User created content in FFXI.

[Feba]

Got into a discussion on this last night. Basically, there are two major points:

1- The ability of people to modify games is almost always a good thing. They allow players to add more things to games, give them more things to do, and so on.

2- FFXI already has a relatively strong .dat modding community, which is currently limited to reskinning things.

It would be very easy for SE to make an excuse for this; Vana'diel already has about five thousand dimensional portals, so a portal wouldn't be a stretch for any player. Just make it a 'portal into the imagination', and allow you to choose who's imagination you visit (in the same way you choose who to mail to at the DB). Very easy way to integrate it with the world; and that's ignoring the possibilities of Dioramas or Diabolo's dreamworld.

It would be harder to implement it in FFXI, though, given that it would basically have to be downloaded to the client ahead of time. While this wouldn't be much of a problem for PC players, 360, PS2, and PS3 owners could easily find themselves running out of storage space. There's also the whole problem of SE having to either review them individually (which could take a lot of time and work, potentially more than just creating content themselves), or devote a lot of work to dealing with reports of inappropriate/illegal creations.

Let's ignore those technical problems (let's say we're dealing with FFXIv2, with steaming content, and some sort of volunteer based approval/rejection/reporting process), and say that SE decides to give players area, quest, mission, monster, and so on creation tools to do this.

Obviously, because you're going into people's imaginations, you could run into some ridiculously unbalanced things. 300 EXP for killing a rabbit that doesn't fight back would not be exactly fair; nor would ridiculously overpowered equipment. There are a few ways SE could get around this, the easiest of which would be to bar anything earned inside the dream/diorama/imagination from leaving it. This could be done by having some kind of NPC force who's duty is to protect reality (obviously their main goal would be to keep the monsters that could kick AV's ass from getting through), and forces you to remove anything you gained there before reentering reality.

At the same time, if you bar ANY rewards from these areas, the only reason players would have to go through them would be for the stories, very challenging fights, and scenery. Now, this would obviously be enough for some people, but it wouldn't take the playerbase as a whole. SE could obviously limit the tools somehow, to keep players from making anything too unbalanced (like most character creation systems in other games; you get a set amount of points for stats and have to balance them) , but players would probably find some way to break that. I propose an "imagination points" type replacement for XP, in the same way merit points replace them at 75, which could be used in the real world with aforementioned NPC force; similar to Assault. XP, and armor (gil would need to be handled as an item, similar to AU coins) earned would be converted from whatever it was there to these points upon exiting (the NPC force reimburses you with them). They could then be spent on 'real world' things which would be balanced by SE. Reward:Effort ratio would of course probably be significantly lower in Imagination than in Assault, BCNM, or whatever other thing you want to do in FFXI, to prevent exploits; but still something that people could do for fun and earn some nice things with.

The next obvious problem would be getting stuck in terrain. Also, as I said above, you would need to be removed of imaginary things upon leaving, so being able to warp out would probably not work. This would make it very easy, in theory, for a player to trap you. Both intentionally, because people are bastards that have no problem deleting a pool ladder and watching a poor virtual soul drown, but also unintentionally, in a place where you could fall and be unable to get out. Obviously this would lead to a huge amount of "Hey GM, I am stuck in wall. Out prz." calls, which would be a huge annoyance. The simplest way around this would be to have a sort of 'imaginary home point'. Using Escape, Warp, Teleport-*, and so on would take you to this point in an imagination; but the recommended method would be Imaginary Fireflies, which you would be given as an item which cannot be tossed (think Ballista's inventory, something that wouldn't take up space, and couldn't be lost). This would also include the exit, and said member of NPC force, all in one neat little area, to keep players from doing something stupid and making it impossible to get out. Dying would also lead you here, with your only loss being imaginary points.

So, ignoring the fact that it isn't technically feasible to actually do this in FFXI because of storage limitations, does anyone see other problems with it? Ideas? What would you make; a peaceful serene land with not much to do but fish and relax, or a horrible twisted land with horrific monsters at every turn?

[Kitalrez]

Re: User created content in FFXI.

I think you'd need two things for this to be doable.

1. Instanced content in a particular area... like Safehold or Jeuno, which aren't overused ATM. Pop in an access point and go from there.

2. The ability to download and then erase instanced content in these areas. Say you want to download "Sheep on Fire" by ModderX for a little group play later. You and your LS load it up for a few minutes or so, and everyone gets a key to that area that lasts a few days, let's say. At the end of that time, the key expires and the drive automatically unloads the files. For users on systems with tighter hardware specs, this might make playing the files doable.

Which I guess means that you want to make the content tools for this as a separate program rather than FFXI. Content can be accessed on all platforms, but you need a PC or something with a lot of firepower to be able to run the tools/files. In this way, you could truly make it your own by being able to run all the skinning/3d modelling programs that modders currently use on the game. Create a model or skin, drag it into the folders, use the tools to place it in game and define the way it would interact. This could also act as the bridge for the next big graphics upgrade that a number of us have been begging for.

[Feba]

Re: User created content in FFXI.

1- Do you just mean easy access? I figured it would be best to have this as part of an expansion. A city could easily rise up around a portal (honestly, it doesn't really make sense in FFXI that we DON'T have cities that pop up with these portals right on top of them, tele crags especially)

2- I had thought about that. Another way I figured it could be implemented, if you have it download on the fly, instead of having an extended loading screen, would be a download bar. Say, you walk up to the NPC, request AreaY. The NPC says "I will prepare a portal. Please return later". A bar pops up on the left side of your screen; as the area downloads, it fills up. When the download is complete, you go back to the NPC, they open a portal, and you go in. This would be imperfect, obviously no one likes waiting, but the best way to do it that I can see.

The problem is this severely limits what you can do with these areas; you can't have entire little storylines, just quick quests or such. It also makes it a pain in the ass to use-- let's say you make aforementioned quiet area to chillax and enjoy the scenery. You'd go there every day to hang out with friends; but it takes ten minutes to download it each time.

What I would suppose would work best would be a combination of that system, and the ability to keep the file. Say, the game keeps track of how much space you have (360 and PS2 owners could add space through memory cards or USB drives or such), when you download a file it defaults to keeping it until you need space for a new thing. Once you have it downloaded, you can go to the NPC agency, and say "Please keep a portal open to <XX> for me", which would put it in "Do not delete" mode. Old files (portals) that you don't choose to keep would be automagically deleted when you decide to open a new one. Kinda like how a DVR works (at least my DVR).

3- Yes, the content tools would have to be separate and potent to be worth having. This wouldn't really leave the PS2 and 360 owners out anymore than .dat modding does. They would still be free to enjoy the areas. They could also create things themselves (presuming SE would get their shit together and make FFXI PC downloadable WITHOUT SUCKING)

4- I don't think this would be a good idea for upgrading FFXI's graphics, actually. Users aren't likely to create the same areas twice; an employee doesn't exactly get that choice. If a user created an awesome area, but it was only in HD, that would screw PS2/3 and possibly 360 users over; on the other hand if a user created an area in SD, they wouldn't be likely to make an HD version as well. SE needs to truly fork the game themselves before they expect users to do that.

[Kitalrez]

Re: User created content in FFXI.

Well, no... Here's the point where I wish Saga of Ryzom hadn't started making it's downward spiral last year. I could've used their fansites to illustrate my point here, I think a lot of them are no longer online. What I was thinking of is this: back before Nevrax declared bankruptcy, they did what you were suggesting here as a sort of last-ditch effort to reinvigorate the game. It would have worked really well, too, if their major problem hadn't been that they never bothered to really advertise Ryzom. The world's best idea can't make up for a non-existent marketing department.

The way they did it was this. They stuck an NPC into the regular updates. There was one NPC for every city, plus the play for free newbie area. Just showed up one update with this odd looking 3d star chart thing next to him and heralded the launch of "Ryzom: Ring". You went up to this NPC, he gave you a menu of possible scenarios, (some were locked to just people the writer had given passwords out to), you loaded up that scenario, (could take awhile on 56k), and then headed on in. You could then interact all you wanted with the scenario and then warp right back to where you started once you were done or killed. No exp or item loss or gain in these. Some of them ended up very articulate, you had a few scenarios with spawn/item/scene change triggers all over the place.

The editor itself was an optional download. You had all the tools you needed to modify the game in there, set up whatever triggers and pops you wanted, and then finish up the build and take it live. You could also mess with items outside of the editor, like reskin then or change their locations/features... but not stats. Then take them back into the editor and test them out.


Now, applying things I wished were fixed in Ryzom:Ring, and altering the setting for FFXI, here's what I'm thinking might work:
1. Take 2 existing NPCs that already sit unused, let's say the Galka in the Tenshodo office for Jeuno, and the Tarutaru who guards the Sacrarium entrance in Safehold. Give them that menu script and pop a story element in there... something like: "The great Abjalis is pleased to announce his newest and greatest Diorama, consisting of the infinite world of dreams...yada yada yada".

2. Make each downloadable entrance key instanced for a particular group/alliance/ls. Give it an expiration date... you can access it for so long, but then it expires if you let it run out, or get another scenario. Once it expires, the files on your drive unload themselves. Yes, downloading it would take awhile and possibly suck, but it would solve the issue with drive space we'd run into.

3. Have SE create a company unit to playtest certain scenarios. Let's say someone designs a really well run scenario. Maybe you might want players to get exp/items off that scenario if it doesn't break the rules in some way, (like how Neverwinter Nights scenarios work). If SE playtesters decide a scenario is up to snuff and it's highly rated enough by users, it gets sponsored and the content is locked to editing, with rewards added for playing through it. This is a way of getting people to design, since a sponsored design level is equivalent of another piece for your digital artist/designer portfolio. Remember the abortion that was Daikatana? Well, half the people tapped for that thing made their marks designing Quake levels and Doom reskins on their own time. You could end up with some very well done content this way, and help new artists get their names out. Also, people get to play through new content on a regular basis and have fun, which does wonders for retaining players.



And no, you misunderstood me on the graphical upgrade point. I wasn't trying to suggest that users would update the graphics, I was implying that something like this might give SE a reason to do so. A little incentive and a valid reason might get us the graphics to make WoW seem like the empty space it starts feeling like once you get up there in levels.

[Feba]

Re: User created content in FFXI.

I still don't see why you want to make areas forcibly instanced and delete.

Instancing: This could be an OPTION, for areas that are solely devoted to quests and stories and such. Person goes in, they proceed through the area and story, and it ends when they leave. But there should also be the option to have them as areas; again so you can just have a place to kick back and 'be'. To borrow something from Starbucks; a 'third place'. Except instead of being home/work/starbucks, it would be City/Parties and Group Events/Dreamworld.

Automatically delete: I just don't understand this. At all. What problem do you have with the system I proposed for managing what you have? It could be done easily and effectively through an NPC system, allow content to be expandable (say, by swapping out USB sticks on consoles), and save much of the hassle.

About SE reviewing areas, given their enormous laziness, I figured that wouldn't happen. What I would propose would be a user controlled vote-based popularity ranking, like many Web 2.0 places have; Reddit and Digg specifically. Worlds which are very popular get moved into another section, so new ones can rise up to take their place. At that level, a volunteer force, or SE employees, could work on ironing out any kinks, and possibly making small improvements. Of course, the thing would be out of the creator's control by then, so the popularity rankings would be voluntary.

I see your point about graphics, but this would still be a bad system for it. Having to create the same level twice would be a PITA for hobbyists, where it's a business move for SE. Which means either everyone HAS to create their level in low-fi, or legacy players get screwed out of them.

[Akashimo]

Re: User created content in FFXI.

What about area design, weapon and armor set design contests?
Users give screenshots of their mods, make new styles of armor and include stats for them, then everyone would vote for their favorite on pol viewer top 10 armor sets, 20 weapons, 5 zones would get added in the following update. Then make it a yearly thing or after a major zomg 5 hour update.

Simple, easy to do, and could be made of win.

[Feba]

Re: User created content in FFXI.

While that would be leagues better than the crappy art design contest, it doesn't make much sense to be able to travel into people's imaginations if there's only a few people out there. Unless you make it a diorama, in which case you can call those people diorama masters. Would be especially cool if you give them a diorama house item.

Still kinda screws over those of us who just want to make something fun (like an LS house) to hang out at, though.

[Prons]

Re: User created content in FFXI.

I can already predict the japanese are gonna make some silly impossible teleport puzzles or something

[Feba]

Re: User created content in FFXI.

That would be one of the things I'd most look forward to, puzzle levels. You could get some real creative stuff going on.

I mean, what does SE have; Banishing gates? A couple very predictable mazes? Meh!

[Akashimo]

Re: User created content in FFXI.

What about a maze that at the end has a coffer for job based rare/ex loot? Takes nyzle style layout changes, adds mobs of your job, copies your gear stats and merits and adds in randomly a boss of any race, fomor or manniquen face, gives them even your spell list and job abilities(including subjobs). Also your at 60 minute time limit to get through, kill all the enemies and pop the coffer. Something more difficult than that enm in mineshaft.

[Feba]

Re: User created content in FFXI.

I'm still against the idea of playermade areas giving permanent rewards; even if you have SE review them, that's still a great deal of work to keep them balanced. Not to mention they pretty much have to be boring, because players couldn't make things like latent effects.


Personally, I wasn't really thinking of dungeon challenges like assaults and BCNMs (although I keep comparing it to them, I know) so much as tiny regions. One or two areas, and a dungeon; with a small little story. Like, Sarutabaruta, east and west, and Horutoto ruins with a mystery to unravel. No Giddeus, no Windurst, no Tahrongi, no Toraimorai gate. Areas you can roam around and find little hidden goodies in nooks and crannies, but nothing too big, and not something you'd do like an event.

Of course, you could do bigger or smaller things if you wanted; the only restriction should be how much storage space people can provide (well, maybe a 2GB limit given how big ALL of FFXI is, and the fact that that would be reasonable to expect someone to have in a flash stick)

Personally, I'd probably make a nice relaxing area by a lake or ocean, with a little house and maybe an interesting little dungeon to poke around in.

Maybe a bit more ambitious, but I've also always wanted (to design, to a lesser extent) a giant tower dungeon. Kinda like the one in FFXII.

[Kitalrez]

Re: User created content in FFXI.

I still don't see why you want to make areas forcibly instanced and delete.

Instancing: This could be an OPTION, for areas that are solely devoted to quests and stories and such. Person goes in, they proceed through the area and story, and it ends when they leave. But there should also be the option to have them as areas; again so you can just have a place to kick back and 'be'. To borrow something from Starbucks; a 'third place'. Except instead of being home/work/starbucks, it would be City/Parties and Group Events/Dreamworld.

Automatically delete: I just don't understand this. At all. What problem do you have with the system I proposed for managing what you have? It could be done easily and effectively through an NPC system, allow content to be expandable (say, by swapping out USB sticks on consoles), and save much of the hassle.

About SE reviewing areas, given their enormous laziness, I figured that wouldn't happen. What I would propose would be a user controlled vote-based popularity ranking, like many Web 2.0 places have; Reddit and Digg specifically. Worlds which are very popular get moved into another section, so new ones can rise up to take their place. At that level, a volunteer force, or SE employees, could work on ironing out any kinks, and possibly making small improvements. Of course, the thing would be out of the creator's control by then, so the popularity rankings would be voluntary.

I see your point about graphics, but this would still be a bad system for it. Having to create the same level twice would be a PITA for hobbyists, where it's a business move for SE. Which means either everyone HAS to create their level in low-fi, or legacy players get screwed out of them.

Ok, well again you didn't play through Ryzom:Ring, so you wouldn't have seen this in action. In that, users were allowed to mod only those files already included with the game itself, which was nice, but meant that you weren't really uploading anything new except scripts and dialog. Downloads in this were small and compact. Few scripts, outlines of a user created zone with locations for objects and background already in, and a bunch of pre-set triggers. We're brainstorming on the next level of that, though. If modders are allowed to reskin things and change item stats/abilities around, then you necessarily have to download new files. Lots of them.

This is where Autodelete has to come in. We assume that everyone out there is relatively bright enough to install/run the game. They clearly aren't, or we wouldn't have people letting their 10 yr old kids play the game. I've met a lot of players who needed help finding the start menu to run something in WindowsXP, and it's right in the corner. So, assuming that everyone is going to store all new content or delete what they don't want themselves is kind of a stretch. If you make content expire, the files themselves neatly throw themselves away for your end users instead of forcing them to find/remove scenarios they no longer want.

This brings us to Updating. In Ryzom:Ring, since nearly everything about a scenario could be stored serverside, it meant that as soon as someone updated a scenario, you didn't have to get rid of the old files on your machine. Ryzom did that for you. FFXI is more clientside on the file storage, and the actual math/formulas are run serverside. Meaning if someone updates a scenario, you have to manually delete it. What if it's integrated stuff that uses several existing files needed for the game? Depending on how the directories are setup, you might accidentally delete something you need. Or you end up never deleting anything, and have dozens of broken files from the last update that stay with you forever. There has to be a mechanism for taking expired content off the machine. Also, there has to be a mechanism for removing content no one bothers to use off the servers.

But let me try breaking it down differently. Let's say for the sake of argument that someone out there decides to create the worst scenario ever. We'll call this abortion "Joe Bob's Amazing Buttplug of Doom". It's going to be fantastic. It'll have a single square ilm of Ronfaure, packed with about 100 tarutarus. Now, the author of this one will have manually reskinned every piece of armor in the game such that it now appears to be overalls, with no shoes, hands, hats or shirts. All of the tarutarus will have reskinned weapons appearing to be Banjos. They will play bard music, but instead of normal sounds, you'll get a badly rendered .wav of "Duelling Banjos". It's crappy enough that you can hear someone hacking up a lung halfway through the record because they just held a microphone up to the CD player instead of sampling it. Now, midway through this song, for no apparently reason, an old male elvaan model named "Cleetus" will show up in his overalls, home in on you like he's just aggro'd, execute the /comfort motion, but emote "does stuff to ya" instead, and run away off screen. The author of this debacle, having never heard of the "Loop" command will instead copy and paste all of the code for this about 100 times. Having finished his now 500MB masterpiece, he will upload it to SE's servers, where you find it.

Now, the title really isn't anything you'd be interested in. The description on the server just says "Best scenario ever". 3 people have reviewed it, and they all happen to be the author's friend. 500MB, all good reviews, sounds at least worth a shot to you, so you download it. Now you're stuck with this abortion on your machine for life. Many of us will know how to get rid of it, but remember we've got these 10 year olds somewhere... This would be where Jack Thompson gets involved and SE gets hit with another multi-million dollar frivolous lawsuit in the FL court system. Because an adult looking at this one, seeing "Deliverance" imagery, and having Cleetus "do stuff to ya", knows what the joke is and knows it's probably not appropriate for a 10 yr old. (Yes, I'm aware of the T for Teen rating on the game, it won't matter so long as even one underage person is able to get this).

Ok, from another point. Let's say that someone here has just designed the absolute best scenario ever. Oh, we'll single out Murphie and Taskmage. They've combined forces to hammer out a really amazing scenario, which thankfully contains several episodes in order. Brilliant storyline, fantastic gameplay, you assume it was almost SE sanctioned, it's that good. It'll be called "Crystal Method", and when you finish each episode, your stats scroll across the screen while your character breakdances during a laser light show with reskinned fireworks and "Busy Child" or "Trip Like I Do" plays in the background. Its the greatest scenario ever. You can't wait for the next one. So, we're up around episode 4 and the dynamic duo have decided to take a month off. You're jonesin' for your fix. You see on the scenario menu that "Crystal Method 4" has just been released. You don't bother to check the authors or the reviews and punch that download button. This one is 500MB, you know it has to be good. Nope, you've just been Rick Roll'd and are stuck with "Joe Bob's Amazing Buttplug of Doom" again. Ask anyone who watches "Avatar: the last airbender" on YouTube. Some asshat does this to us every single episode, you think the new one's up and instead its the worst fanart slideshow you've ever seen set to Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony", which you learn to hate real fast.

If you have expiring content, you can get rid of this stuff in a timely fashion. If you don't, it's up to the user to do so. Let's face it, we have some dumb users. Also, even though you've just been Rick Roll'd with that abortion above, it's only gonna be there for 5 days or so, then it's gone, and you can eagerly await the real episode's release. Now, to avoid losing any good scenarios, why not tie in your idea of user ratings with the expiration dates? Say any files that get so high of a rating and are accessed so many times per month stay on the server another month? That keeps the good ones on, and the bad ones get the trashbin they deserve. We don't clutter SE's servers, and we don't clutter our machines.



I agree with you about lazy SE policy, though. Which is why I suggest that only long lasting/high rated scenarios get forwarded for review. This way, if someone has really put in work, that scenario can provide benefits to doing it. It lets people experience the new content and furthers the game by providing exp and items for doing it. Everybody wins. It's the best way around the whole issue of getting people to play scenarios and utilize the new feature, while avoiding the issue of abuse to the best extent you can. You might need at most 2-5 people playtesting in any given month, and you could easily pull the same people from your pool of dedicated playtesters for each expansion release. It's just a matter of setting the bar high enough that the workload doesn't overwhelm you.


Graphics... again, best idea to get us an upgrade is to make it so users can modify things. Suddenly there's a need to have better graphics. You could probably do what EQ1 did with Shadows of Luclin and make the graphical upgrades optional. Luclin had an interface to turn on different upgrades, the same way the Config settings work in FFXI, though EQ's was a bit more specific. You could only upgrade certain race models for instance, and not others. Or you could play with great background settings, and old character models if you wanted. That's the kind of graphical update I think we need. If someone reskins a high-res model, perhaps it'll just default to the old low-res model if someone without that setting toggled tries to play through. This has worked in the past, it can work again.

[Murphie]

Re: User created content in FFXI.

I would totally create episodic content.

[Akashimo]

Re: User created content in FFXI.

with a small little story. Like, Sarutabaruta, east and west, and Horutoto ruins with a mystery to unravel.

That does sound like fun to see happen.

Few areas, NMs, and random items I want to see more of a history of would be; Gunsen Mines and why Juggler is in there, learning the details that is written within a Fomor Codex, reason behind Manipulator and the Dolls Gizmo you can steal from him, more info than what was known already about the mobs and NMs that inhabbit Sea and their relation to that after the war with the wyrms, and lastly what purpose does a region control in Sky serve, and what does the 4 nations know about it?

[Feba]

Re: User created content in FFXI.

So, assuming that everyone is going to store all new content or delete what they don't want themselves is kind of a stretch.

No, it's not. Almost every single computer system on the planet forces people to manage their memory space. Cell phones, DVRs, PCs, websites, and so on. Even the Wii, which is arguably one of the most consumer-friendly-to-the-point-of-stupidity devices ever forces people to manage memory. Automatically deleting things is just plain stupid.

Meaning if someone updates a scenario

Not at all. Like I said, DVRs (at least mine) have a "Keep until space needed" option. This could easily be expanded to include updates to areas. You're drawing a very hard and unneeded line between "Automatically delete everything" and "Automatically delete nothing", which is just a bad idea either way.

Let's say for the sake of argument that someone out there decides to create the worst scenario ever.

First off, they would be obviously banned. Secondly, the system wouldn't work like that; things with three reviews from friends and little info would be extremely bad.

Now you're stuck with this abortion on your machine for life.

Wrong. Again, a 'keep portal open until you run out of portal space' or whatever option would be the default keep option at the NPC agency. If you dislike it, it would simply close up when you open some other portal.

In addition to the above, the threat of a ban would keep all but the stupidest people from doing the above. SE would also have the ability to close off such areas and delete them from any client that downloaded it; also for things like copyright infringement.

(Yes, I'm aware of the T for Teen rating on the game, it won't matter so long as even one underage person is able to get this)

Off topic, but completely irrelevant. The POL user agreement (which would probably be considered an implied contract if it were ever taken to court for this) clearly says that you have to be over 13, and SE thus only has to provide appropriate content for that. Additionally, there is a very clear disclaimer saying that the experience will change during online play.

This one is 500MB, you know it has to be good. Nope, you've just been Rick Roll'd and are stuck with "Joe Bob's Amazing Buttplug of Doom" again.

Again, this would be grounds for an instant ban. Although if you aren't checking the info on what you're downloading, you're an idiot, in any case.

Now, to avoid losing any good scenarios, why not tie in your idea of user ratings with the expiration dates? Say any files that get so high of a rating and are accessed so many times per month stay on the server another month?

Files should never be deleted from the server unless the author requests it, or they're inappropriate. And having the content's deletion be based on OTHER PEOPLE'S OPINIONS would be very bad.

Let's say I create aforementioned quiet little lake and house. I only wanted this to be a place for a few friends and myself to hang out, so there's very little there that's original or interesting. In your system, it would get extremely low ratings because hardly anyone uses it, and thus I would constantly have to reupload and download it. Hardly a good system.

In any case, any user who is too stupid to delete or add scenarios would be far too stupid to play the game. Inventory management, for one thing, is basically the same thing; and you have to understand that to play.

That's the kind of graphical update I think we need.

I agree, but there's no good system to implement that and this. When SE creates an area, they can do a high-fi and lo-fi version with little trouble; because it's just a matter of time for their graphic artists. When a player does it, though, creating two separate versions is a huge jump for them. I wouldn't be opposed to FFXI optionally increasing graphics, and dreams staying lo-fi (just make an excuse of dreams not being very clear if you have to). But dreams being solely hi-fi would be unfair.

Actually, that brings me to an interesting point; what about the language barrier? Obviously most people are only going to be making theirs in English or Japanese. Ones that get promoted would obviously have volunteer translators do the script, but the vast majority would only really be much fun for people who spoke the language.

Akashimo, I wasn't talking literally sarutabaruta, I was talking about size and scope. This would be a dreamworld, the imagination, something which would be fiction inside fiction. Nothing in it would be real (or canon, obviously)-- none of the stories would explain anything in any sense more than fan fiction.