Can we take action against Bard Macro Player yet?

[Puremallace]

do you have this same attitude outside of the game? the elitism is boring. let people have their harmless fun in a game we all pay to enjoy in various ways.

I mean if you wanted to show some serious skill then play original songs on the whatever instrument then tell people in shout chat to come listen. Why people are not doing this by now is amazing to me.

[Burmecia]

I've seen it all now. Bard Performance Elitists.

I was ready to throw my hand in the air like "yup, i got caught" about my super lazy BRD combat macros.

[Seera1024]

If it's so obvious to people, what's the problem?

It's like the difference between a live performance by a band and the studio recording of the song.

Both can be enjoyed.

I know I would give more props to someone actively playing the song vs someone playing a song via a macro, unless I knew the person made the macro themselves.

[SirCadogan]

So I Jocasta night I witnessed a bard laying down epic tracks. The player had a huge gathering and we all thought he had a macro until he messed up a little and started over. The player must have had 20-30 people just watching/ listening.

Honestly they where so good… love this game for stuff like that.

[FrogDog]

But what bothers me is when you pretend you ARE playing songs and acting as if you are so great because you let a third party tool play it for you.

Well it's not like people can be honest about it because people like yourself would have fuel to get them suspended or banned for admitting they're using BMP.

[kaynide]

I mean if you wanted to show some serious skill then play original songs on the whatever instrument then tell people in shout chat to come listen. Why people are not doing this by now is amazing to me.

Because generally speaking actual music skill does not translate to FFXIV’s music system without specialized equipment that converts an actual musical instrument input into keystrokes. Which is itself a third party tool.

There will be some who actually put the time and effort into learning how to play the computer keyboard as an instrument, but those people are pretty rare.

[AngelCheese77]

The same way ACT is policed.

ACT isn't policed though. Don't say you use it and no one knows. So I'm not sure what you are getting at.

[AbraK]

But it's not a competition. When was performance mode ever meant to be a competitive thing ?
If you're that hard set on impressing people in game, try doing Feast or hard content. If you want to impress people with music, go to the streets irl and start performing. Or make a media channel.

We play games for fun. If performance mode is fun for you then jam on. Impressing people and garnering attention shouldn't be the motivating factor or goal, just a happy coincidence that might happen on the way. So people macro playing songs should really not bother you in this way.

[Enjuden]

In other news: Samurai gameplay is impacted by whether or not real samurai are behind the keyboard.

I can only imagine how this conversation would go in the black mage community.

Everyone knows you can only get gold if you spill fresh goat's blood over your keyboard.

[Fyrebrand]

I'm very ambivalent about this, and not sure how to feel.

I think people who play for real deserve the recognition and admiration. They practiced a skill, and they're working hard to produce something for people to enjoy. Personally, I would much rather spend my in-game time listening to someone who is performing for real. It's a much more fun experience when you know somebody is playing for real, like you're at a live concert. It's a real-time event, and it makes the game so much more dynamic and exciting.

At the same time, I don't see anything wrong with people who want to use a third-party tool to auto-play music either. Not everybody has that kind of skill, but it's such a fun feature of the Bard that it seems a shame to restrict it so harshly. This is a video game after all, and what you can do in the game should not be contingent on what you can do in real life. I agree that people ought to be honest about whether they are actually playing or using tool automation, but unfortunately Square Enix's official policy disallowing such external software doesn't allow people to be honest. Anyone who openly says they are doing it risks a ban. I actually am happy they don't allow third-party add-ons in this game for the most part, but in this particular case I wish they'd make an exception. As for myself, someone with no musical skill but would like to experiment with this feature, I haven't dared touch it and that really sucks. I wouldn't ever in my life even think of lying about whether I'm playing it for real or not, but it might be really fun to play some obscure pre-made songs and just bring a smile to people's faces.

I wish there were a way to keep people honest, but there just isn't. I've seen some of the adverts for nightclubs in the game, and they talk about "live music" versus a "DJ." I think that's a great way to differentiate between the two, and both of those things have value. Can't say I've been to such things yet, or if they're telling the truth or not, but it seems like a good approach until something better comes along.

Maybe if Square Enix themselves came out with an official MIDI conversion program tied to the game, and it would display a little icon next to your character name, if you were using it, that would be an ideal solution. But I can't see that ever happening.