Lately I obtained an eviction discover. I used to be going to be booted out of my home in a matter of weeks, with my property demolished shortly after. There can be a brand new property developer on the best way very quickly, swooping in like a vulture to erect a brand new constructing on the bottom the place my house as soon as stood. That’s, except I pay the low-low value of £7.69 to avoid wasting my place from the seedy landowners often known as Sq. Enix.
You see, this is not my real-life home we’re speaking about. That is my Closing Fantasy 14 house, the one I spent 9 hours relentlessly clicking on a placard to get. I have been a proud digital home-owner for over 18 months now, however I’ve additionally been a proud unsubscribed from Closing Fantasy digital home-owner for a very good chunk of 2023. It is a kind of all-or-nothing video games for me, and within the curiosity of broadening my horizons and pursuing different hobbies, I’ve relegated myself to having fun with many of the MMO from afar this yr.
You already know the one factor I can not get pleasure from from a distance, although? My house if it turns into a pile of rubble amongst the cool white bricks of Limsa Lominsa’s residential ward. You see, for the uninitiated, Closing Fantasy 14’s housing system is type of a large number. Not one of the homes are instanced, which is actual neat for seeing your neighbours and having every little thing really feel just a little extra immersive, however for quality-of-life and making certain everybody will get a roof over their head? It is a bloody nightmare.
It signifies that to attempt to preserve issues shifting, anybody who does not flip as much as their home for 45 days routinely has it bulldozed. It appears harsh on the floor, however when the sport is heaving with gamers it is a good way to provide everybody a good shot at being a house owner. In spite of everything, for those who’re gone for nearly two months do you really want that actual property?
In my case, completely sure I do. I’ve an terrible lot of sentimental attachment to that place at this level and—terribly sorry to all my non-homeowning Warriors of Mild on the market—I am not prepared to provide it up so simply.
Because of the devastating Turkey-Syria earthquakes, Sq. Enix had really paused computerized demolition guidelines on EU servers. It was a thoughtful gesture in direction of these coping with very actual, very severe occasions, but additionally one that permit a freeloader like me keep away from the subscription tax for longer than I technically ought to have. Now it was time to pay up…
House is the place the center is
One begrudging subscription and a hefty replace later and I used to be again, standing in the identical spot I had logged out from months earlier than, as if time in Eorzea had kindly stopped whereas I made a decision to bugger off for over half a yr. Nothing had modified, and but it felt so oddly alien.
I teleported over to my home, walked in and was kindly knowledgeable that my house was saved from impending doom. However… now what? Was I actually simply going to pay virtually £10 to log in as soon as after which disappear for the remainder of the month? In fact not. Even when I wished to I could not, as a result of after I say nothing had actually modified, I meant it.
My pals and former guildmates had been nonetheless gallivanting round—positive they may have had totally different names, appearances or been in several guilds, however they had been all nonetheless right here. And so they missed me. I missed them, too. With the ability to nearly reunite with somebody you’ve got by no means met in actual life is a wierd feeling. Having pals repeatedly hug emote me—their arms flailing backwards and forwards because the animation looped—or my barely extra chaotic pals sending me direct messages that had been little greater than incoherent all-caps garbling jogged my memory that I had actually missed this recreation and the individuals who inhabit it.
I had saved in contact with a few of my Closing Fantasy buddies by way of Discord and Instagram, however with the ability to stand subsequent to them in a digital world and catch up felt like sitting down with a buddy and a cup of tea. With the ability to run roulettes and have them assist me stand up to hurry on the newest dungeons pulled me straight again right into a world I might spent most of this yr maintaining my distance from.
Actually, if I hadn’t felt compelled to return again and save my home, I do not assume I’d have returned to Closing Fantasy 14 any time quickly. Possibly that is Sq. Enix’s trick—reeling you again in and reminding you of all of the cool causes you misplaced hundreds of hours of your life. I am absolutely again within the throes of every little thing Eorzea has to supply now, and I even managed to convey pals together with me.
Round eight of my real-life buddies have simply picked up the sport too, giving me a complete new purpose to spend my time taking part in. Ferrying them between quests, serving to them in dungeons and having much more folks I may give the home tour to is an actual blessing.
I am going to by no means be tremendous blissful to pay lease—for a real-life house or a videogame one—however on this explicit case, I am glad the Sq. Enix landlords got here knocking. I’ve received a great deal of cool stuff to atone for, pals to do all of it with, and a good looking house to retire to on the finish of an extended day. That is fairly neat for those who ask me.