Why do you play :)?

[Darkhound]

Well, it is late at night, and I was wondering... why DO i play this game? And i came to the conclusion that I play because it gives me the chance to escape RL, meet new friends and live in a world of fantasy where I can be who i want to be.

I have met good freinds and some wonderful people, and i bumped into this community. I have learned to appreciate alot of the people in FFXI. and it is a wonderful experience.


How about you guys?

[Jei]

Re: Why do you play ?

Ever since UO I just need some online games to keep me occupied. And out of all games I've played, I loved FFXI the most. And will be playing it for a while.

[Darkhound]

Re: Why do you play ?

Jei, Do you think that we become ättached¨to the game itself or to the community?

[Jei]

Re: Why do you play ?

community is part of it. What I got attached to imo is the clear goals I have within the game. Like at first I wanted level max and slowly building my character to it, then I wanted my fishing rod, then I wanted my crafting skill and much more. It's the sense that I am slowly reaching those goals that mainly keeps me attached.

[Darkhound]

Re: Why do you play ?

I agree, goals keep us there definatley, but for me, the community and the friends I have made on this game over time have made this game a much more richer experience. I hope this game lasts for a many years to come!

[x1ang]

Re: Why do you play ?

I play for fun? I guess? The people and my LS do keep me from quitting and playing another MMO (even though I'm considering moving back to WoW since all my friends play it). The game is fun and keeps you hooked due to the fact that there's so many things to do as well >.>

[KamuroIshigami]

Re: Why do you play ?

I await the day to experience a .hack VR type of world.

We are getting closer and closer.... maybe I will see a VR MMORPG in my lifetime.

[Jarre]

Re: Why do you play ?

I play to get away from the real world. i work all day, thn at night I am a retained firefighter, some of the sites I see and have to deal with are shocking, its nice to have something i can get away from RL to and enjoy myself, alos the community aspect isgreat, meet new people have a laugh and a joke but most of all a different element of social interaction.

[x1ang]

Re: Why do you play ?

I await the day to experience a .hack VR type of world.

We are getting closer and closer.... maybe I will see a VR MMORPG in my lifetime.

That is too true.. hopefully I'll be able to experience it if it happens in my generation :D

[Suichi]

Re: Why do you play ?

Well, it is late at night, and I was wondering... why DO i play this game? And i came to the conclusion that I play because it gives me the chance to escape RL, meet new friends and live in a world of fantasy where I can be who i want to be.

I have met good freinds and some wonderful people, and i bumped into this community. I have learned to appreciate alot of the people in FFXI. and it is a wonderful experience.


How about you guys?

That pretty much sums it up for me.

[Darkhound]

Re: Why do you play ?

I remember the day when I used to gather at a friends hosue and we played FF6 then FF7 and we all thought what would it be if we could all play from our houses the same game. I rememger someone sayin "imagine if ou could control cloud, and i could control barrett etc" And how, all of that is true! Amazing

[DrivenTooFar]

Re: Why do you play ?

Because I like the game.

[Darkhound]

Re: Why do you play ?

Nice, what a deep reason Any more comments than that?

[Mog]

Re: Why do you play ?

I play because of the friendly community, and also because my brother plays the game. He lives 12 hours away from me, so this is a sweet way to get to hang out with him.

[Icemage]

Re: Why do you play ?

I think what sets FFXI apart from other MMORPGs is the intense focus on teamwork. Everything in the game is socially driven and designed to cause as little direct friction between players as possible, which tends to attract a certain mentality of players.

PvP enthusiasts and other Type A personalities tend to stay away from FFXI because it doesn't easily let them do the things they want to do (PK, solo, etc.), so the community as a whole in FFXI is generally friendlier and more accomodating than other games. Note that I'm not saying that all players are more mature than other games, or that you can't find nice people in other games; I'm just saying that the tendency is much stronger in FFXI.

Add to that the large amount of activities you can do outside of PvP and level grinding (crafting, missions, quests, ENM, Assault, Besieged, etc.) and you end up with a game that has a lot of cross-sectional appeal despite having a generally hostile attitude towards PvP, making it largely unique among MMORPGs (the only other large scale MMORPG that agrees with FFXI in this respect is A Tale In The Desert).

---

For myself, I design and program games as a hobby, and playing FFXI for me gives me a glimpse into some professional-level game design concepts in a non-standard environment. The lack of outside hostility lets me study the game unmolested, and to me that's extremely valuable knowledge, since I can compare what I would do against what S-E has done and learn from their mistakes without making those mistakes myself.

I've also made a lot of great friends in the community, both in-game and at places like this site, and that also helps to keep the game interesting (though real life obligations have generally kept me offline for the past several months, as I haven't had the time to devote that I really consider to be necessary).


Icemage