The answers were compiled and sorted and compared over and over. And now, it’s finally here! We are ready to share the results of our survey. There is a lot of interesting information inside, comparing our survey results with other MMORPG related surveys. Read more »
今日から、毎日新しい回答を追加します。
投稿者：Allakhazam, BlueGartr, FFXIclopedia, JP Button, Quetzalcoatl Daily News
Here are 10 questions picked out from Japanese players. A couple may seem on the angry side, but I thought people might appreciate the chance to show how many of us really don’t participate in actions that are intended to harass and annoy other players. Just like not all Japanese players say JP only or harbor disdain for foreigners, not all foreign players take part in bad behavior that we tend to be labeled with. Perhaps it is important to just show them that some of these misconceptions are plain untrue, so I hope you aren’t too upset by the opinions contained within.
I also remembered how a lot of people enjoyed the banana question last time, and there were several requests for more Japanese memes and in-jokes. I requested that they provide a few as a bonus, and there are a couple light-hearted ones are mixed in there as well, so I hope you find it to be a good balance. Answers can be provided here, or on a community forum near you.
Does anyone remember the player survey we posted from Michael’s Site? It had a lot of interesting information on Japanese players, how they play, their opinions on the game, and their expectations for the future of FFXI and Rapture.
This time, JP Button is doing its own player survey! Many of the questions are similar to the ones in the Michael’s Site survey so visitors to both sites can make comparisons. There are also some extra questions of interest to Japanese players highlighting some of the differences between the two communities. At the end of the project, the survey results will be posted on JPB and given to the manager of Michael’s Site as well.
This time, we would like to limit the player survey to people who speak English as their native language. Players who speak another language, like French or German, are encouraged to contact communities sites run in those languages and see if they would be willing to do similar projects to make comparisons.
The survey will be up for approximately two weeks. If you have any questions about the project, please feel free to email Corinth or leave a comment to this post.
Here are the translated answers that Japanese players had for our questions. There are 12 questions in total, and the number of responses to each question is growing. I think the responses were a little fuller this time and provide more insightful information. The final two questions (about pre-Zilart days and Job play-style) receiving especially long answers, so I hope you enjoy reading them.
Have fun reading, and feel free to post any input you may have in the comments section. Read more »
The following questions were posted to Japanese forums from the following sources:
Allakhazam
BlueGartr
FFXIClopedia
Quetzalcoatl Daily News
A somewhat popular question that didn’t make it was the one about Salvage Bans. A previous article dealt with that issue, and you can view the results here.
Read more to see the 12 questions that were translated and posted. Read more »
Every year Michael’s Site does a survey of its visitors. I’ve mentioned Michael’s Site before but now might be a good time to explain it in more detail. The owner/administrator of the site, (Kan), has been running the site for about 5 years. It started off with him trying to translate “A Little Goblin’s Adventure”. Long time players may remember the stories posted by Michael Koji Fox, one of the members of the Localization Team at the time. Now, (Kan) does a number of interesting projects researching the history of FFXI, writing for FFXI magazines, and sometimes translating things he sees from English FFXI sites for Japanese players. There are no Premier Sites for Japan at the moment but if there were, Michael’s Site would definitely be one of them.
Back to the survey. (Kan) has been kind enough to agree to let us put his survey results and graphs up on JP Button. The survey this year was taken by around 450 Japanese visitors to his site. (Kan) would like to remind people that this is only a small survey done on his website so it’s more like “trivia” than a 100% accurate representation of the Japanese player base. In his own words, it’s more like something to chat about with your friends. However, he does the survey each year making it possible for him to compare trends from year to year.
Let’s get into the results!
This follows on Elmer’s post about cheating amongst Japanese players. Reading the post reminded me of something that happened in game. It involves tools and the question what constitutes a tool or cheating? Is there anything you can use outside of what Square Enix provides players that doesn’t violate the TOS?
Third-party tools are frowned upon by the majority of the Japanese community. Those that use them are branded cheaters and often fall into some segment of the “haijin/elitist” population. So it’s no surprise that when Windower was brought up as part of Talking Points, many people responded about it. For some players, it doesn’t matter if you don’t use any additional plug-ins or not. On the other hand, some English speaking players pointed out that without the use of third-party tools, it is impossible to input Japanese characters. A bit after the first round of Talking Points was over, I saw it being discussed on a couple Japanese boards. Many people commented on Windower and this “feature”. After all, there are always those people who wish more foreigners would try to speak in Japanese but it’s hard to push the issue if using Japanese characters would end up being a violation of the TOS. (I get asked this from time to time, so for the record: I have the English PC version, but I don’t use Windower. I mainly play on my American PS2 anyways. When I talk with people, I use romaji. This has caused all sorts of interesting misunderstandings that maybe I’ll talk about someday.)
So on to my story. I was chatting with a group of Japanese players. A younger player mentioned the use of tools to figure something out. The other people in the group immediately jumped on him, called him a tool user, and said if he didn’t stop using tools he couldn’t play with them anymore. The younger player began to freak out, apologized profusely, and promised never to use tools. However, within this same group of players, there are some that use specialized dictionaries but they don’t receive the same backlash. Then, in a party with completely different people, I saw someone use a dictionary again and nobody acted like it was wrong or strange. It doesn’t seem that using these dictionaries is considered cheating or a violation of the TOS (by the players).
There are probably some people who are wondering what I’m talking about. To explain what the dictionaries are, we need to review a little bit about Japanese input methods and how they work. Read more »
A rhetorical question, of course, but one that highlights an issue I felt was worth examining further. Do Japanese players really avoid cheating in Final Fantasy XI? Why is there the impression that only foreign players look to exploit the game system?
It’s well known that Japanese players have always expressed a strong distaste for third-party programs, no matter how benign they may be. When Pandemonium was finally defeated, there was the claim that Japanese players don’t use tricks and tools, and therefore are beaten to the punch by those who are willing to do so. Most recently, 950 players were punished by Square Enix for exploiting a bug to copy equipment drops, and it seemed like Japanese victims were hard to find.
Obvious reasons include the reluctance of posters to pipe up amongst a mass of people condemning them for their actions. Anonymity prevents any sort of list from being produced. Do cultural factors also play a part here?
I decided to gather some opinions from Japanese players as to why there is such a marked difference between the two communities when it come to bending the rules. Read more »
A new round of Q&A between Japanese and overseas players begins today! Look inside to find the submission form and read how you can participate.
またFFXI和英討議が開始！このポストに質問提出書があります。どうぞご覧くださーい。 Read more »
