Free Companies are the heart of Final Fantasy XIV – this is what they mean to its players

The very essence of any MMORPG is community. While one could handily play almost any MMO solo – some, like RuneScape, even make it a feature with its Ironman mode – the core gameplay is centred around player interaction.

As such, no MMO is complete without a means to facilitate that. World of Warcraft has its Guilds, RuneScape its Clans, and of course, Final Fantasy XIV has Free Companies (FCs)

Fundamentally, or perhaps cynically, it’s a means of facilitating content. At its extremes, FCs and their equivalents can be cliquey, demanding the utmost dedication from its members to streamline endgame content.

But for most, they are a community, and one in which lifelong friendships are made.

At last month's Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival in Anaheim, California, I spoke to the Y'shtola Project (YP), a Free Company founded five years ago, whose members were attending Fan Fest together for the first time.

After branching out from a fellow FC, YP has grown from fewer than 10 members to nearly 30. FCs in FF14 can have as many as 1,000 members, so while one could say YP borders on the more modest side, its membership is all the more tight knit for it.

"It's a great chance to have a community around and meet new people," explained Sunny, one longtime member of YP. "I didn't think it would be my sort of deal."

After being "pestered to join," he concedes that it is "the best decision I've made playing 14".

Beyond the social element – "We all like to just hang out, play the game, do different raids and content. Hang out at the Golden Saucer," Sunny detailed – YP allows some players to engage with FF14 in a way that they otherwise may not.

"If I want to run a Savage Raid, I get a lot of social anxiety trying to use party finder, but people in the Free Company, you start to know them, and they're always willing to help," he explained.

YP originally came together before the release of Endwalker, FF14's fourth major expansion, and while some of the group had previously met, this year marked the first time the group had gathered specifically for an event like Fan Fest.

Joining the two players from Southern California, others descended upon Anaheim from Chicago, Ohio, and as far away as New Jersey; a testament to the widespread community appeal of a game like FF14.

"We're a little sad more people couldn't get in, but we got to be here for them," Sunny explained.

"It's pretty great, because you just get to experience the announcement of new content together, different changes to the game, other events like the trivia and Q&A.

MMOs and their Free Company equivalents have been subject to some issues, with the system arguably encouraging a cliquey, insular dynamic. FF14 is, of course, no exception to this.

But this is, by and large, a minority of players. Speaking with YP is a reminder that, for the vast majority of players, FCs are a means of collaboration and fostering strong bonds, and of how remarkably genial the game's community is among other rather toxic online cultures.

"It's kind of like a family," said Sunny. "At least for me, when I get bored and I don't want to leave my house or anything, I know someone's always willing to hang out or do something.

"Even if we're just kind of chilling, sitting outside of the FC house or our own house, even spreading to other games.

"It's kind of more like a family to me than just friends or community. But the 14 community as a whole is just very wholesome, very kind. Everyone's so nice."

Since its relaunch with A Realm Reborn in 2013, the Free Companies of Final Fantasy XIV have facilitated far more than the simple in-game principles that birthed them.

Across more than a decade of play, the Free Company system has spawned friendships, alliances, and even marriages and families.

There are human beings alive today that would not have been had their parents not met via Free Companies; let's just all take a moment to recognise how equally wonderful and stupefying an idea that is.

Hundreds and thousands – if not millions – of players have found their place in the Free Companies of FF14 over the last 13 years.

As the game prepares to enter a new era, and with its leadership showing no signs of slowing down, may Free Companies continue to prosper for years to come.

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