Leto the Dragoon

Today, I would say that I'm not a fan of MMORPG's, but that has not always been the case. I have a long history with the game Final Fantasy XI. So, let me tell you how that has affected my virtual life.

I started playing FFXI about five years ago and played it on and off for just over three years. My cousin and I were pretty big fans of the Final Fantasy console series, and we had always wanted to try out an MMO. So, we decided to start playing the game together right when it was available in the United States. He immediately got caught up in it, but it took me longer to get involved because I wasn't able to play at home. I always had to go to his house because we didn't have an Internet connection at the time (wow... crazy now that I think about it). Eventually, I was able to play at home. Along the way, my cousin's best friend began playing with us as well.

Once we more fully understood the game and where on the web to go for information (shout out to KillingIfrit.com!!), we scrapped our original characters and began playing as our permanent virtual selves. Jon, my cousin, became JonSnow, a Hume from Bastok whose main job/class was Red Mage. Scott (our friend) was Scottys, an Elvaan from San d'Oria (Sandy) with a main class of Monk. I was Leto (named after Leto Atreides from the fabulous Dune series of novels by Frank Herbert), an Elvaan Dragoon, also from Sandy.

The three of us played together all the time, but the other two were always 10 steps ahead of me in the game, which was helpful to me because I could always ask them for in-game assistance or money if necessary. We created our own Linkshell (FFXI's version of a clan or guild) called StrawHatPirates, changed it to Lollygaggers, and eventually to NightsWatch. We were on the server Remora, which was considered to be one of the most competitive and had a few of the most famous players of the game at the time (hey, BabyOphan). Each of the three of us also had side Linkshells that we used if the others weren't on. RemorasGuardians was the group I was in. When it started, they allowed anyone to enter, but it eventually became the second strongest Linkshell on the server. However, this was because of no help from me. I quit the game for about 4 months at one point, due to a lack of a way to pay the monthly fee. When I came back, somehow all of my Linkshell buddies had maxed out their characters and began to impose strict rules for joining. My character didn't even meet the requirements, but since I was a founding member, they let me stay on.

In addition to the in-game effects my Linkshells had on my life, there was one major change that would not have been possible without FFXI to my out-of-game life. Because of our in-game chatting through StrawHatPirates, Scott and I decided to become roommates. Since Jon only lived a short distance from Scott, I moved in with him, and the 7200 block of Schneider Ave in Hammond housed three very popular characters from Remora. Basically, while living with Scott, I became completely addicted to the game. At one point, I even spent real cash in order to get in-game money, which is taboo in-game and is considered cheating by Square-Enix (the company that made the game) I gained about 40 pounds, only remember going on one date the entire year I was there, and generally lost what semblance of a social life I had beforehand. That's not to say that I regret FFXI. I have a lot of good memories from the game.

Here's a video of my last minutes in-game as Leto. A Linkshell friend from RemorasGuardians made the video when I announced I was going to quit and give all of my equipment to the other members. I never maxed out my character. Leto remains forever level 50 (out of 75), but his exploits are still remembered by many.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WglKj7goxfA


Throughout my time playing the game, I began posting on message boards about it, editing Wikipedia and FFXIclopedia articles, reading and commenting on strategies for the game, creating websites and forums for various Linkshells, and watching and creating videos of in-game occurrences on YouTube. I guess I could say that FFXI introduced me to the Internet in an entirely different way than I had been exposed to in the past. Because of FFXI, I am a digital native and am thankful to Leto for that.

Since the last time I quit, I have vowed off MMO's (a vow I occasionally break whenever a new game has a free trial), but writing this has made me want to reinstall FFXI and run around in Remora for a while.