After a longer absence than I would have liked, I logged on to play Final Fantasy XI last night hoping to find a good party and gain another level or two. Things were pretty quiet in the Valkurm dunes on Shiva last night, but I did, for the very first time in playing FFXI, meet a player who I had actually met in real life. Like crossing the streams in Ghostbusters, I generally try to avoid mixing my online life with my RL, but I had a lot of fun at the FFXI panel at Anime Central so I decided to go ahead and cross the streams. I chatted with him a bit before going off to solo sand hares for a while.
Before long I got a party invite from another warrior which, having no other prospects, I accepted. He was level 21 to my level 20, but I soon discovered that he was probably still relatively new to the game and a relatively young person too. Not having any healers, I figured we would just take it easy on things like the hares and maybe goblin ambushers and muggers. It would be slow, but doable. Unfortunately, my partner il-advisably provoked a damsel fly which tend to be tough for full parties at this level. It didn’t help that I wasn’t being as careful as I usually am soloing. So I bought the farm. That’s when the worshipping began.
Dying wasn’t a big deal to me, but my partner let loose with some serious roleplaying hystrionics, which seemed a bit flirtatious. I was playing my female warrior, and most of the time I don’t get a lot of unprovoked attention, but this was just a bit silly. He didn’t really hit on me, I think, but the emotional scene put on when I later logged out would have turned my face red. Again, I don’t know if it was flirting or not, but I was definitely a goddess on a pedestal for that moment. It makes me wonder a bit how women put up with this in RL, especially from young men as I’m guessing the other player was. I was a little embarrassed (I may be still blushing), but all in all I had a fun session.