They recognize stuff happens in real life.
Welcome to the fifth annual MMO Fallout awards show where we award awards to developers who are deserving of awards, both ironically and whatever the opposite of that is. Were doing this a little different this year with dedicated articles instead of one big master list, so bear with me. I plan to have one or two awards every day until I run out of awards to give.
It just depends on how much I want to, like everything else on this website.
So the first award is for Most Cognizant of Real Life, and I think it’s only fair that this award go to Square Enix for Final Fantasy XIV. I think it’s safe to say we’ve all had stuff happen in real life that caused interference with our priorities in video games.
And occasionally that stuff is really big, and I’m not talking about losing your login streak because you ate the second half of a steak hoagie out of the trash after it was sitting in there for too long and got sick. I’m talking about major real world disasters causing you to not be home for a while or spending long amounts of time without internet or power.
Final Fantasy XIV stands streets ahead of other developers in terms of recognizing real life calamity and taking action, responding by suspending housing demolition in areas affected by the wrath of God. Like in January when they suspended demolitions in Japan after a big earthquake. Or in October when they suspended demolitions in America after Hurricane Helene. Or in November when demolitions were suspended due to the flooding in Spain. Okay so it’s mostly down to suspending demolitions.
It’s not a massive undertaking but let’s be honest; how many other developers do stuff like that? Pretty much nobody. And I think that deserves recognition via this year’s first award for the Most Cognizant Of Real Life.
Congratulations to the Final Fantasy XIV team. Your award is in my fridge because it is not shelf stable.
MMO Fallout 