Why is AFKing so popular in FFXIV?

[TeraRamis]

I'm seriously not being snide - more just curious what the motivation is. I know that the game not forcing you to log off is a big part of it, but there has to be more to it than that. I like playing dress-up probably more than most people; I like showing off. But when I am not actively doing something, I tend to shut off the client simply because I am a) going to walk away and do something else non-PC related, or b) am going to play another game, in which case I'd rather not divert memory resources to something I'm not actively playing.

This isn't to say that I never AFK myself - far from it. But there are a lot of times when I will visit, say, Ul'dah, and see a person doing some emote or something, and then come back 3 or 4 hours later, and they're still there, doing the exact same thing. Hell, on Balmung, there's a person who somehow manages to kill their character in the Ul'dah aetheryte room (not the feign death emote - I mean actually a dead character), and just leaves it there for like 8-10 hours straight (a group of us have taken to calling her the 'resident dead prostitute'). Another guy in Limsa Lominsa has attained minor fame for wearing a giant mog suit and then using a double and doing the vanu vanu dance for something like 18-20 hours a day - as far as most of us can tell, it is the singular function of his account.

Again, these people aren't hurting anyone, etc., and I'm not here to excoriate them. But, rather, I just want to know: why? Why don't you just turn the game off?

[VictorTheed]

I usually let myself go afk if I am going to use the bathroom or grab a snack to eat that might take a min or two, but if I'm gonna eat dinner or leave my house I exit game and turn my PS4 off, anything 30 min or above is usually grounds for me to turn the game off.

[LolitaBansheeMeru]

I normally afk because world q and i dont wanna wait for it when i just have to get up to take abath or check the mail or cook etc

[LaylaTsarra]

AFK'ing is the true endgame.

[Gula]

You mean every mmo since 2003?

It's tradition to want to show off. Ah, the days of punk kids, mall goths, and jocks sitting around to impress no one but themselves because everyone else thought they were obnoxious or weirdos.

[Shahi]

I never turn off my ps4 so there is no need to log out of the game. I'm not a show off, i always afk in my mansion. I just don't know why should i ever log off?
If i want to play something else then i just use my second ps4 or laptop.

[Goji1639]

I play at work on my laptop a decent amount. It's easier to just stay logged in than to keep quitting out whenever work has to take priority.

[XenociderOmega]

It's all games some ppl go to sleep or work and stay logged in

[TeraRamis]

You mean every mmo since 2003?

It's tradition to want to show off. Ah, the days of punk kids, mall goths, and jocks sitting around to impress no one but themselves because everyone else thought they were obnoxious or weirdos.

No, I don't. I've played about 10 MMORPGs seriously going back to the days of UO. I've never seen a game where long-duration (re: in excess of 2 hours; sometimes enormously) AFKing was such a widespread phenomenon. Hell, most MMORPGs kick you after 30-60 minutes of inactivity, so this isn't even possible there.

There's a difference between AFKing to take the dog for a walk, or AFKing to go get a coffee, or AFKing to cook dinner, or AFKing to take a deuce... and AFKing an entire night. The former is something we all do; the latter isn't.

[TeraRamis]

Actually, people AFK for a long time in BDO... the difference being in BDO, they're doing it to fish, and thus augment their income. Here... nope.