[dev1008] About Jumping

[Focant]

You know what I realised? This all just brings us back to the linearity debate. Final Fantasy XIV was indeed developed with a focus on people navigating through environments in one particular way. Just look at The Black Shroud for a lesson in tunnelling people down a path. Or look at Cassiopeia Hollow as an example of unused areas. Have you ever noticed how much more that zone would open up if you could swim and jump instead of walk over those Lily Pads?

So although the game was designed with these features at its core, that doesn't mean we can't disagree with them. Maybe people enjoy different genres of games, but can't we argue these features by themselves instead of on a genre-by-genre basis? After all, what do you gain from linear travel besides simplicity? The same thing that gives developers the freedom to make zones in a way they see fit is the same thing that removes our sense of freedom to navigate those zones without frustration.

You can build a zone full of knee-high barriers, but you can't expect people to be ok with this in a fantasy MMO which is meant to reflect reality. In real life, such things wouldn't present themselves as a barrier. This itself detracts from the immersion - the ability to engross yourself in the game - simply by virtue of the fact that it leads to frustration. There is a time and place for a genre of games, but an MMO shouldn't try to be a game. It should try to be an imitation of life, but with more interesting gameplay. People play MMOs to do things they can't do in real life, they dont play MMOs to be able to do even less.

In this day and age, you can create a game like FFXIV if you want, but you can't expect it to find a large audience. If you're not even going to try aid in the illusion of freedom in an MMO, then perhaps you're in the wrong industry.

Ultimately yes, it comes down the linearity of the game and the design behind the zones as well as the gameplay. Really at this point I think it'd be better to start a crusade for more open zones either alongside or before demanding a jump feature. What good is jump if you're standing around in a prairie right?

Anyways, some types of games benefit from certain features more than others. They provide different experiences. To say one experience trumps any other and trying to back it up logically is pointless since it's all a matter of what people enjoy the most personally.

I can't argue that your idea of a fun, engrossing mmo is wrong. That is a purely opinionated discussion. So really at this point it might not be as beneficial to argue why jumping should be implemented and more so to gather support for a more open style of play. Because really, at this point, we've come to the bottom of the argument, the fundamental disparity in our views. It all boils down to what kind of game we want to play and what features we think deserve the most attention. Though XIV isn't a very welcoming environment to jumping, if you're willing to build support for changing that then go for it. The changes it would undergo probably wouldn't greatly appeal to me but I have no reason to say that my idea of fun is any better than your own. It really just matters what the most people want in the end. =/

XIV is a specific type of experience, one that doesn't cater to everyone. However, if enough people demand it there's potential to change it so fundamentally as to steer it in an entirely new direction leaving it nothing like what it is now. It's a tall order but if the people demand it then so be it.

I feel a need to summarize what I'm saying in like... two or three sentences. Essentially, XIV isn't a jumping man's game and wasn't intended to be, it gives an experience apart from other mmos. If you're up for the challenge though, and if SE agrees with you, you can possibly change it into an entirely new game. We aren't really dealing with why jump would or wouldn't fit into XIV anymore, but if XIV should be the kind of game that it can fit into.