Stone Philosophy

[Seraphor]

Placing my bet now.
OP owns a fedora and a katana.

[Vidu]

Ok, now I intended a fairly rhetorical question and I was curious to see what might be said. Thank you for taking the time to respond. And honestly a part of me wanted to avoid serious discussion but I think there are important things to bring to awareness. If I may, I will explain my thinking.

The primary questions of this game as it pertains to character are primarily about the relationship between player and character. Growing up I was told that “character is what you do when nobody is watching,” and I think in the context of an RPG there is a good deal of discretion in that the experience is a main facet of the game to the player, yet an outside audience may not be aware of the depth. In that light the allotthttp://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/forums/647ed freedoms are what the player chooses them to be. The act based in choice is what defines your character and progresses to mold your sense of self as a player. In my opinion it Is important to recognize this when considering the mechanisms of the game and how they change your character or experience. Some examples of this are things like the “soul-stone”, the “Book of Khloe” and the purchase of completed Jobs and Main Story ark and even the purchase if in-game currency.

To preserve an uncompromised character I think it is important to be able to say no, and not lose sight of what you value as a gamer in an overwhelmingly large MMO, because let’s face the facts it a clear business to push content. I think this game dose a pretty good job of making that an interesting endeavor to say the least but the concept is the same and in a lot of ways old fashioned. At some point, one must ask themselves some critical questions about its extended influence.

Can I get a "shake head"-emote, please?

First, I'd like to make you aware of the lodestone-blog again. If all you want to do is type up some rhetorical nonsense and not engage in (serious) discussions, a blog might be better suited for your purposes.

Secondly I cant help to point out that you seem to refuse the word "character" in the sense of "personality" and "avatar within a game". Or maybe you're lumping them together on purpose. Which makes little sense as far as I'm concerned, not even for roleplaying purposes (since you'll hardly every roleplay as yourself, so your character - as in: your own personality as a human being playing this game - will always differ from the character - as in game-avatar - you're playing).

Third on my list is that someone gave you a pretty weird definintion of character. Just to reconfirm that its not me getting this wrong, I looked it up in a dicitonary and the Cambridge one defines character as "the particular combination of qualities in a person or place that makes them different from others".

Fourth I'm unsure how gameplay elements like Khloes book or Soulstones are actually influencing your character - in both ways. Sure, your avatar changes their job when you equip them with a different soulstone... but how does it effect your personality?
Are you honestly suggesting that playing a certain job in a game changes your personality? Phew... in that case I agree, you should ask yourself the critical question of wether or not playing video games is right for you if they have such an effect...

And last: I'm still not sure what you want to say "No" to. The same old formular the game is going through every new patch? If you want to say "No" to that - feel free to do so, by not giving SE your money anymore if you dont feel its worth it anymore.

At least I can agree with you on the point of you asking yourself some critical questions, involving:
Why post in a discussion-forum when you dont want to discuss anything?
Why use overly complicated language to give the (false) sense of depth to your post?
Should you play a game - or games - if they have (fundamental) effects on your personality as a human being?
Why pay for a game if you feel you're not getting your moneys worth?

Have fun answering those questions, potentially in a blogpost...

[Cilia]

If you take shortcuts to try and grapple with what you cannot perceive, cannot even comprehend, who am I to gainsay? No one. You. Perhaps.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Ok, so here I would like to address a broad topic but I am going to need help from those of you who stumble across this thread. What does this game mean?

Hmm. I do enjoy thinking about meta issues inspired by in-game events but, as suggested, a blog is a better platform for random rambling than a sub-forum dedicated to in-game lore.

There are aspects of FFXIV's story that could be expanded upon, or compared with broader, more universal social issues, and this is one of the reasons why the game's lore has personal significance for me.

Stormblood, for example, delved extensively into what it really means to bring about a revolution and whether the actors are truly ready to bear the cost of change. On this subject alone, there is plenty to talk about....

...but very little of it is directly related to the actual lore, so I'm not sure why you would want to start such a thread in this particular sub-forum.

[Rodger]

Well you see I had intended for everybody who read the title to automatically know exactly what I meant... and that we buffoon around a bit before we put our foot down with some elbow grease and get the issue to tip of the tongue and under the thumb, ya savvy?

[Vidu]

Well you see I had intended for everybody who read the title to automatically know exactly what I meant... and that we buffoon around a bit before we put our foot down with some elbow grease and get the issue to tip of the tongue and under the thumb, ya savvy?

...when I read the title I expected a question in regards to the various tomestone-currencies of the game - such as "What data are they holding exactly?" for example.

This is a personal opinion right now and obviously you're welcome to try and create more nonsense-threads, but personally I never saw a huge benefit from dishing out hollow phrases and an excessive use of words/phrases that sound meanigful and deep, when they arent, to mask the actual topic you want to talk about. As I said before: "Buffooning" is perfectly suited for a blog, but if you want to discuss something here (as the tag set by you implies): Cut to the chase and just say what you want to discuss. That can be some stuff of a more metaphysical or abstract nature of course, but if you want to avoid people just responding to your thread with confusion or jokes about how you make no sense at all and actually engage in a discussion, you should lay the proper foundation for that.
...or maybe thats just me prefering to actually discuss things instead of engaging in a competition who can use more grand words, deprived of any meaning.

[Rodger]

Dear Vidu,

While as much as I would simple love to go tit for tat with you in an argument here, I simply cannot. Your charitable principles are skew and your logical analysis is still in development. I would recommend cultivating your intellect rather than pursue you enfeebling habits. Furthermore, I have already stated what I would like to discuss. You are welcome to share more thoughts if you like although I suspect it will be some time before you find your answers.


Most sincerely,
RCD

[Lacan]

I still don't understand why you're talking about RCD, but I did want to say your flower crown is very cute. :3

[Vidu]

Dear Vidu,

While as much as I would simple love to go tit for tat with you in an argument here, I simply cannot. Your charitable principles are skew and your logical analysis is still in development. I would recommend cultivating your intellect rather than pursue you enfeebling habits. Furthermore, I have already stated what I would like to discuss. You are welcome to share more thoughts if you like although I suspect it will be some time before you find your answers.


Most sincerely,
RCD

Then I apologise for my wrongful assumption that you actually had something to say and just choose those hollow words for the same flawed reason as your unreadable font ("I thought it would like nice"). Its apparent to me now that your aim was to appear "intellectual" when you arent.
Sorry that we didnt get to engage in an actual, meanigful discussion but if pretending to be a "philosoph" and deep-sounding but shallow words are more important to you, so be it. I only regret giving you the benefit of the doubt about actually having to say something - at least thats something you have in common with some of the philosophs I had to read during my classes: Not much to say, but hidding that behind far to meany colorful words...

[ChaoticCrimson]

I wasn't going to dignify this particular thread with a serious response, but I suppose I will say this: Regardless of whatever intellect one claims to boast, wisdom will tell you how to mean more with less and how not to mean less with too much.