What makes XIV's community so unique?

[Rau]

I tried the TERA server test today. For 3 hours, it certainly left a strong impression of the game. Moreso than the first 3 hours this game did.
This isn't a thread about why TERA is better than XIV, or the other way around. I love the changes XIV has had so far, and am looking forward to what is to come.

Keep in mind, the only other MMOs I've played are Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV. I've tried WoW and a few other F2P MMOs, but none of them really reached out to me becuase of the art style. I'll admit, TERA's art style bothers me a bit. It FEELS like WoW, albeit more asian influence. You can tell the character designers are aiming at a demographic that they belong to (or are still stuck in the mentality of). All complaining aside, the art style is withstandable.

I logged in with a few friends from FFXIV. I hated going into XI and XIV alone. The thing I liked about them though was that it was extremely easy for me to get into a guild/linkshell because of the welcoming community. WoW and Perfect World on the other hand seemed so... indifferent toward newer players. Within the first 15 levels of WoW and Perfect World, the only communication I had with other people was where certain things were. Any further conversation initiated was ignored. XI and XIV on the other hand, I was invited to linkshells almost instantaneously.

However, at the same time, I noticed that in WoW, Perfect World, and today in TERA, that the public chat logs were FILLED with people shouting/saying/etc. XIV at launch had people shouting, but it wasn't nearly as much. I would see teleport requests, parties, questions, linkshell advertisements, and the like. Fast forward to now, I'll see unique shouts in Ul'dah every 5 minutes, at minimum. XI was similar, unless I was in Lower/Port Jueno or Whitegate.

In contrast however, WoW, PW, and TERA all had "conversations" going on in the public chat log. This seems contradictory to the earlier example of how I was met with indifference when trying to converse with other players. TERA's chatlog was moving so fast, it was a chore to even read it(although much of that could be due to the fact there was only one test server today). But even WoW had people just casually talking in say. Not so much that the log was impossible to read, but enough to make the community seem "alive."

I'm not saying I enjoyed reading the inordinate amount of stupidity I saw in those chat logs. Rather, I want to know where does this difference in mentality come from? Can it solely be attributed to the size of the 13 year old population of the game?

tl;dr tera was pretty fun. why is this game so quiet?

[Shneibel]

because it is zombie community ?

I want to know the true answer myself

ps: @op : cu in CBT1 if you got the code :>

[Rau]

I think I'm gonna be on Dragonfall or something like that.

[Brigandier]

The low social activity is due to,

• low server population,
• lack of content to talk about,
• being out for over a year with what little content it has beat to death.

To sum it up, here's the average FFXIV conversation:

<Player1> Yo man what's up, done anything in XIV today?
<Player2> Yeah man I did a leve.
<Player1> Amazing.

or

<Player1> Wanna do Ifrit for the 1000th time?
<Player2> No.
<Player1> Aite.

As far as socializing goes, it's hard to make friends in FFXIV simply because there are very, very, few things that require players to work together towards. As much as I hated Dynamis, Einherjar, Nyzul Isle, and Campaign, they did give people a lot of opportunities to interact.

[Rau]

Low social activity due to,

• low server population,
• lack of content to talk about,
• been out for over a year.

This is true on all accounts, no doubt. However, what I noticed was that the casual conversation in other games didn't really just stick to the realm of the game. It went into real life, other games, etc. All in public chat. This only happens in linkshells/parties/tells in FF.

As for the size of population, I would assume the amount of conversation would be reduced proportionally by how many less players we have here. However, it is exponentially less, almost to the point at times of no one saying anything at all during certain times of the day.

why is there a de facto stigma to /say and /shout?

[Vanguard319]

I would say age definitely is a factor. I can't say for certain, since SE hasn't done a census, but I think it's a safe bet to assume the most common average player age in XIV is somewhere between 20-35. Older players tend to be more patient and tend to be more mature (i.e. they're more likely to mentor a new player, than trashtalk them about how much they suck.) Also with age, people tend to think before they speak, (assuming of course they aren't exhausted or drunk) wheras youger players tend to mouth off.

As for the relative quiet, I'm guessing that most people tend to either use VOIP, or chat within thier own linkshell, I know the one I belong to uses both. New players that don't have one are as you said are invited into LS pretty quick.

[Lexin]

I would say age definitely is a factor. I can't say for certain, since SE hasn't done a census, but I think it's a safe bet to assume the most common average player age in XIV is somewhere between 20-35. Older players tend to be more patient and tend to be more mature (i.e. they're more likely to mentor a new player, than trashtalk them about how much they suck.) Also with age, people tend to think before they speak, (assuming of course they aren't exhausted or drunk) wheras youger players tend to mouth off.

As for the relative quiet, I'm guessing that most people tend to either use VOIP, or chat within thier own linkshell, I know the one I belong to uses both. New players that don't have one are as you said are invited into LS pretty quick.

Pretty much this. Also if most of the people on XIV came from XI then that could also be the reason for the more mature community. Though I have played some games and even a majority of the people who are 20+ act immature. Seems to be a themepark thing only.

[Brigandier]

why is there a de facto stigma to /say and /shout?

I think the general idea that everyone is seeing what you are saying has a lot to do with it. The FF crowd is much more cranky and prone to butthurt than most, and people are quick to GM the least little racial/sexist/generally messed up remarks (which pretty much flood Aion's LFG channel, and it's hilarious). I've even been Mordion Gaol'd in XI for an "offensive bazaar comment" (it wasn't directed at anyone). Even though the fact I got Mordion Gaol'd for it was stupid, the GM did give me a nice tidbit of advice: "We really don't care what you go on about between friends, just tone it down a bit in areas that the entire server can see."

When I talk to someone in XI or XIV, it feels more like a direct conversation intended only for those involved, while /say is for those clutch situations (i.e., asking if someone is partying in a particular spot), and /shout is just annoying to talk over with all the Ifrit requests, meld requests, etc.

[ChiefCurrahee]

As other have pointed out the world populations are low, A lot of chat is isolated to LS and or VoIP. There are so few things content wise to actively chat about in public channels. I'm sure with the introduction of new raid dungeons and job quests and AF quests (and server merge) things might become a bit more active in those /say and /shout channels.

As for Tera, it's "the new kid on the block" everything is new and exciting, people will discuss all aspects of the game in /say and /shout because (im guessing) there aren't established guilds to speak on private channels.

WoW has 7 years of stuff to talk about.

FFXIV has been out for almost 17-18 months now, and only has in reality about 6 months of developed content because they had to start at ground zero. What I'm saying is FFXIV doesn't have a lot new to talk about.

[Elune]

Pretty much this. Also if most of the people on XIV came from XI then that could also be the reason for the more mature community.

I don't know if I'd agree XI had a very "mature" community, but definitly more friendly than most MMO's out there.
I'm on (prolly?) the most populated server atm, so it's not that rare to see shouts in Ul'dah, and the odd convo just popping up. Seems those convos are more about trolling than they are about socializing, though. But my LS' are more than active chatting around (and I'm not shy on contributing either. actually, I think I might even talk too much o_o), so it's not about the people just fearing other internetters.

I think it's more psychological. /shout seems in its essence so rude and intrusive in itself. There's no /help channel to ask for advice or directions. No /general to chat around or idle in. When people see their first LFG/LFM /sh-message, I think they automatically reserve themselves from talking there unless its for just that. Forming/Joining parties. It's become the norm, and people don't want to come off as spammers or nubs in public.

tl;dr
Introduce a /general chat channel for idling, and a /help channel for asking questions. You can always deactivate those channels if you don't want to read them.