Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida addresses verbal abuse from players
"Please imagine that you're speaking face to face with a developer."
Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida has spoken out about verbal abuse against the developers of the game.
Featuring on the Square Enix Radio Mog Station, translated on reddit, Yoshida requested fans consider their language when offering feedback on the game.
Fan criticism was particularly high following the delay to latest expansion Endwalker and subsequent queue times, despite regular, apologetic messaging from the development team.
"After 11 years of journey with players up to this point it does make me feel that the language used ended up a little overboard there," said Yoshida.
"I mean, I can take it, even though it doesn't make it less bad, but staff members will feel really down after getting those words when they gave their absolute best into trying to create something where everyone can enjoy, and this may end up making them no longer create things that are fun from there on.
"So I have only one request to [all] players out there - please imagine that you're speaking face to face with a developer whom you may not know his name nor face and imagine how they'd feel before sending your feedback over, and I'll be happy if people can do so politely."
The impact on developers can be drastic, which often isn't considered by players in their feedback. "This will completely drain away their motivation and worse, they'll end up quitting because of it, which is why I hope that everyone can understand that," said Yoshida.
He added: "Mistakes are mistakes of course and they should be notified, but I'll appreciate it if everyone can give careful thought in their thoughts and feedback before sending them over."
Final Fantasy 14 has an especially passionate fanbase and recent issues with the game like the expansion delay and the long queue times following its release - despite praise of the game - drew criticism from players.
It's proven so popular that the base game was taken off digital store shelves for new players and still remains unavailable over a month later.
Hours long queue times appear to have reduced since launch (except at peak times), but for brand new players the wait to play Final Fantasy 14 is taking weeks.