Ask anyone I know, and they’ll confirm that I am healthily addicted to Final Fantasy 14, a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG). I first started playing the game amid COVID, as the brain yearned for the dopamine rush only flashy explosions and level-ups could give. Like a greedy fish close to shore, I was quickly hooked and, thanks to circumstances, could do nothing but stay inside and play.
In the game, you create a powerful warrior who explores this enormous fantasy world called Eorzea while taking on god-like deities and solving geopolitical conflicts. Or, if you’d like, you can choose to dress your character up and compete in fashion shows, build a house and decorate it to your heart’s content, or bake cookies, sell them to other players and dominate the game’s economy.
Because Final Fantasy 14 is a multiplayer game, players have endless tools to interact with each other in …