The Cult Of FFXI

Addiction Level: Poopsock

18 hrs a day...

Fen amateurs

Ill have you know I havent slept in a month... i guzzle monster energy drinks while I count down my omen timers... I literally have adrenaline shots at the side of my bed if god forbid I get close to nodding off... its worth it.. and I love it... baptized in energy drinks just to win that parse in dynamis

I've started smoking meth so I can finally get that rare Omen body...it was worth it !

I've been awake for 3 weeks now farming Omen.

My wife asked me when will go to bed...

I laughed

I haven't seen her in 3 weeks...

Based on the profits they're posting, you don't 'know' their largest audience. The free to play model gets people in then they feel the need to buy cosmetics or battle passes, etc to show off, keep up with others, or whatever. I personally don't get it, but I could see it being similar to people feeling the social pressure (especially school aged kids) to wear brand name clothes, shoes. Fortnite is making money hand over fist from this cosmetic stuff. I didnt think it would work but man they're reaping the benefits.

Ever since people understood the loot box mentality that feeds into the mind like gambling highs, so many games have gone that way. Like more than not it seems these days have some sort of similar micro transaction component. Sports games are some of the worst. People are spending thousands of dollars for virtual cards that are rendered useless in under a year. Look at Madden's marketing and I guess development focus, the quality of game plan is utterly absurd but they're pumping out 'content' via new cards to get and promos all the time. The players complain about all the bugs in the game, but those are secondary to getting people to spend more money on virtual cards with +2 stats. NBA2k and FIFA aren't much different and I'm sure you can list a litany of other games that make much more money off of the micro transactions than the game itself.

With this being the last good century for mankind before the Earth heats up a minimum of 2 degrees celsius, why not do what you love?

In my 20's it was a sex, drugs, and rock and roll. In my 30's it's been drinking, violence, and working out. Now that I just turned 40 I'm going to enjoy every damn nerdy think I can like Stranger Things, books like Ready Player One, and plug into FFXI til' my eyes bleed.

Family? Kids? Who fkn cares when your legacy doesn't mean *** 'cause the're 7 Billion people eating this planet alive, and the Earth the future generation inherits is a boiling cesspool.

Carpe Diem , Carpe Noctum

A.K.A.

Foooooooook the future and gorge yourself on the present.

Incoming FFXI cosmetic armor for 3.99 you can glow in every color. Your leg armor will glow...your hand armor will glow...everything will glow.

i'd pay 3.99 for a bigger torcleaver animation

I'm not saying they don't make money, I'm saying it's hard for me to agree they are predatory. They are games with value as games, and you don't need to partake in the cosmetic aspect to get 98% of the recreational value out of them. To anyone who can wrestle their finger off the buy button, that's a pretty damn good deal. We get a AAA-quality game for a reasonable price(or free!) because retards can't stop themselves from buying lootboxes.

There is literally nothing stopping anyone from getting full enjoyment out of the game without paying an extra cent.

Predatory, to me, is selling a half-finished game and requiring you to buy DLC to get the rest. Or, throwing in buyables that impact gameplay so you need to spend money to remain on equal footing. Making some money off cosmetics from people who voluntarily buy them knowing they won't change the game is not predatory to me.

Really that should be the next development. Just give people all the cosmetic stuff from log on campaigns for money.

And they could use that money to add 3 new mobs for Ambu !

Ever since I found out that Fornite is a popular game in my son's class I've been refering to it as Fartnite and making other fart related jokes about it.
....Anyways I forbid him to play it kinda...that will blow up in my face later no?

Most freemium games start out ftp for everyone with nothing really out of reach initially, but towards the higher end progression in the game you quickly realize the challenge you have to surmount just to be able to advance even further. The player then has to decide if hours of countless grinding is more of a "win" than just buying the damn service and getting past that time gate.
So while its not "predatory" in the sense full sense of the word, it does prey on the consumer's available time and willingness to put in a sizable effort for a minimal gain. They understand that most people likely won't jump hoops to achieve something so minor, but they will gladly pay for that option. (Not referring to something trivial like skins or costumes, thats just dumb to buy)

even if it does. it’s good parenting to keep him away from addictive things while you still hold that authority in his life. right?

What are you talking about. I can quit any time I want.

Predatory is obviously up for debate. I can see both sides and really don't feel strongly about either one, other than it's working to make a ton of money.

Predatory itself seems strong, but I guess when the target audience is teenagers, one could argue that they are more easily influences to buy superfluous stuff like cosmetic only than others. They're probably using money given to them by others (family, etc) and not really going to go hungry if they spend it all, the worst they have to deal with is a pisses off parent if they use their CC I'd suspect. But... I've seen it, kids making fun of them for wearing generic stuff instead of the stuff you have to buy so they have that social pressure. No different than the kid wearing walmart sneaker vs nikes getting made fun of. They dont NEED to have it but feel the pressure of being different if they don't.

I think that sort of thing being played up by the game maker could be considered 'predatory' because we all know it happens. But it's not as bad as the things like loot boxes that give you a quicker way to skip hours upon hours of grinding if you just pay your way through it. That and the randomness is no different than gambling and that actually feeds into some mental issues and can hurt a person's real life as they try to get that high or compete with people with more money to throw at things to have the best team/player/whatever ASAP. (i'm only speaking of games I've played firsthand - Madden is like if you're not spending money, you're not going to have a top end team unless you're REALLY good and play the game like it's your job)

this is how you can get rebellious kids. Instead make playing the game a punishment.

But I've been letting him play other games, we play divinity II together, play civV together, mariokart, lots of boardgames etc. etc.
I do have warned him about whats potentially wrong with MMO's and online games in general but I'm not against him playing games. I find 12 just too young for online games and social media etc. kids cant always put things in perspective.
Atm gaming is a fun mom/son kinda thing although I'm aware it'll probably loose its magic in a couple of years and I'm just trying to enjoy these moments as long as possible....so maybe its just me being selfish lol.

Tell me what to think and how to feel, plz
I'm waiting

I've put a loooooot of time into this game over the years, but it's really just time I likely would have spent playing other video games rather than doing anything meaningful. To the extent that this bothers me, it's usually alleviated by actually playing another video game and being wildly disappointed by it.

thats really cool. don't let your kiddo play trash games tho

you sure are uninformed my dude

The Cult of FFXI:

How dare you post a pic of me...

I played since 2004 and I quit in 2012 but I think I had about 700 days of playtime and I didn't bazaar overnight. That's at least 1.5 years or so of in-game time. Sometimes I think about what I could have accomplishged during that time, and I wonder if I'll come to regret missing those 2 years building social networks, honing a skill, etc. But also I made a sweet mythic and a few relics, and got some great rare drops in my day. That's hard to top. Yeah, going to parties and hooking up is great, but it doesn't last long. But the feeling of being a top tier DPS for months/years with a weapon only <1% of the server has after months/years of staying in on Friday nights to do Salvage/Dynamis? You can't compare.

Oh wow, I thought I was bad. We have reached a new level of nerdom and I have offically tapped out. #youwin