Opinion: Final Fantasy XIV Dev's Response To Sage Icon Is Something The Games Industry Should Learn

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Opinion: Final Fantasy XIV Dev's Response To Sage Icon Is Something The Games Industry Should Learn From | MMORPG.com

Late last week news came out of Square Enix with Final Fantasy XIV's producer Naoki Yoshida announcing a revamp to the icon of an upcoming class. This change was prompted by feedback from the community about a lesser known phobia that the original emblem could have been seen as triggering to those who suffer from trypophobia. As a result, the FFXIV quickly revamped the emblem to assuage those concerns. It's this type of action, looking out even for the smallest subset of players who support the

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Viper482

It baffles me how all of a sudden phobic lives matter.....we've had things in games for decades with no concerns but now all of a sudden we need to start changing everything. We've been killing spiders for 30 years in MMOs.....but F the arachnophobes I guess lol.

mklinic

I mean...They changed an icon right? Not exactly heavy lifting and seems like an easy adjustment. The article lists the change as being for  "an upcoming class" so seems easier to change now as well.

Good for them making an adjustment before going to prod. I wouldn't put this on the same level as "killing spiders" (or "every other phobia") which would be a much more drastic change in most any MMO.

This seems, to me, to be on the same level as an accessibility issue that was discovered and addressed in QA. You'd generally never hear about those, but FFXIV is popular right now, so I get them trying to maintain that wave. No harm, no foul.

Tiller

Viper482 said:

We've been killing spiders for 30 years in MMOs.....but F the arachnophobes I guess lol.

You mentioned that in the other thread; you must really have a fear of spiders. No biggy, lots of people hate them.

Sovrath

SalmonMan said:

So, when will they be changing everything else in the game for every other phobia?



Is their like a paid campaign to suck this games dick or what?

I swear to god, it's going to come out it's cured cancer and the game is the channel through which Jesus Christ will return to Earth.

Viper482 said:

It baffles me how all of a sudden phobic lives matter.....we've had things in games for decades with no concerns but now all of a sudden we need to start changing everything. We've been killing spiders for 30 years in MMOs.....but F the arachnophobes I guess lol.

As I said in the other thread ...

It took seconds
It wasn't a big deal
It wasn't set in stone
It certainly doesn't have major ramifications on how the game will play

So they did it.

Phixion13

Conspiracy theory - content creators caught wind of what was happening with WoW and hyped up the migration to save themselves. What has this game exactly done that warranted this hype lately? An expansion was coming but nothing groundbreaking - nor did the game itself change much. Not playing either, just saying the timing is crazy ain't it?

Nightfyre

If it wasn't brought up by a news article and just done discreetly, then no one would care.  But since someone is covering it, others got to jump on it with their on the spot opinion. 

Probably the same people that went nuts over a rich guy being shot into space, that they didn't know who that person was till Google search told em.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Viper482

Tiller said:

Viper482 said:

We've been killing spiders for 30 years in MMOs.....but F the arachnophobes I guess lol.

You mentioned that in the other thread; you must really have a fear of spiders. No biggy, lots of people hate them.

No, I don't...but it is the most popular phobia is it not? I mean they made a freaking movie about it.

Viper482

Sovrath said:

SalmonMan said:

So, when will they be changing everything else in the game for every other phobia?





Is their like a paid campaign to suck this games dick or what?



I swear to god, it's going to come out it's cured cancer and the game is the channel through which Jesus Christ will return to Earth.

Viper482 said:

It baffles me how all of a sudden phobic lives matter.....we've had things in games for decades with no concerns but now all of a sudden we need to start changing everything. We've been killing spiders for 30 years in MMOs.....but F the arachnophobes I guess lol.

As I said in the other thread ...



It took seconds

It wasn't a big deal

It wasn't set in stone

It certainly doesn't have major ramifications on how the game will play



So they did it.

That was very enlightening of you.....I now changed my mind on this topic. You won the internet.

Scot

Guys if we could just take a step back, if you think this is frivolous, or indeed not newsworthy you can say so without going in both guns blazing.

I thought it was quite reasonable to do the first article, I am not sure what happened deserved more than that. But Joseph has a personal connection here, so it is understandable he would want to show his support.

Sovrath

Theocritus said:

Viper482 said:

It baffles me how all of a sudden phobic lives matter.....we've had things in games for decades with no concerns but now all of a sudden we need to start changing everything. We've been killing spiders for 30 years in MMOs.....but F the arachnophobes I guess lol.

It's 2021...Everyone is offended by everything......

^ or just "bothered?"

There's a coin and it has two sides. The people who are constantly screaming that everything is an issue, taking away their rights, they aren't being heard, they are being oppressed.

Then there's the other side where as soon as there is some semblance of understanding, human decency, just a simple acknowledgment of an issue, even if it's small, they start getting into a huff, or bothered or, or "offended" because it shakes their world view, forces them to turn the other cheek as it has nothing to do with them but they simply can't, and essentially they are just all about "vinegar." As if mentioning anything like this suddenly takes something away from them. They are just so put upon.

Maybe if both extremes just chilled a bit we'd have a better time.

Because Alkarionlog is wrong, it's not about "not paying attention to this stuff and caring for the things that matter" it's all about caring about the small things.

As these small things create small ripples to either side of that coin and those small ripples become big ripples and then you have a side that can't stand the other side because their very existence is an affront to everything they believe is true.

Maybe if we just let people be, were a bit more caring, and also a bit less judgmental of other people (even if we thought their opinion was bollocks) we would then be able to focus on "the things that matter."

But until that happens, and it won't, we "won't."

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

WhiteLantern

Aori said:

Anyone who doesn't realize it was a brilliant PR move is a fool. Strike while the iron is hot. For no effort, they just got millions in free positive publicity.

This.
No one needed to know. Few would have noticed. Exactly zero people in 100 will care. Virtue signaling for profit.

Tiller

WhiteLantern said:

Aori said:

Anyone who doesn't realize it was a brilliant PR move is a fool. Strike while the iron is hot. For no effort, they just got millions in free positive publicity.

This.
No one needed to know. Few would have noticed. Exactly zero people in 100 will care. Virtue signaling for profit.

Just based on how all gamers nit-pick the sh** out of every little thing to high heaven I guarantee people would have noticed and asked why they changed it.

I mean, you all are arguing over the fact it was changed in another thread as well as this one. PR or just to bring awareness to something few have heard of, whatever.

Y'all starting to sound like a buncha old angry Facebook Karens'. "grumble grumble.. I hate all people who look, act or think different than me because it makes me uncomfortable grumble grumble" Life goes on, it's not the end of the world and the game will be just fine.

Wizardry

I am calling BS on this ICON claim.I feel the complainers have some other agenda behind their complaints.
Doing some research it seems some Irish women created it and not some doctor.it is also not identifiable by any doctor either.
So i bet if i searched further this Irish women likely had some agenda behind her complaint.

So the obvious is that she was a WOMEN.....soooo she never mentioned if for MANY years and somehow just suddenly acquired this phobia?Although not 100% impossible i am not buying it expecially since doctors have not yet claimed it is a diagnosed disease.However give it time,some paid off doctors will start using it as an excuse for some clients in lawsuits or some other agenda or HATE towards a game or some other entity.

Cosmicwrath

Pathetically weak.

klash2def

I am addressing the people that say stupid shit like "Virtue Signaling, and "Go Woke Go Broke" stupid shit like that.. this is for whoever "you" are. 

TLDR: The last 3 words are at the bottom.


Ive been here for years. Fought a lot of you. It's not everyone, I generally enjoy healthy debates with people that can make a valid argument. But a lot of you cross the line often.

Over time, I just sort of gave up on trying to help you see how you look. I don't care anymore... So I don't post as much I used to and I'm absolutely not about to give energy to bigots that only see my words as an opportunity to be micro-aggressive by WTFing every post I write, or report button spam me to get me banned, etc... Don't think I haven't noticed what you are doing. sigh.

60-year-old babies.

Still, I do read a few times a week, and it's the same people with the same BS DAILY. If the shoe fits, wear it.

A lot of you are old enough to be my grandparents and you are acting like you are the same age as my 11-year-old.

Actually no, my 11-year-old is a lot more mature than 90% of the people that frequent this site.

So you are mad that a game company did a good deed for a group of people with a phobia and someone even said in the other thread about how their "freedom" was at risk because of it.. haha Oh man... I cannot make this shit up... It's amazing.

The truth is.. this ain't about a phobia. It's about the desire of a certain crowd to be treated special because they are PPEA. Pretentious, Privileged, Egotistical, Assholes.

Facts.

Again if the shoe fits wear it.


Silenced people who have been treated like shit since forever, are now being heard more than ever and it's not just gaming it's in EVERYTHING. A shift in the human psyche is happening. This is objectively a good thing. Good deeds are rare and we should celebrate them. ESPECIALLY RIGHT NOW... People just want something to look forward to. But no.. not you.

You cant deal with that. Too much "GOOD" for you. It doesn't make you feel special enough. So even something as small as changing a game logo is triggering for you because it does not feed your desire to be treated special. Yet you call everyone else a "Snowflake" or "Sensitive"

So you yell at the top of the mountain about how unfair the world is for you... YOU! a benefactor of Privilege... you lament how much you hate anything that doesn't represent what YOU identify as. You hate change, therefore you hate the world. Sad way to live. The type of people to bitch and moan about not getting cake on someone else's birthday. The people that get their news from Karen led Facebook conspiracy groups.

Slippery Slope all you want, things are NOT going back to how they used to be.

If you cant deal, leave the gaming hobby. I've seen it for years around this place, every instance something GOOD happens for a group in Gaming or Nerd culture in general, groups they DONT belong to, they berate it, and then disrespect people like myself for defending said group.

It's always the same people with the same ideas and bullshit. It's old. But so are you and when you are long gone, the world is going to continue doing what it's always done.. which is change. With or without you! But definitely without you!

There is nothing you can do about it. That is the only thing you have to accept.

Yes. you will die, and the world will continue without you. Morbid but true.

So why waste your remaining energy being bitter about things you can't control anyway? Like really? What do you get out of it?

what's really funny, is none of this stuff even affects you.. not even a little bit. You are just bitter and want others to be bitter with you.

Yet and still... you find time to bitch and moan about a good deed done for other people all because it didn't make you PERSONALLY feel special. You know you could just shut the hell up and let people do what they do right?

Get over yourself.

koyutakota

see this is how you start down the rabbit hole cant change one thing cuz its could be seen as a phobia now they gonna get request for other phobic changes. i know people who wont play any game that has spiders in them because the are extremally afraid to even look at them real or fiction. so next thing would be to make them look less spider like. then there's snakes and other stuff. best not to dip the toe in these water else you'll find yourself in the deep end of it. where you have to change it or face alienating an audience why change one thing for people with a certain phobia but not others. that's gonna be the argument

klash2def

koyutakota said:

see this is how you start down the rabbit hole cant change one thing cuz its could be seen as a phobia now they gonna get request for other phobic changes. i know people who wont play any game that has spiders in them because the are extremally afraid to even look at them real or fiction. so next thing would be to make them look less spider like. then there's snakes and other stuff. best not to dip the toe in these water else you'll find yourself in the deep end of it. where you have to change it or face alienating an audience why change one thing for people with a certain phobia but not others. that's gonna be the argument

Tiller

At this point All I can do is turn all this arguing into something hilarious....OBJECTION!

Linif

Devs slightly change an icon for the benefit of some people. Others don't benefit, but they're not affected in the slightest, but still get up in arms over it...?

I'm genuinely confused why this is considered an issue? Is it because people think it sets a precedent for the community affecting dev decisions?

finefluff

The only reason the change publicized is because the icon had previously been revealed. They want to make sure the websites and players are aware of the new icon when it is used in promotional materials and such. If they made this change during the design phase, we likely would have never have heard about it.

It's not some grand conspiracy. Games make lots of changes during design for accessibility reasons, and this is not the first change of this kind FFXIV has made btw. In the latest patch they changed some the effects in one of the alliance raids that could potentially be seizure inducing.

Some commenters here are trying to argue a slippery slope about how now they have to remove anything and everything that anybody could be sensitive to. Well I hate to break it to you, but games have already been doing these things for a long time. For example, Blizzard removed skull and bone imagery from WoW for the Chinese version.  https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/49x7m0/chinese_wow_censorship_comparisonlots_of/

Making changes for accessibility or to avoid offense is not anything new and even goes back to all the way to NES games. The North American version of FF1 that had the cross removed from churches in the game.

I am unsure whether that should be called censorship or not, but nonetheless, making changes to accommodate a certain audience goes back a long time.

elfenwind

Stizzled said:

Trypophobia isn't an official phobia and is basically an internet meme.

The original icon had 3 circles, barely even near each other. I'm calling bullshit that it could even trigger the questionable phobia.

Somewhere there is a group of trolls having a good laugh that they managed to complain enough to get this changed.

I'm having a good laugh at this website for being so desperate to praise FF14 for literally anything.

You're right MMORPG.com, the games industry should learn from this. What a great way to generate positive PR for doing absolutely nothing.

I guess you didn't read about how similar things trigger the op's 12yo daughter. We all know that ff14 did it for PR but at the end of the day no harm no foul. Its like those big corps giving money away to sustainability initiatives in which they are the main contributors of pollution or give money to charity for PR and tax deductions but at the end of the day society still benefits.