A question to all WoW players coming to XIV

[Alucard135]

Ok, since I've also heard of weeb as a derogatory term to refer to foreigners trying to incorporate Japan in their lives, like dressing up in a certain way or using Japanese terms like "sensei" when not speaking Japanese or to a Japanese.

If it was like that, to me, someone who likes to watch pokemon and may or may not even know it's from Japan doesn't fit the "weeb" label. But if it's just anything to do with anime or looking like anime, like Avatar, then I guess I can more understand the usage somewhat. Still, if that's the case, then why not just use anime or anime-like instead of weeb?

Yeah that's how it was mostly used before when you call someone a weeabo. But now it's loosely used to anyone liking anything anime related. So if you watch anime you'll be called a weeb. I remember seeing Scott Zone video about Shadowbringers and what he said about people thinking FFXIV was a weeb game because of Stormblood having Japanese themed zones and Samurai.

[Selova]

snip.

I think it should be noted that the term has lost it's original meaning. It has never meant anything that "looks anime". Its actual meaning is someone that is obsessed with Japanese culture to the point of denouncing their own and thinks they can both understand and speak fluent Japanese just from the anime they watch, so they go around trying to communicate with people mixing in both English and the Japanese they learn from the anime they've seen. It's now lost all meaning and is now used to describe anything that looks or sounds anime.

[Jeeqbit]

I was shocked to learn this factor was putting people off FFXIV, but it is. It's unfortunate. I'm not into anime and have never watched much of it, but enjoy FFXIV.

I don't see its relation to anime at all and they've done a good job of including styles from all regions of the world, with Ishgard being based on old english stereotypes, Kugane being based on Japanese stereotypes, Garleans having dutch names and so forth. They haven't just made everything japanese, which would have been easy for them to do. It's most likely just how some people have interpreted what little they have seen of it.

Perhaps the new trailer and dark path are changing perceptions of it. It's a good advertisement for the whole game, especially with all of that job switching mid-fight.

[NessaWyvern]

^ Aye, I was just thinking of that, the locales in Final Fantasy typically don't reflect anything japanese or Asian in general. Excluding maybe a zone or two like Wutai.
Most of it is western, medieval, kinda steam punk, or futuristic.

[linay]

I don't see its relation to anime at all.

Maybe I'm just not looking hard into it, but on a cursory glance, I also don't really think anime when looking at FFXIV. But like I said earlier, when I think of anime, I think of cartoonish art style. But I've seen WoW players say Blood Elf is an anime race and Demon Hunter is the same but for class, and I don't think anime when I look at Blood Elf or Demon Hunter. And I used to watch lots of anime in the past before MMO took over my free time, but maybe I just don't know anime like I thought I did, lol.

[DeusOcha]

Hullo there! I also recently decided to play FF14 after leaving WoW. I'm already used to the anime-aesthetic, but primarily that's the main reason I reckon most complaints come from. Anime/Japanese artstyle stereotypes and whatnot.

[Reap00]

The whole "weeb" excuse is the only excuse left and blizzard zombies hold on to it for dear life. They know ffxiv is better. Its so obvious if you compare the 2 it smacks you in the face like a ton of god damned bricks.

[LeoLupinos]

Because they are probably ignorant and never tried the game seriously. But don't you worry, they will soon be regretting every word while doing FF14 content.

[Shurrikhan]

WoW certainly has its own culture of almost childish tropes; the difference seems more a matter of which terms first come to mind, which comes down to more external factors than the art or animations or dialogue themselves. XIV is "Eastern", is "an FF game" and thus to one who's remained mostly outside of either (general or more specific) culture its power fantasies may be "weeb" and its immersions or world-attachment "cute". Of course, WoW players have similar derision for those who play the pretty Blood Elves or the edgy Void Elves or their hooved femme fatales that, were the game just more an object of such conversation may well take on such obviously derrogatory terms as "chuuni" or "bestial". It comes down largely to points of discussion, how much scorn or relation the topic bring, what terms the topics then draw in, and how rapidly those terms then loop or echo those community opinions.

Personally, I don't find WoW cartoony for more than the first day I return to it, but mostly just because I remember when it felt far less "cartoony" than simply "attempting a good balance of optimization and visual appeal given 2004 graphics", and its visual style will thus be forever associated with that.

Similarly, when I come to XIV, the first day has an aesthetic of simply "refreshingly good fidelity" (compared to WoW's models or Blade and Soul's UE-generic backdrops), until I again become annoyed with the random pieces of low-res armor or ground textures that my brain managed to avoid picking up on for a bit.

[DBriggs304]

One of FF's main strengths is it's great community.

That's ok. They can stay away as that type of toxicity is not needed here.