FFXIAH Linkshell Ni

I think the biggest thing 14 lacks and 11 lost is something that was never written into the code...a sense of purpose.

The comradery that formed was necessary to progress in the game. You had to rely on others for help and that forced the players to work together in an "us vs them" "banding together" type situation.

Sure there were other things you could do in 11, but if you wanted to win you had to ally yourself with like minded people to attack the content.

The other players grew to rely on you to help each other and that forced a sense of purpose and a commitment to be there for them.

And we all found ourselves making excuses to miss real world obligations to attend virtual events that were impossible to explain to those that never crossed over that threshold.

I remember it vividly, coming up with reasons to miss things because they clashed with the dynamis schedule...

Which is insane. If you are like me you avoided commitments with people in the real world to meet obligations on this ethereal plane... where you mattered. where you were needed most.

For me it became a second job, clocking hours helping others so they could help me in return. We had a schedule and a spreadsheet that worked like a time sheet and we functioned like a company.

Some people were never able to get caught up in it. Let's call it a clash of personality. They wanted to log on when they wanted and play at their leisure. They were almost selfish in that they wanted to do things for themselves at their own pace and not commit to this greater sense of community.

They whined and complained and bitched and moaned and eventually the developers gave in. They looked at the market research and the staggering numbers WoW was racking up and finally relented and pushed the EASY button.

What died that day was the sense of purpose we all shared. Nobody needed us to be there anymore. The strict discipline required to maintain the schedules fell away. Altana's call grew softer and softer until I couldn't hear it anymore....

The people that wanted a game without commitments got what they wanted, but by then their attention was somewhere else. They had moved on. Many of them are on 14 now. Trying to find shortcuts to blaze through content to gain rewards without actually earning anything. As always, relying on the good will of others to push them through.

And they will play until they get bored and move on again to the next thing someone suggests is cool. It's only a game to them, a temporary distraction until a new shinier distraction comes along.

But something strange has happened in 14. You can do everything you want on the game alone. You can solo your way to the end. Or, you can put together a small group of like minded adventures and make the journey together....

It's not the same. It's never going to be like it was. Let's face it, It probably wasn't exactly the way we remember it...

But I see some people on 14 banding together again. With old friends and new. Scheduling events, pulling together to get each other through...

If you want that sense of purpose again, perhaps you can find it there... different perhaps, but the thing you have to realize is that the sense of purpose you remember, wasn't ever really there, it wasn't written in the code, it wasn't a part of the game.

We made it ourselves.