A FFXI-centric website Petfoodalpha reported a news that the Odin server of FFXI tell their players: If You Don't Leave, I'll Make You Leave.
After a recent attempt to move people from the Odin server, Square Enix has come out today and announced that in spite of their attempts to offer free transfers to other servers, that Odin is still over populated. Because of this they will be offering world emigration again. While that is all fine and dandy, there is one part of this recent post that upsets players.
In case the emigration campaign and the above measures have no effect on the congestion of the Odin world, measures such as forced transfers to other worlds or splitting the Odin world into a number of separate worlds may be considered.
Would this be the smartest thing for SE to do? One popular forum has players posting and saying things similar to:
After all the stupid things SE has done, this would make me quit
"Server populations in massively multiplayer online games can be a delicate balancing act. Popular servers are very much the hubs of these games, where players can easily forge bonds with one another in a lively social environment. But log into a desolate server and you'll wonder what the point of playing an MMO is when there's no one else around. Many developers try to balance server populations by offering free server transfers, and sometimes bonuses of one type or another as a reward for making the jump."
Crudely Dried Meat Server
It reminded me of the famous "Crudely Dried Meat Server" in China WoW. After Blizzard announced its server move that players can move their characters between different realms, many players of disadvantaged faction choose to transfer. Later some of the servers were very lopsided as you can only find four crudely dried meat in whole Auction House. So they call these desolate servers "Crudely Dried Meat Server". Naturally, those players choose those popular servers to move, bringing with heavy-load. But is this our players fault? We just want to group a bit easier; we just need thriving economy, more exchanges and more fun. How to blance the factions and populations of server is the thing developer need to focus on. They should have thought ahead instead of saying "I'll Make You Leave" after servers were very lopsided.
Resource: Odin: If You Don't Leave, I'll Make You Leave
