WEBVTT

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(static buzzing)

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(mellow music)

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(birds chirping)

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(upbeat electronic music)

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(gentle music)

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- The first virtual worlds
were entirely text-based.

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In 1978, a student in the UK

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developed the first
multiplayer text adventure,

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which he named MUD, or Multi-User Dungeon.

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The game was hugely influential
and the name MUD came

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to describe an entire genre
of text-based online RPGs.

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One of the most popular
currently running MUDs,

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\"GemStone IV,\" was released

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in its first incarnation in 1988.

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35 years later, it\'s still going strong.

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As personal computing technology advanced

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over the course of the \'90s,

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MUDs declined in popularity
and players migrated en mass

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to new, graphical virtual worlds.

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The history of online
games is short enough

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that some players have seen nearly

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their entire evolution firsthand.

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Some players stick with one
game for years while others hop

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from world to world as they rise and fall.

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Some are natural community builders,

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bringing people together
in-world and across worlds.

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With enough dedication, these
players can form persistent,

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tight-knit communities that
become deeply meaningful

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for their members.

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We spoke with one of these
players about their former home

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in GemStone and their current home in one

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of today\'s most popular massively
multiplayer online RPGs,

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\"Final Fantasy XIV.\"

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(gentle music)

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- Okay, I am Daphny
Drucilla Delight David.

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I am just a peasant. I hang
out online and play games.

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But in the video game,
I\'m Pookia, the hoodlum.

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I\'m a level 48 rogue
that could pick any locks

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and I have three million silver
to spend on whatever I want.

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I started playing \"GemStone\" in 1999,

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when I was 15.

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I played because my boyfriend
at the time played it.

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He actually tried to break
up with me in \"GemStone.\"

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You can pick flowers in the game

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and some of the flowers are wearable

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and the first item I found was a daisy

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and I gave it to him
and he wore it every day

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and he\'s like a very minimalist warrior.

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So he wears three things.

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So it\'s like sword, boots, daisy.

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But when we broke up,

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he sent me an email that
was him taking the daisy off

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and throwing it in the town well,

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and the town well in Wehnimer\'s Landing,

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when you throw things in it,
it deletes it from the game.

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So he sent me this email of
him throwing away the daisy

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that he\'d been wearing for
like two years at that point.

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And then later, later,

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I found out that he made that in Notepad.

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He didn\'t even throw
the daisy down the well.

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So he broke up with me
in the most cowardly way.

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It was a toxic relationship, whatever,

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but it got me into \"GemStone.\"

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\"GemStone\" is a MUD,

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which is a multi-user
dungeon based in text,

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and it\'s online.

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It\'s been online since
the mid-to-late \'80s.

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When I was playing in 2018,

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they had their 30th anniversary event.

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So it\'s been online since early internet.

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The classes and everything

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and a lot of the language
is derived from D&D,

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but it\'s also a role playing game.

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So you go out and you earn experience

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and your mind fills up until it\'s fried

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and then you have to go back to somewhere

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that isn\'t a combat area
and absorb and learn the XP

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until you can go out and learn again.

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It\'s like real life.

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Like you can only take so
much knowledge before you have

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to sit and process.

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Because of that, it\'s this
really robust combat game

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where you go out and you
kill mobs, you kill monsters,

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you get treasure, you get equipment.

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But then you come back to town

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and you have all this
time where you\'re waiting

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for your experience to soak into your body

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where you\'re doing nothing,
so that\'s why you RP.

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You can do jobs, like
some people make shoes.

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Most people just sit around and talk.

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I pick boxes sometimes.

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Yeah, it\'s a role playing and combat MMO,

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but it\'s very heavily into role playing

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and it forces you to role play.

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The game is you type what you want to do

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and then it\'ll do that.

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So if you wanna go north, you type \"N.\"

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If you wanna attack a thing,

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you type \"Attack, blah, blah, blah.\"

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When you want to go to
a place you type like,

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\"N, South, South, South, West, whatever.

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Go door, go hedge,\" to get to a place.

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But there\'s a third party
script thing called Lich

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that adds things that make it easier.

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So instead of manually typing

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the direction you wanna
go to get to a place,

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you can type the room number

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and it\'ll take you to that room number.

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There\'s a thing called Sorter.

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So when you look into your bag,

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it\'ll separate things out to categories.

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Like if I look in my
lock pick bag right now,

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it\'ll tell me what my lock picks
are, where my calipers are,

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where other things are.

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There\'s the map thing that\'s essential.

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I always tell people to install Lich

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because if you don\'t have Lich,

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you have to go on a webpage

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and you have to figure out where you are

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in accordance to a jpeg and
then use the map that way.

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(upbeat drum and brass music)

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So we\'re in Wehnimer\'s Landing, right?

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You started in Icemule.

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The towns have the town and
then all the surrounding areas,

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and there\'s also multiple
buildings in those areas

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that you can go in that are big.

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Then if you look at the map screen,

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there\'s Ta\'Vaalor, there\'s
Solhaven, there\'s River\'s Rest.

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There\'s Teras Isle, which
you have to be level 25

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or something to go to.

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There\'s the premium
island which has a whole

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Wehnimer\'s Landing worth of shit in it.

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There\'s also Kraken\'s Fall,
which I haven\'t been to yet.

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In all my time playing this game,

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there are towns I haven\'t even been to,

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like whole areas I haven\'t even seen

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One of the things when people are like,

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\"Well isn\'t it annoying
that it\'s just text?\"

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It\'s like, except it
makes the game way deeper

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than games with graphics

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because you could just
do anything you want.

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And also the customization of my clothing

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is super important to me.

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That\'s another reason I
probably didn\'t play an MMO

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until \"Final Fantasy XIV,\"

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because \"Final Fantasy
XIV\" has amazing fashion.

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Being able to type any
description for anything

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and have a person see that

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makes everything I\'m wearing unique.

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Look at my character.
I am wearing a Snuggie.

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I have an oversized robe
of fluffy pink fleece

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gaping open in the back.

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I had to get that custom made.

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They have things called alter services

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where a GameMaster comes
in and they\'ll take an item

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and you can be like, \"Hey,
can you change the text screen

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to read this?\"

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And if it\'s within the roles
of what their character allows

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and the game itself, then
they\'ll do basically anything.

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I can\'t say I\'m wearing a Snuggie
\'cause that\'s a name brand

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that exists in the real world

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that takes people out of the game.

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But I can describe a Snuggie
and bring that picture

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to people\'s minds without referencing it.

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Another example is I have a
Poke Ball that my rat sleeps in.

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It\'s a spherical white bag with a red flap

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and a center set black button clasp.

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So if you think about
it, that\'s a Poke Ball,

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and that\'s what I put my rat in.

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No one else has what I have

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because that\'s my text string, right?

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It\'s so robust.

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Like I can do literally anything.

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I can make a pair of shoes

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that look like however the fuck I want.

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You can alter your speech so
you can say things glibly,

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emote while you\'re talking in a way.

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It\'s so much more robust than the 3D emote

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of a person, like, shaking their hands

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or crossing their arms and you see that

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and that\'s what it is

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and you can\'t extrapolate on it further

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\'cause it\'s not text, but with text,

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the only limit is your imagination.

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And I know that\'s cheesy, but it\'s true.

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Reading books is better than
watching videos sometimes.

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(Daphny laughs)

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I don\'t want every game
to be text, obviously.

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But the fact that this one
is text and it works so well

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and they keep adding to it

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and it hasn\'t died in 30 something years,

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that alone speaks to
the quality of the game.

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(soft electronic music)

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In this game, there are combat
maneuvers, there are feats,

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and there are your regular attacks.

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And as you train, you
have to learn them all.

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If you type the words \"CMAN List,\"

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it\'ll tell you all of the
available things you\'ll have

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as you level up.

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So here\'s this Kobold standing up.

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I can sweep at it, which is
a rogue skill that I learned,

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and I have spiked leggings,

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so they stab the Kobold in the lung.

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Oh, also, this game is really violent.

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Hold on, I\'m gonna try
to stab out its eye.

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\"Ambush Kobold right eye.\"

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Yeah, I got it in the eye. (laughs)

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And so the reason I\'m
able to ambush a Kobold

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in a place as small as its
eye is because for 48 levels,

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I\'ve been training in
hiding and ambushing.

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Here, I\'m gonna try to
cut off its right leg.

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\"Ambush Kobold right leg.\"

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Cool, I cut off its leg.

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Have you guys tried attacking?

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Prep your killing spell.

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- Oh, it said I\'m not experienced enough

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to harness such power.

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- Oh, no! Oh my gosh.

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- That\'s all right.

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- Do you have a weapon at all?

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- I have a long sword.

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- Okay, type \"Attack Kobold.\"

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Ooh, you\'re trying to punch it.

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- Oh, Mitchell\'s punching.

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- Ah, so close. You\'re
so close to hitting it.

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I\'m gonna subdue it. Hold on.

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\"Subdue Kobold.\" Yeah.

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- Oh boy, this\'ll be easy then, I hope.

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- Oh, you hit it! You hit it!

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- Yes!
(Daphny laughs)

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\"Deft slash,\" all right.

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- Good call.

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Ooh, it\'s got some minor cuts
and bruises on its chest.

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Oh my God, I love how much
you guys suck! (laughs)

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- Yeah! This is our first fight ever.

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- This rules. We\'re gonna kill it.

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We\'re gonna kill it.

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- Hell yeah.

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Okay, I got \"a weak slash,

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slightly less painful than heartburn.\"

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(Daphny laughs)

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- You\'re so close!

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They have like 50 hit
points, you can get him.

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- What\'s the intended first combat?

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Like are we supposed
to be fighting a mouse

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or something?

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- There\'s rats that are
level one that are like,

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Kobolds are also level one, though.

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I think you guys are
still level zero, right?

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- I think so.

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- That\'s, yeah, that\'s what it is.

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There\'s no level zero things to kill.

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Like there\'s giant rats but
they\'re way less interesting

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\'cause Kobolds will stab themselves

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and sometimes if there\'s
two Kobolds in the room,

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one will get on its hands and knees

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and the other will shove
you and you\'ll fall.

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Kobolds rule.

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Oh, you got it! You got it.

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Okay, when you kill something,
you have to skin it.

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So type \"Skin Kobold.\"

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- Okay.
- And then \"Search Kobold.\"

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And then did it have anything?

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Did it have anything good?

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Oh that\'s worthless.

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Oh there\'s a chest.

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I can pick that.

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When you hunt in a group,
you all get spoils.

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You open up the spoils,
you sell everything,

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and then you share the money.

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Oh no! You\'re dead!

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- Oh, Mitchell.

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- All right, we\'re gonna
drag you back to town.

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Okay, let\'s see. \"Hold Pem.\"

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I\'m pouring a flask in you
to make your body rot slower.

00:11:42.787 --> 00:11:46.956
\"Drag Pem out.

00:11:46.956 --> 00:11:48.631
Drag Pem up.\"

00:11:48.631 --> 00:11:49.535
There we go.

00:11:49.535 --> 00:11:53.583
\"Drag Pem Hedge.

00:11:54.630 --> 00:11:57.117
Drag Pem up.\"

00:11:57.960 --> 00:11:59.550
Yeah, dying all the time
is part of the game.

00:11:59.550 --> 00:12:01.301
It\'s totally fine.

00:12:01.301 --> 00:12:03.968
(players laugh)

00:12:04.845 --> 00:12:07.020
I\'m taking you back to town
\'cause in order to get healed

00:12:07.020 --> 00:12:09.480
and rezzed, you have to go to town

00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:13.173
and then have a cleric
and empath heal you.

00:12:14.160 --> 00:12:17.700
When you die, you go to
town square, you get healed,

00:12:17.700 --> 00:12:19.890
you go back out in the fight,

00:12:19.890 --> 00:12:21.960
you come back to town, you
absorb your experience,

00:12:21.960 --> 00:12:23.520
you go back out and repeat.

00:12:23.520 --> 00:12:25.140
And all through the while,
you just meet people

00:12:25.140 --> 00:12:27.780
that become your friends
and go on adventures.

00:12:27.780 --> 00:12:29.190
That\'s the basics of \"GemStone,\" though.

00:12:29.190 --> 00:12:31.800
Like I\'m glad you died because
it\'s actually a big part

00:12:31.800 --> 00:12:33.870
of the game that\'s interesting to me.

00:12:33.870 --> 00:12:35.940
I wasn\'t trying to get you to die,

00:12:35.940 --> 00:12:37.540
I was just hoping you would die.

00:12:38.390 --> 00:12:40.807
(soft music)

00:12:44.526 --> 00:12:45.359
If you type \"Who,\"

00:12:45.359 --> 00:12:47.460
you can see how many people
are online right now.

00:12:47.460 --> 00:12:49.080
610.

00:12:49.080 --> 00:12:50.430
When I was playing in 2018,

00:12:50.430 --> 00:12:51.840
there was only like 200 people online.

00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:53.250
I was like, \"Oh this game\'s gonna die.\"

00:12:53.250 --> 00:12:55.350
But it had a huge
resurgence, so I don\'t know.

00:12:55.350 --> 00:12:58.980
In 2000, it was like 3K people on at once,

00:12:58.980 --> 00:13:00.570
which was ridiculous for a text game,

00:13:00.570 --> 00:13:03.450
but I know that they did a
comeback campaign finally

00:13:03.450 --> 00:13:04.283
where they\'re like,

00:13:04.283 --> 00:13:05.250
\"If you\'ve been gone for
more than six months,

00:13:05.250 --> 00:13:06.420
you can have a month of free time.\"

00:13:06.420 --> 00:13:08.400
That\'s why I got free time.

00:13:08.400 --> 00:13:10.110
I think another good
thing about \"GemStone\" is

00:13:10.110 --> 00:13:12.930
if you pay for the game, they
never delete your character.

00:13:12.930 --> 00:13:15.120
And I think that\'s what
keeps people coming back.

00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:17.790
This character, Pookia, is 23 years old.

00:13:17.790 --> 00:13:19.710
That kind of connection to the community

00:13:19.710 --> 00:13:22.770
and your character I think is
what keeps people drawn in.

00:13:22.770 --> 00:13:24.870
Also all the special attention
every single player gets

00:13:24.870 --> 00:13:27.150
because of the slightly small player base

00:13:27.150 --> 00:13:30.060
and just the dedication to
always being in character.

00:13:30.060 --> 00:13:33.000
Other MMOs, you can say \"lol\" and \"lmao\"

00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:35.603
and, like, \"Oh, milkshake
duck,\" or whatever.

00:13:35.603 --> 00:13:36.990
And people are like, \"Ha ha, memes.\"

00:13:36.990 --> 00:13:39.117
But in \"GemStone,\" if you
say something out of world

00:13:39.117 --> 00:13:41.610
and a mod catches you,
they\'ll give you a warning,

00:13:41.610 --> 00:13:43.740
or if you swear, you literally
get soap in your mouth,

00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:46.290
and you can only talk
bubbles for 10 minutes.

00:13:46.290 --> 00:13:48.750
They\'re really strict
but in a really fun way.

00:13:48.750 --> 00:13:51.840
It\'s a limitation that makes
the role playing more robust.

00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:54.690
And it\'s what kept me away from other MMOs

00:13:54.690 --> 00:13:56.370
for over a decade.

00:13:56.370 --> 00:13:58.380
None of them were as dedicated to being

00:13:58.380 --> 00:13:59.730
in character as \"GemStone.\"

00:14:03.330 --> 00:14:05.250
The people who control
the tone of the game are

00:14:05.250 --> 00:14:07.680
from a certain class, if that makes sense.

00:14:07.680 --> 00:14:08.960
It\'s very much a middle class game.

00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:11.460
I feel like this is one
of the most decadent,

00:14:11.460 --> 00:14:14.220
luxurious games, and because of that,

00:14:14.220 --> 00:14:17.310
the player base is pretty
well off for the most part.

00:14:17.310 --> 00:14:18.870
Last night on the market board,

00:14:18.870 --> 00:14:20.160
someone was selling a weapon

00:14:20.160 --> 00:14:22.953
for $1,200 real American dollars.

00:14:23.790 --> 00:14:26.550
The premium that premium players pay

00:14:26.550 --> 00:14:29.190
for this game is astronomical.

00:14:29.190 --> 00:14:31.200
It is out of this world
the amount of money

00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:33.990
that people put into this
game and there\'s a huge gap.

00:14:33.990 --> 00:14:35.880
There\'s the people that whale,

00:14:35.880 --> 00:14:37.890
that spend like $1,000
a month on the game,

00:14:37.890 --> 00:14:39.030
and then there\'s bare minimum,

00:14:39.030 --> 00:14:42.630
I\'ll pay $12 a month or get a
free count and do nothing else

00:14:42.630 --> 00:14:44.130
and there\'s no one in between.

00:14:45.780 --> 00:14:48.540
There\'s a certain famous
pharma bro who used

00:14:48.540 --> 00:14:49.800
to play \"DragonRealms,\"

00:14:49.800 --> 00:14:51.680
which is the other game by Simutronics.

00:14:51.680 --> 00:14:54.630
It is very similar to \"GemStone.\"

00:14:54.630 --> 00:14:57.570
The pharma bro bought a beloved character

00:14:57.570 --> 00:15:01.020
for $5,000, named Jhime,
and everybody loved Jhime

00:15:01.020 --> 00:15:02.520
until this asshole bought him,

00:15:02.520 --> 00:15:04.380
and he was just super mean to everybody

00:15:04.380 --> 00:15:07.350
and just ruined this character,
it was a complete 180.

00:15:07.350 --> 00:15:08.697
In the midst of all this,

00:15:08.697 --> 00:15:10.350
he thought it would be a really funny idea

00:15:10.350 --> 00:15:12.330
to trap another male player on a boat

00:15:12.330 --> 00:15:15.540
and give him a blowjob, as an own.

00:15:15.540 --> 00:15:17.160
And then he got banned

00:15:17.160 --> 00:15:19.768
and now his picture is at every Simucon

00:15:19.768 --> 00:15:21.307
where they say, \"Look at this loser.

00:15:21.307 --> 00:15:25.620
$5,000 for a blowjob, banned forever.\"

00:15:25.620 --> 00:15:26.670
He\'s never allowed to play

00:15:26.670 --> 00:15:28.260
another Simutronics game again, either.

00:15:28.260 --> 00:15:29.670
He\'s permanently banned.

00:15:29.670 --> 00:15:31.833
He was just such a hassle.

00:15:32.789 --> 00:15:35.456
(Daphny laughs)

00:15:39.090 --> 00:15:40.320
I\'m a member of,

00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:43.410
they\'re called The Cooperative
Houses of Elanthia,

00:15:43.410 --> 00:15:45.570
and they all are run by players.

00:15:45.570 --> 00:15:47.370
They have different themes.

00:15:47.370 --> 00:15:50.190
I don\'t know all of them
but I\'m in Silvergate Inn,

00:15:50.190 --> 00:15:52.890
which is the place you
go to fuck in the game.

00:15:52.890 --> 00:15:53.790
We\'re public here.

00:15:53.790 --> 00:15:55.650
If we fuck here, someone
can find us, right?

00:15:55.650 --> 00:15:57.690
But if you go to the Silvergate Inn,

00:15:57.690 --> 00:16:01.290
there\'s doors with locks
that no GM can enter.

00:16:01.290 --> 00:16:02.840
You could do whatever you want.

00:16:03.930 --> 00:16:06.000
In the Silvergate Inn, there\'s an NPC dog

00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:07.350
that\'s a great dane

00:16:07.350 --> 00:16:09.150
that\'s supposedly the dog
of the person who started

00:16:09.150 --> 00:16:11.040
Silvergate Inn who passed.

00:16:11.040 --> 00:16:12.660
It\'s really sad \'cause this game is old,

00:16:12.660 --> 00:16:14.040
so lots of people die in it.

00:16:14.040 --> 00:16:16.650
There\'s a lot of history
like that in the game.

00:16:16.650 --> 00:16:20.580
There was a memorial
for Elbromo yesterday,

00:16:20.580 --> 00:16:22.290
right outside the town gate.

00:16:22.290 --> 00:16:25.080
They said some words and
did a service for him.

00:16:25.080 --> 00:16:27.150
Usually when a player passes,
lots of people know them,

00:16:27.150 --> 00:16:28.170
because people who play this game

00:16:28.170 --> 00:16:29.163
will definitely spend
more time in \"GemStone\"

00:16:29.163 --> 00:16:30.793
than they spend outside of \"GemStone.\"

00:16:30.793 --> 00:16:33.270
I was talking to my friend who plays

00:16:33.270 --> 00:16:35.370
and they were talking
about playing on 9/11.

00:16:35.370 --> 00:16:37.080
Everybody was worried because a bunch

00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:38.310
of people who played \"GemStone\" were on

00:16:38.310 --> 00:16:39.480
the missing person\'s list

00:16:39.480 --> 00:16:41.550
and one person came back to \"GemStone\"

00:16:41.550 --> 00:16:43.350
before they got themselves off the list

00:16:43.350 --> 00:16:44.820
to tell people in
\"GemStone\" they were okay

00:16:44.820 --> 00:16:46.500
because that\'s more important, right?

00:16:46.500 --> 00:16:49.560
People definitely put more
of their lives into this

00:16:49.560 --> 00:16:51.760
than they do their
fleshzone lives, I think.

00:16:53.280 --> 00:16:55.620
When I logged on, I was in a
wedding dress and nothing else.

00:16:55.620 --> 00:16:57.470
So I had to remember, after
three and a half years

00:16:57.470 --> 00:17:00.900
of not playing, how to find my
locker on the premium island,

00:17:00.900 --> 00:17:02.520
how to organize the clothes on my body,

00:17:02.520 --> 00:17:04.350
how to figure out what everything did,

00:17:04.350 --> 00:17:05.640
know what my main weapon was.

00:17:05.640 --> 00:17:07.350
That took like two hours.

00:17:07.350 --> 00:17:08.797
And when I logged on, I was like,

00:17:08.797 --> 00:17:10.620
\"Oh I remember these
guys I used to hunt with

00:17:10.620 --> 00:17:12.810
that I really liked,
they were super cool.\"

00:17:12.810 --> 00:17:14.430
I was trying to remember
those people I hunted with

00:17:14.430 --> 00:17:17.400
and last time I played they gave me a pin

00:17:17.400 --> 00:17:19.170
and I was able to look at it

00:17:19.170 --> 00:17:20.610
and it has words written on it

00:17:20.610 --> 00:17:22.410
and because of the way
the words were written,

00:17:22.410 --> 00:17:23.970
I was able to remember the player\'s name

00:17:23.970 --> 00:17:25.187
that I used to play with and message him.

00:17:25.187 --> 00:17:26.820
He was like, \"Of course I remember you.

00:17:26.820 --> 00:17:28.530
We\'re going hunting in like 20 minutes.\"

00:17:28.530 --> 00:17:30.630
So like that was super cool

00:17:30.630 --> 00:17:31.777
\'cause when he gave it to me, he was like,

00:17:31.777 --> 00:17:34.650
\"You\'re gonna forget everything
if you quit playing,\"

00:17:34.650 --> 00:17:36.420
\'cause he gave it to
me right before I quit,

00:17:36.420 --> 00:17:39.420
and he was right, and I saw
the pin and I remembered

00:17:39.420 --> 00:17:40.560
and it was wonderful.

00:17:40.560 --> 00:17:41.810
I love that kind of shit.

00:17:42.722 --> 00:17:45.305
(gentle music)

00:17:46.200 --> 00:17:49.410
In a social game, my
memories of the social aspect

00:17:49.410 --> 00:17:52.200
of the game are related
directly to mechanics,

00:17:52.200 --> 00:17:53.430
whether I like it or not.

00:17:53.430 --> 00:17:55.410
The bonding that I do
with people in a game

00:17:55.410 --> 00:17:56.377
is mostly gonna be like,

00:17:56.377 --> 00:17:58.770
\"Man, remember when you
fucking died in Kobold Village?

00:17:58.770 --> 00:17:59.603
They stabbed you in the leg

00:17:59.603 --> 00:18:02.010
and we had to drag you
back to town, that sucked!\"

00:18:02.010 --> 00:18:05.073
So if they took Kobold Village
out, all of that\'s gone.

00:18:06.420 --> 00:18:07.557
If everybody got to level 99

00:18:07.557 --> 00:18:09.960
and there was no new players
coming into the game,

00:18:09.960 --> 00:18:11.250
they\'d still have Kobold Village,

00:18:11.250 --> 00:18:12.780
they wouldn\'t take it out,

00:18:12.780 --> 00:18:13.920
\'cause there\'s other games that just,

00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:16.257
they\'ll take content out
as newer content comes out.

00:18:16.257 --> 00:18:17.657
And that always bums me out.

00:18:18.540 --> 00:18:20.430
I played \"Destiny 1\"

00:18:20.430 --> 00:18:22.480
with two people who aren\'t around anymore

00:18:23.670 --> 00:18:25.620
and when you load up \"Destiny 2,\"

00:18:25.620 --> 00:18:26.767
it does this thing, \'cause it\'s like,

00:18:26.767 --> 00:18:29.340
\"Your memories fucking matter,
your gun tells a story,

00:18:29.340 --> 00:18:30.720
all this stuff is permanent,\"

00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:32.490
it tells you who you beat these things

00:18:32.490 --> 00:18:33.690
for the first time with,

00:18:33.690 --> 00:18:35.310
like all these feats, like, raids

00:18:35.310 --> 00:18:37.140
and nightfalls or whatever.

00:18:37.140 --> 00:18:39.210
And every single one of
those that I had beat,

00:18:39.210 --> 00:18:40.710
I had done with a dead person.

00:18:40.710 --> 00:18:42.870
There was a dead person in my party.

00:18:42.870 --> 00:18:45.810
And slowly, as I kept playing \"Destiny 2,\"

00:18:45.810 --> 00:18:48.240
they took out all of the content,

00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:50.633
all of the content that
I did with these people.

00:18:51.630 --> 00:18:53.947
The only memory I have of it
is the first time I loaded up

00:18:53.947 --> 00:18:56.700
\"Destiny 2,\" \'cause
it\'ll never happen again,

00:18:56.700 --> 00:18:59.760
I\'ll never get those memories
in \"Destiny 2\" again.

00:18:59.760 --> 00:19:03.240
I\'ll never have anything
that resembles anything

00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:04.890
that I played with Pami in \"Destiny 2\"

00:19:04.890 --> 00:19:06.360
because it\'s all gone.

00:19:06.360 --> 00:19:08.910
My current partner, we started
playing \"Destiny 2\" together.

00:19:08.910 --> 00:19:11.167
All the stuff we did
together that we realized,

00:19:11.167 --> 00:19:13.830
\"Oh, we\'re flirting,\" that\'s
all gone from the game, too.

00:19:13.830 --> 00:19:15.273
That\'s heartbreaking to me.

00:19:17.580 --> 00:19:19.290
Pami played \"GemStone\" with me, too.

00:19:19.290 --> 00:19:21.720
She had a character called
Rixiii Pixi, not deleted,

00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:25.920
and they gave Pami a poison
ring to deliver to the elf town

00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:28.860
and instead of delivering the
poison ring to the elf town,

00:19:28.860 --> 00:19:32.640
she lied and gave it to
someone else that ran the house

00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:34.950
that was giving her the task.

00:19:34.950 --> 00:19:36.420
And she said, \"Oh here\'s
a ring present for you,

00:19:36.420 --> 00:19:37.260
blah blah blah.\"

00:19:37.260 --> 00:19:39.000
They put on the ring and died.

00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:43.050
She got kicked out of the
house and she was jailed

00:19:43.050 --> 00:19:46.170
and stuff but she got all these
PMs and she got an XP boost

00:19:46.170 --> 00:19:47.610
because they\'re like, \"That was great.

00:19:47.610 --> 00:19:49.317
That was a memorable
experience in the game.

00:19:49.317 --> 00:19:50.858
You RPed correctly.

00:19:50.858 --> 00:19:54.330
You made my character mad but
you made the player happy,\"

00:19:54.330 --> 00:19:56.730
and all these things in
the game are still there.

00:19:56.730 --> 00:19:59.220
If you look up the forum,
you can search for her name

00:19:59.220 --> 00:20:01.530
and it\'ll have the log of
all of the shit she did

00:20:01.530 --> 00:20:03.270
\'cause there\'s a newsletter in the forum,

00:20:03.270 --> 00:20:06.660
they do important RP events
that happened this week.

00:20:06.660 --> 00:20:08.430
The fact that they keep
that because they know

00:20:08.430 --> 00:20:09.263
that\'s what matters.

00:20:09.263 --> 00:20:11.100
They know that the
experiences that you have

00:20:11.100 --> 00:20:12.000
with other people matter

00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:13.440
and you want those memories preserved,

00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:15.150
I think, draws me to this game.

00:20:15.150 --> 00:20:16.850
I think that\'s another reason
I like \"Final Fantasy XIV,\"

00:20:16.850 --> 00:20:17.797
is because I play \"GemStone,\"

00:20:17.797 --> 00:20:19.609
\"Gemstone\" doesn\'t take anything out.

00:20:19.609 --> 00:20:21.780
\"Final Fantasy XIV\" also is like that.

00:20:21.780 --> 00:20:23.190
As long as it\'s \"A Realm Reborn\" on,

00:20:23.190 --> 00:20:25.440
you can still play every single
boss and every single raid

00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:27.150
and every single encounter

00:20:27.150 --> 00:20:29.550
from every single expansion,
they don\'t take shit out.

00:20:29.550 --> 00:20:30.950
It\'s all there all the time.

00:20:35.304 --> 00:20:37.971
(gentle music)

00:20:42.570 --> 00:20:47.570
Hello! I play Pookia
Jughashvili \"Final Fantasy XIV.\"

00:20:47.640 --> 00:20:50.910
I run a Free Company
called Butts on Faerie,

00:20:50.910 --> 00:20:52.210
on the Aether data center.

00:20:54.030 --> 00:20:56.220
(gentle music)

00:20:56.220 --> 00:20:57.450
Welcome to Gridania.

00:20:57.450 --> 00:20:59.198
This is the town I started in.

00:20:59.198 --> 00:21:01.350
You can start in three
different towns in this game.

00:21:01.350 --> 00:21:02.700
Gridania\'s is a forest area.

00:21:02.700 --> 00:21:04.200
They\'re like ecofascist.

00:21:04.200 --> 00:21:06.990
And then Ul\'dah is monetarist monarchist,

00:21:06.990 --> 00:21:09.450
and in Limsa, they\'re all pirates,

00:21:09.450 --> 00:21:11.850
so everybody has really shitty background

00:21:11.850 --> 00:21:13.800
and the game is kind of about building up

00:21:13.800 --> 00:21:16.023
past those shitty histories they have.

00:21:18.727 --> 00:21:21.840
\"Final Fantasy XIV\" is an MMO.

00:21:21.840 --> 00:21:25.530
It\'s like \"World of Warcraft\"
or \"Everquest\" or whatever.

00:21:25.530 --> 00:21:29.370
So you have a big open world
that everybody else is in

00:21:29.370 --> 00:21:30.420
and you\'re going through a story

00:21:30.420 --> 00:21:32.760
that everybody else is going through.

00:21:32.760 --> 00:21:35.850
The way I describe it is the
game is a single player game

00:21:35.850 --> 00:21:37.590
until you don\'t want it to be.

00:21:37.590 --> 00:21:39.960
There\'s a bunch of stuff
built into the game itself

00:21:39.960 --> 00:21:41.520
that makes it so you don\'t
actually have to play

00:21:41.520 --> 00:21:43.050
with other players if you don\'t.

00:21:43.050 --> 00:21:45.060
Every dungeon in this game is four people.

00:21:45.060 --> 00:21:47.040
Every big battle in this
game is eight people.

00:21:47.040 --> 00:21:51.660
But the NPCs in the story come
into dungeons with you now.

00:21:51.660 --> 00:21:53.220
You don\'t have to play with another human.

00:21:53.220 --> 00:21:55.230
You can have this entire game experience

00:21:55.230 --> 00:21:57.030
with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn,

00:21:57.030 --> 00:21:59.343
which are the NPC party that you have.

00:22:00.270 --> 00:22:01.860
And you can play it like a JRPG like that.

00:22:01.860 --> 00:22:03.410
I fucking think that\'s amazing.

00:22:04.350 --> 00:22:05.913
I feel like that\'s because
it\'s a \"Final Fantasy\" game

00:22:05.913 --> 00:22:08.730
and \"Final Fantasy\" has
always been single player.

00:22:08.730 --> 00:22:09.787
They want everybody to be like,

00:22:09.787 --> 00:22:11.490
\"Well here\'s a \'Final
Fantasy\' story you can enjoy

00:22:11.490 --> 00:22:13.080
without having to play with anybody else.\"

00:22:13.080 --> 00:22:14.790
The story is fucking amazing.

00:22:14.790 --> 00:22:17.970
I can\'t express how many
times this game made me cry.

00:22:17.970 --> 00:22:21.570
I think it was Sakaguchi, the
creator of \"Final Fantasy,\"

00:22:21.570 --> 00:22:25.290
that said himself that this
is the only MMO he\'s ever seen

00:22:25.290 --> 00:22:27.390
that successfully has a story.

00:22:27.390 --> 00:22:30.330
But then on top of that,
there\'s also a great MMO.

00:22:30.330 --> 00:22:32.760
There\'s a lot that makes
this game stick out.

00:22:32.760 --> 00:22:37.710
The emotes, the fashion,
the fashion by far.

00:22:37.710 --> 00:22:40.683
Just the art style is not hard to look at.

00:22:42.060 --> 00:22:46.147
The characters are attractive
without being like,

00:22:46.147 --> 00:22:48.060
\"Oh my God, these are characters made

00:22:48.060 --> 00:22:50.370
to be fucked to oblivion.\"

00:22:50.370 --> 00:22:52.110
As someone who likes
to embody a character,

00:22:52.110 --> 00:22:53.340
yeah, I use it as escapism

00:22:53.340 --> 00:22:55.740
and I wanna be a hot
version of myself for sure,

00:22:55.740 --> 00:22:57.750
but there\'s other MMOs I
play where it\'s just like,

00:22:57.750 --> 00:22:59.550
these girls look wet.

00:22:59.550 --> 00:23:01.140
They just look like they\'re dripping

00:23:01.140 --> 00:23:03.750
and the whole thing is about
how their boobs hit their face

00:23:03.750 --> 00:23:05.040
when they run or whatever.

00:23:05.040 --> 00:23:06.780
I think that you can be cute in this game

00:23:06.780 --> 00:23:08.100
without having to be a sex object,

00:23:08.100 --> 00:23:09.510
but you can also be a sex object.

00:23:09.510 --> 00:23:10.800
There\'s a wide range.

00:23:10.800 --> 00:23:12.180
You could be a dumb bunny,

00:23:12.180 --> 00:23:15.480
you could be a tiny baby
child that eats bread all day.

00:23:15.480 --> 00:23:17.790
This is the only MMO
I play that isn\'t text

00:23:17.790 --> 00:23:18.840
and I think that\'s for a reason.

00:23:18.840 --> 00:23:22.020
I think it\'s just \'cause
everything in it is amazing.

00:23:22.020 --> 00:23:25.710
I think it has a lot to do
with it starting as a bomb.

00:23:25.710 --> 00:23:29.190
The \"Final Fantasy 1.0\" thing
when the game first came out,

00:23:29.190 --> 00:23:30.540
it was a mess.

00:23:30.540 --> 00:23:32.130
It was super unpopular.

00:23:32.130 --> 00:23:35.310
They had to close the game
by throwing a literal meteor

00:23:35.310 --> 00:23:37.560
on the player base in the game,

00:23:37.560 --> 00:23:38.730
turn off the game,

00:23:38.730 --> 00:23:40.560
give all those players a free subscription

00:23:40.560 --> 00:23:41.730
to the next version of the game

00:23:41.730 --> 00:23:44.010
that they promised they were
gonna make better later.

00:23:44.010 --> 00:23:46.200
And they did, they did make it better,

00:23:46.200 --> 00:23:47.750
and I think that\'s really cool.

00:23:48.747 --> 00:23:51.330
(gentle music)

00:23:52.500 --> 00:23:55.980
My experience with online
gaming has been, so far,

00:23:55.980 --> 00:23:58.470
the easier the content,
the nicer people are.

00:23:58.470 --> 00:24:02.220
The closer you are to the
beginning of \"Final Fantasy XIV,\"

00:24:02.220 --> 00:24:05.820
the overwhelming kindness you get

00:24:05.820 --> 00:24:07.080
\'cause they want people to stay

00:24:07.080 --> 00:24:09.810
and the community is really,
really great at getting players

00:24:09.810 --> 00:24:11.520
into the game, teaching them how to play.

00:24:11.520 --> 00:24:12.840
But when you get to the end game,

00:24:12.840 --> 00:24:15.750
everybody starts getting
more toxic, I guess,

00:24:15.750 --> 00:24:17.280
\'cause you know how to do everything

00:24:17.280 --> 00:24:18.210
and you mess up one move

00:24:18.210 --> 00:24:19.860
and someone will call
you a name and leave.

00:24:19.860 --> 00:24:22.560
That still happens
really, really late game.

00:24:22.560 --> 00:24:24.510
But the community stuff
in this game is so good.

00:24:24.510 --> 00:24:28.440
Like in Shout chat you
won\'t get called an F-slur.

00:24:28.440 --> 00:24:31.050
You will go into a room that
is populated by hundreds

00:24:31.050 --> 00:24:34.350
of players and \"Trans Rights\"
will be scrolling in the chat

00:24:34.350 --> 00:24:36.690
instead of whatever gamer
shit is going on, you know?

00:24:36.690 --> 00:24:37.923
That\'s really cool.

00:24:38.760 --> 00:24:40.530
A lot of that too is \'cause Faerie,

00:24:40.530 --> 00:24:41.820
since \"Final Fantasy XI,\"

00:24:41.820 --> 00:24:44.130
has been the unofficial gay server.

00:24:44.130 --> 00:24:45.030
It makes sense, right?

00:24:45.030 --> 00:24:47.190
But a lot of people I talk
to when I talk about Faerie

00:24:47.190 --> 00:24:48.720
being the gay server, they\'re
on a different server,

00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:49.680
they\'ll be like, \"No, I\'m sorry,

00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:51.090
the one I\'m on is the gay one.\"

00:24:51.090 --> 00:24:53.092
So the game is really gay.

00:24:53.092 --> 00:24:54.057
(laughing) It\'s really gay!

00:24:58.411 --> 00:25:01.803
There\'s a cool private hot
spring that I really like.

00:25:02.700 --> 00:25:04.495
I really like this.
The view\'s pretty, too.

00:25:04.495 --> 00:25:07.015
Oh, there\'s eggs in it!

00:25:07.015 --> 00:25:10.770
That\'s awesome! (laughs)

00:25:10.770 --> 00:25:12.360
So with \"GemStone,\" a lot
of the what I talked about

00:25:12.360 --> 00:25:14.400
was your character looking unique,

00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:18.510
but \"Final Fantasy XIV\" has
such a good glam-and-dye system

00:25:18.510 --> 00:25:20.670
that it\'s really easy for me not

00:25:20.670 --> 00:25:23.010
to look like any other player in the game.

00:25:23.010 --> 00:25:24.210
That\'s a big draw.

00:25:24.210 --> 00:25:27.960
Being unique in a game that
millions of people play.

00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:29.850
There are 15 different ways

00:25:29.850 --> 00:25:31.677
to applaud someone in \"GemStone.\"

00:25:31.677 --> 00:25:34.440
And in this, there are like
a million different ways

00:25:34.440 --> 00:25:35.490
to be upset with someone.

00:25:35.490 --> 00:25:36.930
You can reprimand them,

00:25:36.930 --> 00:25:38.640
you can just, like, clutch your head,

00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:40.200
you can face palm them.

00:25:40.200 --> 00:25:42.060
Like you can do all sorts of things

00:25:42.060 --> 00:25:44.883
to not understand what a
person is talking about,

00:25:45.870 --> 00:25:46.923
and it\'s really good.

00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:52.880
I can eat a rice ball, I can
eat an apple, I can eat an egg.

00:25:53.485 --> 00:25:56.152
(Daphny laughs)

00:25:58.500 --> 00:26:00.602
You can go fishing in this
game too and it\'s the best.

00:26:00.602 --> 00:26:02.190
Can I fish here? Yes.

00:26:02.190 --> 00:26:03.630
You could fish pretty much in any body

00:26:03.630 --> 00:26:04.470
of water you can find.

00:26:04.470 --> 00:26:06.240
There\'s a bunch of
different types of bait.

00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:09.480
So sometimes you\'ll have to make sure

00:26:09.480 --> 00:26:11.780
that you\'re using the
right bait for the area.

00:26:14.040 --> 00:26:16.980
Here, here you go. Here\'s
a gift from the ocean.

00:26:16.980 --> 00:26:19.650
I just caught this for you.

00:26:19.650 --> 00:26:23.760
I have a lot of faith in
this game sticking around

00:26:23.760 --> 00:26:26.520
primarily because \"Final
Fantasy XI\" is about

00:26:26.520 --> 00:26:29.250
to celebrate it\'s 20th
anniversary or something

00:26:29.250 --> 00:26:31.050
and it\'s still online

00:26:31.050 --> 00:26:34.110
and they do updates for it every month.

00:26:34.110 --> 00:26:36.480
Apparently the dev kit
for \"Final Fantasy XI,\"

00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:39.570
the only one they have
anymore is an actual PS2

00:26:39.570 --> 00:26:42.450
and that\'s all \"Final
Fantasy XI\" is on right now.

00:26:42.450 --> 00:26:46.433
So they\'re desperately
keeping this PS2 alive.

00:26:46.433 --> 00:26:49.170
You know, if they care
that much about that game,

00:26:49.170 --> 00:26:50.553
this game is huge.

00:26:51.849 --> 00:26:54.266
(soft music)

00:27:00.150 --> 00:27:04.230
So I post on a forum and
there was a Free Company

00:27:04.230 --> 00:27:06.390
by another person from that forum

00:27:06.390 --> 00:27:08.580
that had probably like 10 people in it,

00:27:08.580 --> 00:27:11.250
but he stopped playing so
he gave me the Free Company,

00:27:11.250 --> 00:27:13.290
so I just started cultivating it

00:27:13.290 --> 00:27:16.110
and now we have 101 members.

00:27:16.110 --> 00:27:18.630
The first way I built it up
was I just got people who were

00:27:18.630 --> 00:27:21.240
on SelectButton to join the Free Company.

00:27:21.240 --> 00:27:22.710
I was like, \"Hey look, I\'m playing.

00:27:22.710 --> 00:27:24.330
Everybody should play this
game \'cause I like it.

00:27:24.330 --> 00:27:26.070
I really like this game, why
aren\'t you playing it with me?\"

00:27:26.070 --> 00:27:28.260
And I just say that over and
over and over and over again

00:27:28.260 --> 00:27:29.850
until people played with me.

00:27:29.850 --> 00:27:32.850
Other than that, I also
do recruitment messages.

00:27:32.850 --> 00:27:35.197
I have a macro set up to shout,

00:27:35.197 --> 00:27:37.200
\"Have you been looking for a Free Company

00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:39.060
that accentuates your assets?

00:27:39.060 --> 00:27:41.190
Look no further, Butts is recruiting.\"

00:27:41.190 --> 00:27:42.427
And then I just say what we have.

00:27:42.427 --> 00:27:45.960
\"Oh, we have an active
Discord, we\'re LGBTQ friendly,

00:27:45.960 --> 00:27:48.427
we have glam events,\"
which are fashion shows,

00:27:48.427 --> 00:27:50.670
\"we have a big pink beach house,

00:27:50.670 --> 00:27:52.710
and all sorts of different
content we run together,\"

00:27:52.710 --> 00:27:55.920
and I guess that gets
people to sign up sometimes.

00:27:55.920 --> 00:27:56.820
But I think a lot of it is

00:27:56.820 --> 00:27:58.620
just the word Butts above your head.

00:28:00.540 --> 00:28:03.270
I make sure that I put LGBTQ friendly

00:28:03.270 --> 00:28:07.170
in the recruitment message
because that sways a lot

00:28:07.170 --> 00:28:09.720
of the type of people I don\'t
want to join from joining.

00:28:09.720 --> 00:28:12.030
They see that it\'s gay or queer whatever

00:28:12.030 --> 00:28:14.340
and they\'re like, \"Well, fuck that.

00:28:14.340 --> 00:28:16.470
That\'s just a bunch of SJW softies.\"

00:28:16.470 --> 00:28:18.120
Whatever, you know.

00:28:18.120 --> 00:28:21.120
Other than that, there\'s
tiers of trust you can have.

00:28:21.120 --> 00:28:23.610
So when someone joins
they\'re automatically a Butt,

00:28:23.610 --> 00:28:26.040
which means they have
access to the Free Company,

00:28:26.040 --> 00:28:28.230
but they can\'t take money
out of the Free Company chest

00:28:28.230 --> 00:28:30.210
or whatever, so they can\'t
rip us off and leave.

00:28:30.210 --> 00:28:34.020
I do about a two week,
not trial officially,

00:28:34.020 --> 00:28:36.690
but I keep an eye on them,
I talk to them a lot,

00:28:36.690 --> 00:28:38.790
I play with them and I just
see if they\'re a good match.

00:28:38.790 --> 00:28:40.620
We\'ve had one or two people leave

00:28:40.620 --> 00:28:41.700
just \'cause they didn\'t fit in.

00:28:41.700 --> 00:28:45.120
We had one person leave
because they were a racist

00:28:45.120 --> 00:28:47.760
and we\'re like, \"Okay, you have to go.\"

00:28:47.760 --> 00:28:52.170
And most of the time, like 90%
of the people who\'ve joined,

00:28:52.170 --> 00:28:53.940
have been totally fine.

00:28:53.940 --> 00:28:56.390
5% have just been quiet
and the other five leave.

00:28:58.020 --> 00:29:00.437
(soft music)

00:29:01.590 --> 00:29:03.000
This is the Free Company house!

00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:04.263
Welcome to Butts!

00:29:05.130 --> 00:29:06.300
I do a lot of the decorations.

00:29:06.300 --> 00:29:09.933
I painted the house pink but
everybody is able to decorate.

00:29:11.280 --> 00:29:12.113
Should we go inside?

00:29:12.113 --> 00:29:13.410
We can go inside, I wanna show you,

00:29:13.410 --> 00:29:15.150
let\'s look at my decoration.

00:29:15.150 --> 00:29:17.610
So we have a slime rug
shaped like a heart.

00:29:17.610 --> 00:29:18.870
This is my art installation.

00:29:18.870 --> 00:29:20.910
This is what everybody likes
to see when they first walk

00:29:20.910 --> 00:29:21.743
in the house.

00:29:22.950 --> 00:29:24.800
When you stand on it, it makes noise.

00:29:27.690 --> 00:29:30.810
This is the ambassador to
Butts. He\'s here to welcome you.

00:29:30.810 --> 00:29:32.220
His name is Gangar.

00:29:32.220 --> 00:29:34.500
This is new. They just added this for me.

00:29:34.500 --> 00:29:36.420
These are default colors, I
didn\'t even have to paint it,

00:29:36.420 --> 00:29:38.760
\'cause all these slime
rugs are default purple

00:29:38.760 --> 00:29:41.640
and I changed them to be pretty.

00:29:41.640 --> 00:29:42.540
This is my husband.

00:29:42.540 --> 00:29:43.980
This is great that we\'re
doing this for the show

00:29:43.980 --> 00:29:45.150
\'cause I can claim him.

00:29:45.150 --> 00:29:48.840
Now, everyone, I\'m married to Emet-Selch.

00:29:48.840 --> 00:29:52.230
He\'s my boyfriend. (laughs)

00:29:52.230 --> 00:29:54.750
You know, he won in a Japanese poll

00:29:54.750 --> 00:29:56.490
of best \"Final Fantasy\" villain.

00:29:56.490 --> 00:29:58.923
He beat out Sephiroth twice in a row.

00:30:00.600 --> 00:30:04.110
When we have events and
stuff and people come over.

00:30:04.110 --> 00:30:06.030
We bring them down here.

00:30:06.030 --> 00:30:08.400
This is the lounge area.

00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:10.050
This is Gay Baby Jail.

00:30:10.050 --> 00:30:12.780
You go in here when you\'re a gay baby.

00:30:12.780 --> 00:30:15.690
When we do anybody\'s wedding,
we\'ll come down here.

00:30:15.690 --> 00:30:18.510
I\'ll go in the Discord and I\'ll play music

00:30:18.510 --> 00:30:20.430
and we\'ll have a little dance party

00:30:20.430 --> 00:30:22.650
and everybody will do dance emotes.

00:30:22.650 --> 00:30:23.613
It\'s very cute.

00:30:24.510 --> 00:30:28.440
We\'re brilliant, so we put all
of our water stuff upstairs.

00:30:28.440 --> 00:30:30.360
So we have a hot tub.

00:30:30.360 --> 00:30:32.580
Oh, we have a toilet!

00:30:32.580 --> 00:30:34.560
If you need to use the toilet,

00:30:34.560 --> 00:30:37.440
there\'s a private bathroom
area with the toilet on it.

00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:40.140
- That rules. No door, I see.

00:30:40.140 --> 00:30:44.617
- I mean, you just yell, \"Is
anybody in there?\" (laughs)

00:30:45.900 --> 00:30:47.220
Toilets aren\'t actually in the game,

00:30:47.220 --> 00:30:48.660
so this is three different pieces

00:30:48.660 --> 00:30:51.090
of furniture smashed together.

00:30:51.090 --> 00:30:53.370
We had to go in a different person\'s house

00:30:53.370 --> 00:30:55.050
to figure out how to configure it. (gasps)

00:30:55.050 --> 00:30:57.030
Oh, I should show you
guys the weird house.

00:30:57.030 --> 00:30:59.370
There\'s a house in our
neighborhood that someone decorated

00:30:59.370 --> 00:31:00.990
to look like modern \"Sims.\"

00:31:00.990 --> 00:31:02.640
Hold on, we\'ll get in my whale.

00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:03.590
Come outside again.

00:31:05.010 --> 00:31:07.893
Sevanya got me this whale as a gift.

00:31:08.970 --> 00:31:11.103
They released these during a fan fest.

00:31:12.195 --> 00:31:14.773
It\'s so ugly! (laughs)

00:31:17.160 --> 00:31:18.450
This is the merchant area.

00:31:18.450 --> 00:31:20.040
Every neighborhood has an area full

00:31:20.040 --> 00:31:22.140
of merchants where you
can get stuff you need.

00:31:22.140 --> 00:31:23.760
Here\'s a little hang area.

00:31:23.760 --> 00:31:25.440
So neighborhoods are so nice.

00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:28.707
I get why they wanted to do
this limited neighborhood thing,

00:31:28.707 --> 00:31:31.230
especially because this
one is a newer ward,

00:31:31.230 --> 00:31:33.300
there\'s a lot more active people in it.

00:31:33.300 --> 00:31:35.460
We have neighbors in a
Free Company who talk

00:31:35.460 --> 00:31:36.930
to us sometimes.

00:31:36.930 --> 00:31:39.513
So it does have a really
neighborhood-y feeling.

00:31:40.350 --> 00:31:41.820
But it\'s also just shitty to the people

00:31:41.820 --> 00:31:43.370
that can\'t get houses, so, ugh.

00:31:46.470 --> 00:31:48.633
This is iPodGamer\'s
house, let\'s go inside.

00:31:50.190 --> 00:31:51.660
Now you can see the spectrum

00:31:51.660 --> 00:31:54.300
of decoration that is possible (laughs)

00:31:54.300 --> 00:31:56.873
\'cause this is gonna look a
lot different than my house.

00:31:57.977 --> 00:32:00.570
(playful upbeat music)

00:32:00.570 --> 00:32:02.250
Here\'s the toilet we stole from them.

00:32:02.250 --> 00:32:03.813
We had to research this.

00:32:05.043 --> 00:32:07.543
Blegh! Belgh, belgh!

00:32:08.703 --> 00:32:12.030
(playful upbeat music)

00:32:12.030 --> 00:32:15.480
There\'s people in-game that
have jobs where they\'ll make gil

00:32:15.480 --> 00:32:17.760
for decorating people\'s houses.

00:32:17.760 --> 00:32:19.680
There\'s people who work at brothels.

00:32:19.680 --> 00:32:22.410
You can cybersex with people
for money if you want.

00:32:22.410 --> 00:32:24.210
There\'s people that run cafes,

00:32:24.210 --> 00:32:26.010
there\'s people that run libraries.

00:32:26.010 --> 00:32:27.540
There\'s people that do tarot.

00:32:27.540 --> 00:32:30.060
The whole game doesn\'t
have to be about killing

00:32:30.060 --> 00:32:31.410
if you don\'t want it to be.

00:32:32.730 --> 00:32:34.050
The way the housing works,

00:32:34.050 --> 00:32:37.380
every house being a desirable destination,

00:32:37.380 --> 00:32:38.213
there\'s this one place,

00:32:38.213 --> 00:32:39.540
I can\'t remember what server it\'s on,

00:32:39.540 --> 00:32:42.270
but the top floor looks
like a public toilet,

00:32:42.270 --> 00:32:43.710
like there\'s stalls,

00:32:43.710 --> 00:32:45.210
but one of the stalls is secret

00:32:45.210 --> 00:32:47.670
and if you go down, it\'s a dance club.

00:32:47.670 --> 00:32:49.980
There\'s a fight club where
it\'s basically two people are

00:32:49.980 --> 00:32:51.390
just rolling dice against each other

00:32:51.390 --> 00:32:52.590
in a room while people watch.

00:32:52.590 --> 00:32:54.570
But you go down and there\'s a secret room

00:32:54.570 --> 00:32:57.600
and there\'s two people
fighting and you cheer for them

00:32:57.600 --> 00:32:58.433
and it\'s a fight club

00:32:58.433 --> 00:32:59.610
and there\'s all sorts
of cool stuff like that.

00:32:59.610 --> 00:33:01.860
There\'s roaming DJs and
they\'ll have Twitch channels

00:33:01.860 --> 00:33:03.660
and they\'ll go from venue to venue.

00:33:03.660 --> 00:33:04.950
There\'s lots of cool stuff.

00:33:04.950 --> 00:33:07.590
My favorite stuff is
that in the game, really.

00:33:07.590 --> 00:33:08.670
Right after I started playing this game,

00:33:08.670 --> 00:33:10.020
it was, like, pandemic stuff,

00:33:10.020 --> 00:33:12.330
and I\'m a really, really social person.

00:33:12.330 --> 00:33:15.390
So it was really cool to be
able to be a social butterfly

00:33:15.390 --> 00:33:18.630
and just, like, go to
parties without getting sick,

00:33:18.630 --> 00:33:20.230
which I thought was really cool.

00:33:24.990 --> 00:33:27.960
I think Free Companies can
be up to like 500 people

00:33:27.960 --> 00:33:29.160
and there\'s Free Companies that\'ll just,

00:33:29.160 --> 00:33:32.460
if they see you without an FC
tag, just fucking invite you.

00:33:32.460 --> 00:33:33.897
There\'s no vetting or whatever

00:33:33.897 --> 00:33:37.710
and I want it to feel small enough where

00:33:37.710 --> 00:33:39.330
it doesn\'t feel like the people who have

00:33:39.330 --> 00:33:41.730
just joined have no way of hanging out

00:33:41.730 --> 00:33:43.020
with everybody else in the Free Company.

00:33:43.020 --> 00:33:45.120
\'Cause like, obviously every
Free Company\'s gonna kind of

00:33:45.120 --> 00:33:46.290
have a core group.

00:33:46.290 --> 00:33:47.910
But what everybody complains
about in their other

00:33:47.910 --> 00:33:50.310
Free Companies is like
there are six people talking

00:33:50.310 --> 00:33:52.203
and no one else is included.

00:33:53.370 --> 00:33:54.660
Whenever someone joins,

00:33:54.660 --> 00:33:57.630
I spend so much time
paying attention to them.

00:33:57.630 --> 00:33:58.680
You\'re the new Butt, you\'re great.

00:33:58.680 --> 00:34:00.510
You should feel special and welcome.

00:34:00.510 --> 00:34:02.610
Also, if you don\'t like me
talking to you all the time,

00:34:02.610 --> 00:34:05.040
that\'s a good thing to realize
maybe this Free Company

00:34:05.040 --> 00:34:08.490
isn\'t for you because I\'m really
talkative when I\'m online.

00:34:08.490 --> 00:34:13.290
I try to foster a community
where people don\'t feel left out

00:34:13.290 --> 00:34:16.290
and they also don\'t feel
that they\'re put on the spot.

00:34:16.290 --> 00:34:18.570
There\'s someone right now who
isn\'t in the Free Company,

00:34:18.570 --> 00:34:21.300
but they join sometimes
because they leave it

00:34:21.300 --> 00:34:23.610
when they\'re not feeling social.

00:34:23.610 --> 00:34:25.290
And then they come back
for a couple months

00:34:25.290 --> 00:34:26.880
and they hang out and do group stuff.

00:34:26.880 --> 00:34:28.470
And when they\'re overwhelmed
by that they go back

00:34:28.470 --> 00:34:31.077
and they just craft for
a month or whatever.

00:34:31.077 --> 00:34:33.930
(upbeat piano music)

00:34:33.930 --> 00:34:36.090
And I think about them all the time.

00:34:36.090 --> 00:34:38.913
I think about people in my
Free Company constantly.

00:34:40.760 --> 00:34:42.390
I fucking like everyone
in my Free Company.

00:34:42.390 --> 00:34:43.860
Every single person in the Free Company

00:34:43.860 --> 00:34:45.660
I would hella hang out with in a second.

00:34:45.660 --> 00:34:48.720
I think the coolest thing
about my Free Company is,

00:34:48.720 --> 00:34:51.600
even the people that I have the
least amount in common with,

00:34:51.600 --> 00:34:53.857
through the game we became friends.

00:34:53.857 --> 00:34:56.850
\"Hitachi Levels of Good Vibes\"
is, like, the Free Company\'s

00:34:56.850 --> 00:34:58.173
motto or whatever.

00:35:00.655 --> 00:35:03.072
(soft music)

00:35:06.420 --> 00:35:08.820
Well, my partner and I are gay and poor

00:35:08.820 --> 00:35:11.550
and so we can\'t afford
to have a good wedding

00:35:11.550 --> 00:35:13.950
in the fleshzone. (laughs)

00:35:13.950 --> 00:35:18.660
And we just get married every
year in \"Final Fantasy XIV.\"

00:35:18.660 --> 00:35:20.100
We got the ultra deluxe wedding,

00:35:20.100 --> 00:35:22.290
which I think costs like $40.

00:35:22.290 --> 00:35:25.320
It is a whole thing.
There\'s limited bookings.

00:35:25.320 --> 00:35:26.940
It\'s about an hour.

00:35:26.940 --> 00:35:28.410
You can pick different officiants,

00:35:28.410 --> 00:35:29.760
you can pick your decorations,

00:35:29.760 --> 00:35:30.960
you can pick which songs you play,

00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:33.630
and it\'s a limited amount of
things that you pick from.

00:35:33.630 --> 00:35:35.700
But the small amount of
customization that it gives you,

00:35:35.700 --> 00:35:37.980
makes it feel really special.

00:35:37.980 --> 00:35:40.020
They let you re-up your vows every year.

00:35:40.020 --> 00:35:42.273
So we just do it as
like a yearly event now.

00:35:43.440 --> 00:35:46.560
It\'s the thing we do,
we get people together,

00:35:46.560 --> 00:35:49.410
and we hang out and I tear up

00:35:49.410 --> 00:35:51.030
like it\'s a real wedding sometimes.

00:35:51.030 --> 00:35:51.863
It\'s really sweet.

00:35:51.863 --> 00:35:54.270
They put a lot of effort
into the, you\'ll see.

00:35:54.270 --> 00:35:55.120
It\'s really cute.

00:35:58.464 --> 00:36:01.964
(bright triumphant music)

00:36:03.748 --> 00:36:04.650
I have to take a picture

00:36:04.650 --> 00:36:06.990
of how many people are
in fucking voice chat.

00:36:06.990 --> 00:36:08.730
- Are you ready to ring the bell?

00:36:08.730 --> 00:36:10.380
- I said two minute warning.

00:36:10.380 --> 00:36:12.121
- Yeah, well I\'m the bride-
- Well I\'m nervous.

00:36:12.121 --> 00:36:13.380
- I don\'t pay attention to that.

00:36:13.380 --> 00:36:14.830
Your laws don\'t matter to me.

00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:19.020
- Holy hell, that\'s a lot
of people in voice chat.

00:36:19.020 --> 00:36:20.823
- Yeah, it\'s a ton, it\'s great!

00:36:22.920 --> 00:36:24.593
Is there, like, Pook\'s
side and Sevanya\'s side or,

00:36:25.864 --> 00:36:27.256
it\'s just normal, right?

00:36:27.256 --> 00:36:28.479
(players laugh)

00:36:28.479 --> 00:36:31.462
(players talk over one another)

00:36:31.462 --> 00:36:33.480
- I literally just spawned
in on the right side.

00:36:33.480 --> 00:36:35.490
I don\'t know if I can
come over the left side.

00:36:35.490 --> 00:36:37.470
- Four.
- We\'re proceeding,

00:36:37.470 --> 00:36:39.870
we\'re proceeding!
(bright triumphant music)

00:36:39.870 --> 00:36:43.143
- Getting married before the
12 gods that would (indistinct)

00:36:43.143 --> 00:36:44.452
- Oh, I look zooted!

00:36:44.452 --> 00:36:45.740
- Yeah, you look high as fuck.
- They\'re left now.

00:36:47.223 --> 00:36:48.868
(players laugh)

00:36:48.868 --> 00:36:50.820
- My dress is so cute.
- Okay but for real,

00:36:50.820 --> 00:36:52.574
y\'all are adorable.

00:36:52.574 --> 00:36:54.810
(Daphny laughs)

00:36:54.810 --> 00:36:57.270
Welcome to my Ceremony of Eternal Bonding,

00:36:57.270 --> 00:36:59.798
glitch exposition, I hope you\'re ready.

00:36:59.798 --> 00:37:00.660
(players laugh)

00:37:00.660 --> 00:37:02.880
- You know you can
shave like three seconds

00:37:02.880 --> 00:37:04.140
off the wedding ceremony,

00:37:04.140 --> 00:37:05.776
if you-
- Yeah, the weeding speedrun.

00:37:05.776 --> 00:37:07.145
(indistinct) any percent.

00:37:07.145 --> 00:37:08.273
- That\'s why you\'ve got a BGM off.

00:37:08.273 --> 00:37:09.633
- Through the pastor.

00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:13.830
- Oh my God, this is so cute.

00:37:13.830 --> 00:37:14.883
I love my wife.

00:37:15.900 --> 00:37:17.460
Oh, look how many of you are there.

00:37:17.460 --> 00:37:19.043
I can\'t go down.

00:37:19.043 --> 00:37:21.993
I\'m trying to talk to people, ugh!

00:37:21.993 --> 00:37:24.255
- Wait, are you trapped up there?

00:37:24.255 --> 00:37:25.366
- Yeah, I\'m trapped.

00:37:25.366 --> 00:37:27.042
I\'ve been trying to go
down and I keep forgetting.

00:37:27.042 --> 00:37:28.202
- Yeah, they won\'t let us leave.

00:37:28.202 --> 00:37:29.747
- They won\'t let me down!
- We\'re stuck up here. No!

00:37:29.747 --> 00:37:31.047
- Can we go up, or?
- No!

00:37:31.950 --> 00:37:33.883
We can\'t even go in there!
- They\'re rushing

00:37:33.883 --> 00:37:37.783
the fucking barrier wall.
- Please! Please!

00:37:37.783 --> 00:37:41.760
I\'m stuck! Let me through!
(players laughing)

00:37:41.760 --> 00:37:43.320
- The boundaries of, okay.

00:37:43.320 --> 00:37:45.925
Okay, so we can\'t climb up on, yeah.

00:37:45.925 --> 00:37:48.160
(player laughs)
- This is a metaphor

00:37:48.160 --> 00:37:49.927
for how marriage is a prison.

00:37:49.927 --> 00:37:54.927
(players laughs)
(bright triumphant music)

00:37:56.280 --> 00:37:58.534
- This truly is a Butts wedding.

00:37:58.534 --> 00:38:01.532
(players laugh)

00:38:01.532 --> 00:38:03.750
- That is, yeah, that\'s the title.

00:38:03.750 --> 00:38:06.766
That\'s the sitcom episode
title right there.

00:38:06.766 --> 00:38:10.266
(bright triumphant music)

00:38:13.529 --> 00:38:15.237
- I painted my nails for you.

00:38:15.237 --> 00:38:18.533
- You painted your nails.
(Daphny laughs)

00:38:20.160 --> 00:38:22.390
I\'m glad you were here.
- Aw, I love being gay!

00:38:22.390 --> 00:38:24.057
Look how happy I am!

00:38:24.939 --> 00:38:27.990
Yay! Aw, gay wings!

00:38:27.990 --> 00:38:29.883
Aw, my gay wings.

00:38:30.915 --> 00:38:34.332
Yay! (laughs)

00:38:35.880 --> 00:38:39.623
- Man, I love being a Newtype.
(Daphny laughs)

00:38:39.623 --> 00:38:43.291
- (gasps) Gay!

00:38:43.291 --> 00:38:46.380
- Wow, that is pretty gay.
(Daphny laughs)

00:38:46.380 --> 00:38:48.810
Oh yeah, I think this
is the reception now.

00:38:48.810 --> 00:38:51.600
- Yeah, we have to walk.

00:38:51.600 --> 00:38:54.570
We can do one more step after
this, but you should shiver.

00:38:54.570 --> 00:38:55.497
- Yeah, now we can all hang out.

00:38:55.497 --> 00:38:56.910
- Now we can all hang out.
- We can all take pictures

00:38:56.910 --> 00:38:58.113
and stuff.
- Yay!

00:38:59.219 --> 00:39:00.660
- \'Cause I know Pookia
will wanna take pictures.

00:39:00.660 --> 00:39:02.040
- We\'re free! We\'re free!

00:39:02.040 --> 00:39:03.480
Everybody come up here.

00:39:03.480 --> 00:39:06.120
Come up to the thingy.
We gotta take a picture.

00:39:06.120 --> 00:39:07.507
Okay, everybody take pictures.

00:39:07.507 --> 00:39:08.978
One, two, three, take pictures.

00:39:08.978 --> 00:39:11.460
(bright triumphant music)

00:39:11.460 --> 00:39:14.323
Okay, ringing the bell. (laughs)

00:39:17.520 --> 00:39:19.656
- Pack another bowl if you love me.

00:39:19.656 --> 00:39:22.820
(players laugh)

00:39:22.820 --> 00:39:27.820
- Nice, nice, nice.
(players laugh)

00:39:30.780 --> 00:39:33.195
- Well, that was a winner.
- Yeah!

00:39:33.195 --> 00:39:34.778
- You got it, baby!

00:39:35.783 --> 00:39:39.095
- Look at your outfit now. Damn.

00:39:39.095 --> 00:39:40.590
What the fuck?
- So, for the record,

00:39:40.590 --> 00:39:44.503
Sevanya is packing a bowl
right now, not me. (laughs)

00:39:46.380 --> 00:39:47.503
- Yeah, I\'m packing
- Oh, I forgot to put on

00:39:47.503 --> 00:39:49.500
my horse hat, fuck, fuck!
- I\'m packing the weed bowl.

00:39:49.500 --> 00:39:51.000
- I have to get married again. Fuck it.

00:39:51.000 --> 00:39:52.500
Turn off the game. Restart.

00:39:52.500 --> 00:39:54.330
- We have to get married again
next year, so you can wear

00:39:54.330 --> 00:39:55.314
the horse helmet.
- No, I\'m not wearing

00:39:55.314 --> 00:39:56.147
my horse hat, this doesn\'t count!

00:39:56.147 --> 00:39:57.480
- Bullshit.
- Bullshit!

00:39:57.480 --> 00:39:59.550
Nonsense! Throw it away!

00:39:59.550 --> 00:40:01.228
- Bury it.
- I\'m kidding.

00:40:01.228 --> 00:40:02.970
(bright triumphant music)

00:40:02.970 --> 00:40:04.334
- Yeah, you know what?

00:40:04.334 --> 00:40:06.276
I think all Chocobos are a little gay

00:40:06.276 --> 00:40:08.730
and that\'s what makes them special.

00:40:08.730 --> 00:40:11.551
- Okay, now, now we can go.

00:40:11.551 --> 00:40:13.351
- Yeah, now you can go to the house.

00:40:14.504 --> 00:40:16.030
Thank you all for coming.

00:40:16.030 --> 00:40:17.340
- We\'ll be doing a reception

00:40:17.340 --> 00:40:18.600
at the Butts Free Company house,

00:40:18.600 --> 00:40:22.680
if you don\'t have a teleport
there, it\'s, where is it?

00:40:22.680 --> 00:40:24.100
Where is our house, Shirogane?

00:40:24.100 --> 00:40:26.190
- Yeah, Shirogane.

00:40:26.190 --> 00:40:28.857
(upbeat music)

00:40:38.550 --> 00:40:43.550
- I\'m Tsajterra and I
joined right after the big,

00:40:43.957 --> 00:40:47.640
you know, the thing that
happened in 2020, that thing,

00:40:47.640 --> 00:40:49.980
just to have something that could simulate

00:40:49.980 --> 00:40:53.553
feeling like I was going out and about.

00:40:54.510 --> 00:40:57.540
- I\'m Tiger Mountain. I\'m
very tall and I\'m very green.

00:40:57.540 --> 00:41:00.150
I kind of look like Brian
Eno, hence the name.

00:41:00.150 --> 00:41:02.400
I\'ve been playing the game for what?

00:41:02.400 --> 00:41:04.143
On and off for three years now.

00:41:05.010 --> 00:41:07.080
- I\'m Orlando Aesthethica.

00:41:07.080 --> 00:41:09.360
I\'m the very red guy over here.

00:41:09.360 --> 00:41:11.040
I don\'t really have
much to say for myself.

00:41:11.040 --> 00:41:12.723
I\'m just another Butt in the FC.

00:41:15.840 --> 00:41:19.680
- Hi, I\'m Velella Velella.

00:41:19.680 --> 00:41:20.763
I\'ve been playing,

00:41:21.600 --> 00:41:24.920
I guess, for the last two years.

00:41:24.920 --> 00:41:27.017
I started playing in the
middle of the pandemic

00:41:27.017 --> 00:41:31.620
\'cause I was hurting for
things to fill my time with

00:41:31.620 --> 00:41:33.300
and social connection

00:41:33.300 --> 00:41:36.183
and it was a good way to do that.

00:41:37.530 --> 00:41:39.660
- I don\'t even know how
these names are pronounced,

00:41:39.660 --> 00:41:42.540
so I guess I\'m Fraewyb Sabina in the game.

00:41:42.540 --> 00:41:44.220
You can just call me Jenner.

00:41:44.220 --> 00:41:46.800
I\'m old. (laughs) I\'m like 40, hi.

00:41:46.800 --> 00:41:49.353
I\'ve been playing MMOs
off and on for forever.

00:41:50.692 --> 00:41:53.310
I used to, like, gosh \"Furcadia\"?

00:41:53.310 --> 00:41:54.543
Come on, yo.

00:41:55.740 --> 00:41:58.740
- How would you compare
this to other MMOs?

00:41:58.740 --> 00:42:02.970
- This one seems to respect
people\'s time the most.

00:42:02.970 --> 00:42:05.370
It seems to be sort of the most

00:42:05.370 --> 00:42:08.370
compartmentalized about things.

00:42:08.370 --> 00:42:10.443
- It takes a lot of time,

00:42:11.294 --> 00:42:13.530
but the thing about it is-
- Well, yeah.

00:42:13.530 --> 00:42:18.360
- It is so much less
based on drops and FOMO

00:42:18.360 --> 00:42:20.460
than a lot of other games are.

00:42:20.460 --> 00:42:22.620
This game is okay with you taking breaks.

00:42:22.620 --> 00:42:24.630
It does not punish you for taking breaks.

00:42:24.630 --> 00:42:26.850
It does not punish you for stepping away.

00:42:26.850 --> 00:42:30.300
Basically, it lets you go at
the pace you want to go at.

00:42:30.300 --> 00:42:32.919
It makes its money by taking time,

00:42:32.919 --> 00:42:35.790
and yeah it does take time,

00:42:35.790 --> 00:42:40.200
but it\'s more you put the time
in, you\'ll get stuff back.

00:42:40.200 --> 00:42:42.510
- Yeah, I\'ve found this
game to be a lot more

00:42:42.510 --> 00:42:45.660
user-friendly than other
MMOs that I\'ve tried.

00:42:45.660 --> 00:42:47.250
Like with \"World of Warcraft,\"

00:42:47.250 --> 00:42:49.080
I kind of feel like I was just dropped in

00:42:49.080 --> 00:42:53.340
and told to go find the game on my own

00:42:53.340 --> 00:42:56.010
and I didn\'t really know
where to go from there,

00:42:56.010 --> 00:43:00.690
but in \"FFXIV,\" you have
a very clear direction.

00:43:00.690 --> 00:43:04.050
It was a lot more welcoming
and more respecting of my time

00:43:04.050 --> 00:43:07.083
than \"World of Warcraft\"
or any of the other MMOs.

00:43:07.980 --> 00:43:10.560
- It seems to me like a
lot of people I\'ve known

00:43:10.560 --> 00:43:14.100
kind of got into the game after
some sort of crummy event.

00:43:14.100 --> 00:43:14.933
It\'s like, \"Yeah,

00:43:14.933 --> 00:43:16.740
I\'m gonna do this thing
for now for a bit,\"

00:43:16.740 --> 00:43:19.414
and they just kind of make
it their own little home.

00:43:19.414 --> 00:43:22.914
(lively orchestral music)

00:43:26.040 --> 00:43:28.710
- I befriended Pookia
\'cause I was running over

00:43:28.710 --> 00:43:31.650
to turn things in and
she was standing there

00:43:31.650 --> 00:43:33.690
and she was dressed really cool

00:43:33.690 --> 00:43:35.610
and I just froze and I
was like, \"Holy crap,

00:43:35.610 --> 00:43:37.080
that is amazing.\"

00:43:37.080 --> 00:43:38.463
And now we\'re friends.

00:43:39.450 --> 00:43:43.620
- I actually came upon the
Butts purely by chance.

00:43:43.620 --> 00:43:47.100
Me and a friend of mine,
who\'s also in the FC,

00:43:47.100 --> 00:43:50.730
we had gotten set up in
this ward as an apartment

00:43:50.730 --> 00:43:52.237
and then one day I\'m like,

00:43:52.237 --> 00:43:54.720
\"Hey, let\'s go find an FC to join.\"

00:43:54.720 --> 00:43:57.090
And literally Butts of Eorzea was just

00:43:57.090 --> 00:43:58.890
the first place we went to.

00:43:58.890 --> 00:43:59.767
And we were like,

00:43:59.767 --> 00:44:02.967
\"Hey, we\'re looking for an
FC to join, you guys open?\"

00:44:05.610 --> 00:44:07.500
- There weren\'t many people
in Butts when I joined,

00:44:07.500 --> 00:44:09.030
I don\'t think.

00:44:09.030 --> 00:44:10.830
They all came to the city I was in.

00:44:10.830 --> 00:44:12.750
They started a little noise band

00:44:12.750 --> 00:44:14.670
in the town square or whatever.

00:44:14.670 --> 00:44:15.780
Everyone just plopped down.

00:44:15.780 --> 00:44:17.940
They switched their job the bard

00:44:17.940 --> 00:44:20.940
and just started making
up this huge racket

00:44:20.940 --> 00:44:23.760
and all these other people
started milling around

00:44:23.760 --> 00:44:26.880
and one guy who was really
high level, he showed up,

00:44:26.880 --> 00:44:28.830
and he started making us all shoes

00:44:28.830 --> 00:44:30.270
and giving us them for free.

00:44:30.270 --> 00:44:32.340
I thought that was really nice.

00:44:32.340 --> 00:44:33.540
And then afterwards I realized maybe

00:44:33.540 --> 00:44:36.153
that was kind of like a pervert thing.

00:44:38.670 --> 00:44:40.713
- How would you all describe this FC?

00:44:41.970 --> 00:44:44.070
- Irreverent is a pretty
good word, I think, yeah.

00:44:44.070 --> 00:44:45.900
- Friendly, welcoming.

00:44:45.900 --> 00:44:49.380
- Well, I was going to say
obnoxious, but that sounds mean.

00:44:49.380 --> 00:44:50.880
- Wow.

00:44:50.880 --> 00:44:53.970
- We\'ve got multiple people
on the leaderboards, though.

00:44:53.970 --> 00:44:55.200
We kick ass.

00:44:55.200 --> 00:44:56.673
- We\'re troublemakers.

00:44:57.721 --> 00:45:01.047
(gentle music)

00:45:01.047 --> 00:45:05.940
- I think everybody is
casual and nice, but weird.

00:45:05.940 --> 00:45:08.280
Everybody\'s weird and mostly gay.

00:45:08.280 --> 00:45:12.870
We have token straight people
instead of like. (laughs)

00:45:12.870 --> 00:45:14.430
- Yeah, it\'s a really good place

00:45:14.430 --> 00:45:18.993
to be a transgender cat girl
with a sword bigger than her.

00:45:20.490 --> 00:45:22.320
- The way I feel about
the game in a lot of ways,

00:45:22.320 --> 00:45:24.000
I think mechanically it
doesn\'t really encourage you

00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:26.310
to bump up against each other so much,

00:45:26.310 --> 00:45:29.370
which is, in some ways, nice because like,

00:45:29.370 --> 00:45:31.620
there isn\'t much
hostility between players.

00:45:31.620 --> 00:45:34.080
You go around town, you
go to some of the areas

00:45:34.080 --> 00:45:36.480
in this game and you\'re gonna
see people doing some sort

00:45:36.480 --> 00:45:39.750
of social thing or you\'ll run
across a bunch of bunny boys

00:45:39.750 --> 00:45:41.610
doing squats or whatever.

00:45:41.610 --> 00:45:43.740
But the social aspect is somewhat removed

00:45:43.740 --> 00:45:45.573
from the adventuring aspect.

00:45:46.590 --> 00:45:48.720
When Pookia and I used to
play together, you know,

00:45:48.720 --> 00:45:49.830
when we play together,

00:45:49.830 --> 00:45:54.450
it\'s very rowdy and we talk a lot,

00:45:54.450 --> 00:45:56.460
and we mix it up with strangers,

00:45:56.460 --> 00:45:59.460
but for the most part, I don\'t
think people do that so much.

00:46:01.230 --> 00:46:03.480
- I\'m really glad I met Pook \'cause yeah,

00:46:03.480 --> 00:46:05.280
it\'s hard to find people
who are gonna be social.

00:46:05.280 --> 00:46:07.350
Everybody just kind of
seems to stick to their own.

00:46:07.350 --> 00:46:10.293
So I guess I\'ve just been
unlucky until I met Pook.

00:46:11.430 --> 00:46:14.910
- I\'ve known Pookia maybe,
how long have I known Pookia?

00:46:14.910 --> 00:46:16.595
Like three or four years now,

00:46:16.595 --> 00:46:17.887
I think.
- Aw.

00:46:17.887 --> 00:46:20.075
- The thing I wanna say about Pookaia is

00:46:20.075 --> 00:46:22.410
that Pookia, in person,

00:46:22.410 --> 00:46:24.870
has the exact same infectious energy.

00:46:24.870 --> 00:46:26.400
- Aw.
- Pookia can turn any group

00:46:26.400 --> 00:46:30.770
of people into basically a party (laughs)

00:46:31.680 --> 00:46:34.350
just from personality alone.

00:46:34.350 --> 00:46:36.100
And they\'re kind of known for that.

00:46:37.710 --> 00:46:40.533
They\'re certainly a pillar
of the community I came from.

00:46:41.564 --> 00:46:44.550
(soft music)

00:46:44.550 --> 00:46:47.413
- Hi, I\'m Pookia\'s wife. (laughs)

00:46:48.712 --> 00:46:49.887
- You\'re so much more than that.

00:46:49.887 --> 00:46:51.750
- But I don\'t have a title.

00:46:51.750 --> 00:46:54.900
- Yeah you do. It\'s like Meadow Reaper?

00:46:54.900 --> 00:46:57.660
- Yeah, I\'m an insane person-
- Meadow Fisher.

00:46:57.660 --> 00:47:02.220
- Who fished, like,
500 times in every type

00:47:02.220 --> 00:47:04.233
of hole you can fish in, in La Noscea.

00:47:06.420 --> 00:47:08.400
We met on Discord.

00:47:08.400 --> 00:47:10.170
We talked about Fedsmoker.

00:47:10.170 --> 00:47:12.630
- Yeah, we met because we
were both fans of Fedsmoker

00:47:12.630 --> 00:47:15.600
in someone else\'s Discord
for their \"Overwatch\" stream.

00:47:15.600 --> 00:47:17.280
- Yeah.
- Yeah.

00:47:17.280 --> 00:47:18.840
- And then we just started hanging out

00:47:18.840 --> 00:47:21.030
and then eventually we started dating

00:47:21.030 --> 00:47:23.680
and then we started playing
\"Final Fantasy\" together.

00:47:25.800 --> 00:47:27.063
The wedding was great.

00:47:27.900 --> 00:47:29.430
We\'ve done this like, what,

00:47:29.430 --> 00:47:30.270
is this the fourth time

00:47:30.270 --> 00:47:31.143
or the third time?
- Third.

00:47:31.143 --> 00:47:33.762
This is our third wedding.
- This is our third wedding!

00:47:33.762 --> 00:47:37.020
The cutscenes of the
moogles are always the same,

00:47:37.020 --> 00:47:39.870
but I get excited every
time \'cause I love my wife

00:47:39.870 --> 00:47:41.870
and now I can do it over and over again.

00:47:42.826 --> 00:47:45.025
(gentle music)

00:47:45.025 --> 00:47:48.030
- This is my first wedding and I had fun.

00:47:48.030 --> 00:47:50.580
And I mean, it\'s cute that
y\'all have been together

00:47:50.580 --> 00:47:51.660
for so long.

00:47:51.660 --> 00:47:54.960
I only really knew Pookia
and barely ever saw them.

00:47:54.960 --> 00:47:58.230
But yeah, if the couple has
made it this long already,

00:47:58.230 --> 00:48:00.690
I don\'t know how much my well wishing

00:48:00.690 --> 00:48:02.910
will increase their
fortune, but I hope it does.

00:48:02.910 --> 00:48:05.007
I mean, y\'all seem like a good group.

00:48:05.007 --> 00:48:07.920
But like this whole group,
thank you for allowing me

00:48:07.920 --> 00:48:11.280
to be part of your special day.

00:48:11.280 --> 00:48:12.663
I\'m really honored.

00:48:13.777 --> 00:48:16.444
(gentle music)

00:48:21.140 --> 00:48:23.070
- I am Alcea Amaveris.

00:48:23.070 --> 00:48:25.410
I\'ve been in the Free Company

00:48:25.410 --> 00:48:28.233
since June or July, 2020.

00:48:29.820 --> 00:48:32.670
I started playing in March or April

00:48:32.670 --> 00:48:36.180
with two other friends, primarily.

00:48:36.180 --> 00:48:39.240
Their in-game names
were Canopus Peacecraft

00:48:39.240 --> 00:48:42.390
and Apron Froachington or something.

00:48:42.390 --> 00:48:45.930
I had known these people for a while.

00:48:45.930 --> 00:48:47.760
I think it was like,

00:48:47.760 --> 00:48:49.740
everyone was stuck inside and bored

00:48:49.740 --> 00:48:52.560
and they were like,
\"There\'s a free trial.\"

00:48:52.560 --> 00:48:54.703
Canopus knew Aureilano in the FC.

00:48:58.560 --> 00:49:03.420
Eventually Apron and I
decide to join Butts.

00:49:03.420 --> 00:49:05.880
That was close to the end of when Canopus

00:49:05.880 --> 00:49:07.620
and Apron stopped playing.

00:49:07.620 --> 00:49:12.180
So one of the last things
I did with them in the game

00:49:12.180 --> 00:49:15.300
was we hung out at the old FC house

00:49:15.300 --> 00:49:16.953
and hung out with Pookia.

00:49:19.150 --> 00:49:23.430
So I joined Butts and I
think the first thing I did

00:49:23.430 --> 00:49:26.430
with the FC was, I don\'t
know if you had done, like,

00:49:26.430 --> 00:49:29.073
a club night before,

00:49:30.037 --> 00:49:34.410
but I kind of logged on
and I intentionally didn\'t,

00:49:34.410 --> 00:49:36.030
I didn\'t RSVP in the Discord.

00:49:36.030 --> 00:49:37.290
I didn\'t say anything about it.

00:49:37.290 --> 00:49:38.977
I didn\'t acknowledge it \'cause I was like,

00:49:38.977 --> 00:49:40.727
\"These people don\'t want me there.\"

00:49:41.970 --> 00:49:44.850
And then I logged on and then Pookia

00:49:44.850 --> 00:49:45.727
and I think other people were just like,

00:49:45.727 --> 00:49:46.890
\"Are you coming? Are you coming?\"

00:49:46.890 --> 00:49:48.990
And I was like, \"You don\'t even know me.\"

00:49:48.990 --> 00:49:52.140
And I\'m normally very antisocial in games,

00:49:52.140 --> 00:49:55.683
which is also why this
whole thing is very strange.

00:49:56.640 --> 00:50:00.480
But I went anyways and it
was very weird and funny.

00:50:00.480 --> 00:50:02.670
And then after that, I don\'t know,

00:50:02.670 --> 00:50:05.010
kind of, like, the barrier
had come down a little bit

00:50:05.010 --> 00:50:08.190
\'cause I was like, \"Oh, they\'re
all just weirdos like me.\"

00:50:08.190 --> 00:50:10.350
At some point in the first few months

00:50:10.350 --> 00:50:12.270
of when I started playing with y\'all,

00:50:12.270 --> 00:50:13.987
I kind of started to ask myself like,

00:50:13.987 --> 00:50:15.810
\"Why am I like talking?\"

00:50:15.810 --> 00:50:18.180
Like whenever like I\'d be in
a call or doing something,

00:50:18.180 --> 00:50:19.320
I\'d be like, \"Why am I talking?

00:50:19.320 --> 00:50:21.450
These people aren\'t
interested in listening to me.

00:50:21.450 --> 00:50:23.460
Why am I bothering to tell them about

00:50:23.460 --> 00:50:25.980
the music I\'m listening to,\" or something.

00:50:25.980 --> 00:50:28.747
And then eventually the
next question was like,

00:50:28.747 --> 00:50:31.230
\"Why are these people listening?\"

00:50:31.230 --> 00:50:33.780
Like I realized that people were listening

00:50:33.780 --> 00:50:36.123
and that was also very strange for me.

00:50:36.960 --> 00:50:40.110
And it\'s been just a
continued series of, like,

00:50:40.110 --> 00:50:43.353
those two realizations just
repeated over and over again.

00:50:45.018 --> 00:50:48.240
(soft piano music)

00:50:48.240 --> 00:50:51.480
I\'ve always been a pretty solitary person.

00:50:51.480 --> 00:50:52.830
I\'ve had maybe like,

00:50:52.830 --> 00:50:54.630
I think a lot of people are this way,

00:50:54.630 --> 00:50:58.077
where they only have, you
know, a few good friends.

00:50:58.077 --> 00:51:01.980
But I don\'t know if as
many people are as lonely

00:51:01.980 --> 00:51:03.240
as I\'ve been my whole life.

00:51:03.240 --> 00:51:06.210
It\'s like, I think a lot of queer people

00:51:06.210 --> 00:51:08.940
felt this at the
beginning of the pandemic,

00:51:08.940 --> 00:51:09.960
was just like,

00:51:09.960 --> 00:51:13.530
my life didn\'t really
substantially change that much.

00:51:13.530 --> 00:51:15.210
It was more like the rest of the world

00:51:15.210 --> 00:51:18.120
kind of started living the way I did.

00:51:18.120 --> 00:51:19.590
Like I didn\'t really talk to my family.

00:51:19.590 --> 00:51:20.880
I didn\'t really have any friends.

00:51:20.880 --> 00:51:21.873
I just kind of,

00:51:23.072 --> 00:51:24.940
I didn\'t even know what
I did is the thing.

00:51:24.940 --> 00:51:27.590
Like, I don\'t even know what
I was doing at the time.

00:51:29.730 --> 00:51:32.520
So it was so weird to go from, like,

00:51:32.520 --> 00:51:34.320
I\'ve never been able to
count how many friends I have

00:51:34.320 --> 00:51:36.180
on more than two hands.

00:51:36.180 --> 00:51:38.250
- Now you\'re covered in friends.

00:51:38.250 --> 00:51:42.511
- It\'s been weirdly difficult to accept.

00:51:42.511 --> 00:51:45.300
(soft piano music)

00:51:45.300 --> 00:51:49.800
I think Pookia\'s probably
the biggest reason.

00:51:49.800 --> 00:51:54.690
They were just so insistently,
unflinchingly welcoming.

00:51:54.690 --> 00:51:58.410
I think if Pookia wasn\'t
the person kind of

00:51:58.410 --> 00:52:00.510
in charge of the FC in some way,

00:52:00.510 --> 00:52:01.860
and also the first person I met,

00:52:01.860 --> 00:52:03.610
it probably wouldn\'t have happened.

00:52:04.890 --> 00:52:08.130
I think that principle
extends to everyone else

00:52:08.130 --> 00:52:09.423
to some extent, though.

00:52:10.650 --> 00:52:13.110
I don\'t know if I\'ve ever been around

00:52:13.110 --> 00:52:15.033
as welcoming a group of people.

00:52:16.110 --> 00:52:20.760
- Yeah. I just want
people to have a group.

00:52:20.760 --> 00:52:22.230
That\'s really all it is.

00:52:22.230 --> 00:52:25.050
It\'s just, I want people to
have stuff to run contact with

00:52:25.050 --> 00:52:27.693
and talk to without feeling threatened.

00:52:28.890 --> 00:52:33.890
- Yeah, I think without
both Pookia and Sevanya,

00:52:34.170 --> 00:52:35.270
I don\'t think I would,

00:52:36.210 --> 00:52:38.343
like my life would just be a lot worse.

00:52:39.390 --> 00:52:41.863
Pookia is one of my very favorite people.

00:52:41.863 --> 00:52:43.920
I don\'t know if there\'s
something that Pookia could ask

00:52:43.920 --> 00:52:46.623
of me that I would say no
to, that kind of thing.

00:52:47.525 --> 00:52:50.190
They\'re the only person
I\'ve ever met in real life

00:52:50.190 --> 00:52:54.000
and then we\'ve just called
each other in-game names.

00:52:54.000 --> 00:52:58.630
Like when we met, it was
like, \"Pookia,\" \"Alcea.\"

00:52:58.630 --> 00:53:01.547
(soft piano music)

00:53:02.543 --> 00:53:04.230
I dunno, it\'s the kind of thing where,

00:53:04.230 --> 00:53:06.303
if I stop to think about it for more

00:53:06.303 --> 00:53:09.000
than a few moments, I began to realize,

00:53:09.000 --> 00:53:10.560
I don\'t know if there\'s
ever anything I could do

00:53:10.560 --> 00:53:13.233
to thank them enough
just for being my friend.

00:53:14.289 --> 00:53:17.206
(soft piano music)

00:53:18.091 --> 00:53:18.924
Yeah.

00:53:20.632 --> 00:53:24.132
(sentimental piano music)

00:53:33.843 --> 00:53:38.176
(sentimental piano music continues)

00:53:46.572 --> 00:53:50.905
(sentimental piano music continues)

00:53:53.079 --> 00:53:56.329
(upbeat techno music)

00:54:05.766 --> 00:54:09.766
(upbeat techno music continues)

00:54:19.792 --> 00:54:23.792
(upbeat techno music continues)

00:54:33.890 --> 00:54:37.890
(upbeat techno music continues)

00:54:44.955 --> 00:54:48.955
(upbeat techno music continues)

00:54:53.316 --> 00:54:55.649
(no audio)