How has the game positively affected you?

[Areic]

Since I love to squat in game it made me do more in real life.

Trying to keep up with my character has both made my knees incredibly powerful and killed about 20 years off of them

[CKNovel]

Alright so... There's a bit of story there, it's a bit dark, slightly. But it involves Hildibrand!

The game introduction was good, before XIV, all Final Fantasy games after X were not Final Fantasy anymore. I also had a big bias towards MMOs due to bad experience with them. So far so light. I took a break and came back in September/October, I played WoW with a friend and it simply motivate me to play XIV again.

I think November 2015 will ring a bell to many people. At this time, there was a terrorist attack in Paris. TV kept talking about it, friends and family kept talking about it, you simply couldn't escape it. For some hours, I felt obligated to watch every bit. Each minutes that passes would reveal more information, it felt like I needed to watch the news for keeping myself informed, that doing anything else would be disrepectful. It kept going on like a vicious cycle as time passes, more horrifying news, more of that feeling that I needed to be informed.

I decided to stop the TV and to play a bit, I just wanted to escape reality.
I logged in XIV, to unlock and do some casual content. No matter what I did, I could not forget about the attack and felt the need to watch the TV again.
I then learn through an FC mate that there is a Gilgamesh fight, I liked FF V and Greg is a cool character, I ask where to unlock it and they tell me to start the Hildibrand quest series.

Hildibrand was exactly what I needed, refresh, amusing, it made my night. I loved the characters, I loved the humor, Godbert was single handly carrying the whole show.
The next morning I had to go back to reality, the week was gloom, but I slept much better thanks to a 3D man getting supplex'd.

Thanks XIV, thanks Hildibrand for making a dark night much more bearable.
And love each others guys, we only have one-shot for it.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Whatever do you mean?

You know what you did.

[Vahlnir]

You know what you did.

Hmm...

increased my hatred towards casuals.

Yep, there it is. At least they are self aware.

[Anienai]

Enhanced my love for large women.

[ksuyen]

People only post because they want to complain. Naturally you won't see much positive thread here but rest assured there are plenty of happy players around.

On the positive note, I log in to Ul'dah and this what I see. Positive community that gather together to pay tribute.

[Meillquei]

This game has been nothing but a positive influence on me since I started in September 2016.

After a brief stint with an FC that I didn't really click with, I joined a new FC about a month after I started. This ended up being one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Fast forward to 2017. 2017 ended up being one of the worst years of my life. I lost two family members to cancer. About seven months after I joined, my FC planned a real life meetup. I decided immediately that I had to try to go to take my mind off the stress I was feeling. I drove halfway across the country to attend. I still consider that trip one of the happiest times of my life. Right before and during that trip is when I lost my family members to cancer. That trip really helped me through it.

This might sound odd, but my character has also been a positive influence on me. I've never felt really OK being myself for most of my life, but I essentially made my character an extension of myself. Playing my character has made me realize that it is in fact OK to be myself. My character has made a lot of missing pieces click into place for me.

[Gameovers]

When I first started I was messing with my ui in the middle of Ul'dah and when I turned my character to look at the crowd there was a midlander female who looked at me and beamed at me. When I looked at the chat it said -so and so beams at you- That moment stuck with me for X amount of years. I started in HW. I dunno why but coming from Tera where people didn't emote and just spammed jumped on their mounts that beam made me lol. We meme and joke and yell about this game so much but largely people in the game are really nice and kool. We really are just a bunch of big kids who just want to have fun. And get head pats. That's mostly why I love playing this game. No matter how crazy the forums get.

[CalliopeDragonsong]

I met my special someone on this game in March 2016. In September, still in 2016, after I was returning from a language trip in Japan, he joined me in my home country, Switzerland, for 9 months. I moved to France with him eventually and we’re still living together.

[Nethereal]

Yes and no.

I've basically played every MMORPG that has been out and I specifically like games with the trinity system because I like healing/pocket healing, think back to original fly for fun(flyff) priest days.
So while this is the longest time I've played an mmorpg and I do think it has the longest longevity in the market it is also the most toxic experience in gaming I've ever had and I remember CoD & Combat Arms.
Maybe it's just because most every problem you'll find in ffxiv is a personal one you can't space yourself away from.

Other than that I mainly stay for the family I've made here not so much anything else.