Realism.

[Roaran]

Nah guys, realism only has a black and white definition. There are no in-betweens.

If you can't go to bathroom that's it, no realism in your game. Might as well go all out since nothing matters anymore.

This is completely false.

FFXIV does contain a degree realism. And the way you would define it is by asking: How realistic is FFXIV?

For example, FFXIV is more realistic than World of Warcraft.

To answer the OP's question, Realism lies in the realm of plausibility and how your character specifically interacts with the world. Riding an overgrown bird (Chocobos) is more realistic than superman flying through the air. Fighting monsters the size of Ifrit is more plausible than fighting some of the monsters in World of Warcraft (Where all you do is hack at their ankles and supposedly deliver a killing blow by mangling their toenails).

Another way of looking at it... is what are the limits/constraints placed on the character. Normally, people are limited to moving through space... in FFXIV, you can simply teleport across vast areas. This lowers the realism.

Overall, FFXIV has some realism, that helps add to immersion, but if it were taken to the extreme (implementing a constraint for having to go to the bathroom for example) it would ruin the game.

So, it becomes a balancing act: Realism vs Fantasy, and the developers will struggle with this from time to time, but it isn't such a great issue as some might think.