A Warcraft player's letter to the FFXIV community

[Alxyzntlct]

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I'm getting bored and depressed... I feel like I have a problem.. I can't find a better game than FFXIV.. and it's all I've spent my time on and been wanting to do for the last entire month+.. I've been living here.. but it's been getting kind of scary... like.. going deep in the rabbit hole and there's nothing better I can ever do until who knows when... like.. there's no games i'm interested in coming out in 2021... the only thing that would make me quit FFXIV now it seems like it'd have to be a Lunia reboot... if that ever happens which I highly doubt... that would make my life better now I think... but.. I don't know... I'm getting bored of doing daily roulettes and gold saucer and leveling my fishing too which is like 58. I took this game too seriously I think, and now I don't know.. I took 2 or 3 days of a break... and idk what I'm gonna do now in the future.. apparently I've spent 160 hours in FFXIV in the past 2 weeks... that's over 3 times as much as a full-time job 40 hours a week.... I have nothing better to do in my life to occupy my time.. youtube is not doing it for me all the time either... it's depressing and scary that it feels like my life might be coming to an end soon.. I hope not.. but.. yeah..

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and sorry for long multi-post lol, I just felt like speaking my mind to someone, since I can't seem to talk about these things to a therapist...

First and foremost, wonderful post! I know a lot of folks don't say it but it's very cool seeing stories like this shared and getting that honest, heart felt perspective. ^_^

Part of what you mentioned is concerning, but not terrible because a lot of us have been in a similar situation; focusing on something that helps make life interesting and fun, after which it becomes the focus. However, unfortunately, nothing ever lasts.

The good news is that there's always something else out there in the world, it just requires exploring it a bit. Learning to take that first step into new adventures and trying things out for size, seeing how they feel, and continuing if/when something doesn't click. And then making it a habit so there's always a few interesting things in your life, because if you focus on one thing for too long then you'll get "used to it" and lost interest. Oddly enough, it's actually genetically built into us humans, lol. We're meant to lose interest in things after a time and find something new, because in nature that leads to becoming healthier and happier. For example: Ever stare into the night sky, at the stars, at the same spot and after a bit it just kinda "blanks out"? That's because the visual stimulation is so low that the brain literally shuts off the feed.

I suspect that if you were able to get 1-2 more hobbies you enjoyed in your life, it'd help make FFXIV more interesting for you when you return to it. I do my best to spend some time with other things before I circle back to the game, even though there's a lot within it that I'm thoroughly enjoying bouncing between.

For example, I'm not solely focusing on any one thing in this game and as a result I'm enjoying the heck out of it! I've been playing for almost 3 months and I just barely started Stormbringers recently, lol. While going through the story I was playing BLM (which I love), and between the story and doing side quests and once I was able, daily routlettes, I just suddenly hit 80! So I decided to start up a Tank and Healer job (GNB and AST respectively, both of which I also love), and I've already gotten those two up to 70 because I took a break from the story because I was enjoying learning them both.

(And I maaaaay have also started BLU because I heard it was cool, and it is!)

I'm sure you get the point, lol.

But the last part is the most important: I know it's not easy to speak to a therapist, but it's one of those things that if you're ever questioning your life, then it becomes incredibly important. I never liked it, but like I said above, it's just one of those other adventures that one can learn to roll with. The payoff is well, well worth it.

[ShizukuOikawa]

First and foremost, wonderful post! I know a lot of folks don't say it but it's very cool seeing stories like this shared and getting that honest, heart felt perspective. ^_^

Thank you for reading and the response ^_^ yeah, BLM is a lot of fun... but... BLM is not life... it's all I'm doing with my life as of late, and... I just.. can't find a solution of what else to do sometimes. I do need more hobbies.. being on the computer has been my only hobby for a really long time, it's the reason I didn't go to high school, and never got a real girlfriend. Where I live, I don't see how I can fix my hobby finding issue... maybe start doing exercise and going for walks.. but.. I don't know.. maybe I just don't appreciate life enough.. I always try to complete goals of success in games that usually don't matter in the end... I would love to meet a cute girl friend but... I don't know where... and I need to be happy with my life before I'm happy with someone else.. and I am happy with my life.. I'm not struggling, having a great time, it's just.. very lonely... I also have no one to talk to about my game experiences in my real life, and people don't care on facebook neither lol.