Physical Social Interactions

[Kirutsuki]

This is what I enjoy about multiplayer games in general, regardless if they are MMO's or not.

My past comes from the Monster Hunter series, which wasn't an MMO, but was an online game where alot of the gametime was time spent on speaking with other people in a smaller hublike area. Generally these rooms allowed 12people and it had a tavern where you would accept quests and while you were just chilling you'd have people to talk to who were either waiting for parties to return from their quests or otherwise.

This wholesome environment gave me a lasting impression of what it is like to meet people online to get together in these social situations. In 14 it often feel either forced or meaningless to try and be social.

One of the hopes I had for Island Sanctuary for example is that we could have our own little hub like area for people to visit either via random matchmake or otherwise and this area would act as a place for you to party up and start doing dungeons or daily roulette.

One of the things we do do in our FC is actually set-up these smaller events where FC members can get together, but it's never what the game does on it's own.

Think of it this way. Limsa Lominsa is one of the most utilized towns in the game, yet people just stand there and do nothing for the most part. There's literal orchestras trying to get some community situations to happen there, but there is not like a easy to access spot for doing certain activities in the game.

For example, if the The Drowning Wench and other taverns from major cities relocated or at the very least introduced a new sub-tavern like area next to the atheryte; that is freely accessible that just worked as a gathering spot for people looking to party up, it would work wonders for the physical social interactions.

Sure we have party finder, we have duty finder, but those to me don't serve as a meaningful way to socially interract with people.

So what would be the difference with a tavern area like this and just chilling next to the atheryte in Limsa? Well, it should be an area that holds only a set number of people, 4-8 or 24 people. For a much more sociable environment. where you actually see the player you are connecting with.

yes it would work essentially very similar to party finder, but it would actually be a physical place to hang out while still being in the party to start the raid.

Sure you could leave the tavern and it would just put you in a normal PF listing, but the tavern would still be there for you to hang out in.

I know there will be players who wouldn't see the meaning behind something like this because PF is already there, but for me I do think it's important to see the persons character to whom I'm partying up with and talking with.

And yes, this would require cross-world connection in the tavern, so it would connect all players from different worlds. Which probably is something alot of people will find a billion reasons why it's impossible.