Final Fantasy XI: What is Keeping People Playing?

Well of course it should, and if it’s not maybe you might want to rethink your investment. There are some MMORPGs that break the mold and create loyal fans. These fans are usually rewarded from the games they play with the content they desire, since the fans are now the bread and butter of the games successful run. Final fantasy XI is a massively multiplayer online role playing game that is from Squares, (now Square Enix), successful final fantasy franchise, released in Japan on Sony's PlayStation 2 on May 16, 2002, the PC release for north America in October 28 2003, the playstation 2’s version on march 23, 2004. The Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in April 2006.

The game play has a definite final fantasy flavor to it filled with cinematics and in-depth stories, as well as vast array of creatures and lands to discover. To play the game you will have to have a powerful PC if that is the version you play, and after that the controls are something to get used to.

Playing the final fantasy xi will come down to two components: missions by which the main storyline is told and quest which do not progress the main story but will help you fill your own fantasy world. Missions help out in other ways besides furthering the story line ahead such as to advance in rank, access new areas, and gain new privileges. You may do quests for various rewards and fame. Battles happen in the same realm that you move around in, which is a switch from most other final fantasy game where you switch in a battle realm for fights.

The economy is set up by means of final fantasy’s fiction based money called gil. The FFXI Gil has a large player based economy with a lot of inter actions with auction houses, that are in every major city in the games world. There are certain economic controls to manage the gil flow, they are in the forms of taxes and fees. They include taxes on items sold and or put up for auction, there are also fees for item storage and transportation, these gil sinks remove gil from the economy to prevent inflation. Square enix has stated that the trade of gil for real currency of the games terms of services for FFXI, in 2006 square found a ground people that had found away to generate gil in the game and the trade it for real money, which then drove gil prices on items up, in response 700 accounts were banned and 300 billion FFXI gil was removed from circulation.

Majority of the gil that were banned was acquired through the use of what is known as dupe or duping. It is the use of an exploit or a bug in the game that causes currencies such as gil, gold, plat, platinum or even items of high end value to duplicate. By acquiring currencies using cheating methods has caused alot of stress to players. Thus why most prestigious gold sellers all use safe natural farming methods.