How does this game have such a fantastic community?

[Keres]

I've played 5 different MMOs, and FFXI's community is, to this day, the friendliest and more helpful I've played with.

The only friendly people in WoW were my guild mates everyone else simply only grouped up with me to get through a dungeon or something, then never talked to me again.
SWOTR I dont even think I existed to other players in that game.
Rift; another one where I was invisible.
Then FFXI and FFXIV where I can joke around with random people and not get my head bitten off.

That's the thing; I've had just as many friendly experiences like you describe in other MMOs as I've had in FFXI/XIV. There are jerks and friendly people in every game; I've had more fun experiences than I can count with strangers, joking around and working through challenges, in every MMO I've played. I'm just saying that FFXI/XIV is not unique in this respect.

Don't get me wrong, I've had lots of good experiences with players in XI/XIV, but so have I in every other MMO. Likewise, I've had plenty of terrible experiences with jerks in XI/XIV, just as I have in every other MMO, with about equal proportion. I just don't approve of the repeated meme around this community that FFXI/XIV is this sort of "oasis of politeness" in a world full of jerks, because I just don't believe it to be the case, and it seems to be intended to back-slap ourselves into thinking we're better than the rest of the world. That's all.