Galka Sit-In

[riddaraan]

The other day I was online, and someone told me to /sea all Northern Sandy. So, upon looking, I noticed a huge number of Lv1, no SJ, Galka. They seemed predominantly JP, as each of their /seacom had Japanese in it. Now, I can only imagine they were collectively protesting something but I'm not sure what. Anyway, this has been a while, and I'm assuming things went, or didn't go, how they wished. But it's not the first time I've seen people flood a zone, on sort of a "sit-in." So I'm just sitting here wondering, what is BG's opinion of such orchestrated acts of demonstration? I'm sure that Mr. Tanaka gets a daily report, like the President, that lets him know what's happened, if anything, overnight. So I'm wondering if this is the fastest way to reach out & touch the Development team.

Anyway, what do you guys think? Is this Alla material? Does this sound like a good way to crack an egg?

[Nyuneko]

If they are all Japanese, it could be an ingame event they organized, in one particularly old Famitsu issue, the editors and a couple of players(by couple, I mean a lot) got together on their bald character(Hume or Galka) and did some random user managed event in S.Sandy, so it could be something like that(whether it's organized by Famitsu or not).

Just because a lot of players get together, on their main or mule, doesn't automatically mean they are protesting against something.

And, I don't think Tanaka get any daily, if even monthly, report on anything player related, he is the lead director of the team, but his job isn't to deal with customer relation, if anything I would say Sage Sundi is the person who gets that kind of report(if they do have daily report? lol).

Lastly, "No" to your question, only idiot think nagging like a 13y old to their mommy would help.

[BerenTebogo]

Because they were definitely protesting, and not just taking a huge random 'we're JP and we love big meaty man-things' screenshot?

There's no way to make any informed remark to this thread unless you at least post the JP text.

[riddaraan]

Well, it's true, I should've taken some screenshots, but I didn't think about it at the time. As I said, though, I know this isn't the first time this has happened. I've even seen NA/EU do it before. If I recall, this was right after the SAM "fix" (read: nerf), so its possible that this was in response to it.

As for comparing this to a thirteen year old, whining to his mother, I'd be interested to know if that's what you consider group protesting to be like, in real life. I mean, I live in the United States, so maybe I take demonstrating as a good way to illustrate your unhappiness with something, so perhaps you've got other methods you prefer. What are those ways?

My main interest is in knowing what people seriously think is the best way that we, the players, can take action into our own hands & let the Development team know we're generally unhappy with what is going on in certain fields. (read: Absolute Virtue, version update, etc)

[BerenTebogo]

We're still paying money to play the game, just now paying money to sit there and do nothing.

They won't care, end of thread.

[Wizerd]

As for comparing this to a thirteen year old, whining to his mother, I'd be interested to know if that's what you consider group protesting to be like, in real life. I mean, I live in the United States, so maybe I take demonstrating as a good way to illustrate your unhappiness with something, so perhaps you've got other methods you prefer. What are those ways?

Problem is Americans always seem to protest about the silliest things, leaving those of us on the outside looking in (whether in America like you, or not in America, like me) thinking "What the fuck are they even protesting?"


Keep in mind, protesting the SAM "fix" did dick all (unless I completely missed an update lol).

[riddaraan]

I agree that it probably hasn't solved anything, but it was serving as an example of how such activities represent player protesting, in game.

We're still paying money to play the game, just now paying money to sit there and do nothing.

They won't care, end of thread.

I pay taxes to remain a lawful resident of the United States. Similar? I think so. Same? Not really.

[Suiram]

I knew when I saw this it sounded familiar. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14218
The link in the OP is dead now but there's some discussion of what it had said.

The "Bald Galka Festival" strike event also has been made throught the users. This event means: They create Bald Galkas and make shouting and says continuously. Used to acuse someone in game. Of course, this rewarded them with a nice warning, a server message and from other users huge disrespect.

[Khamsin]

and from other users huge disrespect.

I remember reading about that event, too. Although there certainly were people who had less respect for them after the event, I seem to recall hearing about yet others who seemed to have been egging them on, laughing about it, and shouting how cool it was, and must have had increased respect for them at the time.

I'm curious whether the "more respect" outnumber the "less respect" people, or vice versa.

[Nyuneko]

They won't care, end of thread.

QFT.

Although Wizerd has sum it up nicely for me, I will add a little of my response:

Yes, that's what I see about RL demonstration as well, nagging like a little kid isn't always gonna work, the only thing that works is that you made yourself look like an idiot.

What do I see as a more efficient method? In FFXI case, perhaps a well organized forum thread that has a constructive discussion going on; or a more civilized letter/email/etc, with reason and logic being used. Because I know if I was ever in the customer relation department, a well mannered civilized letter will always look better in my eyes, and I would actually spend my time looking at the comment rather than throwing it into the "Ranting junks" pile in the corner(next to the bin). And it's probably(read: Most definately) easier for the the customer relation to understand our game, and thus transfering our messages to the development team.

As for RL demonstration... why has it got anything to do with anything in a FFXI forum?

The only reason why demonstration ever works is when it actually create an impact on the system, ie if you can get 2000 players on each server to cancel their account simultaneously, and sending in their hate mail to SE... SE might do something to answer those mail, otherwise, a bunch of Galka sitting in S.Sandy or any city/zone on one server will have zero to no effect.

So, yes, to confirm your thoughts, I will say it again: I think demonstration is retarded.

[riddaraan]

Thanks for the insight! I was using real life as a comparisson, because FFXI, while it is a game, in many ways is also a community. And communities work together - or against each other - towards some sort of goal. Our goal, as a community, I think, is to have fun! Anyway, analogy, analgoy, I was thinking about how some groups of people have organized demonstrations & got the attention of whatever their "government" was.

Now, in some instances, it's resulted badly. ie, see Tieneman Square (sp?)
In some instances, it's resulted for good change. ie, see the Civil Liberties in the United States.

Of course, in any demonstration, you have to be able to capture your targetted audience with enough gusto that they're moved by your actions.

On some of your points, I will agree. The Japanese react very differently to public outcrying than Americans do. However, letter writing usually is procastinated upon by the genuinely uninterested, and then the few letters (or emails) get filtered through the red tape and very rarely have an impact.

For instance of how SE works, at the most recent Fan Fest, we made it very clear that we (the fan base) were interested in knowing about Absolute Virtue. I mean, this is the most asked question in FFXI history, I'd think. Yet, the first night, we got, "You gais want Cheeze Sandwich food? OK~!"

The second night, we were far more vocal. I made sure to remind people putting their questions into the box, "If you're not asking about Absolute Virtue, you're asking the wrong question." And when Matt got up to talk about the question & answer session about to start, he held up a stack ... and I mean a STACK of papers from people wanting to know what the hell was up from this NM. That's when the Dev team promised us a video by the end of the year.

Obviously, it never came.

So now, I'm wondering, what we should do, as a playerbase, to really show them that we're thirsting for this information?

Simply cancelling your account, is more like a hunger strike, in which it punishes both the players & the company. So maybe that's the right answer. I'd just like it not to be. I just would like to find a solution in which to voice aloud that we're displeased with certain aspects of the game, and to pay attention to what we're asking for.

[Nyuneko]

More than likely, as with "Almighty Apkallu", they had no idea what the hell "Absolute Virtue" is, and just nodded.

The best way to get our voice heard is probably through posting in Japanese forum, perhaps it's because they favor Japanese players, or may be because it is the development team's language, so a few of the developers can check that site directly without going through translators(I mean person, not program). For instance, samurai's merit 2's Overwhelm, the idea was mentioned by players in the Japanese FFXI premiere forum about 2 patches before the update of merit 2, even the name is similar. And so far as I see, about 70% of the suggestion there appear in our updates, so yes, SE does listen, just not to everyone.

But don't forget the fact that as player, we often only can see thing as our own perspective, so what one may see as the awesome idea of the century, it may be a crappy idea infront of the professionals.

[riddaraan]

More than likely, as with "Almighty Apkallu", they had no idea what the hell "Absolute Virtue" is, and just nodded.

That, I will whole heartedly agree with.

[sephir]

I remember one time I was running through port jeuno near the limbus lady and I saw one hume standing in front of rows of players talking. I think I have a pic somewhere of it, anyways he was talking in JP so I oculdnt really understand. I watched it just becuase of how rare it was. Once he finished speaking everyone who was sitting stood up and started doing the /clap motion.

Only experience with that sort of sit in.

[sb]

Carby did an anti-RMT sit in of sorts a while ago (months before the ulli-fix). Maybe 150-200 showed up, put anti-RMT comments in their seacom. I don't remember much of it, but I do remember random GM emotes (this was back in the day where they wouldn't ever really show up or make themselves visable). And sorry, I don't have any screen shots, so it must have never happened.

[Ryushii]

Not the same, but I attended an in-game funeral in Ru'Lude, and a GM showed up there. I don't remember how many people were there: maybe 100? This was like 2 years ago.

[Howard Roark]

'Galka Sit-In' is not an accepted term in my vocabulary, so i was unable to vote

stopped reading after sath's 2nd reply