what makes an MMO fell dead

[dspguy]

Personally, I think SE made a game that players want and we hate ourselves for liking it.

Some people noted that people stand around Limsa and just pop in/out of duties. Should we go back to having to travel to the duty entrance instead? No more flying mounts. Limited teleports; maybe just 1 for all expansions and then you have to take a ship or some other timesink to get where you want to go?

How about queueing for duties themselves? What we have now is convenient. Click a button and SE's servers do the job for you of matching you up with other players to complete it. The people we are matched with might as well be NPCs at times. 99% of instances go like this:

- enter instance
- people type / o/ o7 or nothing at all
- clear it
- people type gg or nothing at all

Would we prefer to make our own groups for all content, not just high-end content? Stand around Lima shouting "LF 2 DPS and heals for expert... meet me at the entrance to the dungeon!"

In nearly every MMO I played prior to FFXIV, forming a group to gain experience was a chore. Sometimes you might only have 1 hour which means you might as well not login. It takes that long to get people together and get to where you have to go. However, this chore was also community forming. The people on your friends' list were invaluable. These were people that didn't let you down. It was a big deal to make friend with people, since they'd come to you first for a group.

It was like skipping the queue.

But we got what we have now because this is what players wanted. And in many ways it works. I don't have 3-6 hours anymore to sit down at my computer and play a game. With just 20 minutes, I can login, run a dungeon and logout. In other games, it would take 20 minutes just to get to the dungeon, not counting getting a party together and actually running it.

[drtasteyummy]

Personally, I think SE made a game that players want and we hate ourselves for liking it.

Some people noted that people stand around Limsa and just pop in/out of duties. Should we go back to having to travel to the duty entrance instead? No more flying mounts. Limited teleports; maybe just 1 for all expansions and then you have to take a ship or some other timesink to get where you want to go?

How about queueing for duties themselves? What we have now is convenient. Click a button and SE's servers do the job for you of matching you up with other players to complete it. The people we are matched with might as well be NPCs at times. 99% of instances go like this:

...

Personally, I believe that blaming convenience as the root cause of the issue is wrong. While there are certainly times when people prefer not to interact with others, there is still a prevalent feeling that there is no place that emphasizes the importance of socializing. When discussing Limsa, the question should not be why people prefer to pop in and out instead of forming groups, but rather, why there is no public or global platform for communication. While it may be true that the Japanese culture does not prioritize this kind of communication, it is quite normal for Westerners. It is evident that the absence of chat bubbles in the game.

From a gameplay perspective, there is no inherent reason to form groups in the overworld, whether it be for killing or farming, having fun, or exploring. These are all aspects that one can only experience by committing to a small group, but many feel that it limits the sense of adventure and makes other players feel like mere Mario Kart ghosts. The problem is not simply that convenience hinders interaction, but rather, that the existing methods of interaction make it difficult to enjoy time with random strangers.

[dspguy]

When discussing Limsa, the question should not be why people prefer to pop in and out instead of forming groups, but rather, why there is no public or global platform for communication. While it may be true that the Japanese culture does not prioritize this kind of communication, it is quite normal for Westerners.

We have a global platform for communication, as far as putting together a party is concerned.

Party Finder.

It is data center wide in many cases. And it is convenient. And I think we like the convenience and we accept it. That's why it is fairly uncommon to see parties form by people shouting in zone. We had that for a very short period of time. When Chimera and Hydra first came out, it is actually common to see people standing outside the dungeon shouting for people to join their party. Back then DF was pretty broken. It was as if you queued in DF it would take 30 minutes to put you in a dungeon, but in a premade it would put you in nearly instantly. I digress.