Final Fantasy 14 Director Naoki Yoshida Could Be Hiding In Your Friend List

Summary

• Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida has revealed he plays with fans using secret alt characters to experience community events.
• Yoshida claims that he plays with other people quite a lot, and that he "might even be on their friend’s list" without them realizing.
• The downside is that Yoshida has to keep turning down dinner invites and voice chats to hide his identity, and that it "makes me sad."

Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida reveals he has some alt characters he uses to play with fans instead of his official Lalafell Black Mage, but feels sad he can't interact or talk with people on his friend list.

It's very rare that you find a developer that doesn't enjoy playing their own game, and Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida is no different. We know that he officially runs around playing as a Lalafell Black Mage called Yoshi'p Sampo, as the character has popped up in multiple streams and events whenever Yoshida picks up a controller/keyboard himself. However, Yoshida recently revealed he does have some alt characters he uses when he wants to get away from the glitz and the glam of running around as the game's director.

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When speaking with TheGamer about whether he ever joins in some of the sillier or unintended games that players come up with in Final Fantasy 14, he reveals that "about 85-90 percent" of the game's development team are Warriors of Light that are hiding their true identity, and that he counts himself among them. He even claims that he often makes friends and joins in group activities with his alt characters, as he likes to experience community play "outside the intended schemes or mechanics."

A lot of people have been playing together with me and they don't even realize it. I might even be on their friend’s list and they don't know about it.

Final Fantasy 14 Director Naoki Yoshida Is Sad He Can't Meet Up With Friends

Of course, one of the downsides to hiding your identity is that you have to distance yourself from whoever you end up making friends with, and this is the side of anonymity that makes Yoshida pretty sad. In our interview, Yoshida explains that while he has lots of friends that he plays with using his alt characters, he always has to turn down dinner invites or voice chats to avoid giving away his identity.

I have so many friends in-game, but when they all say, ‘Oh, let's go for dinner’, I cannot join them, and that makes me sad. I can't even voice chat with them.

So, if you're in a Grand Company or there's a particularly quiet person on your friend list that never meets up for group voice chats or real life events, there's the possibility that you may have been playing with Naoki Yoshida this entire time. There's also the possibility you're just playing with someone that's super antisocial, but the chance is still there, dammit.

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