[Buddha]

Title sounds like a troll but i'm not trying to, so give it a read if you have time... thanks.

Alright so I got FFXI opening day as I am an avid FF/MMORPG fan and have played the best of both worlds, I fall in love with the game from the start, even after the droning hours of installation that FF7 song makes me all excited to finally play, then I see the warning and wonder why they would have such a warning, i've played multiple MMO's (EQ/AC/DAoC/SWG/SB/AO/AC2/etc) and none had a warning, so I forget about it, and my first night I end up spending maybe 12 hours straight playing, 1-2 months (now), 100+ levels, and 30 days (or something like that) later I finally realized why they have the warning, this game literally eats your days away.

During my fixation of this game I really secluded myself in my bedroom playing for hours on end and realized everyone I knew in real life who played or people I had met also played ALL day, or had quit, I pondered on what made the game so addicting and I think it basically has to do with competition or keeping up with other peoples levels, whenever my friends would out level me and get some 'l33t gear' I would go and form my own party and level till i got it and resume levelling, never satisfied, always wanted to either be same / higher level than people I knew and my friend were the same way.

When i look at what was so appealing to me before I bought the game (deep content, beautiful graphics, etc) I realize after playing that I spent about 2 hours admiring the game ( i still admire new areas as they come but they are too easily explored ) and now what is so appealing to play is levelling and new gear, which takes up so much time i wonder if it was intended, no other MMORPG (save EQ) had me playing for 12+ hours a day and I played most of them (cept for the horrid ones AC2, AO, SB, etc) longer or as long as FFXI and EQ.

since my social life was literally put on hold for the lifetime of my character I decided to cancel my account and go back to the real world simply because it seems impossible to play this game casually ( i really liked AC/SWG ^^/\ and only played 1-3 hours a day if that ). Is anyone else having this dilemma? I tried talking to my in-game friends about why this game is so appealing to them and what does it still offer in terms of entertainment etc and I tell them im considering quitting and i simply get snuffed out and ignored because im 'bringing them down', sorry for ranting but i was just trying to get some outside opinions on what this game truly offers in the long term and if anyone else plays differentely than myself & friends and for how long etc.

thanks for listening, if you did. :/

(just re-read this and realized it didnt have much coherency in a main idea of topic, sorry :X)

[Ghostraven]

Ugh right now this game owns me so hard.. I don't know how you had the strength to pull your self away from it. but:

[Dragon Ghost]

Yeah I feel the same =( I always have this competition with my in-game friends. And my parents said were gonna go on vacation and I actually dont want too. Im afraid my friend will over level me. Its so addicting I cannot stop. My grades havent really dropped,because my parents said if I get bad grades ill get grounded. I dont know why I love it so much. I eat,and shit FFXI...it is my life *_*

(>o_o)>FFXI<(o_o<)

[Averoth]

I'm really behind on my laundry. But I contend it would be that way regardless of my FFXI participation.

[Kiodin]

yeah, talk about no life, my friend is so addicted to this, he's on every time i get on, which is sorta often, but has been cut short recently and will be for about the first 2-3 weeks of school, as my teacher's mercilessly pummel homework onto me, oh, and by the way, art sucks, no matter what, anyways, oh yeah, so does english, i keep my grades up pretty well, well....i sorta forgot my art homework at school today, so i gotta get it done tomorrow morning, i hate school, but i wanna get good grades in it, so somehow, someway, i've managed to put FFXI on the side for the time being (how, i have no clue), but i think i'm gonna be addicted to it this summer, summer's too long away..... i think FFXI's gotten to me, i went to bed at midnight the first 3-4 days of school, cause guess what? i was playing FFXI! but then i realized i'm never gonna get anywhere if i only get 6 hours of sleep every night, so the next night i went to bed at 11 (big improvement, i know)

this rambling is completely useless, don't read it if you don't want to, but if you've gotten this far, then you've obviously taken the time out of your life to read this...i don't know why, but you did...


....i think this is themost i've ever written in a post ever before....

WOOHOO!!! go me!

i have no life whatsoever......

[NewMorning]

Your 100% right... this games eats your social life alive and spits it out..

it is like some kind of drug or soemthing... i try and tell myself to take breaks from it but it is always in my thoughts... i try and watch tv and i am thinking about my character lol.

i play wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much.... just yesterday 12 hours... 12 hours??????? if i got paid i would be making some serious cash.

i know i should not play a video game for 12 damn hours... but once you start playing its like you cant stop until your so tired you just have to stop.

kinda scary a game can be so addicting.

[711rocks]

i need a graphics card and need to do guest login at my friends houses, so imagine being addicted and not being able to play! i feel like im using my friends, by pretty much living at their houses to play it, i need the ps2 version dammit

[Carbon]

I've been sleep deprived for a few days now, playing with my more-or-less static PT. I love my PT and the game itself, but I could use a few more hours of sleep. Hopefully things will get more relaxed when winter break ends

[Thark601]

I've had this steadying migraine getting worse and worse towards the end of the play day every day....

I'm getting off and gettin some extra sleep tonight...

[Solas]

I am old hat now at these MMORPG’s and this can become a serious problem without self control. Everquest, a game that I have been playing for years has the same type of problem. The trick is to limit your time playing. If you are worriying that you are playing to much, chances are you are. Pick one class and get yourself a timer and try to keep it down to three hours or so a day. You should also keep track of how often you play and check that every Sunday.

Sticking to one class, playing a set amount every week will almost ensure that you can still play the high level game. When you start rolling up new characters / twinks you will start being hard pressed because of having to lvl over and over.

I do like this game, but have suspended my account because of two very significant problems. FFXI has mechanics that require an almost perfect group in order to play. This causes a lot of down time trying to create or find these groups.

FFXI requires large blocks of uninterrupted time. Everquest use to have this problem as well. Raids that would last eight hours etc. Over the last two years EQ has mad significant progress and eliminating these unnecessary bottlenecks. Raids for the most part only last a fraction of the time, and groups are much more flexible. A good example is that once upon a time you could not be in a good exp group without a cleric. Now, I don’t have to have one. Sure they are nice, but not necessary for a good productive exp group. I can choose a combination of shaman, druids, or even paladins.

I hope that FFXI loosens up a bit, and hammers out these unnecessary bottlenecks. I still play off and on, but will not subject myself to any game with significant downtime, and inflexible mechanics. The point of MMOG’s is to have fun. Not just when I have the perfect group, but all the time I’m playing.

MMOG’s are fun, and should be treated as entertainment. I implore anyone who plays excessively to exercise self-control. Too much of anything is a bad thing. I don’t care what it is, bunnies, money, water, pez dispensers…. Moderation is the key to happiness. Bah you got me wound up, im going to go stand on my street corner and start philosophizing.

[Solas]

Originally posted by Thark601
I've had this steadying migraine getting worse and worse towards the end of the play day every day....

I'm getting off and gettin some extra sleep tonight...

On that note… Have you ever gone to an eye Dr. to get your eyes checked? Don’t settle for the standard chart eye checkup performed by a family Dr. That will not tell you if you need reading glasses for the most part. I use to get headaches all the time. I have 20/20 vision but the eye Dr. found that I had a slight stigmatism. He gave me a pair of glasses and the headaches are gone (I had headachs for around 20 years GERR).

[wrecklass]

Addiction is an interesting subject. Many people have what psychologists refer to as 'addictive personalities.' It is something you have to be aware of if you are like that. It can be unhealthy when taken to far.

I am a rare case of a non-addictive personality. I've started and stopped smoking several times. I never have to go through the usual quitting excercises. I just stop and don't smoke for years. Same with other things. I play FFXI maybe 5-10 hours per week. Most weeks I play a few hours on a single night, and then don't log in again for a week. I have friends who get addicted, and I've had to help them cut back on their play hours. Fortunately, we have other activities we can do together, and it helps them to break the routine.

Take care of yourself. Don't let these games run your life. If you find things are falling apart around you because of the time you are playing the game, get help. Even a friend who will go out with you for dinner, or a movie can be the break you need to keep it healthy.

[kainzero]

funny, when i finally left school for vacation, i cut down on my playing time, even though i had a ton of free time.
after faililng a calculus class (failing a class in general), i started taking time management a lot more seriously, because it affects ffxi as well.
before i used to login whenever and play whenever... now i set aside blocks of time instead of leaving randomly and what not. avoids pissing off PT, helps me organize my time a lot better.

it's odd how the world works.

[justin]

well i just bought the game and i have good self controll over how much i can play.... i figure maybe 20 hours a week... i just want to know if ill be able to acconplish things and not have my time wasted

[Aniedi]

For me the addiction ended pretty quick.
I went from having to play every free hour to not playing for about a week.

So I don't think its impossible to play it casually. Its just addictive at the start. Soon it becomes like other mmorpgs with the withholding of stuff, taking too long to level, taking too long to make much money, etc.

I think I kind of lost interest because at level 14 I'd accomplished all the gear goals I could have, as well as all the quest goals in 5 cities. I'd sold a bunch of moat carp and really there was nothing left for me to do but just group and level, which kind of bores me anymore.

So maybe if you'd stuck with it a bit more you would have peaked and become bored.

Wrecklass said:

"Many people have what psychologists refer to as 'addictive personalities.' It is something you have to be aware of if you are like that. It can be unhealthy when taken to far."

Yeah, the funny thing is I have the opposite of that too I guess. Anything that people get addicted to I've always done in moderation, then later got bored of. Of course I've never been stupid enough to try heroin, cocaine or crack I tried to smoke before but it did nothing for me and it was unpleasant, so I guess I lucked out.

I've gone through different games great guns before, then it kind of levels off, then I get bored. Its weird, its always Anarchy Online I kind of mess around in again when I'm bored of some other MMORPG. One thing I like about AO is how you can log on, get a mission for some gear that is an upgrade, then go and get it. You can do this solo, even as a class like a doctor. So it does the short term goal thing really well, the best of any mmorpg actually.

In FFXI I can kind of do that, getting on and saying I'm going to catch some moat carp but even at fairly high skill they take a while to catch and in the meantime I'm sitting there hitting a button every so often to fish.. while looking for something to read.
In a game I call that a design flaw, the having to wait. Its kind of pointless really. I'm engaged in an activity, I'm going to wait, so why make me wait? The actual waiting is moot. Its like in real life waiting for a bus for 15 minutes, you then don't expect to play a video game where you have to wait for a bus for 15 minutes.

So I kind of found that there isn't much I can do in FFXI in short blocks of time. I can kill a few things, but there is waiting inbetween kills. I can go and group, but few groups would want me If I said I'm grouping for an hour then taking off. Its weird, I know, but they expect you to hang around for longer than an hour.

So Anarchy Online, which isn't that great otherwise, really does win out in that department. It does the singular, solo, short term goal far better than EQ/FFXI or pretty much any mmorpg. I wish FFXI was a bit more that way.