Last night, a close friend of mine mentioned being bored and considering quitting FFXI. First off, this person is one of the busiest that I know in the game, doing everything from sky & sea, to dynamis, limbus, assault and finding time to go merit in between. How does someone become bored between doing all that and... well, things that you have to do to live?
Then I remembered why I had quit FFXI the first time around in the first place. There was a time when I too, was doing all of these activities, running around, camping NMs, monitoring pop windows. This rapidly became... boring... routine... people would barely talk when doing these activities because either 1. you didn't know the other people doing things that well, or 2. they were off playing with another game while waiting for things to happen. Many of these activities involve many people (64 for dynamis, usually at least 20+ for any decent HNM or endgame shell), so people would not know others that well and would be generally... quiet. You end up showing up for the same routine day-in-day-out, killing the same mobs, same strategies with minimal risk, and worst of all, you're not even chatting, joking or having much fun. The reason you're doing all of that is to get the shiny gear that these activities promise... the shiny gear that will take weeks, months, years of grinding through boring, repetitive activity...
... to the point where all you do are these activities. Every time you login, you have obligations to go to, people expecting you to show up somewhere and bugging you if you don't go... you feel the pressure to keep showing up in order to get "points" or to show your support... instead of having fun, you get bored and feel that FFXI is no longer a game, but is a chore...
Instead of focusing on the shiny gear, think about why you started playing FFXI in the first place... think about the fun that you've had doing your first mission, exploring new places, running through dangerous areas, and doing stupid things and wiping your entire alliance. Think about when you saw Lufise Meadows for the first time, or the Hall of the Gods with your friends. Think about the thrill of winning your first BCNM, or winning a hard battle for the first time. FFXI isn't about the shiny gear, it's about the experiences with your friends. It's about going out there and poking a mob you really shouldn't be poking, then seeing if you can survive. It's about getting into impossible situations, then either pulling a victory out through your skills and luck, or wiping and getting up and trying again. It's about being there for your friends when they want to do something, and them being there for you. It's about having fun and challenged!
Which is why I love AP and the little things we do together. I like it that when WoG came out, we were out there exploring, trying out the new options, campaign, experimenting with the maws, ops, getting new jobs, and as other people got the expansion, we went back and helped them through the scary zones we'd already been through. I like our weekend events when we go out and poke funny NMs, getting aggro and doing silly things on the way, joking with each other and even wiping. I like it that when we see each other campaigning, we'll go to the same zones, form a party and just hang out. I like that AP is small, and everyone is friends and we talk/joke with each other (even though some are quieter than others)
It's also why I like Assault, each a unique, challenging activity that is unlike anything else in the game. I like doing missions for their challenges, and for the storyline, and most importantly, both Assault and missions have a tangible endpoint and is not something that you'd end up doing for years on end. I know I don't have the patience to do Dynamis, and now that I know more about it, Limbus and probably Salvage, though I'd love to at least try Salvage to find out more about the challenge and defeat it.
So, at the end of the day... if you find yourself bored of FFXI, think about your experiences... figure out what you find to be fun and do that! Don't get caught doing things you'd rather not do, just for the sake of getting shiny things. There are lots of things to do in Vana'diel, and not all of it is "endgame".
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Musings about virtual universes and my adventures through MMOs
3 comments:
I agree that there have been times when I've thought about leaving, or just been tired of the repetition that I've come across. At most, I've taken a few days off or logged off early for a few days when I've noticed signs of "burning out". There have even been a few events that I've stopped going to because I lost interest, or because the shiny rewards turned out to be a little less shiny than I expected (*cough* Limbus *cough*). I've never had the patience to do much HNMing but that's given me plenty of time to focus on other things.
Ascy's made several comments about how bad parties are and a few bad experiences can sour someone to that idea, but static parties, or the rare "good" party can turn that around. Sometimes even experimenting with lowbie jobs can be fun. Just playing around to see what new jobs are like or how they're different from what you've played before can be fun. There are 20 jobs in the game, each one unique and probably fun in it's own way. Just being bored with one job, or bored with end-game doesn't mean that the whole game has become boring. This game should be about interaction, in linkshells and in parties. That's why even when I'm feeling burned out, I'll still be coming back... for the people.
-Ghiren
Now you know why I've disappeared in the past, and still come back time after time. It's easy to leave a game, but hard to leave friends. Though there was a point that so many people started leaving, it made it almost depressing to log in, and that was why I had left the last time. Now that a lot of people have come back, it's fun to log on and hang out with everyone again.
I'd still like to do some scheduled events like dynamis or limbus, but the free time I have to play the game isn't always guaranteed time because of school. So I may not have the best gear available, but I still like to play the game.
Sometimes people forget that FFXI is a 'game' where people go to 'relax and escape' from their RL. It doesnt mean in anyway that RL is bad or anything but you know, every person has something they 'do' that's just for themselves, that thing they can 'go away' and do. For some people it happens to just be 'get on the computer and hop on a game' for others it can be "get on the dance floor and boogy my socks off" or "get on the race tracks and race my brains out" etc etc.
When your pleasure center starts becoming tedious as it tends to want to do, especially if you become 'good' at your pleasure activity, to a point that others recognize your ability and start putting you in either 'leadership' roles or a position to effect the movements of others, then it suddenly appears as though this pleasure activity has truly become work. And work is never synomous with 'down time' or 'break'.
But on the other hand you have people who only play the game, and therefore it becomes their 'IT' the thing they do, all that they can become and a part of themselves are unhappy with this. The subconcious that tells them "hey there's gotta be more to life than this".
There are so many different types of players, its hard to say "remember the good ole days of no loot whoring that made you happy" because sometimes being a loot whore makes some people happy, who knows!
I think the most important thing is that anyone who wants to play should play, if the game is becoming a chore and they want to quit, then they should.
I've come to learn that friendship should last beyond the containers in which they were originally 'mixed' in. If friendships end because a person moves away, quits a game, becomes blind, looses a foot, etc etc. then there really wasnt anything there to begin with.
So... after my giant rambly post... my whole point is... sometimes people just gotta re-find their pleasure center. And after having so many close friends 'quit' the game but we still talk every day... I've come to realize that, in the end it doesnt matter :) Those left behind will continue finding it pleasurable, and we can only support our friends in the decisions they make. And welcome them back with open arms, if they ever wish to!
ok end of ramlyness -_-
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