Yesterday Paeroka of Nerdy Bookahs wrote an interesting thought experiment about which MMO world she would choose to live in, if she could.
My first reaction was of “I’d never want to live in a MMO world. Their whole existence is being constantly threatened by something or another.” Then I thought about it a bit more and is it really that much worse than our real life world, where our planet is slowly but surely being destroyed by generations of political ignorance, apathy and negligence?
Plus at least the MMO worlds have the advantage of heroes risking their lives to save said worlds and often succeeding.
With that in mind I thought about all the MMOs I played and which ones I’d like to live in. There were a few that felt like they would have nice, peaceful places to live in, like Lord of the Rings Online with the Shire. But then I realized I don’t have any clue what is the state of the world in those games now compared to when I actually played them and everything could be a lot more dire than when I left it.
That left me with only one choice, Final Fantasy XIV. At least that one I know it is still safe for now and as long as you live in one of the city-states the status-quo remains mostly the same.
As to which city-state I’d live in… That is a tricky question as all of them have problems of their own.
Limsa Lominsa is definitely out. A city built and managed by former pirates is not one I’d be comfortable with. They tend to be on the rougher side and those are not the kind of people I get along with. Plus that place still feels like a maze to me, not a good place for someone that gets easily lost as is my case.
Next is Ul’Dah. Honestly that would be my first pick as it is my favorite city-state in the game. However it is also ruled by a bunch of greedy, manipulative short folk. This makes me a bit worried about its political landscape or how it would affect its citizens.
Lastly there is Gridania. This one is probably the most peaceful one as long as you don’t mess with the elementals. Or you are not an outsider. The people there aren’t much a fan of them.
But since this is a thought experiment I guess we could chose to be a native to Gridania, so that lessens the issue of their prejudices against outsiders.
As for messing with the elementals… I don’t think it is something I’d actually do. I mean, I don’t think I’d go chopping trees indiscriminately, start a forest fire, polluting the waters or air or any other manner of destructive behavior like that. So that is a non-issue.
The more I think about it, the more Gridania feels like the best place for me if I were to actually live in Eorzea. Which is surprising because it always felt like my least favorite city-state in the game! XD
Within FFXIV, Gridania would definitely be my pick too. Not only for the reasons you already mentioned — but for the fact it seems to be the most temperate region too.
Desert heat and I probably wouldn’t get on so well. xD
Great to see you out and about with an extra post, too! 😀
Good point about the climate. I didn’t consider that about Ul’Dah because I do actually like the heat. Although desert-like heat might too much even for me. XD
And thank you! Glad to see you posting more regularly too. 🙂
I don’t know much about Final Fantasy, but it sounds like a tough choice… :p I was briefly considering the easy but rather lame solution of living in my instanced housing area (in LotRO, maybe even Rift then…). 😉
I did consider going the easy route too and just say “Shire in the Lord of the Rings. It is nice and peaceful there!”
But like I said in my post I have no idea what is the situation in that game anymore. So for all I know it could have been razed to the ground in an expansion or something and that would make it an awkward choice. XD
In FFXIV,I wouldn’t mind living in one of the smaller towns a little farther out in La Noscea. Costa Del Sol comes to mind. Right on the water!
That is a pretty good idea too! If I recall correctly they also have one of the best winery in that area.