Famitsu interview with Yoshi

[Kosmos992k]

The counting is done with public informations one cannot hide. Levelling up, getting minions and mounts, etc... gathered on characters that are above lv20-ish over 2 month or so. This is actually way more accurate than anything else we an have actually as SE refuses to give real data.

The last estimation was about 650k players iirc.

I know it's public data, I also know it's scraped from the Lodestone. I'm just saying that the numbers may be an under-estimate because it's difficult to gauge activity of players who are not progression minded, and take their time. I guess it depends on the kind of depth that they go to when obtaining their data. If they obtain the class page from your character summary information on Lodestone, and keep the previous record for a comparison, then they could even compare the number of XP, not just the levels. If they are going to that kind of dept than any concerns I have had in the past would be gone.

[Kuwagami]

snip

it's just easier and faster to look at big pictures (gear change, change in big numbers like mount count, minion count, levels) rather than nitpicking exact number changes.

Anyone who play the game at least a few hours in the spawn of 2 month is likely to have changed at least one piece of gear. Pretty easy stuff to use to figure out active accounts. I'd een go as far as saying that the underestimation (people not progressing on any level for the entire scan duration) is beaten by the overestimation (people can come in and out in the span of 2 month, and may not be active anymore when the numbers are compiled)

[Kosmos992k]

I'd e(v)en go as far as saying that the underestimation (people not progressing on any level for the entire scan duration) is beaten by the overestimation (people can come in and out in the span of 2 month, and may not be active anymore when the numbers are compiled)

That's a good point, I wonder whether the two 'sides' of underestimation and overestimation may simply balance each other out?

Either way, 650K active players (as mentioned in your previous post) translates to a pretty decent regular income for SE and the FFXIV 'franchise'. If it is 650K active players that averages out to about 10K per server doesn't it?

Very well written, I thank you for it. This is exactly what I feel about Haurchefant as well.

People express themselves differently in each culture. In Japanese culture it is normal to love people around you in a pure friendly way, but here in western culture you are labeled a perv, lesbian or gay very quickly.

People should stop overly using the word " perv" already and be open for more kindness. People should stop judging others so quickly.

Indeed, and thanks.

I was thinking about this and India came to mind. In India (and other nations/cultures), it's perfectly acceptable (and normal) for men to hold hands, hug, or walk with their arm around their friend's shoulder. If we had a couple of male characters in FFXIV doing that I wonder what the typical reaction would be in the western player-base? To use your quote (about Japan) "it is normal love people around you in a pure friendly way". In India (for example) two men holding hands is an act of friendship, another word for friendship is love. If someone does not in fact love their friends, then why are they 'friends' and not merely acquaintances.

Actually, now that I think about this, I would rather the localization team did not make such changes as they made with Haurchefant for a very simple, and important reason. By leaving in such things, they expose people to aspects of other cultures, something that brings more understanding and tolerance for others. I'm not saying it should be the role of this game (or any other game) to educate society. But instead of giving in to the parochial fears and intolerance of some players who need to open their eyes and minds to the world, I think that they should leave these things in the game. Instead of trying to hide it, or change it, perhaps it would be better to add a bit more context so that people can understand the character type better.

My God, can you imagine if people actually learned to celebrate their differences in culture and belief, rather than criticize and belittle each other over those differences?