DF zombies.

[kyuven]

Actually a bit surprised by a lot of the replies in here. A lot of you say that "well I'll never see them again so why talk to them" thats pretty bad in my opinion. I wonder how old some of the people are that say this, maybe I'm too old fashion, maybe this social game really isn't. Maybe it is all a bunch of mindless zombies that forgot why they started playing in the first place, or why they still play, like being programmed for one linear function only. I understand why the DF is what it is, most no one cares about anything but themselves in this social game. Well I'll keep at my futile attempt at trying to talk to people.

Let me put this in customer service terms.
There are some people who will chat up the cashier and make conversation. Some, uncomfortably so. There are others that just want to get their product and leave. Games are a lot like that.
This IS a social game, it just doesn't FORCE you to be social aside from very specific circumstances.
And honestly that's the way it should be. I've played other games where communication is forced, and let me tell you it doesn't make the game any better.
The trade-off for the "zombies" on the DF is that any player anywhere at any time can queue up and get *something* done.
I've touted this over, and over, and over again and I will continue to do so as long as I'm playing games: Players HATE being frustrated, and they HATE being forced to wait unnecessarily. This is why DF-like systems started using server clusters/data centers for their queues instead of just the server itself. This is also why there's "entry level content" like the dungeons in the first place.
Contrast to other games that forced socialization, where you could log in as, say, a rogue, and end up waiting HOURS to get into one of very few spots in a dungeon, and then be forced to wait AGAIN if the tank and/or healer decided to leave too.
Then there's ones that attempt the middle ground and make dungeons that are harder than normal. Well, the thing is if you make something TOO hard, no one will do it at all. If your entire game is built around this, you're looking at low subscriber numbers.
Thus, that's where we stand. It's not perfect, but it's the system we have to work with.

[Eye_Gore]

Let me put this in customer service terms.
There are some people who will chat up the cashier and make conversation. Some, uncomfortably so. There are others that just want to get their product and leave. Games are a lot like that.

When the cashier says "hello how are you today?" Isn't it customary to say something back, or just stand there all awkward staring at them? If I'm at the grocery and the bagger then asks "paper or plastic", do I just ignore them?

[Verlyn]

When the cashier says "hello how are you today?" Isn't it customary to say something back, or just stand there all awkward staring at them? If I'm at the grocery and the bagger then asks "paper or plastic", do I just ignore them?

Complete anonymity does some really crazy things to the way people behave.
Add to that the inability to interact with or friend/encounter people outside their own server ever again.

There are still things FFXIV can currently do to help rectify this issue, so it's not entirely in the player's hands just yet.