This is something I've been thinking about for a while, and something I need to talk after seeing that Moonfire Faire event. Especially because we ear Yoshi-p and the developers talk about wanting to "respect the players' time."
And to be clear: I agree with that philosophy.
A lot of us have been playing FFXIV for many years. We're adults. We have jobs, families, responsibilities, and other games and hobbies. Not everyone can—or wants to—spend 30 hours a week playing an MMO.
But I feel like somewhere along the way, "respecting our time" has started to mean removing things that require time.
Less repetition. Less grind. Less travel. Less interaction. Faster rewards. Easier completion. And now we're even hearing discussions about things like automatically pathing our characters to quest destinations.
But there's another side to respecting our time:
Give us something worthwhile and fun to do with it.
I don't consider doing an enjoyable activity 3-5 times to earn a reward a waste of my time. I don't consider having to actually interact with the world a waste of my time. I don't consider a reasonable, predictable grind a waste of my time.
What I consider a waste of my time is spending hours in a game without really playing it.
And I think Dawntrail's MSQ was a particularly strong example of this problem.
Obviously, story and cutscenes are incredibly important to FFXIV. They always have been, and I'm absolutely not asking for them to disappear.
But for huge portions of Dawntrail, I felt less like I was playing through an adventure and more like I was watching a very long movie where I occasionally had to move my character to the next scene.
Talk to Wuk Lamat.
Walk somewhere.
Talk to Wuk Lamat.
Watch a cutscene.
Walk somewhere else.
Talk to Wuk Lamat.
Watch another cutscene.
Then, eventually, a dungeon or trial happens and suddenly I'm actively playing the game again.
My problem isn't that there is too much story.
My problem is that too little of that story is told through gameplay.
This is a video game. Let us experience the story through playing it.
Give us things to investigate. Let us interact with the environment. Give us little puzzles. Make us actually search for something instead of clicking on three sparkling spots clearly marked on the map. Give us combat encounters that aren't necessarily dungeons. Give us situations where we have to use our abilities. Let us escort someone while actually protecting them. Let us make small decisions. Give us minigames when they fit the story.
None of those things need to be difficult.
They just need to make me feel like I'm participating in the adventure instead of being transported between cutscenes.
And I think the same philosophy applies outside the MSQ.
A seasonal event requiring me to play a fun minigame 3-5 times isn't disrespecting my time.
A reasonable grind with clear, predictable progress isn't disrespecting my time.
Optional activities that take hours to complete aren't disrespecting my time.
The important part is whether the time I'm spending is enjoyable and feels worthwhile.
There's a huge difference between:
"This takes a long time because we want to keep you busy."
and
"This gives you something fun to do for a long time because you might actually want to keep playing."
Please don't design the entire game around minimizing the amount of time required to interact with it.
Make the mandatory parts reasonable. Give casual players accessible ways to experience the story and earn the important rewards. Absolutely respect the fact that people have lives outside FFXIV.
But then give those of us who want to play more something meaningful to do.
With Evercold, I really hope we see more interactive storytelling. Keep the great cutscenes. Keep the dialogue. Keep telling ambitious stories.
But between those cutscenes...
Please remember that we're playing a video game, not watching a movie. Let us play it. Crucial moment of a story should be played, not a movie...
Continue reading...
And to be clear: I agree with that philosophy.
A lot of us have been playing FFXIV for many years. We're adults. We have jobs, families, responsibilities, and other games and hobbies. Not everyone can—or wants to—spend 30 hours a week playing an MMO.
But I feel like somewhere along the way, "respecting our time" has started to mean removing things that require time.
Less repetition. Less grind. Less travel. Less interaction. Faster rewards. Easier completion. And now we're even hearing discussions about things like automatically pathing our characters to quest destinations.
But there's another side to respecting our time:
Give us something worthwhile and fun to do with it.
I don't consider doing an enjoyable activity 3-5 times to earn a reward a waste of my time. I don't consider having to actually interact with the world a waste of my time. I don't consider a reasonable, predictable grind a waste of my time.
What I consider a waste of my time is spending hours in a game without really playing it.
And I think Dawntrail's MSQ was a particularly strong example of this problem.
Obviously, story and cutscenes are incredibly important to FFXIV. They always have been, and I'm absolutely not asking for them to disappear.
But for huge portions of Dawntrail, I felt less like I was playing through an adventure and more like I was watching a very long movie where I occasionally had to move my character to the next scene.
Talk to Wuk Lamat.
Walk somewhere.
Talk to Wuk Lamat.
Watch a cutscene.
Walk somewhere else.
Talk to Wuk Lamat.
Watch another cutscene.
Then, eventually, a dungeon or trial happens and suddenly I'm actively playing the game again.
My problem isn't that there is too much story.
My problem is that too little of that story is told through gameplay.
This is a video game. Let us experience the story through playing it.
Give us things to investigate. Let us interact with the environment. Give us little puzzles. Make us actually search for something instead of clicking on three sparkling spots clearly marked on the map. Give us combat encounters that aren't necessarily dungeons. Give us situations where we have to use our abilities. Let us escort someone while actually protecting them. Let us make small decisions. Give us minigames when they fit the story.
None of those things need to be difficult.
They just need to make me feel like I'm participating in the adventure instead of being transported between cutscenes.
And I think the same philosophy applies outside the MSQ.
A seasonal event requiring me to play a fun minigame 3-5 times isn't disrespecting my time.
A reasonable grind with clear, predictable progress isn't disrespecting my time.
Optional activities that take hours to complete aren't disrespecting my time.
The important part is whether the time I'm spending is enjoyable and feels worthwhile.
There's a huge difference between:
"This takes a long time because we want to keep you busy."
and
"This gives you something fun to do for a long time because you might actually want to keep playing."
Please don't design the entire game around minimizing the amount of time required to interact with it.
Make the mandatory parts reasonable. Give casual players accessible ways to experience the story and earn the important rewards. Absolutely respect the fact that people have lives outside FFXIV.
But then give those of us who want to play more something meaningful to do.
With Evercold, I really hope we see more interactive storytelling. Keep the great cutscenes. Keep the dialogue. Keep telling ambitious stories.
But between those cutscenes...
Please remember that we're playing a video game, not watching a movie. Let us play it. Crucial moment of a story should be played, not a movie...
Continue reading...