Genuine Question Here

[Rolder50]

My favorite is people dismissing others opinions out of some tinfoil hat conspiracy theory that the poster is a troll alt. Certainly makes for a convenient way to dismiss people who disagree with you.

[Alleluia]

I would try to return to being back on topic, but "Do you want people who disagree with you to leave? Y/N?" is a bit silly and can't really be legitimately responded to other than "No." really. No offense, OP.

[SaberMaxwell]

There was actually heavy moderation back during the HW/SB era. But then back then there were people crying about unjust bans. I don't think I've personally seen any unjust bans back then, only heavy-handed ones. Like people who are generally nice and well-liked got a permanent ban on their first offence. They could probably stand to strike a balance between heavy-handed moderation and almost none at all tbh.

Quite a few of my friends were perma'd from the forums back then. One was perma'd for saying someone's argument was fresh from their posterior, in terminology that one might call crass.

Words far worse than that are flung around with so much more wild abandon these days that they find it hilarious when they browse the forums without an account, just reading the insanity.

[Renalt]

Moderation still exists. It's called the Block Function. Notice how certain elements REALLY get uppity when they get ignored? They also hate how people suggest ignoring troll elements. The only thing I see now is people COMPLAINING about trolls. I don't see those elements at all anymore.

The most damaging thing you can do to a troll is ignore it. The slightest response to them is life energy to them and people just can't help but feed and feed and feed.

Once they feel ignored...they will necro old threads that are controversial to watch you guys argue amongst yourselves and sit back and laugh at you just chomping down on bait. If an old thread gets necroed...let it die. Let their alts necro it over and over. That's against ToS and is reportable. It's not if people contribute and fan the flames over again.

[Carin-Eri]

Moderation still exists. It's called the Block Function. Notice how certain elements REALLY get uppity when they get ignored? They also hate how people suggest ignoring troll elements. The only thing I see now is people COMPLAINING about trolls. I don't see those elements at all anymore.

The most damaging thing you can do to a troll is ignore it. The slightest response to them is life energy to them and people just can't help but feed and feed and feed.

Once they feel ignored...they will necro old threads that are controversial to watch you guys argue amongst yourselves and sit back and laugh at you just chomping down on bait. If an old thread gets necroed...let it die. Let their alts necro it over and over. That's against ToS and is reportable. It's not if people contribute and fan the flames over again.

Also worth noting that the threads they necro often tend to be their own, older, threads.

[Renalt]

It's a suggestion. Do with it as you will.

[DerpyWhiskers]

I never really understood or grasped those forum arguments like "game is dying" / "game is the worst ever been" / "game is way too easy" lol. Not saying those opinions are invalid...but golly gee wilakers lol, there's plenty of other things to play. If it's not jingling your bells or tickling your pickle, it's alright to search for greener pastures in other directions, right? Idk, *shrug*

[Ivtrix]

I never really understood or grasped those forum arguments like "game is dying" / "game is the worst ever been" / "game is way too easy" lol. Not saying those opinions are invalid...but golly gee wilakers lol, there's plenty of other things to play. If it's not jingling your bells or tickling your pickle, it's alright to search for greener pastures in other directions, right? Idk, *shrug*

Counterpoint: are people not allowed to want to play this game too? I think a lot of the whole “this game is dying” is sensational over exaggeration, but at least in myself I want to continue to play this game and I want to see improvement that I feel would help the game to be the best it possibly can be made so I can enjoy this game to the fullest.

[Teraq]

I never really understood or grasped those forum arguments like "game is dying" / "game is the worst ever been" / "game is way too easy" lol. Not saying those opinions are invalid...but golly gee wilakers lol, there's plenty of other things to play. If it's not jingling your bells or tickling your pickle, it's alright to search for greener pastures in other directions, right? Idk, *shrug*

To be fair, there is a notable difference between negative feedback on these forums in particular versus negative feedback anywhere else like Reddit or Twitter: everyone posting here has logged in in the last 14 days. We have all here given money to Square-Enix in the last 44 days at the very worst.

Those making their displeasure known here, specifically, very likely are fence-sitters for one reason or another. The motivation for doing so is likely to be because they want to like the game again like they used to. Now, of course, how long a person might stay in such a state depends on the individual, when they finally accept they aren't being listened to and the game isn't going to revert to how it once was when they liked it, unsubscribe and go play something else.

But in the meantime, Square-Enix very much has a motivation to listen to these people rather than heavily moderate negativity: they want to keep the paying customers, including those who are susceptible to throwing the towel in in the immediate future.

It is also for this reason that whatever people might think, the nay-sayers are never going to outnumber or "bully out" the forum members sporting a whiter shade of armor… because the nay-sayers will eventually unsub at some point, while people who keep playing will always be able to post here.

As for claims of the game dying… though I've unsubbed from FFXIV myself, I have also played WoW long enough to know that claims of a big MMORPG death are to be taken with a grain of salt, and should at best be interpreted on a continuum of MMO "life" and "death", especially when content is still being actively released. I think WoW has been dying for 17 years by now…

"We don't want an echo chamber!! We genuinely want to understand the criticisms!!"

man I am so sorry people are unable to understand sarcasm and context, apparently.

[Iscah]

But in the meantime, Square-Enix very much has a motivation to listen to these people rather than heavily moderate negativity: they want to keep the paying customers, including those who are susceptible to throwing the towel in in the immediate future.

That logic only holds to a certain point. There is no value for them in changing the game to keep one currently dissatisfied customer if doing so would make it worse for the people currently enjoying the game as it is.

It makes far more sense for the creators to set their own big-picture vision of the game for themselves and stick to it, and let players come to it if they like it, and only adjust it if it is failing at a large scale – as FFXIV 1.0 did, for example.