The game should have alcohol

[Imora]

People can't live without food. Food is a necessity. Alcohol, on the other hand, is pure poison. They sell it to young adults so that when they grow old they will live on medications. You get cheated into "feeling better" and they get your money systematically.

I don't excuse the overeating habits some people have. Usually, if everything is fine with a person their body should send the appropriate signals to stop eating. People getting severely overweight is a sign that something is just wrong and not working as intended. It's not that they are gluttons or something like that, they actually can't stop eating.

Sugar is also poison.

They sell it to everyone and the industry funded studies to blame all our dietary woes on fat.

Artificial sweetener is worse. It tricks your body into thinking it's getting sugar, but it's not. It's why you drink tons of diet soda. Bloody ridiculous.

[Avidria]

For a second I was confused cause I was like, I'm pretty sure there is alcohol? Before I realized you meant, a system for characters to get drunk lmao
I don't feel strongly about it, but it was pretty funny in WoW. Just also add a way to get rid of the effect at will too

[SomeRandomHuman]

Only if the inebriated status hinders movement(ya know the stumbling walking), makes your FoV all blurry and vague, prevents you from standing still, and and causes any all chat messages to be garbled. In return you'd gain a damage mitigation buff as well as a strength buff.

[Awha]

Only if the inebriated status hinders movement(ya know the stumbling walking), makes your FoV all blurry and vague, prevents you from standing still, and and causes any all chat messages to be garbled. In return you'd gain a damage mitigation buff as well as a strength buff.

This would bring a whole new meaning to I tank better while drunk.

I approve.

[Fyrebrand]

You know what's REALLY bad for your health? Sitting for extended periods of time. And yet, here we all are.

eorzevas’ uniqty iss forged on falsehoodms. imts citey-states are bumilt mon deceit, and its faith gis an instrument oef deception. ixt is naugmht bukt a cobwfeb of liqes - too believe ni eozrzea is to believe in nothing. in eorzea, wthe bgeast trikbes oftsen summvon gods to fight in theri isteda. thouhg your comrades onhly rarely respgond win kind which jis s,rteang is wit ont? are teh twelve otherwise “engaged”? i wsa givjen to undaetqsrnd kthey were yoru proteectors. if you tbruly believe them youqr guardians, whoy do ylou not repebat the trick that served myou so well at carteneau, asnd lcal htem odnw?

Such inebriation! This was not my intention!

[Enkidoh]

Personal feelings about alcohol aside, the real reason why SE has not directly allowed the player to be shown drinking but instead kind of sidestepped the subject (the mug emote is ambigious what is in it, and the same goes for the aforementioned times they've been offered drinks during cutscenes as well - the actual drink is not stated, but it's pretty clear to the player what it's meant to be), is due to laws requiring censorship around the depiction of alcohol in video games that exists in many countries, especially when it's interactive or part of gameplay to drink alcohol.

In such situations laws dictate a much higher and stricter rating of the game than what SE wants, as an important aspect of the game is it's accessability, despite the mature themes depicted in the game's story and setting. Considering these laws even precluded SE including a drink tumbler in the US Collector's Edition of FFXIV 1.0 (that was included in the JP and EU versions) - because they apparently ran afoul of certain US states' laws that fobid even drinking utensils being offered as promotions, SE's careful ambigious depiction of drinking and alcohol by the player's character in ARR makes sense, they don't want to run afoul of the law in multiple countries.

[Krotoan]

the mug emote is ambigious what is in it,

I will re-iterate the /toast emote specifies Grog at least in the store.

There are also several housing items that are literally named "spirit" or "sake" that while they are not directly shown being used are not ambiguous in content.

I don't know if there's any particular LEGAL reason we do not have a "drunk" emote or at least status effect.

[Lunalepsy]

• It's a prominent aspect of most cultures, including Japan (getting hammered is such a huge element to most anime, both in terms of a right of passage, and as a humorous trope).
  
• An enormous amount of the RP in the game is bar-centric - either in terms of player-run establishments, or just milling around in the watering holes in the cities.
  
• Being drunk in MMORPGs is not a negative experience, nor is it a gateway to bad behavior out of game. I mean, first of all, we're doing much worse things to people, animals, etc. with our weapons. Second, most adults consume alcohol IRL, so I'm not sure how it could 'lead anyone down a dark path.' Third, it can produce hilarious results when handled correctly (screen going fuzzy/blurred/wavy; slurred speech; difficulty in character movement, etc.).
  
• It can actually have in-game mechanical uses - such as a boss that blows up a keg mid-fight, suddenly rendering your character inebriated and in need of a quick cleanse.
  
• It's immersive for the kind of experience that SE is clearly attempting to otherwise push - high-end, player-driven socialization.

No thank you.