real life responsibilities, so it benefits me to have FFXI, as well as FF14, to move in a more casual direction. I imagine it is the same for many FFXI players. FFXI is old and their playerbase has aged along with it.

And newer, younger players who do still have more time to play - like we did "when we were younger" - are entering the genre and starting to play MMOs, just like we did at that age. It's not like the MMO community begins and ends with those of us who "used to be younger with all the time in the world".

Do we just say "oh well, screw them. They'll just have to adapt to what *we* want, because we're more important than they are, and our money is greener than theirs"?

This is exactly the self-centered, "me first" attitude I noted in a previous post of mine. It might have actually been in this thread.

It's not SE's problem (or any other developer's for that matter) that someone who doesn't have as much free time to dedicate to a game as they'd like decides to play it anyway. They can't be expected to treat every individual with a busy lifestyle as a "special case", altering the gameplay to suit them. Short of going the "least common denominator" route (which has been tried time and again, and is almost never received well), there is no way a developer can do this.

At some point, the player has to take responsibility for their own time and their own gameplay and make a decision for themself... "Even with my limited time, can I still accomplish as much as I'd like at the pace that I'd like?" If yes, then great. Play the game and enjoy yourself.

If no, then the question becomes, "can I accept adjusting my expectations and my pacing and still enjoy the game?" If the answer is yes, then great. Play the game and enjoy yourself.

If it's no, then the rational conclusion is for the individual to decide whether or not it's wise for them to continue playing a game they won't be able to get sufficient enjoyment out of, given their circumstances.

The irrational response is to say "Oh, well, I don't have as much free time as I used to... so the devs have to do something about it to cater to me". No, they don't. They need to make the game they want to make, catering to the people they want to cater to.

This entitled, "I'm a special snowflake and deserve special treatment because I have a full-time job and grown-up responsibilities" attitude displayed by so many is really, seriously sad to behold. I mean, I fully expect a typical teen-ager in their "the whole world revolves around me" stage of their life to think this way. I wouldn't expect self-described mature and responsible adults with some real-life experience to do so. Yet, regardless, it's always the supposed "responsible adults" who display this "special snowflake" attitude.

I'm a 38 year adult with real-life responsibilities, a busy life and much less time to play games than I used to have. And my grown-up, rational and responsible mentality tells me that I'm not special because of this, and SE doesn't owe me crap because of it. If I enjoy the game enough, then I will set realistic expectations and goals.. and play the game at my own pace. SE doesn't owe me anything more than they are delivering to everyone else, simply because I chose to play their game.

Excuse the rant... but this whole "me, me, me" mentality demonstrated by so many people is really out of hand.

[Tsukino]

[Too many words to reasonably quote]

I love this post.

I'd also like to add that I don't know why so many people come into video game genres in general that they don't like and then ask that they be changed to be more like the ones they do like. People play a turn-based RPG and then complain about the lack of action, play a scrolling shooter and then whine that it's all about memorization, play a fighting game and want there to be more story and character growth. Those people need to just go play something else.

I feel the same thing here about MMOs. The genre is largely about time commitment and progress over a long period of time; companies invest a lot and have to keep people interested and paying subscriptions for years. If you don't want that, then why play one at all? There are tons of other games that can be played online cooperatively and competitively with friends. There are many RPGs with great stories and stat/equipment/inventory systems to manage. If you don't have the time commitment required to get what you want out of an MMO, surely it can be found elsewhere.

This is definitely off-topic though. I don't mean to say that long-term commitments and goals can't be done with certain gameplay elements (like instances).

[Raze]

words of wisdom

Very nicely said, +1