What's with the forums?

[AnimaAnimus]

Fact of the matter is, you are not allowed to even post things you enjoy about DT on the forums either as your thread gets overrun by the negativity bias and lack of moderation.

Funny thing about that is, esp during endwalker, you were not allowed to post anything negative or critical about the game. Reddit, Twitter, Youtube no matter where you went you would be met with a white wave of knights who would do everything from downvote you to send you threats to dox you. We lost more than a few good YT creators during the EW white knight wave because so many people took it as a personal slight when someone gave even constructive criticism about the game. And it still happens with certain topics. Say for instance that you do not like Soken's work because of A B or C, give great examples and bring up good, valid points. You are in for it.

The forums on the other hand do not have a downvote system and come with bans if you treat other players here the way you treat them elsewhere. So the forums tend to lean more negative since it is the only place where contructive criticism or negativity is not met with swift social media justice.

You can huff and puff about how ppl on the forums are this or that or want to suppress anything good you have to say and try to be the victim of those big bad Gamers all you want. But the truth is, this is just the only place you cannot control the narrative with intimidation and downvotes.

[caffe_macchiato]

Ultimately, it's specifically a lack of forum moderation and not funneling feedback into specific existing threads that creates the wall of spam and negativity as people keep making their version of the same topic. The lack of moderation caters to these narcissistic people who suffer from main character syndrome and have the failing brain capacity to not use common sense and post in one thread.

The cause for lack of moderation is the same cause for the complaints about the game: it's Square Enix. The company isn't doing very well and it shows. Their YoY earnings which just came out show a company on the verge of bankrupcy. Final Fantasy XIV is the only game that's profitable, not because it makes a lot of money, but because they barely spend any money on it. Remember: it's Square Enix. What did you expect coming into this place? This isn't Blizzard or Bethesda. They don't have resources for anything beyond the bare minimum. They can't do anything. It's like expecting SEGA to make a good MMO in 2024. Like, come on.

[Catwho]

I'll admit, I haven't been here that long, but why are the forums so... miserable? I get that people come here to give feedback, but it feels like some people see it as permission to be as toxic as possible. To be clear, I'm not talking about just any criticism. I mean people demanding staff members be fired over mild grievances, claiming there's some kind of conspiracy to ruin the game, portraying anyone who isn't as negative as them as idiotic, that type of thing. I guess what I'm trying to say is at some point, there's a line between criticism and entitlement. Have the forums always been this way? Even before I set up my forum profile I heard they have a reputation.

Actual constructive discussion and feedback goes into the correct topics for that thing. I've had two of my UI recommendations implemented eventually from the UI forum, for example. And we have some great lore discussions in the Lore forum.

It's only General that is a complete and total septic tank.

[Grumblecakes]

I have lurked on and off for awhile. Posted a few times recently, some were negative due to frustrations I had at the moment with the game. Forums in general from my experience aren't on the positive topic side. It is like how if you go to a restaurant and have a good experience you are less likely to leave a review as someone who had a bad one.
Other than trolls posting, I do believe alot of the negative posts are coming from people who love this game and might be worried of the direction after the DT MSQ since we have gotten no feedback from SE. I love the game, i may have posted comments in the past being negative but I want it to get back on track story wise. I would be lying if I didn't admit I am a little concerned the game I play the most might be on it's decline since again, we don't know the direction they will go.

Forums will always be negative but the higher volume of it now I think is because people want the game to course correct since they enjoy the game.

[Lunaxia]

Have the forums always been this way?

Yes, they have. Ordinarily, though, you would have pockets of slightly more grounded, well-rounded discussion surrounding criticism of the game to balance out the hysteria. Unfortunately, DT's various failings have acted as a siren call for the more unhinged members of our community as well as anyone with a chip on their shoulder about... certain topics, resulting in the sensation of being permanently stuck at a chain store customer service desk on a Monday afternoon.

[Striker44]

Funny thing about that is, esp during endwalker, you were not allowed to post anything negative or critical about the game. Reddit, Twitter, Youtube no matter where you went you would be met with a white wave of knights who would do everything from downvote you to send you threats to dox you. We lost more than a few good YT creators during the EW white knight wave because so many people took it as a personal slight when someone gave even constructive criticism about the game. And it still happens with certain topics. Say for instance that you do not like Soken's work because of A B or C, give great examples and bring up good, valid points. You are in for it.

The forums on the other hand do not have a downvote system and come with bans if you treat other players here the way you treat them elsewhere. So the forums tend to lean more negative since it is the only place where contructive criticism or negativity is not met with swift social media justice.

You can huff and puff about how ppl on the forums are this or that or want to suppress anything good you have to say and try to be the victim of those big bad Gamers all you want. But the truth is, this is just the only place you cannot control the narrative with intimidation and downvotes.

The part that always amuses me, however, is how the forum claims every other place on the internet is overrun with "white knights" who love the game, how this forum is the only place on the internet where you can be negative about FFXIV, while simultaneously acting as if this forum magically represents the playerbase at large and it being absolutely dwarfed by the other places that do nothing but praise the game is somehow conveniently irrelevant.

[AnimaAnimus]

The part that always amuses me, however, is how the forum claims every other place on the internet is overrun with "white knights" who love the game, how this forum is the only place on the internet where you can be negative about FFXIV, while simultaneously acting as if this forum magically represents the playerbase at large and it being absolutely dwarfed by the other places that do nothing but praise the game is somehow conveniently irrelevant.

As do you ppl think reddit/twiitter/yt is the be all say all, while not acknowledging that it is like that because of the reasons I gave. All the rest of the internet is, is badly drawn anime fan pics, because I swear no one wants to actually have a modicum of creativity and come up with their own style anymore, and ppl who want to talk about how FFXIV is the best mmo ever, Yoshida is the best director/producer ever, soken is the biggest musical genius ever, etc etc while ripping apart anyone who disagrees to the point that even those amongst who disagree never speak up. And then you all claim that you represent the majority of players and everything is fine.

Seriously, if you ever desire to expand your horizons and utilize some creativity in your next "art" piece instead of just looking in your "how to draw anime" book yet again, try incorporating some critical thinking in there as well.

[AureliusIX]

The part that always amuses me, however, is how the forum claims every other place on the internet is overrun with "white knights" who love the game, how this forum is the only place on the internet where you can be negative about FFXIV, while simultaneously acting as if this forum magically represents the playerbase at large and it being absolutely dwarfed by the other places that do nothing but praise the game is somehow conveniently irrelevant.

So I want to address this attitude head on because it's something that is being discussed on the Japanese forums and discussion boards that FF14 has a very toxic positivity culture, which is stifling to those who wish to discuss their feedback and that sometimes not everything is perfect, somethings do need improving. The reason why this is currently
so damaging one can take a look at Concord the culture of toxic positivity was pervasive throughout the dev team, any criticism and negativity was not allowed which fostered this environment of an echo chamber to where they believed their game was a smash hit when everyone on the outside looking in could see massive issues. That culture has been directly quoted as one of the reasons Concord failed and has cost Sony over $400million. This is being discussed very openly as I said on the Japanese forums, because your behaviour and those like you while your heart is in the right place what you're doing is hurting the game by trying to trivialise and dismiss the feedback paying customers are giving. YoshiP once said that a complaint is worth two compliments, please take a step back and see your behaviour and those like you is only going to lead towards the same situation as Concord.

[CidHeiral]

The part that always amuses me, however, is how the forum claims every other place on the internet is overrun with "white knights" who love the game, how this forum is the only place on the internet where you can be negative about FFXIV, while simultaneously acting as if this forum magically represents the playerbase at large and it being absolutely dwarfed by the other places that do nothing but praise the game is somehow conveniently irrelevant.

What posts like that actually mean is "on other sites people have the audacity to disagree with me, but here I can truly express myself in echo chamber threads."

[CuteBucket]

I've seen plenty of negative but constructive feedback on Reddit and Youtube about Dawntrail as of late. I really don't think the forums are the only place you can complain about the game anymore. I've seen really good, well thought out critique of the game on Twitter too, but it is more likely to get people mad and convinced you're just a heartless evil meanie hater over there.