Are You Enjoying XIV For The Game? Or Are You Enjoying XIV Because Of The People.

[Absurdity]

Sometimes I wonder when that shift in the community happened, thinking back to the welcoming if sometimes weird community I encountered in ARR and HW it's like night and day.

That shift isn't exclusive to the XIV community, but XIV attracts vast amounts of the terminally-on-twitter-crowd nowadays.

[Jessica_VS]

That shift isn't exclusive to the XIV community, but XIV attracts vast amounts of the terminally-on-twitter-crowd nowadays.

I agree. It's especially unwelcoming that both Reddit and various FFXIV discord communities are full of socio-political nonsense and authoritarians policing speech and forcing one to conform to some dogma or other, so the public outreach sections of the "community" are unwelcoming to most people who are not obsessed with whatever the new political "thing" is and who would prefer just to play the game. Finding a welcoming in-game community is unnecessarily difficult.

Contrast this even with WoW, which--though it obviously went downhill ages ago too--still has plenty of welcoming groups and guilds around (especially in Classic). It's even easier to find likeminded groups in Guild Wars 2 or even--ugh, I hate to say it--New World, which otherwise is mediocre on every level, but at least finding a fun community is easy in the game. I feel like one of the biggest investments Square could make in FFXIV would be to a create a smoother interface for finding likeminded players, whether that's in the game itself or via their own official channels (e.g. an official discord server) moderated by Square itself instead of random power-hungry lunatics who drive visitors away from even giving the game a try.

[Tsumdere]

Both. I love my friends, but I don't stop playing if they do because I love the game. I also have no problem making new friends so it never feels lonely.

Not that I love the community because games with catgirls attract interesting people (derogatory), but it's fun. The FFXIV community is just as toxic as any online game and we've been on this rodeo before.

[VoidShaman]

I love the game. And the number of bad interactions I had with others is outweighed by the number of good interactions, so I stick around.

[Sensui]

I play the game with my wife. We generally enjoy the game, finding things to dink around on, clear savage content, make Gil, do housing stuff. If she didn't play with me I probably wouldn't be playing.

The weird ERP/Mare/Perv community is a bit of a turn off, to be honest. I feel more and more, this is what the general community at large is into, and is becoming embarrassing to associate myself with the game. I dare not let my daughter play the game, too many weirdos. We have our own FC with a couple friends we've been gaming with for 10+ years (FF11 and 14) and a bunch of alts. We tried once venturing out to another FC to see what it's like. Pretty much just s bunch of perverts and weirdos.. after a month or went back to our personal FC to play alone.. together..

[Elissar]

Because of the people? WHAT?
This community sometimes is the weirdest ever. I am enjoying FFXIV just for the game ofc.

[Jessica_VS]

The weird ERP/Mare/Perv community is a bit of a turn off, to be honest. I feel more and more, this is what the general community at large is into, and is becoming embarrassing to associate myself with the game. I dare not let my daughter play the game, too many weirdos.

I agree with you. I'm personally quite "liberated" (if you catch my meaning) but I do believe that there is a time and place for sexual activities and it certainly is never around children.

When WoW released in 2004, I was eight years old. My Dad let me play the game with him. Although I eventually encountered a few weirdos (especially when I entered my teen years and played independently), they were nothing like the types that are all over the place today. The "worst" I encountered were guys flirting with me when they heard my voice on Ventrilo or whatever we were using back then for voice chat. No big deal; I flirted back just as much to entertain myself. But the stuff encountered in FFXIV is blatant and pervasive. It's like WoW's Moon Guard Goldshire on steroids.

I'd be very careful with my own children playing this game until they're older and more mature to be able to handle themselves around odd people.

[Elissar]

i've almost given up talking to people entirely.

[CidHeiral]

The weird ERP/Mare/Perv community is a bit of a turn off, to be honest. I feel more and more, this is what the general community at large is into, and is becoming embarrassing to associate myself with the game.

I've been thinking this as well lately. I still recommend FFXIV to friends but I increasingly have to give them a warning beforehand about the terminally horny nightclub modbeast crowd they'll inevitably run into. If I were a sprout just starting out today I'd probably cringe myself into a raisin the first time I encountered that side of the community and quit.

People like that will try to take over any community they're not heavily moderated in and unfortunately they've been given free reign to infest every corner of the game these past few years, getting more brazen every day. I've reported more blatant ERP PF listings and shouts in the past couple months than my entire previous history of the game combined. The more that happens the harder it is to recommend the game.

All that aside, there are still good communities and FCs out there and I have to believe that they outnumber the weirdos. I'm sorry you've had bad experiences but don't give up hope completely!

[Eraden]

Mao does much RPs buts is never sexual. Is time and place for such things but game on Internets is not such place in Mao opinion. Maybe is oks in private venue but is reallys weird out in public.