Why Are the FFXIV Forums So Bad?

[Carin-Eri]

They do have a good point. These forums are a cesspool. So much trash. So much negativity. I am sure SE ignores everything here. I certainly would.

I do wonder if it's some 'burn out' thing myself as I don't think they've always had a predominantly negative tone - or perhaps I just didn't notice it.

I mean, I joined early 2022 having started playing the game December 2021. One of the first things I did here was make a thread asking for advice, as was finding elements of the MSQ difficult and even came to question whether I should persist with the game. And I received a lot of friendly replies and good advice.

But it does seem that the 'tone' changed somewhat as more players-come-forumites completed 6.0, didn't enjoy it nor the post-Endwalker patches, and clearly found themselves reflecting on their dissatisfaction and discussing said dissatisfaction here.

Maybe things will lean toward some more positive-themed discussion when 7.0 launches - who knows?

[Carin-Eri]

If you think these forums are toxic, go log into the General Discussion of another game whose name I shall not mention here (but it rhymes with Borld of Borcraft). The last time I was there, a little over a year ago, it was so toxic that if you spent much time there you would come out of it with white skin, green hair, a penchant for jokes, and a hatred of Batman.

Whirled of Borecraft?! I MUST play this game of which you speak!

[Atelier-Bagur]

I mean if the forums were moderated as heavily as in game you basically wouldn’t be able to actually have a discussion because you can barely present a dissenting view in game without risking someone reporting you (and no this isn’t a case of “you are just rude but don’t want to admit it”)

You notice the moderation though, people rarely insult each other, at most you get some heated arguments but nothing ban worthy, if anything the forums are a more accurate representation of the actual community opinion on things without the ever present threat of the ban hammer in the main game

People can have a discussion without directly insulting others. Just sayin'

[CNitsah]

Not mean-spirited at all, I'm just being honest and I've seen many forum goers proudly proclaim how toxic and immature they are and wear it as a badge of honor unironically. If you don't fit into that description then I'm sure you're a great person and you don't really apply to this, no?

You basically said the most probable reason people acted as they act is because they "lack healthy social life" or "are mentally ill". You also described them as "children starved for attention" and "Neckbeard". You basically insulted 80% of the forum users. It's kinda mean spirited, and you didn't even realise it. This is part of the reason, people don't even realise when they stop being civil. As I said, it's very weird it only happens on english forums, and japanese, french and german ones are decent.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

You basically said the most probable reason people acted as they act is because they "lack healthy social life" or "are mentally ill". You also described them as "children starved for attention" and "Neckbeard". You basically insulted 80% of the forum users. It's kinda mean spirited, and you didn't even realise it.

He did it intentionally. He's just another troll alt lol.

[Jeeqbit]

don't think they've always had a predominantly negative tone - or perhaps I just didn't notice it.

You didn't notice it. I was posting here in Stormblood and it was like that then. Back then, I was defending Eureka against all the people who didn't like it (and now somehow people miss it after seeing the alternatives in Endwalker). Back then, people were wanting Heavensward job design back. Of course, then we got Shadowbringers, which simplified jobs even more and even the very announcement of it all invited criticism here.

So I was around here again at the end of Shadowbringers (2021) and same sort of thing which hasn't changed since.

However, I think many of the most negative posters probably actually quit or unsubscribed or stopped posting during Endwalker, so that might be why you didn't notice it. But it is still a fact that people are more likely to come to the forums when they have a complaint.

first things I did here was make a thread asking for advice, as was finding elements of the MSQ difficult and even came to question whether I should persist with the game. And I received a lot of friendly replies and good advice.

That's pretty normal, but especially in the New Player Forum.

Maybe things will lean toward some more positive-themed discussion when 7.0 launches - who knows?

There's no chance. People who have been here as long as I have will surely agree.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

You didn't notice it. I was posting here in Stormblood and it was like that then. Back then, I was defending Eureka against all the people who didn't like it (and now somehow people miss it after seeing the alternatives in Endwalker). Back then, people were wanting Heavensward job design back. Of course, then we got Shadowbringers, which simplified jobs even more and even the very announcement of it all invited criticism here.

So I was around here again at the end of Shadowbringers (2021) and same sort of thing which hasn't changed since.

However, I think many of the most negative posters probably actually quit or unsubscribed or stopped posting during Endwalker, so that might be why you didn't notice it. But it is still a fact that people are more likely to come to the forums when they have a complaint.

That's pretty normal, but especially in the New Player Forum.

There's no chance. People who have been here as long as I have will surely agree.

It's been going on since 2013.



https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...al-Fantasy-XIV

[Avoidy]

In-game is moderated.

The forums are moderated, too. But the posts that get deleted are generally ones that are critical of the game, which were of course reported by fanboys who couldn't bear to read about how their favorite toy isn't perfect. It's understandable to think we don't have moderation, though; I didn't think we had mods either, until I got slapped with a 10 day ban for saying a new cash shop glam was terrible looking and encouraging people not to buy it so the shop team would maybe stop producing lazy slop. But spreading that kind of nEgAtiviTy is a bannable offense, and apparently swearing is too, when it's in a post that a fanboy disagrees with.

To answer OP's question, these forums are awful because you basically have 2 types of people here for (apparently) opposed reasons. One group took the devs at their word about wanting to hear feedback, so they came here to provide it only to learn that actually no devs read this place or provide any semblance of a response to any posts. And another group is here to insist nonstop that the game is 11/10 perfection while pushing back on every feedback thread they see, even if the request is totally reasonable. Anyone coming here to provide feedback is simply mistaken about the purpose of this place, and they learn this when they post feedback and get told that they should just quit the game if they have any issues with it. If you want to actually talk about the game in a critical manner, there're barely any places to do it. This community is high on its own farts.

It also doesn't help that we do have people who post genuinely interesting critiques of the game sometimes but they do it on these alt accounts in a trollish provocative manner so that half the community here just dismisses genuine feedback with a kneejerk "TiTanMeN!!!" response and doesn't even read the thread they're replying to. And those types of trolls are drawn here because Defenders of the Game can't help themselves and have to just reply to everything even if it's by someone they can't stand. It's like watching a train crash in slow motion. I don't like it here but I can't stop checking back when I'm bored at work.

[Fyrebrand]

These forums are infested with trolls that use various sock puppet accounts and post multiple bait threads every single day. Occasionally they get suspended or banned, but they invariably come back with another not-so-subtle forum alt and start all over again.

To the unfamiliar, it may appear like some of them are posting legitimate conversation topics and getting undue hostility out of nowhere. But often, it's because they are a known troll who doesn't mean anything they say and are just trying to stir up drama. Typically, if you see someone who only joined the forums in the last month and they keep making new threads constantly, they are a bad actor. Another big red flag is if you look up their character on the Lodestone site and see that they have paid to boost all their crafters and maybe one battle job to max level, despite not even playing the game. One such example even admitted they don't play, they made a whole topic just to say so.

you're all like 12 year olds screaming at each other over who loves FFXIV more

Really? My experience here has been pretty much the polar opposite. These forums are basically the Hate Olympics to see who can screech the most about how terrible FFXIV is. Every day, it's people saying the game is dead, Yoshi-P owes us an apology, the devs are lazy and incompetent and don't care about the game anymore, everyone has quit FFXIV for <insert new game just released>, FFXIV hasn't been any good since Heavensward, etc. Now, there are of course legitimate criticisms and complaints to be made about the game, but the way people go about it here can be really irritating and tiresome.

It comes in waves. They'll latch onto a topic like "The FFXIV community is so toxic" and then create new threads about it for days on end. It was their personal mission to make sure everybody knew how sick and evil FFXIV players are. And if anyone gets the least bit snarky back, they're just like "See!? Did you see that everybody!? Way to prove my point!! #GCBTW."

Recently we had a run where somebody would post literally every video they could find of streamers listing off all the problems with FFXIV. Nothing wrong with wanting to talk about it per se, but that's just it, they didn't even have anything to say. They just wanted to post something negative, and leave. Sometimes there was more than one thread about the same video.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

These forums are infested with trolls that use various sock puppet accounts and post multiple bait threads every single day. Occasionally they get suspended or banned, but they invariably come back with another not-so-subtle forum alt and start all over again.

To the unfamiliar, it may appear like some of them are posting legitimate conversation topics and getting undue hostility out of nowhere. But often, it's because they are a known troll who doesn't mean anything they say and are just trying to stir up drama. Typically, if you see someone who only joined the forums in the last month and they keep making new threads constantly, they are a bad actor. Another big red flag is if you look up their character on the Lodestone site and see that they have paid to boost all their crafters and maybe one battle job to max level, despite not even playing the game. One such example even admitted they don't play, they made a whole topic just to say so.



Really? My experience here has been pretty much the polar opposite. These forums are basically the Hate Olympics to see who can screech the most about how terrible FFXIV is. Every day, it's people saying the game is dead, Yoshi-P owes us an apology, the devs are lazy and incompetent and don't care about the game anymore, everyone has quit FFXIV for <insert new game just released>, FFXIV hasn't been any good since Heavensward, etc. Now, there are of course legitimate criticisms and complaints to be made about the game, but the way people go about it here can be really irritating and tiresome.

It comes in waves. They'll latch onto a topic like "The FFXIV community is so toxic" and then create new threads about it for days on end. It was their personal mission to make sure everybody knew how sick and evil FFXIV players are. And if anyone gets the least bit snarky back, they're just like "See!? Did you see that everybody!? Way to prove my point!! #GCBTW."

Recently we had a run where somebody would post literally every video they could find of streamers listing off all the problems with FFXIV. Nothing wrong with wanting to talk about it per se, but that's just it, they didn't even have anything to say. They just wanted to post something negative, and leave. Sometimes there was more than one thread about the same video.

Pretty sure those YouTube posts are the person you are replying too lol