Eorzea world time. Too fast?

[Almil]

Hiya guys, I'm new at the game and new on the forums *bows*

 

I was thinking what others think about the issue that I dislike -most- in the game (atm).

I tried to search if someone already post topic about it but didn't find, so here it goes.

 

First day when I started to play I thought it was cool that the day changed to night soon, and I could even see thunder (which I think is well done with sounds). But, now that I have got familiar with all the controls and how everything (almost everything) works, I'd like to start roleplaying. This is when I got very frustrated days moving so fast.

One short RP session (short in my taste) took many DAYS in my characters life...?!?! This ain't nice.

 

I haven't actually stare with second watch how fast the time goes, but it seems something like one second in Earth time, is one minute in Eorzea time? That means one minute has been hour. When you start counting the days when you started to play this game, how old would your character be today? I mean its soon years and hundreds of years, do we need to make new RP characters soon or are all races immortal?

 

Sure someone can say "I don't watch the time, I RP the way I want to, days don't move so fast."

But it's impossible to come up with time that every RPer agrees with. Someone might use Earth time in their RP, and another Eorzea time, what happens?

One or two days later (earth time) they meet again and this happens:

"Hi, nice to see you again, been a long time!"

"What you mean, we just met yesterday."

 

Anyways think you get my point already, anyone have opinion to share?

 

---

PS, I really looked forward to roleplaying in this game. Why is it so hard?

[Satisiun]

One Eorzean minute is somewhere along the lines of 2.5 real life seconds, give or take a few tenths or hundredths of a second. It's supposed to round out to about a full day in Eorzea in one hour of real life time.

 

The reason, of course, is unlike some other games which tend to divide their player base up by regional or continental servers (I'm looking at you WoW ...), FFXIV's servers are international, and so you wind up with players from all over the world on every server. With that in mind, going with a 1:1 ratio is both impossible and unfair to a certain group of people, since then suddenly the only time you'd ever play is, say, the evening in game. Hope you like being nocturnal. :lol:

 

In the case of role play, you generally are forced to gloss over time. Perhaps you take stock of the time of the day when you first interact with a character who isn't already interacting with anyone else, since you won't end up saying "good evening!" when that other character might have started interacting in the "morning" with someone else. Or you pick time-neutral greetings. In general, you need to be flexible and work with the situation. A little pre-planning can also help if you're really afraid of stepping on anyone's toes, just by simply asking them before approaching if they have an issue with a certain time of day being recognized.

[Zyanya]

I feel your pain - I felt exactly the same when I started playing. I decided to roll with it and have been in the middle of some pretty interesting interactions as a result. There is a saying where I'm from (not all that uncommon) which is 'If you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes." In Eorzea, you don't even need to wait that long. :lol:

[Chveya]

Every game's time moves too fast. Thus, every game in which RP takes place generally means ignoring the in-world time.

 

I don't mean to blow off your worries, but this isn't anything new. People have been dealing with this for years. This one is faster than most, yes, but certainly not anything that can't be dealt with the same way it's always been dealt with.

[Almil]

I understand people are in different timezones, but still, does it have to be this fast? Why not like ...hmm., 3 Eorzea days in 24h Earth time? or 4, ...but....24 days? *fumes*

 

And while your friends RP, you might be in school/work or even just leveling your character OOC professions and classes, and you miss days from your friends character lives..

 

But seriously, how fast does our characters age?

And does the game have any kind of calendar so I can see how many weeks in Eorzea time I have play my character, so I don't miss her birthday and such, hehe ^^

 

I don't wanna age fast and be old :<

[Jinxsy]

Welcome to the forums and to the game!

 

I think you're over thinking it waaaaay too much, playing in Eorzea time is not going to work for RP, when does your character sleep? She's able to stay up for months at a time talking to the same few other characters, rp events would take years to complete and could you really stay standing in one spot fishing for aslong as it takes to catch a fish sometimes?

If one Eorzean minute is 2.5 seconds in reality then the 2 mins it takes you to reply to someone actually takes your character 48mins to reply (I think my math is a little rusty but you get the idea).

[DAISHI]

In practical terms I know this was at least a holdover from FFXI. Certain stores would be open only at certain times of a Vanadiel day, or fish would bite better at certain hours or on certain types of days. From a practical gaming standpoint, it just makes good sense that, if you're going to make a timing system, it's not one in which you have to wait three hours for a store to open or fish to bite.

[Ghunzyr]

Call me old, but I LIKE when stuff isn't always open because time moves in a realistic manner. I have the same complaints about the world's time as Amil (by the way, welcome!), just as I had the same complaint in EVERY world other than Azeroth and Earth itself. I, for one, enjoyed that it was always night time when I was adventuring in Warcraft. I think time sensative stuff is great, and makes sense. Not all animals hunt at the same time, and if you don't see something open, or have a hard time finding something because its naps when you go hunting, tough luck, that's life! Think about how much more immersive the game would be if it was like that? My dream would be fore a roleplayer server that was like that, so we could live and play in a realistic world, and then super quick time on all the "normal" folks' servers.

[Satisiun]

Call me old' date=' but I LIKE when stuff isn't always open because time moves in a realistic manner. I have the same complaints about the world's time as Amil (by the way, welcome!), just as I had the same complaint in EVERY world other than Azeroth and Earth itself. I, for one, enjoyed that it was always night time when I was adventuring in Warcraft. I think time sensative stuff is great, and makes sense. Not all animals hunt at the same time, and if you don't see something open, or have a hard time finding something because its naps when you go hunting, tough luck, that's life! Think about how much more immersive the game would be if it was like that? My dream would be fore a roleplayer server that was like that, so we could live and play in a realistic world, and then super quick time on all the "normal" folks' servers.[/quote']

 

But in effect you're damning other people to only playing at X time in game when it might not be in their control. You use Warcraft as an example, but you made a conscious choice to play on a server where the times you played were consistent with evening times in the game.

 

What about people who, for example, are forced to only play at a certain time because of their job? Or because of where they live in the world? What happens, then, when their optimal time to play happens to also conflict with the time that guild shops, craft shops, or general shops are open or closed? Do we just shrug our shoulders and say that's too bad, and that they should try and revolve their time on a video game better, even if it conflicts with their real life?

 

You're basically hoisting role playing sensibilities or desires upon a game which, while it is an MMORPG, is still vastly populated by more people who simply want to come on and play a game, without having to fret over whether that shift at work has effectively ruined their chance to buy something until 24 hours later, or even further along depending on their schedule.

 

SE isn't exactly in the business of role play-specific servers, either. In fact, most MMOs aren't. WoW has been the exception, not the rule, with maybe one or two other MMOs of the mainstream variety showing a little recognition to role players. As such, what is best for the masses is better than what is best for the vocal minority in this case. It's not always that way, but in this case, well ...

 

If it isn't obvious, I'm not so much demeaning as much as I am trying to play some devil's advocate here. What you may feel is more immersive is, in turn, going to cause more strife for other players. And, I am sorry to say, really sort of has a selfish tinge to it, if you consider other people's real life schedule causing them to miss out on something for an extended period of time "tough luck".

 

Edit!: Oof, I know I am turning this entry in to a freaking thesis, but I do want to add one more thing.

 

Keep in mind there is logic behind the way the game works when it comes to time, too, from a game mechanics standpoint. As people may recall from FFXI, different days of the in-game week could have an effect on things such as combat, magic, and even synthesis. It also had a big part in the changing of region control, and while that may not be something we ever see in FFXIV, we don't quite know what they may have in store for us.

 

Not only that, but the FFXIV devs have effectively told us that they want to make the time of a character's in-game birthday also have some sort of effect to their skills or stats or what have you when it occurs. I don't know about you, but I'd like a nice little boost once a week myself, not once every literal, real-life year.

 

So, in short? There's a lot more to it than just "immersion".

[Chveya]

^^^^^^

 

 

 

What he said.

[Ghunzyr]

Well, I know SE isn't known for catering to roleplayers, but that is why I said my dream would be an RP server with different rules. I know it won't happen, but I would like very much if it did. I understand what you are saying completely about damning many players for the sake of the few, but letâs look at it another way. It shouldn't matter where a server is set physically in the world; the time the game day starts should be able to be set arbitrarily. If it must depend on server time, just offset the server's clock an hour. Each server could be an hour different from the others. 24 servers would yield 24 different "time zones". Half that and it still gives people plenty of options. It could also help to even out the number of people on the servers as people could pick their favourite server based on the day/night cycle that suits them. As for shops that are always closed, well, I had that experience in another MMO, Global Agenda. Some stores were always open, others would only open for a few hours (real world hours) on certain days of the week (an Earth week). Consequently, I played the game for months and never once saw any of those stores open, and some of them sold some of the best stuff as I understood it. It didn't bother me though, that's the thing. I know I am the minority, heck I'm probably the only one who feels this way, but I take immersion over ease of play any day. Only reason I voiced my opinion on this thread was for the sake of voicing it and maybe give a different view from those who opt for the game being fair and just and equal for all instead of being realistic. I think MMORPGS have become far, far, FAR too easy over the recent years. The first time I logged into a game and saw "!" marking who to talk to for quests, I died a little inside. Also, I believe that minimaps were granted to us by the devil. I never got to the end game content in EverQuest 1 because I didn't have 12 hours a day for a solid 6 months to dedicate to getting from 50 to 60 (or whatever it was), but I LIKED that it was hard to level.

 

As for the Warcraft comment: I didn't pick a server that suited my preferred play times, it was just a happy surprise that it was always night and I played a character that preferred the night. Not to mention the game was beautiful at night. There were some areas I never, or seldom, got to visit or explore because they were dangerous at night, but I enjoyed that.

 

I donât believe that people who play for an hour or two every day, solo, should EVER be able to see the end game content. Heck, I would prefer if it was nearly impossible to solo. Heaven forbid players would have to actually socialize with each other and maybe be polite so as not to earn a bad reputation. I know the perfect game for me will never be made because the world has changed and people want to make games that cater to everyone, especially the casual gamer as that is where the money is. Also, I realize I probably sound like some maniac, but hell, I donât care.

[Chveya]

I donât believe that people who play for an hour or two every day, solo, should EVER be able to see the end game content. Heck, I would prefer if it was nearly impossible to solo. Heaven forbid players would have to actually socialize with each other and maybe be polite so as not to earn a bad reputation. I know the perfect game for me will never be made because the world has changed and people want to make games that cater to everyone, especially the casual gamer as that is where the money is. Also, I realize I probably sound like some maniac, but hell, I donât care.

 

 

When you pay their subscription, you can tell them they can't have the ability to access ALL of the game they played for.

 

And that's all I'll say about that. For a bit there, you sounded like a stubborn, but still sensible person. At the quoted point above you became someone who didn't give a rats backside about other people who didn't play the same way you do, and that puts you into the intolerant jerk category.

 

I always thought roleplayers were of a more accepting breed, considering their playstyle often doesn't grant them the time to obsess over content the way hardcore, end-game players do. There's always someone gotta prove me wrong.

[Almil]

Now now, I didn't mean to make topic go to arguing and name calling... *soothes everyone*

 

But still I want to say what I said earlier.

I didn't ask for realistic hours, just bit slower. Like 4-6 Eorzea days in one Earth Day, then it should have everything for every timezone?

----But, I'm from europe, and many other RPers are from america, so ...if I happen to join their RP when they have already started, do I need to pretend its daytime, even that its night in my home? Now wait, I mean if they have started the RP just some minutes earlier and have agree it is day time (sun shining in game) but when I join it's night time in game and they still want to RP day time?? .....see, I go mad hahaha.

Maybe I am indeed thinking too much *ruffles her hair*

 

And I repeat my other question.

How does the characters age? Should I just stick to the age I think her to be, even if I play months-years?

[Jinxsy]

We could all just say "Hello" instead of worrying about what time of day it is

[Chveya]

We could all just say "Hello" instead of worrying about what time of day it is

 

+1

[DAISHI]

Now now, I didn't mean to make topic go to arguing and name calling... *soothes everyone*

 

But still I want to say what I said earlier.

I didn't ask for realistic hours, just bit slower. Like 4-6 Eorzea days in one Earth Day, then it should have everything for every timezone?

----But, I'm from europe, and many other RPers are from america, so ...if I happen to join their RP when they have already started, do I need to pretend its daytime, even that its night in my home? Now wait, I mean if they have started the RP just some minutes earlier and have agree it is day time (sun shining in game) but when I join it's night time in game and they still want to RP day time?? .....see, I go mad hahaha.

Maybe I am indeed thinking too much *ruffles her hair*

 

And I repeat my other question.

How does the characters age? Should I just stick to the age I think her to be, even if I play months-years?

 

My character ages one real world year at a time.

 

As for RPing with Europeans, Mog House has a large contingent of Europeans and Americans. It's a non issue. Frankly, it just never comes up. Whether one says good morning or good night, it's just something that gets overlooked.

[Ghunzyr]

Now now, I didn't mean to make topic go to arguing and name calling... *soothes everyone*

 

I would like to apologize if my posts seemed argumentative or insulting to anyone. That was not my intention. I just wanted to give my opinions on a topic that I happen to have some strong feelings about in a thread where it seemed at least partially warranted. Perhaps my delivery was overly abrasive, and if that is so I am sorry to everyone reading this thread. My only defence is that prior to coming to the forums last night I was working for nearly 12 hours and I was feeling worn out. Under those conditions, a person can be a little raw in how they express themselves. I normally make an effort not to be inflammatory in my posts, but these things can and will happen from time to time.

 

Anyway, moving along to the next pointâ¦

 

[â¦]if I happen to join their RP when they have already started, do I need to pretend its daytime, even that its night in my home? Now wait, I mean if they have started the RP just some minutes earlier and have agree it is day time (sun shining in game) but when I join it's night time in game and they still want to RP day time?? .....see, I go mad hahaha.

Maybe I am indeed thinking too much *ruffles her hair*

 

âHelloâ, âHiâ, âGreetingsâ, and âGood dayâ, are all perfectly good time neutral ways to greet a person. I suggest you try something along those lines if you are concerned about referencing time at all.

 

And I repeat my other question.

How does the characters age? Should I just stick to the age I think her to be, even if I play months-years?

 

There is no simple answer to this because of the sped up time issue. Some people arbitrarily set their characterâs age and then never think of it again. Others will age their character as real world years go by. Aging your character to match their age in game days/years is, unfortunately, completely impractical and I must recommend against it as you would have to make a new character after awhile or declare yourself immortal.

 

For a bit there, you sounded like a stubborn, but still sensible person. At the quoted point above you became someone who didn't give a rats backside about other people who didn't play the same way you do, and that puts you into the intolerant jerk category.

 

I apologize for not expressing myself better, that is, in a less abrasive way that better explained the point I wanted to get across. Allow me to try this againâ¦

 

There is a saying âYou can please some of the people some of the time, but you canât please all of the people all of the timeâ or in other words, no game can be everything to everyone. There is always going to be someone who takes issue with some aspect of any MMORPG. Some people like 1 earth hour = 1 game day, some do not. I think contemporary MMORPGs have a problem in that they try to cater to too many different styles of players. To use a gun analogy, think of the gameâs developer and their resources (time, money, manpower, etc.) as a loaded gun. Think of all the different playersâ desires as targets. Then add a clock i.e. deadlines and delivery dates. If all shots are taken at a single target, there is a good chance of landing a bullâs-eye by the time the clock runs out; however, the other targets have been totally ignored. If the gun is fired once at each potential target, a lot might get close to perfect, but very few will be dead center. Many may miss completely. The purpose of my post was to express a separate opinion, or set of opinions, that is all. Basically Iâm holding up my own target without any expectations that any developer is going to take a shot at it.

 

So, if I may, please let me state as simply and directly, without rancour, what my âtargetâ would be (at least partially):

 

1) I think realism in games: longer days with time sensitive bonuses/creatures/shops/etc. are wonderful ways to add to the colour of the world and â depending on how features are implemented â could in fact promote player economies as players who had access to resources only available in certain places and/or at certain times could trade those resources with others, either for in-game money or for other resources they lack access to.

 

2) I feel that making quests easy to find, and then easy to complete without having to even read what the NPC says, is detrimental to the immersive quality of the world and ultimately works to undermine the quality of the player community. However, the effect on the player community quality is ultimately small, especially when compared toâ¦

 

3) Playing solo being a perfectly viable option for killing monsters and levelling up. On this point I am very passionate. I believe the worst thing MMORPGs did was start to cater to soloist players. Being able to play by yourself means you donât have to interact with others, which by extension means you really donât have to give a damn how others see you or how your behaviour affects those around you. I do not understand why one would even play an MMORPG if one does not want to play with other people. Is the genre not a social medium by definition? I understand it can be hard to find a group and it sucks when you have to sit around getting people to come join you so you can level when you only have a few hours to play. Believe me, I have been there and I know the frustration; however, the alternative is⦠well⦠FFXIV. Make a character on Mysidia, in Limsa Lominsa. You may, at times, see some people shouting, perhaps even some people talking, but how many? 5? 8? Usually in my experience it hasnât even been that many. There are dozens of players spread around the city at any given time, most of whom never seem to speak to anyone, and wonât even acknowledge a person when addressed directly. Is that the future of MMORPGs? Maybe it is an extreme example, but I fear this is just the inevitable result of what happens when you stop forcing players to co-operate in order to play the game. It becomes a glorified single player game with an embedded chat room window, or no chat room window if you donât have a linkshell.

 

I always thought roleplayers were of a more accepting breed, considering their playstyle often doesn't grant them the time to obsess over content the way hardcore, end-game players do. There's always someone gotta prove me wrong.

 

Is that how I sounded in my posts? That I am some hardcore end-game minded player? If that is so, then I am deeply sorry that I was so unclear. Allow me to express that I am, in fact, what I would consider to be a casual player. That was not always the case, but it is now. There are some nights were I am unable to play at all, or if I do come online, it is only for an hour or two maximum. If I am lucky, and donât mind missing out on things like sleeping, I could theoretically push myself to play for 5 or 6 hours. I do not grind non-stop in order to level. I am lucky to complete 3 or more levequests a day. I know that eventually I will get to maximum level, and I may get to see final boss kind of monsters, and I am looking forward to that; however, I do not think that is the way the game should be. I accept that it is, and it will not change, and I am fine with that. As I said before, a game cannot cater to everyone and I know that no game will ever cater just to me and my odd tastes and sensibilities. I made peace with that a long time ago. I still enjoy MMORPGs regardless.

 

When you pay their subscription, you can tell them they can't have the ability to access ALL of the game they played for.

 

And that's all I'll say about that.

 

I know I said I was going to try not to be confrontational, but this point you make irks me somewhat and I feel I should address it as gently as I can.

 

I would like to ask you, how many MMORPGs you have played where you were able to access ALL the game? And are you not, in fact, saying that the game should cater to one group of gamers at the expense of others? I would never presume to tell anyone how to play a game, especially one they are paying for, but, if I may be so bold, I would still like to exercise the freedom to comment on the content and mechanics of said game.

 

Letâs say a game has casual solo players, and it caters to them. That is wonderful. But what about the people who are hardcore end-game raiders, will the game try to cater to them as well? Now there is a problem. If all the content is accessible to the casual gamer, what drive is there for the hardcore players? Are you saying it is wrong to be a hardcore player who is end-game minded? Is it wrong that I used to play that way when I was younger?

 

The casual player wants to see all the game there is, in their own time, without having to dedicate a significant chunk of their life to achieving it. The raider, on the other hand, wants the game to be a challenge so that they must work with others like a well oiled machine in order to reach, and then overcome, the biggest baddest obstacles that the game has. If any casual pickup raid can do it, what is the point?

 

There is a satisfying feeling of achievement that comes from finally defeating the big bad dragon, or demon lord, or deity that you have spent raiding for 5 hours a night trying to kill for 2 weeks solid. It is a feeling I miss sometimes, but I could never do that again. I have commitments in my life now, and I canât be up all hours grinding to max level so I can tank some raid mob for my guild and help earn us another âworld firstâ when we win.

 

All over this forum and others, people say what FFXIV should and should not be, what the developer should do and should not have done. And now, when I say that I feel an MMORPGâs end content should not be accessible to people who have only an hour or two to play a day, Iâm an intolerant jerk? Is not saying that a game should be fully accessible to casual players being just as intolerant to hardcore gamers? If seems to me you are saying your way of playing is right and hardcore gamersâ way is wrong. I will not call you an intolerant jerk though for stating your opinion. I think everyoneâs thoughts and feelings are equally as valid as my own. And I would not attack someone just for expressing them, unless I felt they were attacking me. I may offer my own differing viewpoint, but that is just conversation. If we all went around thinking and feeling the same thing, and just agreed on everything all the time, the world may be a peaceful place, but it would be incredibly dull and void of variety as well.

 

Contrary to what you may think of me, I do care about other people. What I do not care about, though, is their opinions and views of me. Iâve said my peace now as clearly as I think I can, and I have tried to be as polite as possible through it all. I am sorry that this turned into a massive post, but I felt that it was necessary. Iâll try to go back to my quick, and brief, posting style from now on.

[Chveya]

It would be a jerkish thing for me to quote all of your post; and you've addressed quite a bit of it clearly and maturely, and I both thank and respect you for that.

 

So I'm just going to snag this bit here, since it was a more direct question:

 

I would like to ask you, how many MMORPGs you have played where you were able to access ALL the game? And are you not, in fact, saying that the game should cater to one group of gamers at the expense of others? I would never presume to tell anyone how to play a game, especially one they are paying for, but, if I may be so bold, I would still like to exercise the freedom to comment on the content and mechanics of said game.

 

Of the MMOs that I've played where I actually -reached- anything resembling end-game -- which, to me, suggests that I've hit the point where I am able to see as much of the game as possible, whether it be going back to re-live lowbie questlines, or high-end raids/PvP -- I'd have to say one. I'd like that number to be higher, but do you know why it's not?

 

Because the stuff I stuck with for years in the -hopes- of seeing the end required so much -forced- group play, that it wasn't at all possible with my lifestyle, time available, and general overall patience.

 

Let me go on the record at this point as saying -- I feel all end-game content should be group oriented. That's why it's a multiplayer game, for crying out loud.

 

I also firmly believe that the ability to solo my way to that point, with the knowledge that I will be missing out on content along the way, should be an available option. But I should not be forced to group just to gain some exp.

 

If I want to take one that totally awesome quest mob? I should probably bring friends. But if I only have an hour or two to play, I really don't want to have to spend 30 minutes finding a group, another 10-20 minutes getting to the grind place, and then annoying my entire group by having to leave after a ridiculously short time.

 

In short, I don't believe you should get to do all the awesome crap, see the awesome quests, kill the awesome mobs, all by yourself. If you want to do that, they make singleplayer games. But I have no patience for a game that forces me to group just to make piddling progress.

 

In almost every MMO out there, the game starts when you reach the end. Some make the process of getting there more fun than others, but you're not out there grinding for the love of grinding, most of the time. You're grinding because you want the next cool thing, the next awesome ability, the next neat piece of armor. You're grinding to get to the end, so you can do the really kick-ass stuff.

 

Let me get to the end however the heck I want. If that means I want to solo to the end and miss out on some stuff, that's my choice; not yours. And the smartest thing the game designers ever did was make their games more accessible to a broader variety of player: from after-school players to hardcore grinders to mothers who have to sneak an hour here, two there.

 

Just like anything involving lots of people -- if they want it to succeed, it needs to be available to lots of people. Cutting them off from even reaching the end is just as narrow-minded, from a developers standpoint, as telling overseas players "Sorry, it's always going to be nighttime when you play!".

[Ghunzyr]

Thank you for the great reply Chveya. I was a little bent out of shape about being called a jerk before but I get over that sort of thing fairly quickly, especially when the person stops and explains their viewpoint. I can definitely appreciate your view and see where you are coming from. I can relate to a lot of it, including not seeing the end game because of restrictions on me of some form or another. I know how frustrating that is. I also agree that it is a great business model to make the game more accessible.

 

That being said, I stand by my belief that ease of play is a slippery slope that can, unfortunately, weaken the quality of a gameâs player community. I do not expect you or anyone else to agree with me. I understand that we may share some views, and not share others. You are perfectly entitled to your opinions and I do not believe they are any better or worse than my own.

 

I strongly believe we all have reasons for believing in whatever it is we believe in, and for that reason I will not dismiss anyoneâs opinion offhand so long as it is conveyed in a mature manner. I welcome people to disagree with me. I welcome people to debate me point for point if they wish. I could make a whole thread dedicated to that very task but in the end it would just be a meaningless waste of energy all around and incite more drama than anyone desires.

 

Iâm not here to change anyoneâs views, nor is it likely that another personâs opinions on a message board are going to change my own views. Iâll be the first to admit Iâm stubborn, and the last to say Iâm the only one. Everyone who plays games long enough, especially MMOs, starts to develop their own strong feelings about what is good and bad. In the end, itâs all subjective and equally valid so long as there are solid reasons behind those opinions.

 

Almil, I owe you an apology. I am sorry that I ended up completely hijacking your thread with my incredibly long posts.

[Chveya]

 

That being said, I stand by my belief that ease of play is a slippery slope that can, unfortunately, weaken the quality of a gameâs player community.

 

 

I almost feel like ease of play is a totally different issue, in a way.

 

I don't believe that choosing to solo should be -easy-. I think it should always be smoother and easier to play with others. That just makes sense. I don't think that making a game easier to solo in should make it easy.

 

SE seems to have an inkling of the right idea on this track, with the ability to make leves harder based on the number of people involved. And the fact that some leves, even on solo mode, kick my butt. >_>

 

I just wanted to clarify that. While I'm 100% for the ability to solo, it shouldn't be the easiest or smoothest route.

[Sha]

In reply to the same quote above, I'd just like to add that I think that what really makes the quality of a community depends of the people who are part of that community. While I acknowledge that some people will prefer soloing 100% of their playtime for whatever reason, it seems to me that the majority of MMORPG players care about the MMO aspect and will naturally make friends and share game content with them. Forcing them to group with random people, when their friends are not available, that might very well end up being jerks to achieve this or that will not help forging a better community, quite the contrary I would say.

 

What I am sure of is that I will never be forced in XIV to bite my tongue and bear with jerks to get those last exp points granting me a level up, because if I ever run into jerks when I want to group, I can just press the eject button, finish my level solo and actually have a good time.

[Sweet Spirit]

Hahah

 

Luckily a lot of my roleplay happened at Neverwinter Nights, where the day/night timing was hard-coded into the game.

 

The times for NWN and Eorzea were actually similar. NWN time really used to bother me when people suggested using in-game time to talk about your character's age. They had a day pass every few minutes, so that meant that if we went by in-game time our characters would die of old age only a few weeks or a month after their conception, and that did NOT sound like a very good idea to me.

 

A tip from me playing on NWN: Just roleplay and focus on the characters, not the time of the day. Things get really easy to overlook from there ;D I guess its easier said than done considering NWN is a decade behind FFXIV as far as graphics go, though

 

I still felt like night and day were very noticeable in NWN anyway, regardless of graphics! Still, you really come to forget it as the time goes by. Both in Game time and real life time, HAH!

 

Just use game time as it is convenient to you. Nothing else that can be done.

[Don Miqot'e]

This is a interesting thread, and I'd like to offer a crazy, illogical idea onto which ingame time can be used for role playing purposes. Let us suppose, that in Eorzea, time is actually changing as fast as it suggests. Their universe could very well be Earth hour to Eorzea's Day.

 

Then let us suppose that the people of Eorzea still age as us humans do. That means that even if a inhabitant of Eorzea is 24 days old, they are still only 1 earth day old. All this would simply mean would be a feat to multiple whatever time's suggested by 24. (this incorporates the hour to days ratio) For example, if the average life span of a character is 100 earth years, you could then multiply it by 24, coming up with a total of 2400 Eorzean years. (my math is off probably, but you get the idea)

 

This means that your character still gets their wild birthdays (but make every Earth year playing something of a special event. Maybe Eorzea celebrates every 100 years or something, due to the shortened time in their universe).

 

Here's the problems with the idea though, NPC characters will still address themselves as being X amount of years. You could possibly just multiply it to give a feel for Eorzea years perhaps, but it'd be a pain I know. (Example: 10 years in human time X 24= 240 Eorzea years. This means that the character is still within the suggested amount of years, nearly a tenth of being 100 or 2,400)

 

I could be very wrong of course, but its a idea. Not a good one but not necessarily bad either, and one that has everyone winning, so to speak, and because Eorzea is not a real world, it could be very likely.

 

The idea for this comes from my experience in "The Multiverse" styled roleplaying, in which one character actually goes from to different worlds with completely different rules than the ones we are used to. This is often used in "space" roleplays, when they talk about time they often say "Earth Days" because a planet simply has shorter or longer days than ours. So how do you measure it? Relating to what we know, which again is the rough ratio of about 1 Earth hour to 1 day Eorzea.

 

Dislike? Like? Wanting to throw rotten vegetables? Lemme know!

[Moonfire]

I know this thread is a bit dated. Is the day/night cycle following the same pattern in 1.0? (Not sure if this can be covered because of the NDA. If it violates that ignore this.)

 

Personally I never understood why games can't take a 24 hour day and divide it by 6 and that is your day and night cycles. You get 4 hours of night and 4 hours of day on a cycle. It is more realistic but yet allows everyone access to day or night depending on where they live. Regions to the very North and Very South could be adjusted so their night and day cycles are an hour off (kind of like time zones) to give players even more variety.

[Deirdre]

I know this thread is a bit dated. Is the day/night cycle following the same pattern in 1.0? (Not sure if this can be covered because of the NDA. If it violates that ignore this.)

 

Personally I never understood why games can't take a 24 hour day and divide it by 6 and that is your day and night cycles. You get 4 hours of night and 4 hours of day on a cycle. It is more realistic but yet allows everyone access to day or night depending on where they live. Regions to the very North and Very South could be adjusted so their night and day cycles are an hour off (kind of like time zones) to give players even more variety.

 

I think it's probably better if you make your own thread rather than post on one that's years old, no one (including myself) is going to read all the crap above, haha!

 

Since we can talk about Gridania, and well the time/day thing is still a part of Gridana, I don't think it violates NDA. Yes, time does run the same as it did before (if there was a minor tweak I did not notice). As RPers, most of us just remain unconscious to the in game time. Some people use the time it was when they started the RP and keep it throughout the interaction, though I think most people, myself included, use real world timing as a marker. So if it's 2 AM where I am, I usually assume I'm RPing at 2 AM.

Now this runs in to issues when you have people from different locations like Canada vs England or what have you. Normally a quick tell and decision sorts that all out. Sometimes you can only RP at night, but need to get a daytime scene done, it's an easy thing to sort out between RPers.

 

For events, they are scheduled in real world time as well, so characters know when they are expected to arrive. This is used to kind of tie in RP time and IRL time.

 

For pacing, including the passage of months and years, I personally use IRL time. If I disappear for a month, so does Deirdre, if I RP a full day, Deir is interacting the whole day. Again, sometimes what would be an interaction of seconds takes a minute or two to type, so you can't be too picky. It's a give and take situation. For agining it works the same way. I RPed Deir since the beginning, that's how much she has aged, we've actually had some nameday parties ICly before.

(SE will tell you the span of 1.0 was only a single year, though two IRL years passed. Those of us who Rped two years either condensed what we did, pushed back our character arriving a year, or removed content. Instead of arriving when 'the game starts', to compensate I had Deir arrive a year earlier.)

 

Anyways I hoped that helped some