"Everyone's so open and friendly" is a lie

[Kaoru_Nagisa]

FFXIV's community is exactly the same as anywhere else. There are as many good elements within it as toxic ones, and people really need to stop trying to deny one or the other exists just because it doesn't fit into their narrow view of what the community "is". They also need to stop saying toxicity only exists in X or Y content - sorry to burst most people's bubble, but casual players are just as much - if not even more - toxic as raiders.

Really, the only difference here compared to WoW or LoL or whatever other game people might bring up, is the brand of toxicity - one that isn't quite as common to see in some MMOs. This incredibly disturbing fake-positivity, passive aggressive, high school drama gossip levels of toxicity that breeds all sorts of people who can't seem to comprehend how to actually discuss issues or address problems others bring up, without resorting to throwing the epitome of a childish tantrum at best, and attempting to gaslight people at worst.

And man, I came from a little MMO called SMT:Imagine, which had a small enough pool of players that most people knew each other in some form, and where high school drama and bullying was rampant. Somehow, XIV can be even worse than that - and I genuinely don't know how that's possible.