ffxiv is a wildly popular game with something around the realm of 25 million players, so sheer numbers is also in effect.
it's also as the anon above me said, the game treats the player like a jrpg protagonist and that means that npcs will adore you, and lots of cutscenes that your character appears in. it's a big contrast from WoW during it's high point because while it was wildly popular, your character was completely passive and basically a non-entity in the story. the cutscenes would focus on the game npcs and while the npcs would acknowledge the player, it doesn't carry over from quest to quest. you'd wrap up a quest with a NPC in one zone and then the next time they see you, they treat your character like a stranger.
that's the other part about ffxiv is that the npcs will remember the WoL and refer to them even if it's been literally years between them. the dark knight capstone quests is tracking down the writer of a letter sent to you, and it turns out to have been a one off npc that you met somewhere in the 40-50 quests. if you'd been playing the game since heavensward and had finished leveling dark knight then, it means the last time you saw the npc was somewhere in 2015/2016. and that's only for a very minor NPC that was clearly not given much thought in the initial release. now imagine having a whole cast of pretty, powerful characters that revolve around your own Warrior of Light, that players get attached to. now imagine them carrying over that attachment to RP, both towards NPCs and their special Warrior of Light.
interestingly enough, the WoL problem isn't much of a issue within in-game FFXIV RP as it's actually frowned upon, since everyone is experiencing the same story as the WoL. instead, what people do is play OCs in the setting. however, the NPC projection is real as some people will recreate NPCs and play as them instead, which leads to some players getting attached.
but i don't think it's just a ffxiv problem. there is rp drama everywhere, ffxiv is most notable right now because of it's popularity. it's like how homestuck was seen as crazy because of how popular it was.
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it's also as the anon above me said, the game treats the player like a jrpg protagonist and that means that npcs will adore you, and lots of cutscenes that your character appears in. it's a big contrast from WoW during it's high point because while it was wildly popular, your character was completely passive and basically a non-entity in the story. the cutscenes would focus on the game npcs and while the npcs would acknowledge the player, it doesn't carry over from quest to quest. you'd wrap up a quest with a NPC in one zone and then the next time they see you, they treat your character like a stranger.
that's the other part about ffxiv is that the npcs will remember the WoL and refer to them even if it's been literally years between them. the dark knight capstone quests is tracking down the writer of a letter sent to you, and it turns out to have been a one off npc that you met somewhere in the 40-50 quests. if you'd been playing the game since heavensward and had finished leveling dark knight then, it means the last time you saw the npc was somewhere in 2015/2016. and that's only for a very minor NPC that was clearly not given much thought in the initial release. now imagine having a whole cast of pretty, powerful characters that revolve around your own Warrior of Light, that players get attached to. now imagine them carrying over that attachment to RP, both towards NPCs and their special Warrior of Light.
interestingly enough, the WoL problem isn't much of a issue within in-game FFXIV RP as it's actually frowned upon, since everyone is experiencing the same story as the WoL. instead, what people do is play OCs in the setting. however, the NPC projection is real as some people will recreate NPCs and play as them instead, which leads to some players getting attached.
but i don't think it's just a ffxiv problem. there is rp drama everywhere, ffxiv is most notable right now because of it's popularity. it's like how homestuck was seen as crazy because of how popular it was.