Hmm...

How you maintain an actual life while playing ffxi? I would like to know how people do it!

simple RL > FFXI (sometimes.....) lol

It's called a wife who will punch me in the face if I don't get the *** off...

And bills. Lots of those things. Great motivator to work 40+ hours at the work place.

Well, I know people who goto work and come home and veg in front of the TV all night. Its like that, but instead of watching TV I veg in front of my PC. Besides, 12.95$/mo is a lot cheaper than $50/mo or whatever cable costs.

I just play and when something needs to get done then it'll get done. RL>FF, but I don't have much of a priority since everything at home is taken care of and wtf is there to really do in ID on a weekly basis?

it's called "Balance"
You need to find it.

Personally, I'm up at 6am each day for work and I'm not in till 6:30pm.
Pay bills, maintain my life (IE: Laundry, Cook, Clean, etc).
I have a social life of hanging with friends, hitting the bars on the weekend, movies, etc. And also indulge in other video games
(BTW, Batman Arkham Asylum kicks ***)

Yet... I still find time to enjoy the hell outta FFXI, maintain my LS's website and run about 3-5 events per week.

It's all about the Balance.
As long as you don't sacrifice one thing for another, you'll be fine.

<----

Play in Touring band,Dj,full time job

and play XD

Yeah rl has made me have to play hardly any or even take long breaks cause I didn't have enough time

I guess it all depends on what you consider an actual life. What you may cal a life someone else may call a fail. Ffxi is an actual life to many. I know one guy in particular that sleeps, eats, and FFXIs. Thats it. And he is content, retired young, and lovin it.

I am not the most law abiding person, and i tend to not like people, so for me FFXI keeps me out of trouble but also gives me people to talk to. That being said I generally have atleast 1 day a week i don't even log in, sometimes a few, every now and then i wont login for a week+ just catchin up with family/friend.

Depends on your job friends and wife/husband if you have to work from 9am-5pm you still have a few hours of "freedom" most ppl sit and watch TV like 4-6 hours when their home and up others play FFXI as said above its balance dude.

What is this real life you speak of? I have my chocobo parked out in my garage....

@.@

This is actually a good question, i'm not sure how i continue to maintain a 3.5 GPA when i play FFXI in the middle of class because my college campus is HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE and allows full access to the wifi internet lol.

Luckily i have a wonderful fiance to escape with every now and again (or she drags me by the shirt collar either way lmao).

I guess having former experience in computers and design helps, otherwise i'd screw myself like i did in highschool haha.

but no... this was a question i asked myself the other day, i wonder how other people manage this problem :(

Go to the military. There are times you're forced off for weeks/months at a time. DETOX SON!

1. Buy gun.
2. Load magazine.
3. Stick gun in mouth.
4. Fire gun.
5. ???
S O C I A L L I F E !

B
A
L
A
N
C
E

...or your life could go downhill! Maybe.

Well... I guess balance is a good aspect to maintain.. I go to school now so I kinda don't have a life atm... I will be an engineer at the end of the semester... so I will have hardly any time to play this game after I graduate... I just wanted to see how it all works out for the people who are always online getting stuff, exping, or missions.. whatever they dooo!

Two questions: Why would you load the magazine when you're only using one bullet, and how do you have a social life after firing said bullet?

I work from mon-fri 9h-5h. I have a girlfriend who studies full time and whom I see about twice per week, sometimes more. She is aware of the 3 nights of the week when I have FF XI events and most of the time she is OK with it, in any case I make it clear that this is important for me and she has to respect it. To help with the problem of not seeing my family I have purchased the game for my 13 years old nephew (almost with a 60$ GeForce 6800 GT and 30$ 500W power supply) and he is now BLU75 BRD75 and near BLM75 (lol... I underestimated him). The cost of paying his subscription is well worth it as it maintains a social link with him, his sister and his mother. I used to see them less often than I do now, thanks to FF XI.

When I finally decided I wanted to finish CoP, I planned runs in advance, told people that they have to be there and when the time came near, we shouted for who ever was missing and we went on time. We were prepared and we cleared every single mission on the first try. No dry runs, just well prepared team members who had read the thing and knew what the hell to expect. I used to be unemployed and have all the time in the world, and all that time I was stuck on 4-2 waiting for a shout. Now I have a job and more confidence in my "leadership" (PT building / harassing) capabilities. It's mostly about preparing in advance for what you want to achieve and making sure others think you're serious and follow you.

As for my friends, they know they can always leave me a message at work and we'll have a beer after work. My friends don't play FF XI but they also have time consuming hobbies and jobs /studies, so we see each others when we have time. It's not that difficult.