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A Secret Incentive For Liking FFXIV: Physical Exercise Potential

I do have a secret reason that gives Final Fantasy XIV a competitive edge over the competition, and it is this:


  • Part one: a PCGamerBike Mini.  I bought it awhile back so I can combine what I like to do most (gaming) with what I need most (exercise).  In my experience, it's a pretty effective low-intensity exercise unit, but it has one unfortunate crux: it needs to be used while partially reclining, and I've yet to devise a means to comfortably reach a keyboard whilst using it.  Decent for FPS, but everything else?  Eh, not so much.

  • Part two: Final Fantasy XIV, an MMORPG that plays quite comfortably with a gamepad.  (I use a Saitek P880, it'd be better if I had a gamepad with four bumper buttons, but FFXIV's gamepad configuration routine is quote robust.)

Rig up the PCGamerBike mini for W on forward, S on backwards pedaling.  Don't touch the movement stick of the gamepad unless you need to make some minute corrections (e.g. positioning in combat), use the other stick to control yoru turning (and camera).

Given how much walking there is to do in FFXIV (if you teleport to just any ol' place you'll soon be out of anima), you'll be burning lots of calories in no time.   Even pedal while you're crafting or mining/logging/fishing - you're not going anywhere while you're in those modes.  Standing around in combat or wading through the marketplace are perhaps the biggest down times, as you can go wandering off if you pedal at that point.

Can other MMORPGs do this?  Not with a gamepad, maybe with something like a Logitech G13, but even then it's pretty dicey. There's just too many buttons you need to push to play most PC MMOs, while FFXIV is pretty gamepad-friendly by design.

Comments

  • bios5300bios5300 Member Posts: 38

    Or people could go outside and get some exercise...

  • geldonyetichgeldonyetich Member Posts: 1,340

    I was expecting a fat joke, but a jab at one's lifestyle is almost as bad, and not one that should attract a lot of sympathy considering this is an MMORPG-related site.   If you're going to spend hours playing an MMORPG anyway, burning some calories is just smart.  You got something against the idea of multitasking, buddy?

  • DeivosDeivos Member EpicPosts: 3,692

    I just take my crafting out of game and do real blacksmithing at Crucible. :p

     

    If ye want I could make a fat joke about you?

    "The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay

    "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin

  • skoreanimeskoreanime Member Posts: 219

    So the fanboys have fallen this low to keep on promoting their game?  

    Must be past the point of desperation.

  • DeivosDeivos Member EpicPosts: 3,692

    That's a rather bizarre and out of place insult...

    "The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay

    "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin

  • CaldicotCaldicot Member UncommonPosts: 455

    Brilliant!

    If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. - Carl Sagan

  • skoreanimeskoreanime Member Posts: 219

    Originally posted by Deivos

    That's a rather bizarre and out of place insult...

    If that's how people want to take it :P

    It's just obvious they're trying to throw some humor in to distract people off the hot topics.

  • DameonkDameonk Member UncommonPosts: 1,914

    Originally posted by skoreanime

    So the fanboys have fallen this low to keep on promoting their game?  

    Must be past the point of desperation.

     

    I don't understand your post.  How is this promoting FFXIV in any way?  It's posted in the official FFXIV forums.  What are we supposed to talk about here?  GW2?

    Anyway, it seems like he's promoting the PCGamerBike Mini more than FFXIV.

    "There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."

  • choujiofkonochoujiofkono Member Posts: 852

         Exercise indoors is a great thing for winter or for people that live in areas that suck.  Good luck with the weight loss, it's a hard thing to accomplish for millions of people. 

         I don't think FF14 is going to benefit from telling people they should invest even MORE money into hardware to give them a  reason to play it. 

         From the Jist of the OP post it seems the controls are so simple you can play it with a gamepad which is supposed to be a a good thing for PC gamers somehow.  I find that logic as applied to an MMO to be flawed in more ways I can count. 

    "I'm not cheap I'm incredibly subconsciously financially optimized"
    "The worst part of censorship is ------------------"
    image

  • slim26slim26 Member UncommonPosts: 645

    Originally posted by Dameonk

    Originally posted by skoreanime

    So the fanboys have fallen this low to keep on promoting their game?  

    Must be past the point of desperation.

     

    I don't understand your post.  How is this promoting FFXIV in any way?  It's posted in the official FFXIV forums.  What are we supposed to talk about here?  GW2?

    Anyway, it seems like he's promoting the PCGamerBike Mini more than FFXIV.

    ROFL!!! not that hard to understand lmao!!

  • geldonyetichgeldonyetich Member Posts: 1,340

    Oh, hey, I actually got some replies on this thread when I wasn't looking.  It's a pity they were mostly from folk who were apparently hunting for any excuse they could find to hate Final Fantasy XIV more and decided to turn my mention of PCGamerBike Mini compatibility from a positive to a negative if possible.  It sort of gives you a good idea of the kind of people who cruise these boards.

    Well, i do like to refute falsehood when I see it, so I will point out that it's not completely accurate to say that it's the simplicity of the Interface that allows it to be compatible with a GamePad and therefore useful for this little cycle I got.  Rather, it's the attention to make it GamePad compatible that allows it to work.  They've got just as many hotkey bars as anyone else (actually combined with the Alt and Ctrl panes I think they have 150, which is a lot). 

    So, in the end, the game is not that much simpler than whatever else you're playing - perhaps even more complex in some ways, such as the massive crafting implementation tied to the player-driven economy and battle regimens, but the interface has been compartmentalized in such a way that it happens to work well with gamepads.

    And, no, I don't have any affiliation with the PCGamerbike Mini guys.  I sympathise with anyone else in this economy that they're trying to keep their business going, and making a machine that lets you exercise while you're playing games seems like a pretty damn good venture in my mind, but I wouldn't make a cent if anyone went out and bought one because of this thread.

    I suppose I really can't claim impartiality in matters of FFXIV seeing how I broke down and preordered the collector's edition today.  However, if you're going to take that as me being a fanboy of the game, you couldn't have done a better job of demonstrating you're a two-tone idiot, as I've written more than one negative thread on FFXIV and still stand by them.

  • geldonyetichgeldonyetich Member Posts: 1,340

    Originally posted by Rytif

    Seriously? You can't take 1 hour out of your gaming time to go do a workout plan? Not to mention, I can't imagine what you eat if you are this lazy.

    Ummm.. L2LW

    I really don't get these replies.  Are people really so stupid they can't understand that if you're going to play a game, you might as well burn some extra calories from it, that you could do a workout in addition to play games and it would only produce additional benfit?  No... don't answer it, I know the answer and it's depressing.

    Another possible scenario is a lot of these are my fellow 240lb fatasses who are terrified what would happen if their significant other discovered they could get hooked up to burn some carbs while gaming, thinking: "oh God, this guy is threatening my special beer and pork rind time." 

    Relax, it's really not that painful and hard to do, it's really low intensity exercise that pulls maybe 100-200 calories per hour.  If anything, it's actually sort of cool and immersive: your character's legs move when your legs move. 

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