Is "Traditional" a cop out?

[Wolfie]

No, statistics will only get you so far and most social scientists will tell you that if you want the best information, you don't wait for the source to come to you, you go to it. Of course actually putting that to practice is expensive and uber time consuming, which is why it isn't done extensively but most agree in an ideal setting, it would be the best method. What better method is there than a forum where people can post ideas?

Also, keep in mind that while a bunch of people answered the polls, that's all that number is: people who responded to the poll. That doesn't include people playing the game and people who aren't, or people posting on this site.

Yoshi did say that the responses were in the "tens of thousands" which can't account for a huge player base since the game sold upwards of 600k copies on release. And assuming that "tens of thousands" is actually indicative of the player base, are you going to say that 25 to 30%(average) of the different regions populations are wrong on what is inherently something subjective?

Except that

1. Forums do not contain the entire population of those interested in FFXIV.
2. Social scientists agree that polls with a random sample and a big sample size are extremely accurate and always viable, especially when polling/getting feedback from the entire target population isn't.
3. The people who responded to the polls are (accurately) representative of and certainly DO contain subsets of those that are interested in FFXIV, meaning current, former, and prospective players. See #2.
4. 600k copies SHIPPED. That does not mean SOLD. Even if it was 600k SOLD, it does not mean CURRENTLY PLAYING. Most recent unofficial estimates place the currently playing population between 20k and 30k. The last unofficial estimate before the search function viewing the entire server was taken out, was 41k. That's definitely in the range of "tens of thousands". Even IF there were 600k CURRENTLY PLAYING, a "tens of thousands" sample size accounts for anywhere between 1.7% and 15% of the ENTIRE POPULATION, which is a gigantic number that social scientists agree is capable of producing extremely accurate numbers.
5. You are pulling this 25-30% number from your butt thinking that it represents people who think the game is fine. It actually represents nothing, because no such poll was made and this number does not exist. Even IF this number was gotten from a direct "do you think this game's gameplay is fine" poll, it would STILL be indicative that the gameplay is not fine.

Please please stop arguing against cold, hard numbers. You're coming up with fantasy numbers and scenarios, and you're making extremely uneducated, unfounded, biased, and direction-less posts.