The decline of the community

[Iscah]

Of course, but you are missing the point, why wasn't it an issue to their business partners and shareholders before? Simply because it wasn't as widespread as it is now.

Broadcasting everything on social media wasn't as widespread as it is now, either.

[Ardeth]

It's definitely gotten more toxic, but it was already toxic so in terms of people erping that's always been there. Personally rp in general creeps me out.

I find it kinda funny that SE has tightened the noose around negative behavior and all it's done is made people more passive aggressive. Don't get me wrong I had a laughably bad MSQ roulette run yesterday where the healers would not heal, but I never outright said anything to them. I really really wanted to, but I feel like something is going to give and it's probably going to get worse in terms of how SE handles it. And at the end of the day I don't want to get banned because some random sucks at the game. Like seriously I get that people want healers to dps and that's fine, but they really should make sure they get that healing part down first as that kinda why they are there in the first place. Sorry I'm still ranting about this, but a normal group doesn't wipe 3 times doing CASTRUM!

[Shin96]

Of course, but you are missing the point, why wasn't it an issue to their business partners and shareholders before? Simply because it wasn't as widespread as it is now.

And I'm telling you it's because the playerbase has increased. Even back then there was alot of sexual content made, particularly the first ones making characters nude. As technology progresses, more people have access to modding tools therefore they can create content suiting their tastes. This isn't about people being less "degenerate" before, but more so having that access they previously didn't have. Say what you want, but this simply is human nature. Not everyone is able to behave like a drone, some people like looking at certain things and going on a moral crusade will never change that fact. Additionally, social media has become the norm and people tend to share everything.

[Jeeqbit]

The communtiy, if anything, used to be more toxic and is less so now because of how much it's grown and appealed to more casual players who are polite.

ERP has always been a thing and if you wanted to avoid any chance of seeing a reference to it you'd have to keep out of main areas. ERP has been a thing in many MMOs so it's natural people with this interest would come to a growing MMO.

The FFXIV community used to be absolutely amazing.
Helpful patient players, wholesome players, players that were invested in the game who knew the story, the lore etc. It wasn't perfect but generally people wanted to interact with one another and had fun doing so.

I see this in the Novice Network, cities, dungeons and discord regularly. This hasn't changed and if anything has grown.

Allowing cross server gameplay = why bother interacting with anyone in a wholesome way when you're probably never gonna see them again.

That was a concern when 2.0 was developed with the cross-world Duty Finder matching system, but it was necessary so people could beat the dungeons and other content.

I would argue that since then, cross-world party finder and world visit have caused people from different worlds to interact more and I come across people I recognise from other worlds in content quite often.

Expanding the free trial = more people not worried about the consequences of their actions

This is a fair point. Anybody in a level 60 or lower area could be young and not old enough to pay a subscription, so they are less likely to be an adult about things.

[Shin96]

How does human nature or technology progressing matter? This is a game for minors! It's against the law mate.

It matters in the context of people being able to create content far easier than before. As for minors, they should be protected from certain content. FFXIV is by far the most restrictive game in terms of what is sexual and what is not. Take a look at BDO and any other waifu game out there and tell me those games weren't created with a certain goal in mind. Point in case is, most of what you have described ONLY applies to a small demographic and depends on your server. There have been articles like that from Kotaku saying FFXIV has brothels and the outrage was big. Why? Because it's not true and most people in fact are not as degenerate as you might think.

[Raelsar]

Weeeeell...

The one thing of comment I think of is the increasing volume of WoW refugees (which is moreso about that game slipping further into the abyss of its own making), and sometimes they'll bring with them some bad habits and behaviours that need reining in.

But then again, that may not be the source of the issues here?

What do I mean by degeneracy? It's all those people in Limsa Lominsa and similar places where people constantly ERP, abuse the emotes to spam and/or try to mimic erotic sounds. It's all of those ERP people in group finders, it's all of those 18+ FC's where the people are more interested in the NSFW channels they have on their discord servers and running a brothel in their FC house than in the actual game. It's all those people yelling stupid memes in the cities or in instances instead of having a normal human conversation.

From what I've seen, they're mostly harmless.
So long as you're firm and direct with them, they'll generally not bother you.

That being said, squirming and being awkward around them is like blood in the water and sharks. They'll detect the uncertainty that is often associated with lashing out, and start being more *ahem* "playful" around the person to try and get them to "open up" a bit.

After all, to them, it's all in good fun... but if it's really making you that uncomfortable, just be firm and direct when you tell them to back off. No outrage or venting, just firmly and politely ask them to leave you be.

Set the boundaries, then live and let live.

[Ammokkx]

*ahem*

ERP BAD. ERP BAD. ERP BAD.

...Nope, I still don't get why people love hammering on this.

[Araxes]

For me personally the Problems are as follows: If you do not have all, or at least some, Savagesbosses down people look at you and call you a bad player/ noob, whatever. Witch results in them not giving you any attention. Sadly, a lot of people tend to buy themselves kills now to not "suffer" from this and get the attention they desire.

Others simply stop caring about others, or more specificly, stop caring about what they say cause they will only say bad things about/have a bad opinion about "you" anyway--> at least in "your" head. Witch then results in them distancing from others, not answering questions, not noticing you approaching them even if you have friendly intentions. They basically become what they tried to avoid.

At large, the Playerbase itself changed over the years and is driving itself apart. It is just like modern society: If people dont know you and you dont have a certain status, you get ignored, shunned, laughed at.
Humanity being human is the Problem. But those are just my observations. Dont take my words as rock solid fact.

I myself raided Savage a long time cause for some reason i had it in my head that it was expected of me. A lot of people asked me questions back when i was in the Top 100 ranks and they expected me to have all the answers. They were often quite dissapointed when i wasnt able to give them a rock solid answer.

It took me until a few months to just do what is FUN to ME. So is stopped Savageraiding, stuck only to Extremes cause i like them. Play only when i want to, what content i like to play and so on. Life has become much easier since then.

[WoW]

NSFW mods have been in circulation since 1.0. When a new game comes out you can almost guarantee the first thing people will try to mod is nudity.

There can be any number of reasons why Yoshi P didn't say anything against it.

But I still find the community overall to be friendly, kind and helpful and try to bring as much helpfulness as I can. I feel the "degeneracy" as you call it is a separate issue.

You seem knowledgeable about these NSFW mods. However, Yoshi P did talk about it and explicitly asked people not to use these degenerate mods. This filth must be eradicated from the game.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

You seem knowledgeable about these NSFW mods. However, Yoshi P did talk about it and explicitly asked people not to use these degenerate mods. This filth must be eradicated from the game.

So are forum trolls but they are eternal. What can you do.