Thank you FF community!!

[Ultrazen]

I'm very old. I played Doom, when you had to load .wad files and play over a BBS. I submit this information, as a point of reference for how many online games I've played. I do this so my praise of this community, is placed into the perspective of someone who has been through a lot of communities in online gaming.

Given my post title, it's pretty easy to figure out, that this is going to be positive, and well it should be. This is easily the most friendly, and supportive community that I've found in an online game. I'm not sure if anything else is even a close second. Toxicity has become the norm, not just in gaming, but culturally. I'm not sure how FF has avoided it, but I'm thankful for it.

I just wanted to create a post to say thank you:

Thanks to the healers, it's a tough job, it's often much tougher than people realize, especially when things go smoothly in a run. It seems like..."sure...that's how it should be". It's only that way, because the healer is actually good.

Thanks to the tanks, the ones that grab agro, are attentive, and are obviously doing their best to fulfill their role. I find that % to be shockingly high.

Thanks to the DPS that pay attention, that don't stand in bad, heal themselves when it's warranted, and use all of their abilities to help the party. I find this % to also be shockingly high.

And last of all, and most importantly, thanks to community that takes time to try and explain to people that are new or having problems, what they can do to make things better. I recently ran a dungeon on one of my DPS jobs, where the tank was obviously very new, and had almost no knowledge of FF systems. Instead of being hostile, the healer in our group spent time explaining why the tank should be doing certain things (this tank wasn't using any defensive cooldowns ever). In any other game, that would be nothing but a toxic hatefest. This healer also stayed well beyond the end of the encounter, to have a conversation with this tank about what things they may have been missing via the UI, or just general advice. THAT is why this community is hands down, the best that I have ever encountered in my many years of online gaming.

A salute to most of you. Civility, compassion, and basic decency are things that have left quite a few facets of our society. It's refreshing and hopeful, to see that it still exists. The many decent people that exist in this community should take pride in the fact that they are preserving and fostering the continuation of something very important, and something that is much bigger than just a video game.

We live in an age of derision, and it's heartwarming to see, and be a part of, a community where intelligence, compassion, and empathy still exist and thrive.

[Suniva]

Oh my gosh, that IS old. :P
But sillyness aside, it is always refreshing to see new people come over and have a good experience. The community here is a nice breath of fresh air with all the vitriol and divisiveness that happens out there in other games, or even life in general. But regardless, welcome to your new home.

[TaiyoShikasu]

Great community btw.

[Eldevern]

You are not that old you are that old (more or less like I am )

The good old time of Worms, Wolfenstein, Death track, Monkey Island, see?

[Wanzer]

I'm not sure how FF has avoided it, but I'm thankful for it.

I'm not sure how you avoided it. It's not better than any other community, it's the same than anywhere else : a mixed bag of good & bad. But I'm glad to hear you are having a great journey though.

[Molniya]

As a person who is likewise "old," (think Hack on a Unix system in college) I agree with the op. I've seen a lot of good and bad behavior in communities (both online and off), and FF XIV, while having its share of bad actors, has been overwhelmingly the best online community of which I have had the privilege of being a member.

I created a forum account for the purpose of weighing in on this thread. Now I will go back to being a lurker.

-Lightning Rabbit

[Syphin_Polaris]

Glad you've found some of the more nice and helpful sides of the community. Obviously there is the group of undesirable people you'll bump into sooner or later, but a large deal of that is usually in raiding from my experience. I don't mean just savage/extreme tiers of raids either.

That said, I will also echo the fact that this game does in fact harbor some of the nicest and helpful players I've come into contact with. I've had bad times with people here, but the good I've run into far over shadows the bad. Wishing you the best in your adventures!

[kidalutz]

I try to make the experience a positive and enjoyable one myself. I remember back when I first came over to the game and was trying to learn things and being too scared to do things sometimes because of general experiences on other mmos. I was heartened and have kept it in mind to return that same spirit of kindness as often as I can. Theres a Lala healer somewhere on the forums who has the healers code as their signature I try to live by that code.