Quote Originally Posted by KizuyaKatogami View Post
But it seems like this community can’t really handle death, considering they still get triggered by Haurchefant references 6 years after his death.
That doesn't have anything to do with "not being able to deal with death". It was a death that occurred in the story, that gets referenced deliberately to evoke an emotional response.

From an in-universe perspective, the characters are certainly allowed to still grieve the loss of their friend, even if it's years later.

And out-of-universe, I don't see it as failing to cope but "deliberately engaging in the roleplay of it being someone they care about". Those people are unlikely to actually be struggling to cope or even upset by the thought of it when they're not engaging with the FFXIV community.

It's like any movie. Cry at the sad thing that happens, credits roll, move on with normal life. But this isn't a two-hour movie that's over. We're still in the narrative.

Certainly on the verge of 5.3 I was all set to simultaneously cry a lot over G'raha's expected death, and appreciate it at a storytelling level, and be sad on my character's behalf at any further reminders of him. (I suppose I was already in that state pre-ShB when he did get mentioned occasionally and it was a reminder of the friend she'd made and would never see again. His departure from the plot seemed as final as death at that point.)

I still feel sad when they mention Moenbryda. I feel guilty about Wilred. I fretted for ages about Francel's emotional state in the wake of Haurchefant's death.

But of course it's all fiction, and I'm not under any delusion otherwise, just wilfully participating. I don't carry any of it into other parts of my life. But sit down in front of the game and during that time only they are real people who died and are still missed, and should not stop being missed – in my FFXIV-mind, not my everyday life.

If anything, I wonder if this roleplay-grief is helpful when someone comes up against the real kind.