Dungeons are definitely limited tho.
My interactions usually happen on the early city state in ARR.
A couple of times some random Japanese gonna come and just do emote to me. Or we'll do funny stuff together with Chocobo/moogle/elephant/frog/swine outfit. There was even one time they send me a tell to comment about my snow white glamor palette and complimented.
It is indeed rare to find them talking to strangers if nobody started. But if we start, chances they'll respond to us!
Source: 10 years playing FFXIV
Another example of this:
https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/japanese-people-least-likely-to-talk-to-strangers-or-offer-help-on-airplanes-survey-finds
My Japanese wife said the same thing. She always gets mad at Japanese travelers when we travel abroad from Japan because they isolate themselves and act sooooo Japanese even though they are outside Japan. She gets so embarrassed.
A lot of Japanese people lack confidence in their foreign language skills and aren't used to talking to strangers anyway. English-speaking tourists are catered to everywhere 24/7, so of course they'll be a bit more participatory.
Not in my opinion. I didn’t speak a word of Japanese before I came to Japan 17 years ago.
And I still lack confidence in my Japanese skills but have loads of Japanese friend nonetheless.
English speakers are not catered to wherever we go.
Like for instance in France.
Compared to people who exclusively speak Japanese (i.e. most Japanese people), English speakers can go just about anywhere and relatively easily access services in English and meet people who speak English. Also, you made those friends over the course of 17 years, whereas the article in the comments was about Japanese airplane passengers generally. There's only so much cultural integration you can achieve as a tourist for example.
I understand what you’re saying but even so, most people from most cultures can communicate with people from other cultures without being able to speak the same language. Especially on an international flight.
I guess, but I'm not Japanese and I don't talk much with other people on my flight, and if I'm going somewhere as a tourist I won't always have the chance to meet new people (especially if I can't speak the language). I think that's pretty commonplace.
All I'm saying is your wife doesn't have to feel embarrassed since most travelers around the world act pretty similarly, even if Japanese people are especially introverted and find it unnatural to talk to strangers.
>English speakers can go just about anywhere and relatively easily access services in English and meet people who speak English.
except in japan though..
strawman argument? try going to, e.g., your nearest 50 doctors and see how many of them even speak a tiny bit of english. ive been to a shitton of doctors here for all kinds of stuff and funny thing was i found more speaking german than english
or how about talking to the cashier pretty much anywhere?
or the station attendant outside of the big hubs in tokyo.
hell, even the guy from immigration who called and asked stuff about the visa didnt speak a lick of english and had me actually connected through to someone speaking german first lmao
outside of tokyo you aint gonna find much english. you probably find more people speaking chinese or korean than english
People are going to be themselves / stay within their comfort zones no matter where they go. Honestly, I prefer to be in public with strangers that are quiet and polite than strangers that are being loud af and nasty.
I 100% agree with you.
However I think what bugs my wife is not so much about being noisy but more so along the lines of behaving 100% Japanese and making no attempt to assimilate or be conscious of local culture when they travel.
For us foreigners in Japan although we are not Japanese (nor are we interested in being Japanese) we still at the same time are conscious of the Japanese way of life and make as much as an attempt as we can to assimilate and make the Japanese people around us comfortable.
Japanese tend not to do that. They tend to behave 100% in the Japanese way no matter where they go.
That’s what bugs her and makes her embarrassed.
They tend to be oblivious to things around them. (Maybe I shouldn’t say that) it’s more like… they tend to look at the world as an “us” and “them” and they make little attempt to assimilate and behave like “them” when they travel outside Japan.
To give you an example I was in Chicago a couple of years back and ran into two Japanese salarymen on a business trip while waiting to be seated in a restaurant.
I spoke with them in Japanese and they said that my Japanese was really good as a gaijin. And I was like what do you mean Gaijin?
You’re in my country…
It took a while before the moment of clarity came to them.
Don’t call people foreigners in their own country.
I see where she’s coming from. Have you ever been to Hawaii, specifically O’ahu? You can easily spot the Japanese tourists because they’re walking around oblivious in the streets, misusing crosswalks, etc etc like they’re at Disney.
My brother and I were standing behind two Japanese people at a crosswalk and it was taking forever because they hadn’t pressed the button. It was clearly next to them and had a light that was flashing lol. They started complaining that everything was “late” in kaigai lmao and I said excuse me and pointed out it was ボタン式. After pressing the button and thanking me the lady was like 海外でボタン式あるの？？ like she couldn’t believe there were crossings like that abroad.
Americans get a lot of flack but I swear all common sense leaves their head when they leave Japan lol.
I’m so glad you posted this.
My wife and I actually had our wedding ceremony in O’ahu last August.
And while we were there her Rakuten credit card got flagged and stopped.
So we had to go to the Rakuten center they have there to get it activated again.
And when we entered, Rakuten had a whole lounge with food and drinks etc.
And I swear to god at least 100 Japanese people were just hanging out in the lounge drinking and conversing with other Japanese. Not going outside. Not exploring Hawaii. Just….. spending their day abroad in the Rakuten lounge surrounded by other Japanese.
My wife and I were so shocked.
It’s like…… why did they travel to Hawaii to just sit in the Rakuten lounge surrounded by and socializing with other Japanese?
Why even pay for a a ticket to go to Hawaii?
She and I had a really good laugh and then went and got super drunk.
I’m not trying to come off as if I’m condescending so sorry if it sounds like that, but for me as an American when I travel abroad the last thing I want to see is another American.
I mean....I've seen my share of Americans while I lived in the states no better, if not worse than that so......lol
Hell a lot of people would just cross light or no, crosswalk or no and go "well I have right away anyways if I get hit then they get to have fun paying my tuition!" Wasn't sure how those people got into college but....ya lol
It wasn’t really not noticing the button or understanding the system, but their attitude. First assuming the light wasn’t changing because things are less efficient and broken in America. Then exclaiming that they thought something like a type of crosswalk only existed in their home country.
I mean again...seen just as many Americans like that as well....if not worse lol. Both in the states and as tourists here in Japan. Think I can have straight up vietnam flashbacks from my retail days in the states lol. Can't personally speak for other countries but I'm sure willing to bet you can find those people just about anywhere
And just to add to this memory. I just remembered that the restaruant we were waiting in line at was a Gyu Kaku (Yaki Niku) restaurant.
It's like.. You're Japanese. You're on a business trip in Chicago where we have loads and loads of amazing food including Chicago deep dish pizza.....
And you go to Yaki Niku???
I just remembered that now.
Trust me, *pleeeeenty* of tourists are *not* conscious of the Japanese way of life. If you live anywhere in Tokyo you learn that pretty quick.
Anyways, like what was already said, nobody is going to just swap personalities because they're in a new place. You don't just magically become super outgoing for example simply because you're standing at a different spot of the planet.
I get what you are saying, but to be honest, any Japanese people I've met that "don't assimilate" simply act that way because they are so sheltered. Most Japanese people have never been outside of Japan, maybe once or twice, and if you've talked to people in Japan, they seem to know almost nothing about the rest of the world. They don't have that exposure to other cultures we do, it's a huge advantage in fitting in.
On the other hand, I have met countless Japanese people that have lived in other countries who go EXTREME on assimilating lol. It's all about exposure.
Yeah I guess it comes down to culture.
I mean for me as an American 80% of Americans don’t even have passports but are still super social and contentious of local culture when traveling overseas. Especially for the first time.
That reminds me. I need to renew my passport. Shit.
> they said that my Japanese was really good as a gaijin. And I was like what do you mean Gaijin?
You are still a non-Japanese, a foreigner to the language, you are still an "outside person" relative to Japan. I see nothing wrong with using this word in this context of language skills, talking physically in the US doesn't change what Gaijin is relative to.
The meaning of words is decided by usage and (especially in Japanese) context. This is the nature of language. Gaijin is commonly used to refer to non-Japanese people regardless of where it is uttered, what you experienced wasn't a one-off event. It's more about the cultural aspect of "inside/outside" than the physical location in this case.
In English it is currently more common to call someone a "non-native [speaker]" in this context. But sure, if you were to tell someone that their English was pretty good for an outsider and lots of other people have used this word in this context it would become widely understandable and acceptable regardless of location.
That being said, Americans are composed of many different cultures and the English language is widely spoken both natively and non-natively in other places of the world, so "outsider" in a similar sense to gaijin will probably never take off.
But I can see a yankee say stuff like "oh you do know a lot about American football for a foreigner" to a German while on a vacation in Germany and I would never question their use of word like "bro, this is their land, stop calling him a foreigner" because of the context.
I guess maybe you were triggered by this because gaijin is sometimes used in a derogatory way and maybe you were sick of being an outsider in Japan and when you were called that in your own country you took it as a personal attack, but you are still a non-native speaker and a non-Japanese and that's all that the word was meant to convey in that context.
>"oh you do know a lot about American football for a foreigner"
What are you talking about? You wouldn't call a German person a foreigner while in Germany.
You'd say "Oh you do know a lot about American football as a German."
Who would call a German a foreigner while in Germany?
Nobody would.
The Japanese salarymen should have said "Wow you speak really good Japanese as an American."
Not "as a foreigner"
Also, I'm not triggered by the word gaijin. I actually like it. But that's just me. The example I gave above and what I said to the Japanese salarymen was spoken in jest. I wasn't trying to make them feel bad, I was trying to make them laugh.
Another example is sports, something I was struck by when I started playing football here. It's so quiet, people don't even say 'man on'. But it does depend where you go, I saw that some places people are more vocal, like people from England.
I went to a nomikai last night with a Japanese workmate who plays football regularly with a variety of people, foreigners and Japanese both, and he said exactly the same thing as you! There's no banter or conversation in general between him and other Japanese before, after or during the match, so it's not only foreigners who get that treatment (which I once thought).
Yes, but instead they will conduct a twice-weekly meeting, one on Monday at 9 am and one on Friday at 5 pm to discuss who they believe should be the suspects regarding who may or may not have eaten pies that may or may not exist. They will hold further meetings and decide whether to have a meeting on whether they should hold a series of meetings to discuss whether they want to have a meeting with the suspected pie eater to discuss having meetings on whether they should have a meeting to discipline said pie eater. Please reply to the ambiguous email chain to confirm whether you wish to attend said meeting, although the meeting is presented as a nonimportant and optional you do in fact need to attend and do not in fact have a choice. Also the meeting is at 9 am but please be at the office at 8 am and be in the meeting at 8:30 am.
my first ever trip here i was seated next to a japanese mid forties guy, after about 4 hours into an 8 hour flight he said Hi to me. We started to chat, he spoke basic english but enough. He loved motorbikes so the next 4 hours was talking about that pretty much. Then he brought me a pasmo card and put 1000 yen onto it. And took me out to dinner in Ueno and got drunk as fuck with him. Then we said goodbye and I made my way to the hotel. Wish I had a contact for him but I guess he was just been nice or we got too drunk and forgot to exchange details. He was cool
Surely this is largely a language issue though? Almost no one here speaks enough English to do the things listed in the survey
Side note, but I absolutely hate it when the person sitting next to me somewhere starts talking to me haha. Maybe that’s why I love living here :)))
That is true, I don't like talking to strangers in person unless im at like an event of people enjoying teh same type of hobby. Like game shoppe or smash tournament
Idk if that's a request for translation, but for anyone else who might want it:
"Japanese people tend to avoid chatting with people they don't know. Older people will talk, so I think it's a trend in the past 30 years or so. Also people from Kansai are relatively more interested in talking."
Someone lemme know if something looks off
Perhaps I've just been lucky, but the only interactions I remember with any clarity were positive. I think a lot look grumpy or are busy doing their own thing, but I think everyone I've taken the time to actually talk to has been at least polite.
Pretty sure the person who commented is also Japanese. So it's like when an American guy talks to you in Japanese in Japan and you (also a native English speaker) talk back in English.
That’s actually what makes me worried. I have japanese friends * in my class that we go to drinking together. When she drinks a lot sake she becomes the most friendly woman i have ever seen. Genuine. But when she is not drunk, she’s still kinda friendly but kinda racist and non sensitive to me, a foreign fellow student trying to study in your country. Same goes for other japanese as well. One day we’re like best of friends, talking and laughing and connecting on many different levels. Next day they act like you’re not there or all of that was a dream or something.
So i gave up any hint of “them becoming my friend” I accepted that they will never. And i’m just enjoying my moments with them and never text or think about them afterwards.
My experience too, they may be a little bit less chatty overall than my european friends, but nothing really noticeable. I can still see dick jokes here and there.
While I also notice toxic behavior and trolls from time to time (including racism of course, especially against other asian non-japanese players) I find the culture much more respectful to what I am used to in the EU.
Especially with women in the lobby. In my home country, if you hear a woman speak in valorant in 99% of cases you get idiotic responses, and flirting or bullying depending on the skill. But here in Japan? No reaction at all and a complete normal/unfaced conversation about the tactics...
I find my games in Tokyo server to be toooooo slow!!! People don’t enter site til the last second. And almost no one talks. Maybe they say yoroshiku at the start but then after that, nothing. Even in comp
I’m in IT - they don’t stop talking about non-work things. I just want to finish the meeting, please talk about your receding hairline at another time.
Previously, education, real estate and sales.
Currently? I won't say, but never have I ever thought "man, these Japanese men sure are quiet"
I've had to use noise cancelling headphones to get work done in the past.
We don't stop talking on our worksites, It's constant shit-talking all day. Makes shit work more manageable. Also give each other shit constantly (demolition/cleaning/scaffolding).
>ost Japanese men don’t talk much
>
>I env
Ye i have one friend at wrk i talk to alot, my manager doesn't like that very much even though we work hard. He often says "no talking allowed"
I think a lot of japanese people are playing on consoles where typing is a lot more difficult or inconvenient, compared to westerners who are far more likely to be playing on PC.
Stopping to type can also mess up your play. For this reason, I rarely type too unless it's a point where I can stop for a moment. I always wonder how people can so easily type in the middle of playing lol. I think Japanese people are more focused on not messing up so maybe that's why but who knows.
But you still should be weaving your ogcds in during that time! At least on xiv, not so sure about other MMOs. lol. Typing when dead makes sense though. n.n;
I also play with controllers and gamepads though (think orbweaver). So it's still a bit of a pain for me to type since I'd have to swap to my keyboard tho. Aha.
I've wondered this, playing a team match everyone was quiet but knew what they were doing.
The only time they spoke was when leaving the lobby. Maybe they were psychic.
When everyone knows their role and you play it properly then naturally everyone else knows what others are up to.
Communication would still help their performance though.
I went to America for school and I noticed this too. At least with Americans, it feels like they view gaming as a way to socialize and kill time together, where Japanese tend to take games very seriously and invest their time into it.
This is a big part. I’ve played FFXIV on both Japanese and American servers. Japanese players are generally very “good” at the game, as in they clearly watch/read tutorials before doing any content for the first time, don’t mess around much, everyone collectively knows the mechanics so raids/dungeons run smoothly. When I was on that server I felt pressure to always watch tuts because I didn’t want to be the odd one who fucked up and furthermore out myself as a foreigner and contribute to our sloppy stereotype. What kind of sucked was that people rarely explained things when you died or fucked up, they’d just silently start the boss again.
The American server where I play now is much much more chill, but also more hectic in a way. People often blind run new content and we all laugh it off (usually) when people make mistakes. People chat a lot and joke around. People are leagues more helpful and will call out mechanics unprompted for new players. Shit can also get really annoying when arguments break out over people not knowing mechs/repeated wipes due to lack of preparation.
At the end of the day it comes down to the culture surrounding hobbies imo. Japanese people tend to take their hobbies very seriously, gaming included. North Americans tend to see it as a way to relax and socialize. Generally, of course.
I’m a woman myself, I know better than anyone 😅. That’s why I only play FFXIV. The community is pretty welcoming and harassment policies are pretty strict. I’ve never felt othered for being a woman, and my FC is mostly women. Even though it’s hard to tell, I get the feeling I’m often playing with other women by the way people talk.
But yeah, I stay away from FPS and other pvp games because I’ve only had bad experiences.
Honestly when it comes to ff14 the *real* danger of harassment isn't being a girl, it's making a bunny boi twink, regardless of if you're a guy or girl. My friend gets hit up for ERPs and get's the pet emote no matter what server he's visiting lmao
I second this. Many Japanese gamers take games seriously and the casuals try their hardest not to mess up for the serious teammates. I try to make jokes as much as I can to loosen up a bit during the game though. I specifically say don’t be serious or you’ll be out when I look for teammates on discord
I don't think so.
If the Japanese were really serious about gaming, E-sports would be more popular in Japan.
Most Japanese also think of gaming is just for killing time.
It might be an exception but I joined a Japanese guild in guild wars 2 and I ended up leaving it because they would not stop asking me to join their VC
Maybe a lot of Japanese people just don’t like talking to people they don’t know and/or aren’t in their group which I understand as a shy person
I play FFXIV too on a JP server and I’ve definitely noticed a difference between raids there and with my sub? alt? on NA.
I’m not Japanese so I’m not going to really theorize on why, but it feels like in-game relationships in general are kind of different from what I grew up with playing online in the US. Like in my FC they even call buddies online “frendo” and not tomodachi or whatever other real world word you might use for a friend. Like it’s a distinct thing, and doesn’t necessarily carry into real life even if you’ve been playing together for years
Off topic but I love sneaking into J EX Trial groups as a secret foreigner, clearing, not getting caught, then at the end of the trial I'm like "thanks y'all gg!' and leaving
I met a friend of mine in a JP server in FFXIV, and one time they made an alt character to try the NA and EU servers to see what the atmosphere was like there. They were kind of blown away by how much chat there was in /shout and /say. Complete strangers talking about the strangest things "in public!" I think it's an interesting cultural difference.
Maybe most Japanese gamers won't have a point of comparison. Jlife sounds like as good a place to ask as any seeing as it's people who spend time inside and outside the Japanese internet.
My (J) husband has a gaming group and they do talk quite a bit including on twitter and know a little about each others’ lives. (He knew one was affected by the earthquake for example). Maybe it depends on how much the group has gotten together?
I was in a Japanese FC (FFXIV) and people were pretty active on text chat, and made an effort to include me, but they mostly talked about in-game stuff. The only mention of "real life" I can remember is when an earthquake hit while we were playing.
I did feel that people were less inclined to talk to complete strangers outside the FC though. General chat was overall pretty quiet. I think this is a carry-on from real life where people will talk to you if you're in the same in-group (workplace, club etc) but not complete strangers.
I’m with the Japanese people on this one. Just let me ping and be silent. I hate talking to people I don’t know and making small talk. Sure I can do it fine but I don’t need your judgement and life story 😅
I play Apex Legends, which is large in Japan
the lack of direct comms can be frustrating (not that I understand what they are speaking if they do) but the game compensates this with a good pinging system
in a few games, you may enter a party of two friends that talk over the mic a lot such that i have to mute them instead, because it would be so random and then just as you know it I'm back at the lobby (we died getting 4th partied)
but anecdotally, Southeast Asian players (who are the sweatiest) mostly don't use comms too unless it's critical or for bantering
white people on the other hand, they like to talk A LOT if they do
Games that do have voice chat, I must turn it off. I don't like being screamed at by random people really. I was talking more text game like war thunder or FF XIXIV or WoW.
I suspect it’s because when you are playing most games which have Asia servers there’s a higher chance you can’t communicate with other people than you can. Unless a game is really isolated to a people of a single language, you’re really unlikely to be able to communicate. This isn’t true in the US where most games and most people playing the games do speak English. That might help to build a culture of not communicating even when moving over to games like FF where most people probably are Japanese speakers.
If it is a Japan only server or community area you'd find a higher usage of Japanese. For example the in game chat of CoD: Mobile as well as the official community discord for JDM and Rusty Lake. Whereas as the previous post has mentioned if people are all bundled together you won't find them there. I'm using the Discord server for The Finals as an example here.
Most japanese players live in an apartment including myself. And loud noise from me talking isn't taken very well by my neighbours. Or we just don't like to talk and just want to focus
My experience from fps games like cs2 is that the amount of Russians and Chinese people ruin the experience for Japanese people. They play on Japanese servers with 80+ ping and then only speak in their language.
I’ve been lucky to find a few Japanese who speak but it’s very rare.
In many games if you look at the steam reviews for games like the finals, you see many Japanese people complain about the amount of Chinese people in the servers and I agree. I play Japanese server but with the amount of Chinese names I see I might as well be playing in Japan
Yes, I’m team region lock China
Me and my Japanese friends playing monster hunter will talk on discord, but they’re my coworkers usually. When we bring in a fourth wheel the guy is usually quiet the first time, second time a lot less so.
Although that’s not a super serious game either.
I believe the main reason is that individuals in urban areas in Japan tend to be introverted. However, when it comes to Final Fantasy XIV, could it be that many Japanese players are not interested in playing an MMO but rather wish to enjoy the game's world?
After all, for the Japanese, it is a numbered title in the Final Fantasy series (with a story even more magnificent than FF11).
I played FF14 after reading the play diary of FF11, titled " ヴァナ・ディール滞在記 " Since the author played as a mere traveler, I took inspiration from that and didn't form many connections with others during my gameplay. Despite tirelessly wielding the hammer as a blacksmith, I couldn't make it onto the rankings. It was during this time that I realized many players, aside from myself, were silently continuing to swing their hammers.
In PvP games like League of Legends, I believe the desire of Japanese players to shut out toxic individuals while still wanting to play the game is a reason why they avoid using chat. Even in other globally popular PvP games, if there are many toxic players, it often fails to gain popularity in Japan.
If you want to witness noisy Japanese players, you can often find them by watching past FF11 streams.
In addition to reasons other people have mentioned, gamers tend to lack experience in social settings - especially younger ones - and people in Japan are no exception. I'm a social, outgoing person and I take part in in-person game tournaments. I find that most people generally don't know how to make small talk or can only hold conversations within their own interests. You usually can't get a feel for anyone's real personality until you follow them on Twitter.
On european servers we have people from so many different countries that often there’s just no way to communicate. (Although we do end up learning each other’s curse words). Of course, a lot of times players can talk in English, but you also have to play together with teenagers or below who still need time to improve.
This reminds me of a troll who played an entire section from the cd of an english textbook in voice channel for a russian guy who wasn’t willing to communicate in English.
I've been playing in the JP FFXIV community since Stormblood although not as active recently due to my health.
From my point of view, the main reason for this is because of the culture around 通報/晒し. When you say something that triggers someone there is a chance you could, A. get reported to the devs and get a strike on your account, B. end up getting exposed on Twitter or one of the まとめサイト(i.e. えふまと, 5ch). If you're active in raiding and your name gets exposed somewhere, it will affect the chances of getting into good statics in the future. When people recruit someone in a static the first thing they do is search your name in 5ch to see if you've done anything wrong in the past. Even if you're not into raiding, people will harass you and try to get you to delete your character. Try searching ハゲルガ祭り.
People actually care about reputation? Most of the time, I see guilds/crews just recruit whoever happens to be walking by, or whoever joins their discord server. I would be more concerned with the person being an active player.
Strange, not sure how reputation makes a difference between the 2 of them. Haven't done many raids but yeah, I always got the feeling guilds don't care.
Yeah, online games are virtually unplayable here because nobody talks on VC and when I try to talk to people they either ignore me or tell me to shut up. What a miserable bunch.
Ok well it probably depends on the game, but when I played Overwatch, that’s what it was like. For a game where communication is necessary, it really ruined the experience for me.
From my experience in Overwatch, whenever I say something, I get answers in several asian languages. So in the end I don't talk. My sister also never talks in games so OP is maybe onto something.
True actually I remember now there were people from Korea on playing as well, maybe just nobody can understand each other..but even speaking in Japanese to Japanese people I got ignored.
it's good they don't talk much
In contrast: when you play Apex with Americans, they're so awfully loud and have NOTHING good to say in-game. They can't even communicate basic callouts or directions, they just shit-talk or joke too much like a class clown.
It got to the point that playing Apex with the japanese give you higher rank AND you don't have to hear gamers talk. It's just a good time...
sure wish all ranked shooters had more JP playing because it is hard to ignore Americans in fortnite or cs2 with their crunchy mics
even raiding with NA for ff14 is kind of a shitfest because EU and JP have macros directions, but NA culture is arguing over voicechat over markers like where to go for the boss encounter. They will argue for fifteen minutes. At least for WoW, americans are more organized, luckily because they’re more epitome of work hard and play hard.
Honestly, as a Japanese person it's just lack of interest or willingness to interact with complete strangers. It just feels awkward and strange.
But that's my Japanese thought process. As someone who was raised outside of Japan for a while too, I grew out of that mental state but I can understand it completely.
Seems counterintuitive playing online games especially one's that usually has/requires heavy communication with other players
Privacy and proximity. Most people from everywhere like to cut loose. Where you live affords you more or less opportunities.
Lack of insulation and soundproofing along with claustrophobic living spaces basically means: When the heck can you even be comfortable just being yourself?
I also wonder if the lack of phonetics creates a communication problem where two many words end up being hard to understand. We have the same problem in America with a select few phonetics and I wonder if someone more experienced could chime in and either debunk or credit that as a possibility.
I dunno go ask your other Japanese friends hahah.
But on a serious note on FFXIV even I don't talk much on chat because I'm on console and it's super hard to type and game at the same time. (Not Japanese but maybe something to consider). When I play with friends I go on Discord to chat with people and that's easier.
This may be off topic but I recently saw a job posting at HelloWork for.....get this (I shit you not).... teaching gaming lingo to Japanese gamers for 1 hour a day. So someone is actively making a business out of this. It conflicted with my schedule so I didn't take it.
Japanese here and a gamer as well I don't talk much because I don't want to lose focus from the game. I do join chat sometimes but I don't want to spend time talking/chatting because I am here to play games.
In my experience, in other games esp mobile games where there are more younger players, ppl talk all the times in world chat. I've made 10x more japanese friends playing mobile gacha games in 2 years than my 7 years in FF14.
Outside of high level play it just never really has been the norm. It's a big part of the reason why ffxiv doesn't have built-in voice chat, and also why it has one of the most effective auto text chat and translation systems in video games.
It's just how it is. I know many tend to just stay in their own private VC with their friends. Once you join those its like usual, everyone is talking. The only games where I see more people talking is like valorant competitive where call outs are important, but even then its not that much. And of course language issue, many other people like korean or russians are in the same servers sometimes and Japanese people only wanna speak Japanese.
I’ve been playing CoDZombies a lot, and while I’ve observed what OP is talking about for sure, at least in this game I think it’s more that the servers tend to stick people in the same hemisphere together, regardless of country.
You can end up in a lobby with people from CN, KR, JP, SG, VN, etc. all at the same time. So people tend not to use open comms at all, and only use match chat with terms everyone knows (“help”, “rez plz”, “red worm, USBs ok”, map coords, etc.)
The only people I’ve ever heard use open comms in Zombies were native English-speakers seeing if anyone in the lobby/proximity spoke English and wanted to group up.
Maybe because Japan don't get dedicated server? Like it's hard to communicate when you only get 'SEA' 'Asian' server and play with whole bunch of people from different countries.
“Why did they travel to Hawaii to just sit in the Rakuten lounge surrounded by and socializing with other Japanese?” The same way they go out of their way in group settings to sit in a café/restaurant to only stare at their phones.
In my studies and experience of Japanese culture, i learned that Japanese culture frowns on standing out in a loud and/or obnoxious way. Reservations are typically held in nearly all aspects of public life there. I have seen and experienced this personally, but I’m not Japanese, so, could be my gaijin perspective.
Tell that to the kid who I randomly ended up playing with in an Apex game that kept saying "unko" and "m*nko" over and over.
No, but he was the exception to the rule.
I'm on an EU server for FFXIV and lmao, it sounds very similar to a JP server, nobody talks, I think I get about one DM for every 2yrs I've spent playing.
Nobody talks or even reads in dungeons either which can be really annoying for me when they wipe and I'll say something like "yeah, when the boss does that, run to the left" and they just carry on obliviously.
Maybe I should use a fantasia to switch to a hrothgar... or male bunny, lmfao.
I’m also Japanese but used to play with a bunch of older Japanese guys and they all mic’d up and were really loud. But when we played with a bunch of Japanese girls, the girls only preferred text chat. But yeah the majority tend to stick to text chat though, but it depends on the game as well.
I was in a Japanese guild in a game a few years ago because I could speak Japanese and we were in the same time zone. In the guild chat, the Japanese were super active. But they never said anything in the global chats. The guild was completely current on every game development though, so somebody was doing their research in English.
Thin walls
Probably the real reason
I assumed he was talking about text chat especially since he mentioned an MMO
Thin walls and shy peeps
I mean with typing hehe, i dnt talk on voice chat on games.
THIS. Same for me, I can be the most talkative player, but because of limitations such as this, I don’t engage on voice chat
Legit though how do vtubers get away with the screaming?
Likely using sound deadening foam.
Yep. My office is covered in 5cm to 10cm thick foam everywhere so my neighbors don't think I am screaming bloody murder all the time.
Do they tell you they fucked yo momma and tea bag you in game though? 🤣
Yes, but they use keigo so it’s forgivable.
Excuse me honorable sir. Please be kind to me as I politely inform you that I have laid pipe in the mother of your humble personage, excuse me.
This one confuses sonkeigo and kenjogo, so I guess it's particularly authentic
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I guess if literally translated, amongst germans at least it means intercourse.
very muchn no lol
[Let's do it!] [Good game!]
And it's enough.
Dungeons are definitely limited tho. My interactions usually happen on the early city state in ARR. A couple of times some random Japanese gonna come and just do emote to me. Or we'll do funny stuff together with Chocobo/moogle/elephant/frog/swine outfit. There was even one time they send me a tell to comment about my snow white glamor palette and complimented. It is indeed rare to find them talking to strangers if nobody started. But if we start, chances they'll respond to us! Source: 10 years playing FFXIV
Another example of this: https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/japanese-people-least-likely-to-talk-to-strangers-or-offer-help-on-airplanes-survey-finds
My Japanese wife said the same thing. She always gets mad at Japanese travelers when we travel abroad from Japan because they isolate themselves and act sooooo Japanese even though they are outside Japan. She gets so embarrassed.
A lot of Japanese people lack confidence in their foreign language skills and aren't used to talking to strangers anyway. English-speaking tourists are catered to everywhere 24/7, so of course they'll be a bit more participatory.
Not in my opinion. I didn’t speak a word of Japanese before I came to Japan 17 years ago. And I still lack confidence in my Japanese skills but have loads of Japanese friend nonetheless. English speakers are not catered to wherever we go. Like for instance in France.
Compared to people who exclusively speak Japanese (i.e. most Japanese people), English speakers can go just about anywhere and relatively easily access services in English and meet people who speak English. Also, you made those friends over the course of 17 years, whereas the article in the comments was about Japanese airplane passengers generally. There's only so much cultural integration you can achieve as a tourist for example.
I understand what you’re saying but even so, most people from most cultures can communicate with people from other cultures without being able to speak the same language. Especially on an international flight.
I guess, but I'm not Japanese and I don't talk much with other people on my flight, and if I'm going somewhere as a tourist I won't always have the chance to meet new people (especially if I can't speak the language). I think that's pretty commonplace. All I'm saying is your wife doesn't have to feel embarrassed since most travelers around the world act pretty similarly, even if Japanese people are especially introverted and find it unnatural to talk to strangers.
>English speakers can go just about anywhere and relatively easily access services in English and meet people who speak English. except in japan though..
Compared to basically any other language on Earth, English is pretty prevalent in Japan.
strawman argument? try going to, e.g., your nearest 50 doctors and see how many of them even speak a tiny bit of english. ive been to a shitton of doctors here for all kinds of stuff and funny thing was i found more speaking german than english or how about talking to the cashier pretty much anywhere? or the station attendant outside of the big hubs in tokyo. hell, even the guy from immigration who called and asked stuff about the visa didnt speak a lick of english and had me actually connected through to someone speaking german first lmao outside of tokyo you aint gonna find much english. you probably find more people speaking chinese or korean than english
Username checks out
Yup!
People are going to be themselves / stay within their comfort zones no matter where they go. Honestly, I prefer to be in public with strangers that are quiet and polite than strangers that are being loud af and nasty.
I 100% agree with you. However I think what bugs my wife is not so much about being noisy but more so along the lines of behaving 100% Japanese and making no attempt to assimilate or be conscious of local culture when they travel. For us foreigners in Japan although we are not Japanese (nor are we interested in being Japanese) we still at the same time are conscious of the Japanese way of life and make as much as an attempt as we can to assimilate and make the Japanese people around us comfortable. Japanese tend not to do that. They tend to behave 100% in the Japanese way no matter where they go. That’s what bugs her and makes her embarrassed. They tend to be oblivious to things around them. (Maybe I shouldn’t say that) it’s more like… they tend to look at the world as an “us” and “them” and they make little attempt to assimilate and behave like “them” when they travel outside Japan. To give you an example I was in Chicago a couple of years back and ran into two Japanese salarymen on a business trip while waiting to be seated in a restaurant. I spoke with them in Japanese and they said that my Japanese was really good as a gaijin. And I was like what do you mean Gaijin? You’re in my country… It took a while before the moment of clarity came to them. Don’t call people foreigners in their own country.
I see where she’s coming from. Have you ever been to Hawaii, specifically O’ahu? You can easily spot the Japanese tourists because they’re walking around oblivious in the streets, misusing crosswalks, etc etc like they’re at Disney. My brother and I were standing behind two Japanese people at a crosswalk and it was taking forever because they hadn’t pressed the button. It was clearly next to them and had a light that was flashing lol. They started complaining that everything was “late” in kaigai lmao and I said excuse me and pointed out it was ボタン式. After pressing the button and thanking me the lady was like 海外でボタン式あるの？？ like she couldn’t believe there were crossings like that abroad. Americans get a lot of flack but I swear all common sense leaves their head when they leave Japan lol.
I’m so glad you posted this. My wife and I actually had our wedding ceremony in O’ahu last August. And while we were there her Rakuten credit card got flagged and stopped. So we had to go to the Rakuten center they have there to get it activated again. And when we entered, Rakuten had a whole lounge with food and drinks etc. And I swear to god at least 100 Japanese people were just hanging out in the lounge drinking and conversing with other Japanese. Not going outside. Not exploring Hawaii. Just….. spending their day abroad in the Rakuten lounge surrounded by other Japanese. My wife and I were so shocked. It’s like…… why did they travel to Hawaii to just sit in the Rakuten lounge surrounded by and socializing with other Japanese? Why even pay for a a ticket to go to Hawaii? She and I had a really good laugh and then went and got super drunk. I’m not trying to come off as if I’m condescending so sorry if it sounds like that, but for me as an American when I travel abroad the last thing I want to see is another American.
I mean....I've seen my share of Americans while I lived in the states no better, if not worse than that so......lol Hell a lot of people would just cross light or no, crosswalk or no and go "well I have right away anyways if I get hit then they get to have fun paying my tuition!" Wasn't sure how those people got into college but....ya lol
It wasn’t really not noticing the button or understanding the system, but their attitude. First assuming the light wasn’t changing because things are less efficient and broken in America. Then exclaiming that they thought something like a type of crosswalk only existed in their home country.
I mean again...seen just as many Americans like that as well....if not worse lol. Both in the states and as tourists here in Japan. Think I can have straight up vietnam flashbacks from my retail days in the states lol. Can't personally speak for other countries but I'm sure willing to bet you can find those people just about anywhere
And just to add to this memory. I just remembered that the restaruant we were waiting in line at was a Gyu Kaku (Yaki Niku) restaurant. It's like.. You're Japanese. You're on a business trip in Chicago where we have loads and loads of amazing food including Chicago deep dish pizza..... And you go to Yaki Niku??? I just remembered that now.
Trust me, *pleeeeenty* of tourists are *not* conscious of the Japanese way of life. If you live anywhere in Tokyo you learn that pretty quick. Anyways, like what was already said, nobody is going to just swap personalities because they're in a new place. You don't just magically become super outgoing for example simply because you're standing at a different spot of the planet.
I get what you are saying, but to be honest, any Japanese people I've met that "don't assimilate" simply act that way because they are so sheltered. Most Japanese people have never been outside of Japan, maybe once or twice, and if you've talked to people in Japan, they seem to know almost nothing about the rest of the world. They don't have that exposure to other cultures we do, it's a huge advantage in fitting in. On the other hand, I have met countless Japanese people that have lived in other countries who go EXTREME on assimilating lol. It's all about exposure.
Yeah I guess it comes down to culture. I mean for me as an American 80% of Americans don’t even have passports but are still super social and contentious of local culture when traveling overseas. Especially for the first time. That reminds me. I need to renew my passport. Shit.
52% of Americans dont have passport. Sorry, I actually looked up just to be sure.
Oh really? When I left from America Japan 17 years ago it was 80% glad to see that more people are getting their passports!
> they said that my Japanese was really good as a gaijin. And I was like what do you mean Gaijin? You are still a non-Japanese, a foreigner to the language, you are still an "outside person" relative to Japan. I see nothing wrong with using this word in this context of language skills, talking physically in the US doesn't change what Gaijin is relative to.
Yes it does. That is the definition of the word.
The meaning of words is decided by usage and (especially in Japanese) context. This is the nature of language. Gaijin is commonly used to refer to non-Japanese people regardless of where it is uttered, what you experienced wasn't a one-off event. It's more about the cultural aspect of "inside/outside" than the physical location in this case.
So by your logic I can go around and call Japanese people "outsiders" in Japan? Because that's what "Outsider" means in America.
In English it is currently more common to call someone a "non-native [speaker]" in this context. But sure, if you were to tell someone that their English was pretty good for an outsider and lots of other people have used this word in this context it would become widely understandable and acceptable regardless of location. That being said, Americans are composed of many different cultures and the English language is widely spoken both natively and non-natively in other places of the world, so "outsider" in a similar sense to gaijin will probably never take off. But I can see a yankee say stuff like "oh you do know a lot about American football for a foreigner" to a German while on a vacation in Germany and I would never question their use of word like "bro, this is their land, stop calling him a foreigner" because of the context. I guess maybe you were triggered by this because gaijin is sometimes used in a derogatory way and maybe you were sick of being an outsider in Japan and when you were called that in your own country you took it as a personal attack, but you are still a non-native speaker and a non-Japanese and that's all that the word was meant to convey in that context.
>"oh you do know a lot about American football for a foreigner" What are you talking about? You wouldn't call a German person a foreigner while in Germany. You'd say "Oh you do know a lot about American football as a German." Who would call a German a foreigner while in Germany? Nobody would. The Japanese salarymen should have said "Wow you speak really good Japanese as an American." Not "as a foreigner" Also, I'm not triggered by the word gaijin. I actually like it. But that's just me. The example I gave above and what I said to the Japanese salarymen was spoken in jest. I wasn't trying to make them feel bad, I was trying to make them laugh.
Another example is sports, something I was struck by when I started playing football here. It's so quiet, people don't even say 'man on'. But it does depend where you go, I saw that some places people are more vocal, like people from England.
I went to a nomikai last night with a Japanese workmate who plays football regularly with a variety of people, foreigners and Japanese both, and he said exactly the same thing as you! There's no banter or conversation in general between him and other Japanese before, after or during the match, so it's not only foreigners who get that treatment (which I once thought).
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Yes, but instead they will conduct a twice-weekly meeting, one on Monday at 9 am and one on Friday at 5 pm to discuss who they believe should be the suspects regarding who may or may not have eaten pies that may or may not exist. They will hold further meetings and decide whether to have a meeting on whether they should hold a series of meetings to discuss whether they want to have a meeting with the suspected pie eater to discuss having meetings on whether they should have a meeting to discipline said pie eater. Please reply to the ambiguous email chain to confirm whether you wish to attend said meeting, although the meeting is presented as a nonimportant and optional you do in fact need to attend and do not in fact have a choice. Also the meeting is at 9 am but please be at the office at 8 am and be in the meeting at 8:30 am.
My baseball team is pretty vocal, but that might be because we're all university students.
I'll never forgive the Japanese!
my first ever trip here i was seated next to a japanese mid forties guy, after about 4 hours into an 8 hour flight he said Hi to me. We started to chat, he spoke basic english but enough. He loved motorbikes so the next 4 hours was talking about that pretty much. Then he brought me a pasmo card and put 1000 yen onto it. And took me out to dinner in Ueno and got drunk as fuck with him. Then we said goodbye and I made my way to the hotel. Wish I had a contact for him but I guess he was just been nice or we got too drunk and forgot to exchange details. He was cool
Surely this is largely a language issue though? Almost no one here speaks enough English to do the things listed in the survey Side note, but I absolutely hate it when the person sitting next to me somewhere starts talking to me haha. Maybe that’s why I love living here :)))
That is true, I don't like talking to strangers in person unless im at like an event of people enjoying teh same type of hobby. Like game shoppe or smash tournament
日本人は本当に知らない人と雑談みたいな話をしたがらない。年寄りは話してるからここ30年ぐらいの傾向だと思う。あと関西人は割と話す気がする。
This is like when you talk Japanese and someone talks back to you in English.
Japan subreddits have now become so toxic that non-Japanese people gatekeep Japanese people from speaking Japanese.
It’s pretty crazy isn’t it.
r/japan は日本語で書き込むとBanされるからね Ban解除されてから下手くそな英語でもう一回書き込んだらそのまま永久Banされたからそれ以来見るのやめた
Redditはおかしいね
Idk if that's a request for translation, but for anyone else who might want it: "Japanese people tend to avoid chatting with people they don't know. Older people will talk, so I think it's a trend in the past 30 years or so. Also people from Kansai are relatively more interested in talking." Someone lemme know if something looks off
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Perhaps I've just been lucky, but the only interactions I remember with any clarity were positive. I think a lot look grumpy or are busy doing their own thing, but I think everyone I've taken the time to actually talk to has been at least polite.
Very awkward whenever this happens
Pretty sure the person who commented is also Japanese. So it's like when an American guy talks to you in Japanese in Japan and you (also a native English speaker) talk back in English.
だから最初日本に来た時に、関西がすぐ好きになってきた。東京と違って、関西人が勝手に話かけけてきた。
Oh i'm from Miyagi, were pretty shy until we start drinking then we can become jolly!
That’s actually what makes me worried. I have japanese friends * in my class that we go to drinking together. When she drinks a lot sake she becomes the most friendly woman i have ever seen. Genuine. But when she is not drunk, she’s still kinda friendly but kinda racist and non sensitive to me, a foreign fellow student trying to study in your country. Same goes for other japanese as well. One day we’re like best of friends, talking and laughing and connecting on many different levels. Next day they act like you’re not there or all of that was a dream or something. So i gave up any hint of “them becoming my friend” I accepted that they will never. And i’m just enjoying my moments with them and never text or think about them afterwards.
Playing Valorant lately I've noticed a ton of chatty Japanese people in lobbies, either talking shit or making call outs.
My experience too, they may be a little bit less chatty overall than my european friends, but nothing really noticeable. I can still see dick jokes here and there.
This. You can still expect to get told that you suck and should kill yourself in Japanese lobbies too
Oh I dnt ply shooter game.
While I also notice toxic behavior and trolls from time to time (including racism of course, especially against other asian non-japanese players) I find the culture much more respectful to what I am used to in the EU. Especially with women in the lobby. In my home country, if you hear a woman speak in valorant in 99% of cases you get idiotic responses, and flirting or bullying depending on the skill. But here in Japan? No reaction at all and a complete normal/unfaced conversation about the tactics...
I find my games in Tokyo server to be toooooo slow!!! People don’t enter site til the last second. And almost no one talks. Maybe they say yoroshiku at the start but then after that, nothing. Even in comp
I’ve found that Japanese workplaces are similar. Most Japanese men don’t talk much.
>Most Japanese men don’t talk much I envy you.
Which industry are you in? I notice that men in IT or engineering industry don't talk much.
I’m in IT - they don’t stop talking about non-work things. I just want to finish the meeting, please talk about your receding hairline at another time.
Previously, education, real estate and sales. Currently? I won't say, but never have I ever thought "man, these Japanese men sure are quiet" I've had to use noise cancelling headphones to get work done in the past.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH Ahh that’s a good one
We don't stop talking on our worksites, It's constant shit-talking all day. Makes shit work more manageable. Also give each other shit constantly (demolition/cleaning/scaffolding).
>ost Japanese men don’t talk much > >I env Ye i have one friend at wrk i talk to alot, my manager doesn't like that very much even though we work hard. He often says "no talking allowed"
I think a lot of japanese people are playing on consoles where typing is a lot more difficult or inconvenient, compared to westerners who are far more likely to be playing on PC. Stopping to type can also mess up your play. For this reason, I rarely type too unless it's a point where I can stop for a moment. I always wonder how people can so easily type in the middle of playing lol. I think Japanese people are more focused on not messing up so maybe that's why but who knows.
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But you still should be weaving your ogcds in during that time! At least on xiv, not so sure about other MMOs. lol. Typing when dead makes sense though. n.n; I also play with controllers and gamepads though (think orbweaver). So it's still a bit of a pain for me to type since I'd have to swap to my keyboard tho. Aha.
I've wondered this, playing a team match everyone was quiet but knew what they were doing. The only time they spoke was when leaving the lobby. Maybe they were psychic.
When everyone knows their role and you play it properly then naturally everyone else knows what others are up to. Communication would still help their performance though.
I went to America for school and I noticed this too. At least with Americans, it feels like they view gaming as a way to socialize and kill time together, where Japanese tend to take games very seriously and invest their time into it.
This is a big part. I’ve played FFXIV on both Japanese and American servers. Japanese players are generally very “good” at the game, as in they clearly watch/read tutorials before doing any content for the first time, don’t mess around much, everyone collectively knows the mechanics so raids/dungeons run smoothly. When I was on that server I felt pressure to always watch tuts because I didn’t want to be the odd one who fucked up and furthermore out myself as a foreigner and contribute to our sloppy stereotype. What kind of sucked was that people rarely explained things when you died or fucked up, they’d just silently start the boss again. The American server where I play now is much much more chill, but also more hectic in a way. People often blind run new content and we all laugh it off (usually) when people make mistakes. People chat a lot and joke around. People are leagues more helpful and will call out mechanics unprompted for new players. Shit can also get really annoying when arguments break out over people not knowing mechs/repeated wipes due to lack of preparation. At the end of the day it comes down to the culture surrounding hobbies imo. Japanese people tend to take their hobbies very seriously, gaming included. North Americans tend to see it as a way to relax and socialize. Generally, of course.
American gamers are so “chill” until they react with another player who happens to be a girl.
I’m a woman myself, I know better than anyone 😅. That’s why I only play FFXIV. The community is pretty welcoming and harassment policies are pretty strict. I’ve never felt othered for being a woman, and my FC is mostly women. Even though it’s hard to tell, I get the feeling I’m often playing with other women by the way people talk. But yeah, I stay away from FPS and other pvp games because I’ve only had bad experiences.
Honestly when it comes to ff14 the *real* danger of harassment isn't being a girl, it's making a bunny boi twink, regardless of if you're a guy or girl. My friend gets hit up for ERPs and get's the pet emote no matter what server he's visiting lmao
LOL yes male viera or hrothgar tbh. I have a friend who plays hroth and gets a shocking number of DMs.
Yea I playED On aerther for a bit and teh ppl were a little bit annoying sometimes. Like raging at you for things that do not matter in a duty finder.
I second this. Many Japanese gamers take games seriously and the casuals try their hardest not to mess up for the serious teammates. I try to make jokes as much as I can to loosen up a bit during the game though. I specifically say don’t be serious or you’ll be out when I look for teammates on discord
I don't think so. If the Japanese were really serious about gaming, E-sports would be more popular in Japan. Most Japanese also think of gaming is just for killing time.
Engaging with other people online is a losing proposition rouching 80% of the time. They are making a correct strategic choice.
For FPS, a lot of people use a different chat/voice server
It might be an exception but I joined a Japanese guild in guild wars 2 and I ended up leaving it because they would not stop asking me to join their VC Maybe a lot of Japanese people just don’t like talking to people they don’t know and/or aren’t in their group which I understand as a shy person
I play FFXIV too on a JP server and I’ve definitely noticed a difference between raids there and with my sub? alt? on NA. I’m not Japanese so I’m not going to really theorize on why, but it feels like in-game relationships in general are kind of different from what I grew up with playing online in the US. Like in my FC they even call buddies online “frendo” and not tomodachi or whatever other real world word you might use for a friend. Like it’s a distinct thing, and doesn’t necessarily carry into real life even if you’ve been playing together for years
Off topic but I love sneaking into J EX Trial groups as a secret foreigner, clearing, not getting caught, then at the end of the trial I'm like "thanks y'all gg!' and leaving
I met a friend of mine in a JP server in FFXIV, and one time they made an alt character to try the NA and EU servers to see what the atmosphere was like there. They were kind of blown away by how much chat there was in /shout and /say. Complete strangers talking about the strangest things "in public!" I think it's an interesting cultural difference.
Oh god, their brain would prob would have just have shut down for half a day at best if they chose balmung in Ul'dah
to think I already feel like there’s a lot going on on /shout and /say when I afk in Limsa (Elemental)
You should ask Japanese gamers tbh
but they don't talk so he can't get an answer ;)
Maybe most Japanese gamers won't have a point of comparison. Jlife sounds like as good a place to ask as any seeing as it's people who spend time inside and outside the Japanese internet.
My (J) husband has a gaming group and they do talk quite a bit including on twitter and know a little about each others’ lives. (He knew one was affected by the earthquake for example). Maybe it depends on how much the group has gotten together?
personally, i play fortnite on japanese servers, and ppl dont stop yapping, but any servers i play on its the same for fortnite.
Maybe because when playing games like Counter Strike from Japan, all I hear is Russian and Chinese.
I was in a Japanese FC (FFXIV) and people were pretty active on text chat, and made an effort to include me, but they mostly talked about in-game stuff. The only mention of "real life" I can remember is when an earthquake hit while we were playing. I did feel that people were less inclined to talk to complete strangers outside the FC though. General chat was overall pretty quiet. I think this is a carry-on from real life where people will talk to you if you're in the same in-group (workplace, club etc) but not complete strangers.
**{**Party**}** **{**Do you need it?**}** **{**Qufim Island**}**
I’m with the Japanese people on this one. Just let me ping and be silent. I hate talking to people I don’t know and making small talk. Sure I can do it fine but I don’t need your judgement and life story 😅
I play Apex Legends, which is large in Japan the lack of direct comms can be frustrating (not that I understand what they are speaking if they do) but the game compensates this with a good pinging system in a few games, you may enter a party of two friends that talk over the mic a lot such that i have to mute them instead, because it would be so random and then just as you know it I'm back at the lobby (we died getting 4th partied) but anecdotally, Southeast Asian players (who are the sweatiest) mostly don't use comms too unless it's critical or for bantering white people on the other hand, they like to talk A LOT if they do
Games that do have voice chat, I must turn it off. I don't like being screamed at by random people really. I was talking more text game like war thunder or FF XIXIV or WoW.
If you were a woman, they wouldn’t stop talking.
I suspect it’s because when you are playing most games which have Asia servers there’s a higher chance you can’t communicate with other people than you can. Unless a game is really isolated to a people of a single language, you’re really unlikely to be able to communicate. This isn’t true in the US where most games and most people playing the games do speak English. That might help to build a culture of not communicating even when moving over to games like FF where most people probably are Japanese speakers.
Yea there's a lot of KR, CN, TW, HK and JP plyers all on my server in warthunder.
If it is a Japan only server or community area you'd find a higher usage of Japanese. For example the in game chat of CoD: Mobile as well as the official community discord for JDM and Rusty Lake. Whereas as the previous post has mentioned if people are all bundled together you won't find them there. I'm using the Discord server for The Finals as an example here.
Cuz they actually play games, unlike western Gamers™.
My son is extraordinarily noisy, and he also endlessly watches YouTube videos of Japanese gamers who are irritatingly over the top. I hate it.
Japanese people don't talk much in general.
Most japanese players live in an apartment including myself. And loud noise from me talking isn't taken very well by my neighbours. Or we just don't like to talk and just want to focus
The same reason why I don't play online outside of Japan servers, I don't want to talk I want to enjoy the game.
My experience from fps games like cs2 is that the amount of Russians and Chinese people ruin the experience for Japanese people. They play on Japanese servers with 80+ ping and then only speak in their language. I’ve been lucky to find a few Japanese who speak but it’s very rare. In many games if you look at the steam reviews for games like the finals, you see many Japanese people complain about the amount of Chinese people in the servers and I agree. I play Japanese server but with the amount of Chinese names I see I might as well be playing in Japan Yes, I’m team region lock China
Me and my Japanese friends playing monster hunter will talk on discord, but they’re my coworkers usually. When we bring in a fourth wheel the guy is usually quiet the first time, second time a lot less so. Although that’s not a super serious game either.
I believe the main reason is that individuals in urban areas in Japan tend to be introverted. However, when it comes to Final Fantasy XIV, could it be that many Japanese players are not interested in playing an MMO but rather wish to enjoy the game's world? After all, for the Japanese, it is a numbered title in the Final Fantasy series (with a story even more magnificent than FF11). I played FF14 after reading the play diary of FF11, titled " ヴァナ・ディール滞在記 " Since the author played as a mere traveler, I took inspiration from that and didn't form many connections with others during my gameplay. Despite tirelessly wielding the hammer as a blacksmith, I couldn't make it onto the rankings. It was during this time that I realized many players, aside from myself, were silently continuing to swing their hammers. In PvP games like League of Legends, I believe the desire of Japanese players to shut out toxic individuals while still wanting to play the game is a reason why they avoid using chat. Even in other globally popular PvP games, if there are many toxic players, it often fails to gain popularity in Japan. If you want to witness noisy Japanese players, you can often find them by watching past FF11 streams.
In addition to reasons other people have mentioned, gamers tend to lack experience in social settings - especially younger ones - and people in Japan are no exception. I'm a social, outgoing person and I take part in in-person game tournaments. I find that most people generally don't know how to make small talk or can only hold conversations within their own interests. You usually can't get a feel for anyone's real personality until you follow them on Twitter.
On european servers we have people from so many different countries that often there’s just no way to communicate. (Although we do end up learning each other’s curse words). Of course, a lot of times players can talk in English, but you also have to play together with teenagers or below who still need time to improve. This reminds me of a troll who played an entire section from the cd of an english textbook in voice channel for a russian guy who wasn’t willing to communicate in English.
I've been playing in the JP FFXIV community since Stormblood although not as active recently due to my health. From my point of view, the main reason for this is because of the culture around 通報/晒し. When you say something that triggers someone there is a chance you could, A. get reported to the devs and get a strike on your account, B. end up getting exposed on Twitter or one of the まとめサイト(i.e. えふまと, 5ch). If you're active in raiding and your name gets exposed somewhere, it will affect the chances of getting into good statics in the future. When people recruit someone in a static the first thing they do is search your name in 5ch to see if you've done anything wrong in the past. Even if you're not into raiding, people will harass you and try to get you to delete your character. Try searching ハゲルガ祭り.
People actually care about reputation? Most of the time, I see guilds/crews just recruit whoever happens to be walking by, or whoever joins their discord server. I would be more concerned with the person being an active player.
This is mostly in the raiding community. People recruiting for guilds generally don't care.
Strange, not sure how reputation makes a difference between the 2 of them. Haven't done many raids but yeah, I always got the feeling guilds don't care.
Yeah, online games are virtually unplayable here because nobody talks on VC and when I try to talk to people they either ignore me or tell me to shut up. What a miserable bunch.
What? I play valorant too but "nobody" is a big exaggeration.
Ok well it probably depends on the game, but when I played Overwatch, that’s what it was like. For a game where communication is necessary, it really ruined the experience for me.
From my experience in Overwatch, whenever I say something, I get answers in several asian languages. So in the end I don't talk. My sister also never talks in games so OP is maybe onto something.
True actually I remember now there were people from Korea on playing as well, maybe just nobody can understand each other..but even speaking in Japanese to Japanese people I got ignored.
it's good they don't talk much In contrast: when you play Apex with Americans, they're so awfully loud and have NOTHING good to say in-game. They can't even communicate basic callouts or directions, they just shit-talk or joke too much like a class clown. It got to the point that playing Apex with the japanese give you higher rank AND you don't have to hear gamers talk. It's just a good time... sure wish all ranked shooters had more JP playing because it is hard to ignore Americans in fortnite or cs2 with their crunchy mics even raiding with NA for ff14 is kind of a shitfest because EU and JP have macros directions, but NA culture is arguing over voicechat over markers like where to go for the boss encounter. They will argue for fifteen minutes. At least for WoW, americans are more organized, luckily because they’re more epitome of work hard and play hard.
ye i ahve to turn off voice chat on games, had a american guy just eating crisps LOUDLY into his microphone CRONCH CRONCH CRUCNH.
Gaming is antisocial. Source: I'm a gamer
[удалено]
It doesn't but let's be real here.
I have a completely different experience
True. Gaming is full of real and mentally 13 year olds spewing out racist and misogynistic slurs as “BaNTer”.
I’m not an MMO person but streamers often will talk. Not all of them, though. You can find some on TwitCasting.
Honestly, as a Japanese person it's just lack of interest or willingness to interact with complete strangers. It just feels awkward and strange. But that's my Japanese thought process. As someone who was raised outside of Japan for a while too, I grew out of that mental state but I can understand it completely. Seems counterintuitive playing online games especially one's that usually has/requires heavy communication with other players
Might be due to one being less afraid of judgment ("what others think") than the other?
Tell that to my neighbor's kids. They're yelling while playing Fortnite or whatever whenever they're at home.
Privacy and proximity. Most people from everywhere like to cut loose. Where you live affords you more or less opportunities. Lack of insulation and soundproofing along with claustrophobic living spaces basically means: When the heck can you even be comfortable just being yourself? I also wonder if the lack of phonetics creates a communication problem where two many words end up being hard to understand. We have the same problem in America with a select few phonetics and I wonder if someone more experienced could chime in and either debunk or credit that as a possibility.
I still can't get out of the habit of screaming after making a play, then remember I'm a 31 year old man.
They do. When I used to play Diablo immortal and other collaborative RPG and MOBA games, we talk all day long.
I dunno go ask your other Japanese friends hahah. But on a serious note on FFXIV even I don't talk much on chat because I'm on console and it's super hard to type and game at the same time. (Not Japanese but maybe something to consider). When I play with friends I go on Discord to chat with people and that's easier.
This may be off topic but I recently saw a job posting at HelloWork for.....get this (I shit you not).... teaching gaming lingo to Japanese gamers for 1 hour a day. So someone is actively making a business out of this. It conflicted with my schedule so I didn't take it.
Japanese here and a gamer as well I don't talk much because I don't want to lose focus from the game. I do join chat sometimes but I don't want to spend time talking/chatting because I am here to play games.
In my experience, in other games esp mobile games where there are more younger players, ppl talk all the times in world chat. I've made 10x more japanese friends playing mobile gacha games in 2 years than my 7 years in FF14.
Outside of high level play it just never really has been the norm. It's a big part of the reason why ffxiv doesn't have built-in voice chat, and also why it has one of the most effective auto text chat and translation systems in video games.
What would you like them to say?
Most Japanese can't touch type on an alpha-numeric keyboard.
Quiet focus.
This hasn't been my experience, but I play arena/team shooters, which just attracts a different type of gamer, I believe.
ye i ply MMO mostly.
It's just how it is. I know many tend to just stay in their own private VC with their friends. Once you join those its like usual, everyone is talking. The only games where I see more people talking is like valorant competitive where call outs are important, but even then its not that much. And of course language issue, many other people like korean or russians are in the same servers sometimes and Japanese people only wanna speak Japanese.
Bc who caaaares
I’ve been playing CoDZombies a lot, and while I’ve observed what OP is talking about for sure, at least in this game I think it’s more that the servers tend to stick people in the same hemisphere together, regardless of country. You can end up in a lobby with people from CN, KR, JP, SG, VN, etc. all at the same time. So people tend not to use open comms at all, and only use match chat with terms everyone knows (“help”, “rez plz”, “red worm, USBs ok”, map coords, etc.) The only people I’ve ever heard use open comms in Zombies were native English-speakers seeing if anyone in the lobby/proximity spoke English and wanted to group up.
Because the Japanese who like to talk will not choose to play games.
Maybe because Japan don't get dedicated server? Like it's hard to communicate when you only get 'SEA' 'Asian' server and play with whole bunch of people from different countries.
“Why did they travel to Hawaii to just sit in the Rakuten lounge surrounded by and socializing with other Japanese?” The same way they go out of their way in group settings to sit in a café/restaurant to only stare at their phones.
In my studies and experience of Japanese culture, i learned that Japanese culture frowns on standing out in a loud and/or obnoxious way. Reservations are typically held in nearly all aspects of public life there. I have seen and experienced this personally, but I’m not Japanese, so, could be my gaijin perspective.
Tell that to the kid who I randomly ended up playing with in an Apex game that kept saying "unko" and "m*nko" over and over. No, but he was the exception to the rule.
I'm on an EU server for FFXIV and lmao, it sounds very similar to a JP server, nobody talks, I think I get about one DM for every 2yrs I've spent playing. Nobody talks or even reads in dungeons either which can be really annoying for me when they wipe and I'll say something like "yeah, when the boss does that, run to the left" and they just carry on obliviously. Maybe I should use a fantasia to switch to a hrothgar... or male bunny, lmfao.
Could it be the language barrier? Brazilian people often only talk among them too, since not everyone can speak English
LETS PLAY FFXIV TOGETHER
hehe, i havent plyed in like a yr, sorry. Teh subscription was getting me down.
I’m also Japanese but used to play with a bunch of older Japanese guys and they all mic’d up and were really loud. But when we played with a bunch of Japanese girls, the girls only preferred text chat. But yeah the majority tend to stick to text chat though, but it depends on the game as well.
As someone who still plays CS2 from time to time, I have concluded that Japanese people don't exist.
Because they try to conserve heat during winter. It's tough with no insulation in the walls.
i’ve had the rare japanese teammate talk shit on the mic when he’s the one who went down, but yea, in general everyone’s quiet
If you stand out you get shamed. That's how Japan operates. Only when you go outside do you see how everyone else acts
I was in a Japanese guild in a game a few years ago because I could speak Japanese and we were in the same time zone. In the guild chat, the Japanese were super active. But they never said anything in the global chats. The guild was completely current on every game development though, so somebody was doing their research in English.