I am an American living in Japan (and playing the Japanese version of the game), and while I am far from fluent I can generally type enough Japanese to get by in parties (which due to my play hours are all-JPN most of the time).
A few things I have noticed...(any statements I make about Japanese or non-Japanese players is based only on my own experience, and on those players I have personally partied with).
Most Japanese players I've met seem to be extremely friendly, helpful, and willing to go out of their way to help you...IF you are also a Japanese player. In Jeuno, there are two types of shouts from people recruiting or looking for help: Auto-Translated (non-Japanese) and those in Japanese characters only. Four or five times now when I have /shouted for help for some Mission or Quest in Jeuno, I try the Auto-Translate route first and after 1-2 hours switch to Japanese. So far, I have never waited more than a few minutes after switching before offers of help come pouring in. Now, I realize due to my play hours most other people on who can help are Japanese players...but the Auto-Translator is there to reach as many people as possible. In parties as well, Japanese players seem more averse to using it, not sure why. They seem to view using it as the mark of a foreigner. I myself don't care for shouts in Japanese because they are exclusionary.
As for sheer racism...it exists on both sides, but seems much more prevalent from the Japanese. Maybe it's because as one poster said, Japanese players are seen as godly and so they themselves tend to see non-Japanese players as...something inferior. A frequent example: when we have a group of 4-5 players together and the leader is searching to fill the last slot(s). If the only options are English speaking players they will often ask the group's permission before sending any invites out. Now, this can introduce communication problems, so I understand some hesitation...but they also apologize, sometimes profusely as if they are letting the group down when this occurs.
There are more extreme instances where I have /blisted players. In Garlaige we were up late XPing and the leader, who had mentioned he was getting sleepy, dinged to 37. The party asked if he'd like to stop and get some sleep, and he said "No, disbanding just because I level is something a foreigner would do." The rest of the group (except me) echoed agreement and our party went on for another 45 minutes before disbanding. Now, I couldn't disagree with the guy, as I'd seen that behavior a lot and understood why he might have that impression of non-Japanese players. Still, to just say something like that out of the blue...pissed me off.
In Kuftal at 58-59, it was four Japanese members, myself, and a Black Mage who did not speak any Japanese at all. She tried to use the Auto-Translator and our party worked fairly well, until at one point in general banter (which was all in Japanese) I mentioned I was an American. I almost always throw it out there at some point, and most of the time I get a lot of "Eeeeh?" but everyone is fine with it. This time the party immediately began using very rough Japanese to me and bombarding me with advice and criticism about how I was performing as RDM (though I was apparently OK until that point). Worse, the BLM sent me a /tell in English saying she needed to leave but had found a replacement...I said OK, and she Warped away. Before I could explain anything the party flipped out, saying things like "THAT is why you can never trust non-Japanese, they just leave parties with no warning." A bit angry myself at this point, I mentioned they never once spoke a single word NOT in Japanese, never used the Auto-Translator, so of COURSE it would be hard for someone to tell them what was going on. I then told them the BLM had found a replacement and had even waited until the new BLM arrived before Warping, that if they would just invite the new mage we could continue. I ended up /blisting two of that group who refused to hear anything about how they could have handled things better.
All this ranting done, the vast majority of Japanese players I have met in game are very nice, very cool people. Really, JP ONLY folks seem to be a small minority on Bismarck (which is nice). I once asked a Japanese party member straight out why they don't like or trust English players. The answer: almost everyone tries, but one bad experience after another cements the general feeling that Japanese should just stick to playing with Japanese. My more limited experience in English-speaking parties has run the course, good to nightmarish....but I can imagine a language barrier making it even worse.
Still, at the end of the day, we all have to keep trying. We're on the servers together. I have had some god-awful experiences accepting blind invites from people who could not speak any language coherently, but you roll with it. It's a game.
To the OP: maybe that Japanese player had had one too many bad experiences in English parties. Maybe they're a racist jerk. The good news is, either way, that attitude is held by a small minority. The ugly is there, racism exists...but the good players who make the effort far outnumber the bad.
In my experience, anyway.
Edited, Fri Mar 3 00:27:04 2006 by Syranthian
