Jumping Risk Assessment

[Neptune]

I would not like jumping to be in the game because it would ruin all the fun. I wish I could say this is based purely on me imagining what the game would be like with jumping in it, but the reality is I have first-hand experience of jumping in other videogames. So what I'm saying is that alone exempts me from doing a fresh examination because there is no need with real experience. So what I want to do is take a look through videogame history and show you why jumping should not be in FFXIV.

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1982: Pitfall! Pitfall! was perhaps one of the first videogames to implement jumping, as a way to clear obstacles and swing on vines to escape from alligators. It wasn't effective at evading enemies but for environmental hazards.

-Clearly, having environmental hazards in FFXIV like lava, ice, damaging poison, or anything else on the ground would be a clear violation of the Final Fantasy Code Section 4C paragraph 2 established early in the franchise, and thus, jump should not be implemented in FFXIV. Escaping from environmental obstacles would not make battle any more challenging or world navigation for that matter. It is hard enough using the action bar, so please don't make it so I actually have to press another button in the midst of battle.

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1985: Super Mario Bros. 1996 Super Mario 64. Over 20 years ago SMB implemented jump to navigate stages and defeat enemies by jumping on their heads.

-Super Mario Bros is what is known as a platform game. Like its later incarnation in 3D jump was used to cross platforms and evade enemy projectiles such as turtle shells. FFXIV is an RPG, and thus any implementation of platforms or enemy projectiles that must be evaded in real time is a clear violation of the Final Fantasy Code, section 16F paragraph 4. Allow me to point out that Riverne Site A01 in Final Fantasy XI is bordering on a violation of paragraph 3.

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1987. Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy was the first game in this beloved series and a classic RPG. Jumping was not present in Final Fantasy, and the fact that it was a 2D overview game world obviously had nothing to do with it.

-Let's learn from this great example, established over 20 years ago when thinking of our risk assessment. As we know, nothing has changed in 24 years and jump is no exception.

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2002. Metroid Prime. Metroid was a 2D sidescroller in previous entries of the series and jumping was acceptable in this rare case because it was necessary to navigate the plaforms. But in it's 2002 edition, Metroid was a 3D first person shooter. The inclusion of jumping obviously hindered the game. It only sold 800,000 copies with its "revolutionary" tip-the-camera-down approach to jumping from platform to platform. Clearly the game would have gone by with less hassle had the world been a simple flat playing field, like Wolfenstein 3D or Doom. Game developers have been getting more and more egotistical as the years have gone on.

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2004. World of Warcraft. In this game jump is used to sometimes evade ground effects in battle, or to jump off terrain onto lower terrain.

-Even though jump has a limited purpose of say, jumping to a long fall and landing in a pool of water below, it is mostly used because players are bored and continuously use the spacebar to make their characters jump. Clearly having terrain like a long cliff and pool of water below that you could jump into would be a violation of the Final Fantasy Code, section 12.2 which specifies that in the contradictory occasion that jump IS implemented in a Final Fantasy game, it must never ever be used to jump onto lower terrain where water may be placed to allow a safe landing before continuing on with the journey, and/or quest. Such varied terrain would obviously not add any depth WHATSOEVER to guildleves and would be just another gimmick to make the game more interesting. As is clear to any rational-thinking human being, guildleves must be played out on a nearly flat playing field at all times. Even going in to an underground cave on a slightly declined ramp is very disorienting and confusing, causing many players to fail guildleves because they can't find their enemy targets. I would even say that some players have quit the game over that.

-As mentioned above, the main use of jumping in World of Warcraft is to alleviate boredom. I'm not sure why players of World of Warcraft are bored to begin with, but when I as a player am trying to focus on the compelling content of World of Warcraft and I see another player character hopping continuously by it is hugely distracting, enough that I can't get any work done in the game. It's like it sends a lightning bolt through my brain. Imagine you're at the Auction House in Orgrimmar when another player who looks like a huge cow comes hopping into the building, then hops out. It's completely nonsensical. I had no idea what to make of this phenomenon when I first saw it. Obviously implementation of jump in FFXIV will result in this exact activity so I hope I made my point.

-A number of arguments have been raised to jumping in FFXIV when compared to World of Warcraft so I want to take a moment to show the flaws in these arguments.

1) Jumping could be more realistic, with a delay so that you could not repeatedly jump like in World of Warcraft.

-Obviously this idea, while nice at first glance, is in clear violation of the Final Fantasy Code section 22, "Special Guidelines for the Implementation of Jump as a Last Resort". I quote, "No special timing delays may be implemented in a Final Fantasy game to limit the jumping animation to more closely align with advances in realistic physics presentation".

2) Players will not spam the jump button because they are different from the players who play WoW.

-This argument is flawed from the get-go. Everybody knows that FFXIV and WoW share the exact same players. And if jump was implemented in FFXIV, FFXIV and WoW would share more exacter of the same players.

3) Use of an auto-jump feature to prevent spamming.

-While spamming of jump is obviously the main thing to be prevented, everyone knows that someone would develop a hack to make the animation trigger repeatedly even if auto-jump were implemented. As such, this answer cannot be chosen.

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2010. Final Fantasy XIII. Final Fantasy XIII clearly disregarded paragraphs 4 and 5 of section 16F of the Final Fantasy Code with the inclusion of auto jump. Auto jump was used at specially marked locations to navigate debris on field or jump onto higher platforms in the multi-varied terrain.

Clearly having debris in the field, suggesting a war-torn environment, adds nothing to the environment in the game. I say again, clearly adding debris to an environment adds nothing to the environment. It is the same environment as before. I say to you, if you add debris like a crashed airship or burning chocobo carriage, nothing has been added to the game.

-Please don't make the same mistake twice. Auto jump and varied vertical environments added nothing to FFXIII, and in fact hurt it, which is why it was a miserable failure only selling 5 million copies. FFXIV has sold around 600,000 copies, what do you think it would have sold if it had auto jump in it? Probably only around 30,000. So I hope that is a lesson learned there. In fact you may want to read this paragraph twice just to make sure it sets in.

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Finally, to sum up, jump should not be implemented in FFXIV because the moment it is in the game players will start spamming that action and ruining the game experience for me. I'm used to seeing a stoic world of barely animated characters and NPCs who just stand there for months on end without any sign of movement. If jump is implemented and I suddenly see characters jumping and catching air on the way to the market wards in Ul'Dah I will be severely mentally traumatized. SE will be liable to me in court for my claims of emotional distress.

On top of that, I hope SE hasn't forgotten it's place as a charity to intellectual gamers. The moment jump is implemented all those idiots from WoW will flood the game, my precious, precious game. I bought FFXIV so I could play with real gamers who aren't a bunch of idiots. Have you seen the numbers for WoW's subscribers? The latest financial statements from Activision/Blizzard mention over 7 million sales of the Cataclysm expansion pack and over 11 million subscribers in the last year. You think I want those kinds of numbers of idiots flooding my server? I don't care if it would make Square Enix a billion dollars of revenue per year so they could make the game even better than ever before! Square Enix needs to remember its main promise to players, to create a safe haven for MMO gamers to not have to deal with those legions of idiots paying to play all those other games. That is the top priority, and business or "innovation" has nothing to do with it.

[BruceyBruceyBangBang]

The market and the expectations of MMOs and gaming in general is changing. SE has to change along with it. The reason why you feel like games should be the way they were many years ago is because you have fond memories of that time. However, one thing is always true when people have strong feelings towards situations like this. You were younger.

WoW affected a different generation of gamers who will pick up a new MMO in the future and say that it can't compare. Of course it can't. Aside from all of the content and user friendly systems it had, you go to when you had your most fun during your adolescence or early adulthood.

The reason why I mention all of this is you look like you're stuck and it's understandable as to why. However, you have to expect these gaming companies to take a hint at what is catching on and what the new standards are in gaming. It's their business to do this. Not keep games in the bubble that is your nostalgia.

[Duelle]

The reason why I mention all of this is you look like you're stuck and it's understandable as to why. However, you have to expect these gaming companies to take a hint at what is catching on and what the new standards are in gaming. It's their business to do this. Not keep games in the bubble that is your nostalgia.

This, a thousand times over. Nostalgia only goes so far, and I've noticed a lot of people around here are dominated by their nostalgia.

[Razzle]

i wish people would stop jumping (lol) into conclusions...

Jumping can mean SO many things...

It could come in a form of a skill and have a cool down.
It could be spammable but have a delay when you land which means no one is going to spam it when its not needed since it will just slow them down.
It could come as a Main menu function on SPECIAL ONLY area, like when you "Examine" in a leve. (or like when "Sit" pops up when you approach a chair, when you run to a cliff "Jump" could pop)

Why do people insist that the Jump function is the same as WoW? We dont even know yet, yet so many threads about it...

Why are you that sure its going to break your so called "immersion" or whatever ( > . >

[Ava]

Little drawn out, but I'll give it a 7/10.

[Evangela]

I want to jump

that's all

[Nakiamiie]

I want to jump

that's all

ditto, that's all

[Black_Rose]

why do we allways need new threads about jumping?
some want it, some don't want it.
there is no reason to not have it, aswell as there isn't a specific reason to have it.

it's like saying "hey, let's remove those damn emotions, cause that lala next to me doesn't stop laughing at me while i'm crafting"
obviously, some people are just like that, can't hate noone for bunny jumping around the town.
obviously, having or not having jump in FFXIV, will change NOTHING.
besides the fact people can jump, which i'm rather taking then those lala's sitting next to you, constantly hitting the /laugh button, fuck that.

[Kilta_Firelotus]

Dude you didn't do enough research.
Elder scrolls- jumping added more attack styles as well as dodge styles. Increased exploration of the locations. (there are hidden thinks on roof tops etc)
Pwi- double jump is used to complete tasks and is part of the tutorial. It is used for exploration etc.

Also in WoW a FEW players used jump out of boredum. But there were alot of hidden places and jump was an access point. It was also used to get from point a to point b faster (jumping down a cliff being faster then running all the way down) and coulda been used to avoid enemies.

Aion used jumping for faster travel since once you reavhed daeva you got your wings which jump allowed player to glide (a form of flight in that game)

ffxi has huge maps and jump can increase enjoyment just be allowing players to jump down spall cliffes. Being forced to run around a small cliff is time consuming (in a bad way) Like in The black shoud all those stone bridges and ramps. Trying to GET to leve location is a pain in the but.

[PikachuLink]

Eff this. Give us jump....if you dont wanna move on and be next gen then go back to 11 they still have it up