Bannable Offenses

Fresh Meat

You know what's nice? Good press.

Since the announcement of the upcoming FFXIV (pronounced Ffffsiv, by the way), the gaming media has been abuzz with potential and excitement. The Internet is littered with article after article about how great it could be.

Not could... Will. How good it WILL be.

That's pretty nice. Lately, the only time we were in the news was when we made bosses that take 87 hours in a row to kill and cause players to spontaneously not be alive anymore.

Not exactly the best word of mouth.

Something about announcing a new game just forgives all your past sins.

Suddenly, the world of Final Fantasy Online is new again. Players past and present are coming together to celebrate all that is great about our online world.

It's a great time to be alive.

One of the other interesting side effects of this positive reaction is that a lot of people have decided to either start playing FFXI for the first time or start playing again.

The timing of our new character restoration feature was purely a coincidence.

...

Are we buying that? Really?

Okay then.

It's nice to see an influx of new players. I mean, we always get new players, but usually not in such a high number.

This got me thinking though... Do these new players really appreciate the game?

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying they have to log in with this sense of awe and wonder.

Not that that wouldn't kill them.

I just wonder if some of them are playing the game as more of a novelty or a placeholder until FFXIV finally arrives.

Sure, it's a game, but it's a game that some people pour countless hours into just to get even a fraction better.

Right now, right this very second, there's some poor guy grinding his way through Dynamis or Salvage just hoping to get a piece of gear that'll boost his STR by one point.

Just one point.

And he will continue grinding until he succeeds. It might take him months or even years to finally get that piece, but he won't stop.

Because it's important to him.

I think that deserves some respect from the new players.

That guy is taking this shit seriously. He's busting his ass day in and day out just so he can kick some more ass the day after that.

I understand a lot of people are going to start playing because of their interest in FFXIV. And that's totally cool.

We love new players.

But if you're coming to play, then come to play. Give FFXI a real chance.

Sure, we may not be all new and shiny. We don't have all the Gigaquads and Ipods and stuff that the kids like, but we have substance.

Maybe you'll still leave when FFXIV drops. Maybe it'll be everything you've been waiting for.

Or maybe you'll love FFXI so much you'll never want to leave.

Ever.

You could become part of a community that accepts you, embraces you.

You could find a home here.

And then, one day... if you work really, really hard... you might end up getting fed to a large, purple dragon by an alcoholic GM who has rage issues.

But hey, you can always play FFXIV, right?

posted by Goblin Smithy @ 6:17 PM