serious lore question, that has nothing to do with in game stuff

[KiriKuma]

So I'm on the waiting list for the lore book, as are most of you I'm sure. The thing is I'm doing a project for a 1 credit independent study course that I'm in, said project is writing a treatise on the world and economy of FFXIV from the perspective of my character. Am I required to cite the lore in some way if it's a creative project? If yes should I wait on the lore book?

[Lambdafish]

Yes and no. There is information in the lore book about currency, economy, and trade, though I'm sure by now all of that info has been dissected and distributed amoungst forum threads and wikis. Also, I'm pretty sure there was a duty commenced episode on economy, so you might want to check that out.

[WhiteArchmage]

That depends on proper citation styles and how formal your project is. Yes, anything you use as a reference has to be cited in your bibliography, including the Duty Commenced episode (there's a specific format for citing video/audiographic works, also).

Even if your project is creative in nature, you're using information and doing research on a published work, so you need to cite your sources, check in with your professor or advisor, anyway.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Proper citations are always a requirement for any worthwhile academic paper. And it's always expected that the author of the paper would have personally read the references he or she cites.

While snippets of the lore book are available in various places on the Interwebs, I would highly discourage you from using them as your primary sources, because:

1. You cannot guarantee that such arbitrarily extracted information did in fact come from the official lore book.
2. You cannot be sure about the context from which the snippets were taken, and such supporting information is crucial to any kind of worthwhile thesis.

That said, it would be more helpful if you share more information on your study course. The subject matter has been treated seriously by other academics with an interest in economics and mythology, just to mention two major areas related to the burgeoning video-game industry, so you're definitely not alone in attempting something of this nature.

My suggestion is, in the absence of your lore book, is to base your thesis on actual text from the game itself. That has always been the basis for lore discussions here and elsewhere, prior to the publishing of the lore book. The usual lorehounds like Anonymoose would probably be able to help you verify such text, if necessary.

There's also information provided in the official census compiled each year by Square-Enix. I would presume that the census data is of especial relevance, since it provides information such as the total money supply, and the things that players have been spending on.

[UAnchovy]

Since this is a creative project from the perspective of the character, it sounds like it might be closer to a creative writing project than an academic study. I don't know what the usual expectations are about citation in such projects, but it sounds like something you should ask your professor.

It is always better to ask your professor these things. Why would strangers on the internet know the requirements for your project?

[KiriKuma]

First off, ty to all that have replied thus far. The whole creative bit has been what's throwing me off. I've written an ungodly amount of research papers (I have a research grant its what I do) it was the whole creative project thing is new to me. While I am actually going to be discussing the whole citation issue with my professor on Monday, figured the lore thread was a good place to start in the mean time.