Quote Originally Posted by Rolder50 View Post
It seems like Yoshi-P has forgotten the lessons that he himself was giving so long ago when 2.0 launched.

https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1020179/Behind-the-Realm




Heck knows they sure aren't following 2,3, OR 4.
Pull up things you wrote or stated 10 years ago and check and see if you still feel the same way about them.

In contrast to this, I would say running an mmo, particularly FFXIV isn't like running a country at all. And it is more akin to running a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant. Let's start with from the top:

#1. Players are not citizens, they are customers. Plus, why single out Canada? I'm not defending that country, but rather why not just state that unsatisfied players will leave? Which is not the case anyway as most of the people on these forums who represent the game's playerbase who have issues with it still have active subscriptions. In terms of a country, citizens will stay despite not agreeing with the policies of its leaders for a multitude of reasons. Many of which are not political at all.

#2 The dev team are a dictatorship, whether they choose to see it that way or not. They are not a democracy where an electoral process takes place and they are voted in and out by its citizens. They are not a monarchy wherein selection is determined by birthright, or otherwise usurped. That said much of what we see in the game is due to what they feel the players want. They cannot appease everyone, nor do they have the manpower or technological prowess to provide even if they wanted to try. Therefore they have to make choices which ultimately they dictate. They decide what comes into the game, and what doesn't.

#3 They have done this for the most part. Again, they cannot grant every wish to every player. The game has changed and adapted much over the years, and its sales is more than a testament that they have done so successfully. Those who feel otherwise really just means it has not changed in a way they approve of. I have no idea what, "The silent leaves first" even means considering that the silent represent the majority of the playerbase. And complaints =/= constructive criticism, the latter of which is what will really improve the game. Complaining does not mean you care. Like, at all. A player's subscription is not a relationship or a marriage. It is a business transaction, and what dissatisfied customers typically do is take their business elsewhere.

#4. So what are we? Citizens, or subjects? What are they? Leaders, or dictators? I have to wonder if some of this is lost in translation, as what I believe Yoshi would say in regards to this is that developers must do their best to understand their customers, and one of the best ways to do this is through immersion. It would be nice to know if some members of the development team had anonymous accounts that they use to group with their subscribers. If they did though, I don't think that is something they could or should disclose to the playerbase. What I can say is that it would be extremely difficult to relate to the playerbase from strictly the development side of things.