Final Fantasy 14 is famous for its passionate fanbase full of friendly, supportive players, and this quality earned the game its second consecutive Golden Joystick Award for Best Game Community. Though all communities have their darker side, Final Fantasy 14 players have consistently represented a level of personal etiquette that truly stands out when compared to other MMOs like World of Warcraft.
It’s plain as day that Final Fantasy 14 players love their game, including the development team behind it, and this scorching positivity can sometimes be off-putting to outsiders. Every server has its own identity, such as Balmung being the Moon Guard of Etheirys, but they are all bound together by mentors and sprouts, bards and concerts, free companies and statics – forming the intricate tapestry of Final Fantasy 14’s community.
This powerful social aspect of the game is the reason why Golden Joystick announced on Twitter that Final Fantasy 14 took the award for the second year in a row. Though Square Enix has slowly made the game accessible to people who prefer to play Final Fantasy 14 on their own like one would a traditional Final Fantasy title, it has done little to diminish the social life in Etheirys.
With Square Enix reporting a growth in Final Fantasy 14 subscribers, the game just keeps getting bigger and better. Perhaps even more miraculously, it has not turned the community sour or toxic despite the rise in numbers. As Patch 6.3 approaches for Endwalker, Final Fantasy 14 refuses to slow down, and the addition of Adventurer Plates has offered a whole new avenue for players to express themselves in the game.
Aside from the developers at Square Enix, this award has also been strongly celebrated on the official Reddit community for Final Fantasy 14, with many players jokingly wondering how fast they'd try to prove Golden Joysticks wrong – even within the congratulatory thread itself. While there are certainly game modes such as Eureka that attract a rowdier crowd, they represent such a small slice of the overall Final Fantasy 14 pie.
In the wake of its second win, one can't help but wonder if Final Fantasy 14 can three-peat in 2023. With the expansion after Endwalker rumored for an early 2024 release, and games such as Genshin Impact possessing a community just as passionate, it will greatly depend on what Square Enix has in store for Endwalker's final few patches.
Final Fantasy 14 is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5.