I read this yesterday and wanted to repost it here. This post is missing links that were present in the original post. If you want the link to the blog I can message it.
This is going to be a long post. If you do not like reading then I request that you stop here. If you are a very loyal Square Enix fan then I congratulate you on your preferences; go no further. Please do not question or belittle my sanity; all I did was write a few pages about a company I have been with for the last twenty years. This is about how they treat their customers; not their family, friends or coworkers.
I have a long history with Square Enix. I know first-hand what they have done to their player base. Their first MMORPG was called FFXI, I played that game for 15 years. The primary source of end game loot in FFXI was notorious monsters. Notorious monsters had spawn timers ranging from a few days to a week. Their spawn windows would last anywhere from an hour to a week. People had to stare endlessly at their screen for hours - tapping buttons as fast as they could so that they could claim a notorious monster. Only the team tagging the notorious monster could get the loot, and they did so by mashing buttons for hours on end. The loot itself had drop rates around 2 to 5%. You do the math. The kicker was that North American servers had an inherent lag to them unlike their Japanese counterparts; this terrible or perhaps intentional coding automatically barred anyone outside of Japan from having a shot at the end game loot. North Americans had to wait years to have a chance; either that or go for scraps. This was considered the norm back then and it took Square Enix decades to change. You still had to claim notorious monsters and camp for them, but now they had a grace period so that anyone could tag them.
This camping mechanic brought the worst out of people playing the game; turning them against one another. It also made them horribly addicted to FFXI. FFXI players would waste away their lives hoping to catch a spawn; only to lose the claim to a Japanese player. These players lost their jobs, relationships, failed at school and developed all kinds of mental and physical health problems. The entire community was petty and miserable.
People were not allowed to vent their frustrations; criticism or critique was met not with a temporary ban - but a permanent one. Imagine the horror of camping years away at spawns only to lose it all. Square Enix was aware that the addicts would resub and re-purchase all the games. And therefore; Square Enix was losing nothing by getting rid of these opinionated strong minded people. The next time they came back to the game they were not just complacent but actually thankful to SE for putting them on the line. You think Zenith Mortis or Korthia was toxic? good thing you never tried the end game in FFXI. This was a long time ago; history has been conveniently scrubbed. There are some brief mentions of it in archives.
History is getting replaced by new data daily. An MMORPG buff would know exactly what I am talking about. The hardest boss in FFXI was a boss called The Absolute Virtue. The Absolute Virtue went undefeated for half a decade; it had the best loot in the game. It was undefeated this long because it was never meant to be defeated in the first place. Every time a team would manage to kill it; after a 24hr struggle, the developers would patch and reset the boss. This was Square Enix’ method of keeping players subscribed. I have never in my life seen such a dishonest and deplorable group of developers as these guys. They exploited people who get drawn into these games, and then they kept them subscribed through dishonesty and grief. Instead of actually looking for a better game the FFXI player was stuck in a dilemma of sunken cost. They did not want to lose what they already had but they were horribly addicted to a game that was absolute garbage for their mental and physical well-being. The players kept going, just like their stubbornly greedy developer; the stubbornly stupid player kept on. Gaming always had some form of exploitation in it but we should give kudos to Square Enix for mastering the art. The exploitation of the weak minded at its finest.
They added some alternatives to their current design later on. They put in notorious monsters but this time the monsters took week to spawn through gathering - they were no longer a random spawn on the map. And then the fight itself would be 10hrs long (legitimate methods). Because players were so afraid of losing all that work; they would risk their lives to go on these 12 hour fights. Players would give up the fight because of fatigue; and not necessarily because of a lack of skill or a failure to do the mechanics. Actually; there were barely any mechanics. A simple Warcraft dungeon boss has more mechanics than the FFXI end game bosses. Their purpose was the same – get people addicted and keep them subscribed. People were getting sick playing the game. It made headlines back then. Imagine spending three months farming for a boss spawn and then fighting 24 hours to get it down; you would not want to lose all that work now would you?
This is not an example of developers making a tough game. This is developers intentionally harming and exploiting people; by engaging in a method of content creation which requires the least amount of effort from their side - and the largest profit revenue. It requires no creativity to create such an abomination. They constantly claimed that it was good for the consumer, but who was it really good for? The company that has always engaged in greedy practices – company that brought to you The new Avengers and its monetary system (predatory to the core)? Trying to make everything a subscription and trying to launch NFTs? They only care about money.
Now let’s talk about FFXIV. After promising FFXIV for several years and loading up on pre-orders; they released a game that was dubbed the worst MMORPG ever made. Again; the actual reviews are scrubbed - but some are still around.
The game had very few tedious quests. It was built around time sinks, the users had very little to do in the game. The graphics engine was incapable of running on some of the most advanced computers and the ui was the worst I have ever seen. It was actually a really bad alpha that they released as a full game. They then shamelessly took more than a year to re-develop another game, without telling the people who were actually playing 1.0. And by redevelopment I mean actually developing a game, because the 1.0 version was a poorly made Alpha. When the realm reborn was launched (a different game but with the same title to scrub older reviews) it wiped out all the progress of current subscribers; they all had to start from level 1. At least they got a free pet? Congratulation! . SE claimed: we just saved your game, that you paid us to make in the first place. But this time Square Enix had learned its lesson. And that lesson was to make better games that respect the players intelligence and offers them a truly innovative and engaging experience.
No, actually I am joking, the lesson was to heavily invest in PR, and still save all the money on actual development. They wiped their hands clean of any responsibility by firing the head dude of the game and hiring another dude. Instead of people who did awful things to their users for fifteen years; and then swindled them with a poorly made alpha - they were now the people who saved a game. The game’s older reviews were scrubbed and all the responsibility was pinned on the last developer. The lesson learned here from Square Enix is to hide your mistakes properly.
Square Enix gives special treatment to community leaders, and in return they are rewarded with a perfect image. Try writing a negative opinion of the game on reddit and see how long it stays up. I do not recommend supporting or going on reddit though. Anyone who criticized the game was kicked out of the local chat channels within the game (called novice network), and critics outside the game were flooded with downvotes and d-threats. Square Enix is one of the few MMORPG creators who has been around this long; yet still invests heavily into twitch. You have streamers like Asmongold who get their views out of criticizing everyone and everything, parroting in complete submission thanks to the incentives working in their favor. No wonder such a bad game has good reviews everywhere you see. Because nothing else is allowed to exist.
Now what is wrong with the current game? Well the place to get the highest xp/hr in the game is a 50 minute long dungeon (Main story quest). This dungeon consists of 45 minutes of cutscenes and around 5 minutes of combat. If you are afk for few seconds after the cutscene you are now considered to be interfering with Square Enix servers per their updated TOS. One spiteful report and you are banned (Not an exaggeration). So the cutscenes used to be skippable; they were made unskippable four years ago - that is right; this torture was intentional - it is not a bug or an oversight. It is a very shameful and poor way to implement a time sink and to get people to keep playing. Their argument about providing a rush-free environment to new players is hogwash, because you can watch cutscenes in your personal inn outside of a duty. It is absurd to incentivize people with XP; and then make them see the same video every day for 50 minutes. This is what actual torture is like lol. They said they will now change how that works; in 7.0. The patch 7.0 is two years from now lol!
Here is a user asking them politely to remove cutscenes again; he feels pain and rage. The very nice community politely manipulates him into accepting it.
This is a very detailed video of the Terms of Service. People get banned for responding slowly after cutscenes (probably because the poor fs fall asleep watching the same video for the 1000th time)
So why are they doing this to people? They claim they want the new players to experience the game’s cutscenes and combat without any hesitation. They claim the game is story driven (By story they mean moving poop and turd from one spot to another as the great warrior of light). By the time you are done with the 1000s of mandatory quests; you don’t even remember why you were moving the literal turds in the first place. But in reality these developers are too lazy and cheap to actually change how the dungeon works, and so they punish people for not providing a good experience for the new players.
It is cheaper to hire someone and then give them 10 bucks an hour to monitor all channels; pretending to be a player - boot anyone who says anything negative about the game. Constantly groom and manipulate people into liking something that no decent person should like or enjoy in the first place.
The player is literally owned by Square Enix. If you have arthritis and you do not move when they want you to, they will ban you. Sounds familiar? These are the guys who were first gifting people with heart disease; having them camp notorious monsters for days. Now they are having their users run a sweatshop breaking their wrists and standing upright for 45 minutes at a time; waiting for a cutscene to end (which cannot be skipped). Soon they will convert their subscribers into NFTs and tell them to be thankful. Why? because Square Enix saved a dying game.
They also ban streamers for cussing when playing the game. This is not criticizing or harassing players – this is just language they deem to be 18+ (google Xenosys Vex ban).
There was a ban wave towards erotic role players quite recently. I don’t care for them, but SE changed it’s TOS towards erotic roleplay. The TOS states that you will only get in trouble for erotic roleplay if someone reports you for it. This person who reports you for it can be anyone. The reason why it is concerning to them is because one of the races in the game is a lalafel, and lalafels look exactly like children; males and females. Square Enix also happens to have a penchant for putting in very lewd clothing in their game. You can put two and two together here. But why is their TOS not against erotic play? but is against reporting erotic roleplay or posting pictures about it? because many of the electronic mediums their games rely upon consider it illegal to depict children in questionable ways. Rightfully so.
Square Enix has taken the approach that who ever discloses this fact to the public will get reported and banned for it. But they themselves are the ones who enable it. When you see a lalafel in whatever clothing they are wearing, or whatever voices they are making, or emotes they are making. All of this was designed and played out by developers. Square Enix basically punishes behavior that they themselves not only promote; but demand from the userbase.
I hope you can see a pattern here. Square Enix is the architect of some of the worst behaviors imaginable in gaming. But at the same time they are the most oppressive about it, they don’t want anyone to realize wtf is going on in their game. The situation is so absurd that you can laugh at it.
As long Square Enix is making money and getting loyal naïve customers; they are okay with doing whatever it takes to get there. But if an action costs Square Enix money and drives people away, then they will punish the players for that - no matter how practical or justified their actions may be. Stop calling this company a people’s company; it is anything but. Even EA and ubisoft have morals.
This company quite literally owns you and blackmails you after you are done paying them for a service. They rope you in and have you invest in a game, then they threaten to pull the cord if you show any hint of freedom. They tell you to wait 50 mins for cutscenes, move when they want you to. Say what they want you to and never speak ill of the game or criticize it. Why? Because development costs time and money. They don’t want to spend time and money when they can spend less money on PR and get the same desired effect. I am surprised these guys have not been sued for causing arthritis, depression, all forms of addiction and depression problems among their user base. Maybe they do get sued and we just never hear about it. Then these people had the audacity to make a documentary… of their success lol. And in that documentary they repeatedly mention claim “we used to be arrogant”. Used to be? I honestly don’t even know if the game is successful or the full servers were just PR too.
They do this thing which is a mockery of transparency. They have these live letters where they answer questions. But the questions they answer are written by them lol. Just like the documentary they made about their own success. Their transparency and dedication to development in the game is so bad that after nearly a decade into launch they are yet to figure out how to separate the resource bars. UI is worse than an addon you can get for free on curseforge lol.
FFXIV also has an inherent lag for north American players. All your mechanics happen 1 second before the visual, meaning that you can not even react to mechanics properly. As a north american player you have to play the game in a manner where you are doing prepared movements around mechanics; rather than reacting to them. It is absurd.
They also ban people for parsing; while allowing it on streams because they know that parsing teams add replayblility to the game. Bufoons who run a boss over and over parsing and trying to achieve a better parse will waste away their lives on the same boss all year long. No need to make any content at all; just have them parse. I guess it is better than having them wait 24 hours for a boss to spawn lol.
Square Enix also does not want any criticism of the people who buy leveling boosts while having little to no knowledge of the game (So yeah they added payment methods that let you skip years of leveling). So they allow parsing, but they do not allow parsing. They quite literally refuse to give a straight answer yet they keep banning people for them. They want to have cake and eat it too. They want the replaybility of parsing, but they do not want people buying boosts to quit the game and stop the money mill.
Need the new suckers roped in for a while; have them buy some ground mounts on the store that moves faster than any other mount in the actual game (Game has ten times the amount of stuff on their store than any other MMORPG – which I do not mind, but I feel like it contributes to their apathy). Soon the new player is heavily invested in the game and can now be blackmailed into “dance monkey dance!” on stream for them.
And obviously this is for the users you guys! this is for the users! square enix saved a dying a game remember? they are the saviors not swindlers. Dance monkey dance for them on stream.
Their live letter videos are about policing people instead of making actual content. In their recent live letter video they laughed at people and told them that they had lives and therefore we will not be getting any more content (meanwhile we were getting 4 bosses every 6 months). But what about the players you have camping 24 hours a day? do they have lives? They spent a good 10 minutes just mocking their own players. I guess they have enough new players now that they can say what they truly feel about the old playerbase.
When Square Enix bans you they do not even disclose the reason. Why? Because they know they will get sued for asking people to break their wrists. It is also not allowed in the game to go afk inside a duty. If you have a house fire or an emergency and you are not able to force quit out of a game, it is a 100% ban if reported. Now people can votekick an afk person. But Square Enix wants you to quit a duty, a vote abandon still gets you a ban! The third ban is a permanent one. To leave a duty you have to do it actively. So if people remove you and you do not leave yourself; it is a ban. Why is there a voting system anyways then? should the players not be the ones to compel other players to play a game? Why do you consider repeat disconnects in your duties to be a bannable offense? Why are you making content so amazingly torturous that people would rather do that then play it.
This is where they compel you to play the game and micromanage you. So if someone goes outside and notices a fire in their basement, they must walk back to their computer and log out before heading out. They keep saying over and over that they are doing this for the user. How are they doing this for the user? how is waiting 24 hrs for a boss to spawn with your eyes drying out good for the user? how is a 10 hr long boss fight, vomiting on your computer desk, forgetting to feed your baby good for the user? how is an undefeatable raid boss good for the user? how is 50 minutes of standing around on standby to avoid a ban good for the user? how is a clear advantage to people from one region over another spanning 20 years good for the user?. How is a mount that takes 3 years of camping hunt mobs 24 hours per day good for the user? It is addicting I agree, it is not good for the user. It is awful for the user. You are destroying these people. Maybe these people have issues to begin with, but you are really doing a number on them Square Enix.
A banned user will just re-purchase all the past expansions, resub the game and start over. This time he will be a proper BOT. He will also do all that content for newcomers all over again. Soon everyone will be farming NFT for square enix and they will be doing it because it is good for them. We should be thankful to square enix because they saved a dying game that they themselves aborted at birth. They are turning every game into a live service and we should also be thankful for that too.
I have been writing for a long time, but their customer service is by far the worst in an mmo (outside of free ones. Actually free games have better customer support). You can google that. It takes a month to get a response from them, and you have to hound them on the phone. Companies like blizzard took me minutes. I have a hard time believing that Square Enix is not state owned, because they behave worse than the IRS. IRS is actually fast as hell now, so no offense to those guys.
So it begs the question: why is all this criticism simply either gone or does not exist? Because unlike EA games and many of the other companies that are currently hated in the gaming community, these guys invest heavily in PR. On top of it all ;they are among the rare few to openly support certain politics (one good thing about them) which draws a very hardcore and loyal fanbase willing to defend them at all costs (destroying innovation and creativity in gaming while doing so). This hardcore political faction controls and owns many of the subreddits and forums. This is certainly the case on reddit.
I think Square Enix is by far the worst most malevolent company in the history of gaming. Even EA does not hire a staff to stalk streamers and ban them over their speech. This was always bad for gaming, but now it is a real threat to gaming because other companies are going to take the same approach. Criticism of a game is a strength for the consumers; not a weakness. Your rights are your strength, not a weakness. Always ask for something; if not more. Instead of innovating and creating; evolving like blizzard has, this company has taken the wrong path for profits.
Why bother caring about their customers when you can manipulate and abuse them for subscriptions and store mounts instead? And they continue to up their antics. They will use you, abuse you, and then dump you on the side of the road. And while they are driving away with their new pleb; their complacent user will be waving a thank you at them (if their hands still work).