What do Japanese players think?

Aangeliceus

Aangeliceus

Kitteh's Meow
FC/Leadership
I figure this is worth posting:

Elmer The Pointy, known for translating Japanese to English and vice versa; did a Q&A Session on a Japanese BBS in relation to FFXI.

Some of the responses were expected and others, well, I was quite shocked.

http://www.jpbutton.com/?p=551

The link is not to BG, but the site where Elmer has posted the responses.

I haven't had time to read through them, but it's looking like a good read.

Enjoy.
 
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Wow, skimmed through most of the responses and definitely learned a bit.
 
Totally agree with them wanting /NIN over /SAM lol.
 
My comment is more directed to melee like WAR, DRG has Jump =p
 
Defiant said:
My comment is more directed to melee like WAR, DRG has Jump =p
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Well WAR is pretty much the only job that should/could be expected to sub NIN over SAM. DRG and DRK should be /SAM onry; THF, BLU, RNG, DNC, and MNK should be subbing NIN. BST and PUP don't merit. COR should probly sub NIN but doing 1500 Slugs is too fun :D

Even so, I fail to see how WAR/SAM would be that much of an MP sponge with proper use of Saigan. Unless the party was WAR/SAMx4 BRD/WHMx2 I doubt it'd be any issue.

P.S. It was depressing reading some of the responses in that Q&A. The number of xenophobic, racist attitudes was astounding. I think if Elmer ever reverses the project and tries to get questions from the JPs, it should be pointed out how incredibly offensive it is in American culture to denigrate someone because of their ethnicity.
 
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I thought I read the link before, but it looks as if I read an earlier summary of it. This was a pretty good read!
 
was very interesting, you can really see the difference in cultures. i was shocked how many where offended when NA were introduced to the game. and it really shows how we take introductions to new party members alot more laid back then they do.

-ara
 
Introductions in the Japanese society is very important, probably one of the most followed customs in personal and business greetings.

It's just different cultures all the way around, no way to really to fix it magically. NA's are just as racist, others too.
 
well i think we are using the term racist wrong. i general understand japanese players are all generally the same race. but NA players really are not. im sure there is a group of japanese-americans that play this game and could very well be treated the same way. i would call what they do as more of a nationalist attitude. but yes, NA are racist too. and we are very nationalist also. i think what SE has tried to do is great. we should all strive to learn other cultures and be open to different customs.

-ara
 
I remember going drk/nin to party at about 73. Was doing like 1900 rampages with souleater, but went from full health to about 100, lol. It was comical as shit.
 
Very interesting article, very well done. I'm glad to see they like it when we make an effort to use Japanese; I'll probably try more romaji than auto-translate in the future.
 
Arafea said:
but yes, NA are racist too. and we are very nationalist also. i think what SE has tried to do is great. we should all strive to learn other cultures and be open to different customs.
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The difference I see is that NAs are typically MUCH more receptive to foreign cultures than JPs. It's what our whole culture is built around. That's what I mean when I say I find Japanese players to be xenophobic/racist. American culture just doesn't tolerate it as much as Japanese culture does.
 
i agree, i think we are more open to the idea of mixed servers. that alone is evidence of a difference in cultures.

-ara
 
I thought there was a lot of interesting info in all of those answers. :) Personally, I don't get offended that some Japanese wish to keep our cultures separate - I think despite this, the overwhelming number of people who said they were positive to people who attempted to communicate in Japanese, even if it was just a word or two, tells a different side to that story. Remind me to harass Benny for useful phrases other than "Arigatou" which is as far as my Japanese vocabulary stretches.

As for them classifying everyone as NA, I don't see how that's any different than what we do. I've been referring to myself as NA since long before I moved to Pennsylvania, simply because I belonged to the large group of English-speaking players.

I also thought it was hilarious, the one answer that said that they didn't know about the sideways smileys and thought it was a typo at first. XD
 
Sadly, if we put our own pride aside, a lot of what they said is quite true not only in the game, but of American society; however, that's a cultural divide, not really a "fault."

To a culture that is seeped in traditions and formality, our casual, smartass banter is probably quite offensive. I don't think they're (or we're) xenophobic either--humans naturally group themselves with whom their most comfortable. Take a huge, diverse group to a social gathering sometime (like coworkers, if your office is pretty diverse) and watch how they self-segregate. It's quite fascinating from a sociological standpoint. Also, the language barrier is probably a real annoyance. We tend to casually chat in parties, and a lone JP that isn't comfortable with EN would get bored (I'd think). The comment about dictionary hopping is probably pretty true--that adds a lot of overhead.

There were other things in there that I've heard over the years. e.g. Lotting. I had a JP tell me years ago that it seemed "lazy" of NA players to not lot and pick what they wanted and didn't want. It was from the PoV that JP Player 1 only wanted crystals, but nothing else, so they just wanted to lot those. Back then, that was a big deal--crystals sold for huge $$. Now, meh, taaaake them! Though, since then, if I'm partying with JPs or people who lot, I simply ask and lot too. /shrug

Very interesting answers indeed... It would be interesting to see NA answers to JP questions; however, unfortunately, I think the JPs took this VERY seriously and gave frank, honest feedback--finding a NA player to do that would be quite difficult. It'd turn into a bitch/whine fest.
 
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