1434: Free Company

The Internet is by turns a strange and wonderful place, filled with all manner of people from fair to foul. Wander inadvertently into the wrong corner of it and you’ll find yourself surrounded by some of the very worst people in the world; somewhere else and you’ll find people who will go on to become lifelong friends.

Online gaming is somewhat troublesome in this regard at times, particularly for those of us who struggle somewhat in social situations. The prospect of talking to strangers in an online game is, to me, pretty much as frightening as the prospect of walking up to a random stranger in a bar — particularly if voice chat is involved. With text chat, it’s somewhat easier since you have more time to consider your responses, but the inability to express your tone of voice can sometimes lead to misunderstandings, and it’s still nerve-wracking to, say, ask a favour of someone.

This is something that’s held me back a little from fully enjoying some online games, because sooner or later you’re going to have to play with people you don’t know personally. Your friends won’t always be available to play with you, or you might need more help than your friendship groups can provide, or you might be playing a game mode where you’re organised into teams. Whatever the reason, it can be anxiety-inducing.

In the case of MMOs, you have to put your virtual life in the hands of strangers quite often, whether it’s for running a dungeon, beating a boss or getting a piece of equipment crafted. It’s easy to forget that a lot of people playing these games are in a similar situation where they need help from others to progress, and thus it’s in their interests to be nice to one another.

There are, of course, exceptions. The team-based e-sports games Dota 2 and League of Legends have notoriously “toxic” (the word that’s most commonly bandied about) communities that are somewhat unforgiving of newcomers attempting to learn the game “in the wild,” as it were. MMOs, too, have elitist players who are quick to complain at those whom they do not think are playing the game “properly”, and players who are impatient with newcomers just trying to have fun and learn how to get through some of the tougher dungeons and fights.

I get it. It’s frustrating for these people, who want to play in a particular way, to find themselves having to change their play style to support someone who’s perhaps less familiar with a particular challenge. But there’s really no excuse for rudeness.

I’ve been extremely lucky with my time in Final Fantasy XIV so far. While most of my runs through dungeons and boss fights have been with friends, the few times I’ve dared to jump into the Duty Finder alone and be grouped up with strangers have been very pleasant surprises. Pick-up groups (or PUGs, as they’re sometimes called) have a rather poor reputation in most MMOs, and indeed in Final Fantasy XIV’s case most people seem to have at least one tragically amusing Duty Finder story where they played with someone who was just a colossal dickhead. I’m glad to have escaped that fate to date — but it also makes me extremely nervous about “going solo”, as it were: in other words, braving things like the new Duty Roulette system, which picks a random dungeon for you and three other random players to play in exchange for some very generous rewards, and indeed other group-based content I need to complete in order to proceed further in the game.

Which brings me on to my main point: how grateful I am to have a group of regular players whom I enjoy playing with, and whom I like. I’m a member of the “Giant Bomb” Free Company after being invited by someone I know through some combination of 1up, Twitter, The Squadron of Shame and possibly some other places — I forget the exact details — and am very happy that what I originally hoped would transpire when I started playing Final Fantasy XIV — that I’d make some friends with whom I felt comfortable playing — has indeed come to pass.

The interesting thing is that I don’t really know anything about the people I’m playing with, so they’re basically still “strangers” to me — just strangers I’m somewhat more familiar with. I’m not an active member of the community on the Giant Bomb website, so outside of my friend who originally invited me in the first place, I can’t relate any of these in-game names to real names or even usernames.

It sort of doesn’t matter, though; when we’re online in FFXIV, we’re there to play FFXIV. There’s the occasional mention of real-life things — usually when someone has to go and make dinner, or go out, or whatever — but for the most part, conversation in the game is about the game. We’re all enthusiastic and passionate about the game, and we all enjoy talking about it, whether that’s sharing our thoughts on the new content in the latest patch, sharing strategies for clearing dungeons, or collaborating on group projects such as the Free Company house and the various weird and wonderful objects therein.

I’m really very grateful to these people for making my experience with the game so enjoyable and welcoming, and the pleasant feeling of friendship and camaraderie I have with these folks is the main thing that keeps me coming back to the game time after time. Final Fantasy XIV is a great game in its own right, but when played with the right people, it becomes even more enjoyable — even for an old hermit like me.