Using /check In-game (A Morality Topic)

Jesus.... Get the *** point already.
Deal with it snowflake.

The fact that /check pisses people off is a feature of the game for some people.



It's like if I come over to your house and put my feet on your table. You kindly tell me "In my house it's a rule, feet stay on the floor". I reply, "*** your rules, my feet follow my rules".

Some of you need to ask your doctor if dying mad about this is right for you. Jesus Christ.

Sorry for the late reply.

Before the final jobs, SCH and RUN, were decided, there were actually people in Japan who were seriously hoping for a sumo wrestler (rikishi) job.
On the Japanese wiki, there's even a joke page dedicated to the rikishi job.
Even in FFXIV, it seems like there are still occasional discussions about wanting a sumo job, which is honestly pretty funny.
Japanese people seriously pursuing silly ideas might seem strange, but it's also something I find kind of admirable.
https://wiki.ffo.jp/html/13331.html
https://wikiwiki.jp/rikishi/

I know the request was for most bonkers equivalent, but in my mind, it's more like checking your cell phone at the dinner table. If someone asks you not, then don't do it I guess?

"I made a website and someone logged on to it today. I cannot believe that a stranger would be so rude!"

"I painted a landscape and put it on the street in my city, and someone walking by looked at it!"

If checking people is so against Japanese culture, why did they add it to the game?

Bad times creates strong men.
Strong men create good times.
Good times create weak men.
Weak men create bad times.

Our progenitors were too good at what they did.

You know, there was a lot of talk about Japanese culture and respect and what not in this thread.

Is it true that camera phones in Japan cant have the shutter sound turned off? If so, why?

Is this a genuine question?

Yes. The manufacturers wanted people to know when photos are being taken because Maletaru hides under the stairs in the subwas taking upskirts of schoolgirls.

When I woke up, I saw that the thread had progressed a lot, so after handling the joke responses, I’ll get to the main topic.

It took me some time because I carefully read through each of your comments. Since there are so many, I can’t respond to each one individually, so please allow me to respond with a general summary based on everything I read.

This isn’t limited to FFXI—it’s more about the broader question of what to do when what’s okay for one person is not okay for another. Or when something is not okay for you, but okay for someone else. Ideally, we should strive to establish a mutual understanding of what’s acceptable and what’s not.

But when asked, “Is it enough to just cover your ears and close your eyes?” (in other words, use filters), my answer is no—I don’t want to deal with it that way.

Somewhere in the world, there are children dying of hunger every day, and people dying because of war. If you don’t want to know about that, you could say, “Just don’t watch TV, stay off the internet,” but I don’t believe that’s the right approach.

As I wrote earlier, I understand that people from different countries and cultures have different ways of thinking. Even if I don’t fully agree, I believe it’s important to understand that those ways of thinking exist.

But even now, I haven’t found the right answer for myself about what the correct thing to do is.

For now, I’ve decided to keep my distance from that person. If they’re already in a party for LS content, I choose not to join.

Since this is a very delicate topic, I’ve written this while hoping that ChatGPT will be able to translate it accurately so that everyone can understand how I feel.

Any reason why you're so hesitant to answer after going on and on about their culture?

Is that so, well I'm sure google will give you an appropriate answer as to why, but I'll tell you, yes it is true.

Funny tho, as a part of this thread includes it, that you mocked. :)

I think that it is unreasonable to expect random members in a pickup group to avoid checking you. They would have no way of knowing whether it is offensive to a person in the group. Announcing that you find check bothersome at the start will make you appear to be high maintenance and stand out from the group.

Newer players often use check as a way to see gear they may not have considered or just to learn how people play. I consider this harmless. Once again, denying people the opportunity to use check is only making the game harder to navigate for the newest players.

On the other hand, with the full story, it is apparent that these people are in the same linkshell and not new players. In this context, it seems reasonable to understand that your linkshell mate doesn't like to be checked and try not to do it. You can find the viewpoint silly and still show respect. This isn't a pickup situation, and it is unlikely there is any legitimate need to see the person's gear.

For people who have a low attention span, they may check habitually as part of their gameplay loop. It might not be an intentional offense, and then both parties should be more understanding. In this case, I would draw an analogy to behaviors like clicking a pen or tapping your foot in a relatively quiet space. The person doing it means no offense, but someone politely asking them to stop is not that big a deal.

This is what I'm struggling with, the specific situation where someone you play with has asked you to stop doing something that bothers them. Have some personal accountability and realize that your actions may be viewed differently by others. It may mean nothing to you, but it might to them. Refusing to even acknowledge the other person's POV is extremely selfish. If things are irreconcilable, find others to play with. At least you have that luxury in an MMO.

Not that I'm disagreeing with you, but I think this is just a difference in cultures. Amongst NA/Western groups it sounds like checking is common, but I have no real first hand experience as I don't play NA times. I almost exclusively join JP pugs for the last ~10 years for any and all content and I'd say I've been checked maybe twice. (Not counting my previous post about my LS leader)

I also would not condemn a new player for innocently checking, but I also feel if they were told by the person they checked that, that person didn't like it, they would be apologetic and both of them would be on their way no harm done.

Oh, I know the answer, but I'd rather you reaffirmed what I already know after all the glazing you did in this thread over Japanese culture about respect and what not.

Anyways, for those who are unaware, phones in Japan cant have the shutter sound from camera phones muted because an overwhelming amount of people were secretly taking pictures of others (mostly men taking pictures of womens more sensitive areas). But please go on about cultural differences and why using an in-game function to look at someones equipment / access their bazaar is so harrowing.

And before you ask, no I dont go around spamming check on random people, cmon I got a little more sense than that. Yes, I go around checking random people.

If anything, lockstyle has actually ruined checking people. I used to see some unique armor that I didnt recognize that I'd /check to see what it is, just to find out theyre running some lockstyle and I'll never know.

This thread remembers me that one time I returned after a long break and examined a random DRK at the AH. I don't remember if he had a bazaar but he had new gear I wasn't familiar with. However, didn't talk to him at all.

Next he examined me and felt the need to leave a snarky remark about my newb equipment in /tell.




Sooo... what sound do japanese phones make when you're trying to record a video?

audio loop of 警告！この変態はビデオを録画しています！

Well hell, I guess I missed the 4d sarcasm. Sorry I took the bait heh. ありがとう

Why would people check someone to look up their skirt? I thought that's what the people standing slightly behind them and adjusting the camera around were doing?


My advice is to watch this video on the subject

I have two things I want to communicate to you. The first is that if he agreed not to /check you and did so anyway, that is him being a rude person, and I don't think anyone here disagrees with that statement. If you agree to something and lie about it, you are the bad person.

The second is a more broad statement on /checking in general that I hope you can understand. It has existed in the game from the beginning. The developers wanted it to be in the game, and despite the perceived rudeness of it, have not removed it, modified it, or banned anyone from using it. I know Japan has the idiom "The nail that sticks up gets hammered down", but at this point, the nail has been sticking up for 23 years. Western developers didn't add this feature, Japanese developers did. Japanese developers maintain it. Japanese developers think it's usage is acceptable. Your own people are telling you to get over it. You may not like it, you may think it's rude, but YOU need to deal with it, because it isn't going to stop. Don't like it? Play something else.

And frankly, comparing having someone checking what gear you are using to dying children is both laughable and insulting. That has NOTHING to do with culture. If you think the two are even remotely on the same level of horrible you are a VERY stupid person and need to go outside and touch grass.

Me when someone checks me in rabao (or a joke about my 2 year old rank9 sam+2 neck)

Thank you for your input.

First of all, I’d like to apologize and correct myself for using the example of a child’s death. That was inappropriate.
What I had intended was to use an analogy that is ethically acceptable but represents something people shouldn’t turn their eyes away from. However, I wasn’t able to express that well, and that was my mistake.

That said, this situation is exactly what I was trying to convey: at the time, I thought it was okay to use that analogy, while you felt it was not.
If we go by your reasoning, this forum has a blacklist system, but what I wrote above wasn’t something that would get me banned here (though I’m not sure whether there are specific NG words or not).
And considering that the post received some positive reactions, doesn’t that suggest that perhaps even you might need to accept that some people found the analogy acceptable?
(Of course, as I said earlier, I still believe it would have been best if I could have come up with a more appropriate example.)

As for /check, I’ve been checked before when I equipped weapons with interesting visuals purely for fashion—gear I wouldn’t normally use in battle.
Even then, I never asked strangers, “Why did you /check me?” I just figured they were probably curious about the equipment.
I think the ones that got checked most were the Ahren weapon and the Shadow Lord greatsword.

What I really wanted to point out wasn’t /check itself, but his playstyle and the fact that he broke a promise.
What bothered me even more was that he created a thread acting as if the issue was just about the /check, completely ignoring those other points.
That’s what I hope you can understand.

I really hope this message gets through to you—what do you think?

Again, we're in agreement about the fact that he broke his promise. I don't think anyone here disagrees that his post was disingenuous because of that. And yes, his creation of a thread about it was dishonest from the start. But I have to stress this: If the Japanese playerbase has a problem with people using /check in normal situations, or even situations where no agreement has been made, they need to take it up with Square Enix. Make a thread on the official forum to talk about it. Maybe you can convince them to add a feature that allows people to block checking on them. I personally think such a thing would be detrimental to the game, but we already have plenty of things like that, so what's one more? Besides, you can put on the best gear in the world, but if you are bad at playing the game, your damage numbers will be low regardless. But again, the onus is on you and people who don't like /check to change it. It has existed for 23 years. It is a game feature that has existed for longer than some people have been alive who play this game. If you don't like it, you need to talk to Square Enix.

That wasn’t my intended meaning in Japanese, so it’s possible the translation came out wrong.
I didn’t say that using /check was wrong.
That’s why saying I should either try to get Square Enix to change it or just quit the game if I don’t like it isn’t a fair solution to me.

If the conversation is just us agreeing that Johnb is a lying jerk, I don't know what else there is to discuss. That sentiment is shared by everyone posting in this thread. There is no disagreement.