Quote Originally Posted by Starien View Post
Here's an old man's perspective.

I have a limited amount of cares each day, and I choose to spend them on positive interactions. I'm swift to mute/block people who are constantly and aggressively fostering discord. Each person has that choice. Just as you choose to present yourself with a bit of irritant, those who are in your space may choose to not interact with you.

So choose wisely, collect data, and realize if you're receiving certain types of replies, the onus is on you to change your presentation, rather than to put reactions on the shoulders of some nebulous community of onlookers, which is comprised of all different types of people. What can you control in this scenario? Yourself.

Trash talk is just fine in smaller settings when you know each person and are on the same page. In groups of strangers, you never know what you'll get, so keep that in mind.
I don't disagree that people are free to mute/block whoever they want. That's their prerogative.

What I disagree with is the framing that a little bit of casual ribbing is somehow "constantly and aggressively fostering discord." That's exactly the cultural difference I'm talking about. In other MMORPG communities or even IRL, something as mild as "sit lol" is often read as obvious banter and either gets ignored or thrown back at you. In FF14, it seems much more likely to be interpreted as genuine hostility. And sure, I can change how I present myself to fit the norms of the community. But that doesn't mean I can't also look at those norms and say, "Man, this community is unusually sensitive to what any reasonable person would realize is some good ol' friendly trash talk."

You saying "people are individuals" is true, but like...okay? Communities still develop shared social expectations. If the same style of interaction gets smiles in most other communities and outrage in another, that's interesting data about the communities, not merely a personal failure to communicate. I also think something gets lost when the rule becomes "don't joke around with strangers until you've already established that they're okay with joking around." A lot of spontaneous good vibes start because somebody takes a small social risk and throws out some dumb banter.

Nobody has to like my sense of humor, obviously. I'm just saying I'd personally rather be in a community where the default response to "sit lol" is a fun-loving banterish response than one where people treat it like a serious interpersonal offense.