What has happened to MMOs.

[Vaer]

MMOs are more accessible now, that's what happened. The games where you find "good" overall community are the really low population games that the "cool kids" say are dead. Any game that was P2P that goes F2P is pretty much a magnet to tons of people. When you draw tons of people, there are bound to be unsavory types in the mix. The rise of instant gratification and accessibility due in part by recent MMO mechanics is partly to blame.

EverQuest-era games probably have a very low chance of happening again. People are constantly moaning that MMOs are so bland and full of "clones" but then they go out and support games like RIFT and SWTOR. It's just not economically feasible to make a time consuming and slow-paced game anymore when instant gratification sells.

In some MMOs now people don't even talk to each other. It's like playing with AI bots.

FFXIV on the other hand, is turning into clique mentality, best bet is to get a linkshell or you will be ignored most of the time. However, I would say it has a rather good community other than that.

[Dragon]

EQOA... wow, I remember those days and it was my first MMORPG ever (2002~2004). I even remember when I killed an NPC I thought I was supposed to the whole server just crashed all because I wasn't supposed to kill the NPC.

Sometimes I even wonder why I didn't go back and play it.

[Levian]

I think Vaer summed it up well. In a "modern" WoW style MMO there's just no time for communication, or any need for it. The only time anyone talks is when they feel the need to assign blame for a group wipe. Which is also why I never felt any attachment to the game. I pretty much played alone 99.9 percent of the time.

[Arcturus]

I felt that EQOA was such a great game at the time (2002). It provided an extremely organic experience for me, with the whole seamless world, and no maps (you had to navigate on instinct or from memory, and familiarized yourself with landmarks like the palm of your hand), very little hand-holding, countless different items and equipment, and such an immersive lore (even the little pieces of loot had backstories tied to the lore). Not to mention the community. Ah, those were good times on Diren Hold.

[Jinrya-Geki]

GO MARR'S FIST!!

Go Marr's Fist indeed sir :'c I can't even log in to the game to say hi.

[NationOfZealots]

FFXIV is my first MMO but even then I strongly agree the sense of community is not what I expected jumping into the game, its a real hassle 99% due to other factors like laggy/separate servers and bad (but very slowly getting better) design. It could be made so much more easier for the players so the game stays online for more years to come.

[Yves]

Well, one of the most interesting aspects about this question is going to be that the younger generation is replacing common competition (sports and the like) with videogames. This isn't problematic except for the fact that behavior in an online world has no consequence. Talk smack on the football field and you will get lit up. Have an ego during a sparring session and you're getting shunned out of the gym.

So, because no consequence exists, people are free to act without validation or any sense of moral or communal value. While not everyone acts like this, only a few are needed to redefine the culture in a negative aspect. There are additional aspects of the problem that delve into the root causes for videogames replacing traditional competition (no physical effort required, anonymous identity, artificial sense of self, etc.) but I doubt it ever gets any better.

[Drexel]

As a newer player, one of the biggest obstacles to really getting to know people and socialize is the awkward chat and UI. Until you join a Linkshell, you're basically adrift in a sea of random players, and you never know if you can even communicate with people. Even once you make friends you don't receive alerts telling you if they're online or not. It's all just so unappealing to the user.

Put them on your social list, unlike FFXI it doesn't require the other player to accept an invite to a friends list, a social list is just a way for you to keep track of players you know, it will tell you when they are on.

[Yves]

FFXIV is my first MMO but even then I strongly agree the sense of community is not what I expected jumping into the game, its a real hassle 99% due to other factors like laggy/separate servers and bad (but very slowly getting better) design. It could be made so much more easier for the players so the game stays online for more years to come.

I agree very much. Even the methods for communicating in an EXP party don't lend themselves to communication. This is evidenced in that many event groups prefer voice-chat over keyboard conversation and that can exclude some people who prefer to keep the social connection limited to typing (there is absolutely nothing wrong with this.)

It is a safe assumption, given my experiences since the closed Beta, that the game was designed with combat as the core of the system (this really is something I should expand upon but won't) and that the "multiplayer" idea was neglected.

[Majidah]

To start in no way am I bashing FF14 , I am enjoying my time playing this.

Give a little back-story to better understand where I am coming from:

Back on Feb. 29th I received an E-mail from SoE( Sony online) letting me know that EverQuest Online Adventures(EQOA) was closing down for good on March 29th. My 1st thoughts where wow this is sad day. The E-mail also said that everyone can log in their accounts free for the month of March. When I logged in randomly during the month each time I did so I seen names of people that I remember, and many more that remember me. Over the month I kind of started to enjoy playing again cause of the many people that I played over the years came back.

Which brings me to the whole point of starting this thread: Why can’t any MMOs built up a nice community.

I feel that what made EQOA so great was the whole sense of community. Really built of a lot of Server pride while doing EQOAs last server wide event all the people would shout what server they where from and felt like everyone was together again. Only time I ever felt that way in another MMO was in FFXI during Besieged . Coming from Siren I always felt it was a server wide event got us all together.


In the end I do hope Dev look into adding more stuff that will bring us as a server together more. Hamlet defense might be a start. Let hope that one day Final Fantasy 14 will be able to live up to EQOA and make me feel pride about not only the server I play but the game as well. ( cause lets not kid our selves FF14 is made fun of out side of the players)

PS; Sorry for the wall-o-text just really liked to get this out, hopefully the FF14 community willl take what i said here to heart .

I'm gonna go ahead and say it: move to besaid.