This game is on a terrible state right now.

[Theodric]

Buddy, you're the one trying to be deceptive here. You argue that the rp and venue scene is somehow killing FFXIV but then your first reasoning behind this is because of the "creepy, predatory venues". Yeah I'm sure you were trying to NOT label the whole crowd for being weirdos.

Once again, you're twisting my words. I'm very familiar with roleplay. I roleplay myself. What you're referring to isn't roleplay, it's cyber - the characters involved are heavily altered through mods and are not being roleplayed as part of the FFXIV world as would make sense. They're using it as a place to cyber, chat and are being catered to with dance poles, modern clothing and modern furniture. Which would be tolerable if it wasn't coming at the expense of stuff for those of us who actually invested in the setting at its core.

I was a moderator for the unofficial site for FFXIV roleplayers in the past. There was a huge exodus of European roleplayers from Balmung to Omega years back because most of what was being offered did not qualify as roleplay but cyber and the situation is even more dire than it was back then.

Do you actually roleplay yourself out of curiosity?

Furthermore, I even urged people - if brave enough - to go explore the rabbit hole that is FFXIV on Twitter. They'll then see just how deeply rooted cyber is within the community. It's not subtle at all and doesn't give a good impression of the game to anyone who wants their MMO to be an MMO.