The head of Final Fantasy XIV, Naoki Yoshida, has written an official blog post about a deceased player. This player was the person whose experiences served as inspiration for the series based on the MMORPG.
Who is it about? On December 6, the well-known player Maidy Maidy passed away, who built a relationship with his father through their shared love of Final Fantasy XIV.
He wrote these touching experiences in a blog that served as the basis for the series “Daddy of Light”. The blog became very popular in the Japanese FFXIV community and also caught the attention of the game’s developers.
The head of the MMORPG, Naoki Yoshida, had known Maidy’s story for many years and even met the young man during the production of the series. After the news of Maidy’s death became known in the community, Yoshida wrote an official blog post in which he tells their shared story and bids farewell to his friend.
“A friend of mine who loved online games as much as I did”
What does Yoshida say? The head of the game describes their shared journey in the blog post:
- Yoshida has known the blog since 2010 when he became producer of FFXIV. At that time, the player defended the disastrous state of the MMORPG and even found much good in it.
- From then on, it became a routine for Yoshida to read the blog regularly. He was particularly impressed by the “Dad of Light” project, where the player wanted to improve his relationship with his father through the MMORPG.
- On July 28, 2016, they met for the first time during the production of the TV series. From then on, Yoshida describes their relationship as “gamers who simply love online games, as friends and comrades who laughed and sometimes discussed serious topics”. They were also united by their love for Gundam, a Japanese science fiction universe.
- In November 2018, cancer was diagnosed in the player. Even though he defeated it the first time, cancer returned and gained the upper hand in 2020.
Yoshida wrote at the beginning that he was not sure if such a post really belonged on the official blog. But he hoped that his selfishness could be forgiven this one time.
Yoshida concludes his long post with the fact that he looks forward to meeting his friend again:
As time passes, I am sure that the day will come when I can see him again. When that happens, I am sure he will find me confused with a little plant above my head, and I won’t be able to tell my right from my left. With allies he has found on the other side, he will reach out his hand to me and say:
“Oh, you must be a newcomer! It’s okay, you can have fun on this side too. Let’s go on an adventure together!” And in that hand will be the Nu Gundam. I truly believe that.
Rest in peace, Maidy. You really did well. I will see you again.
With this section, Yoshida references FFXIV. New players are marked with a green seedling symbol to signal that they are still unfamiliar with the game and need help. It’s a metaphor for their reunion in the afterlife, where Yoshida will then be the “newcomer”.
Players bid farewell to Maidy
These were reactions from the community: As Maidy was a well-known personality in the community, the news of his death was received with much compassion and sorrow.
Yoshida’s blog post received over 2,000 upvotes on reddit, and in the comments, players talked about how sad the whole situation really is.
They posted quotes from FFXIV that were related to deceased characters. One of them was brought by reddit user Tuufless:
The rain shower has stopped and we have been given another beautiful day. But you are not here to see it.
Rest in peace, Maidy-san.
Also on Twitter, community members shared their condolences and even drew fan art of Maidy’s FFXIV character as a tribute.
Some also thanked Maidy for leading them to FFXIV through his blog. His death is a great loss for the community.
Director Yoshida cares deeply about FFXIV and its community, as he has repeatedly shown over the past years. In an interview, he mentioned that he often cried during the development of the game.
