Final Fantasy XIV offers PC gamers a creepy warning

I've been playing some Final Fantasy XIV recently, and was surprised to be confronted by a strange message. It appears every time I start the game, and reminds me not to forget about my friends, my school, or my work. It's nice to know that SquareEnix care, but do they care just a little bit too much?

Let's not forget that Final Fantasy XIV also limits the amount of time you can play each week, presumably to stop us from playing too much. It seems as though SquareEnix have our best interests at heart, but at the same time it's all a little bit creepy. As a games company, are my relationships with my friends, school or work really any of their business? Is it acceptable for a game I've paid for to berate me for playing it?

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.