Quote Originally Posted by Sebazy View Post
(i read it all) The TLDR of the above is that a vast and largely anonymous player pool breeds unaccountability which causes much of the bad attitudes you see in game. This isn't exclusive to FFXIV by any stretch
I think you might be misunderstanding what I'm getting at, but that's fair because I haven't been super explicit. The problem of people being anonymous jerks on the internet is indeed A Thing; that goes without question. But as designers we know that we can impact how much of that behavior occurs; we have seen how different designs for the same system can result in increased conflict or decreased conflict.

At least in my experience, it's inaccurate to blame the entire issue on "griefers". Without a doubt, there are plenty of players who criticize the play of others with good intentions; they have a view of how they think the game should be played, they see a player not playing it this way, and they genuinely think they are doing a helpful thing by pointing out a player's imperfections and telling them what they should do. Many of these players probably don't realize how much of communication gets lost over text, and may not be able to adequately conceive of players who perceive the game differently than them and thus find their criticism to be demanding and upsetting rather than helpful. Which is simply to say: conflict can be created even with the best of intentions.

And in my experience from playing with my less skilled friends, most of the poor behavior I've seen is from that kind of player: a player who doesn't seem like they're intentionally setting out to grief, but rather thinks their way is right and isn't being considerate of other experiences and perspectives. The hardcore trolls are much more rare, and thus constitute only a minority of the problem in my experience. Which is good, because if people are looking to cause a problem, they will find a way to do so regardless; but if people aren't, then we can often design solutions that mitigate the chances of conflict.

In addition — and in reviewing I realize I never mentioned this before — designers can influence how toxicity manifests. It's true that even if someone isn't being criticized about their DPS, they could still be criticized about something else in their kit. But not all criticism is the same, and some of it hits different. For example, if someone in my dungeon tells me my heals are bad, but nobody has died, then they don't have much of a leg to stand on; the game has given me transparent feedback that I've healed well enough, and that can make a misguided statement to the contrary easier to swallow. But if that same person points out that I'm not doing my full healer DPS rotation, that's likely going to be harder to shake because the game doesn't give similar feedback about my DPS. And the worst part is, at least part of what they're saying is objectively right: I haven't been doing my DPS rotation, just Dia and Glare but never Glarera or Glarega. So even if they're a jerk, even if it was uncalled for and against the ToS, it's going to sting more. Enough of that can ruin the class or even the game for people. And with clever, compassionate design, we can mitigate this kind of experience. As I said before, nobody can criticize you for not pressing two DPS buttons if you only have one DPS button.

Which is why I think it's good to have an option for those kind of players, something that transparently asks less of them. A diversity of options allows players to pick the level of engagement that works best for them, while allowing other players to get a different level of engagement that works for them. With the energy it takes a player to be a decent BLM, they can be a great SMN, and I think that same approach can work well with other classes.