Quote Originally Posted by FoxPaw View Post
I think people spend the vast majority of their "free time" in game searching for social connections because the actual game doesn’t provide any. This game is suffering from a fatal lack of community. It sought thru mechanics to empower the solo gamer and in the process precluded them of ever making a real friend. Some of the prerequisites to a meaningful friendship are shared hardship, sacrifice, and trust - all of which have been meticulously removed from this game lest it be “too hard". I think in not forcing people to eat their veggies they've gotten fat, unhappy and restless - which does not bode well for XIV.
I know the post is old, and I may be missing your point here, but this is how I feel about the situation—

I think the tools are there for people to forge connections if they want to forge them. Not everyone wants to be a social butterfly, and I don’t particularly consider that a bad thing. I have my small group of friends (some I met on this very forum, not even in-game), and I don’t have much of a desire to have a larger group of them. I’ve never wanted to be in large, social linkshells. I’ve never wanted to be in large FCs, always preferring smaller ones. I’ve never seen the need to max out my friends list with people I rarely speak to. I prefer smaller, more personal connections with individual people, not an entire server’s community, and I don’t think that’s particularly “wrong”. I don’t agree with forcing interactions between players. But I suppose that’s the introvert in me speaking.

I’ve met some good people in this game. I met my best friend initially on this forum. So I wouldn’t say that it’s entirely devoid of ways for people to connect...they just have to want to connect. Again, I could be missing the point entirely. These are just the thoughts I had when I read this post.