Hello, everyone. The PlayOnline OCR team here.

One month ago, there was a player event called "Laughter Mania 2006" on the World Cerberus.
This was the fifth time this event has been held since FINAL FANTASY XI's service first started. There are probably several of you out there who have participated in this event before.

The OCR team here considered the scale and history of the player event and whether it satisfied several requirements (stated below) and, as a result of these discussions and inspections, we decided to offer support to the event.

We are sure there are many players out there who are holding their own events or who would like to hold their own events. We would like to take this chance to talk about the support the OCR team provided, thoughts concerning player events, and the support system.

The OCR Team

OCR stands for Online Community Relations and is part of the PlayOnline management team, mainly offering help to FINAL FANTASY XI. In particular, the OCR team carefully reviews requests and issues brought up by players and discusses them with the development team, acting as an intermediary between the players and the development team. In other words, the main duty of the OCR team is furthering healthy community relations.
Also, the OCR team takes information from the development team and announces this information to players through version updates or Topics. The OCR team also helps with player events and live events such as the US Fan Festival.

Support

Below is an actual example of support for the player event, "Laughter Mania 2006."
As a result of discussions between the OCR team and the event's organizer, the following support was provided.
The level of support provided for an event will differ greatly depending on the activities planned. We may not be able to provide the following support for every event, but hope to give players an idea of the role OCR can play in your events.

- Discussion of the event's planning both in game and through e-mail
- Temporarily increasing the amount of players allowed in the area to be used for the event
- Announcements by means of a system message to each area
- Placing a moogle to explain the event
- Provision of areas normally only available for weddings, or areas such as the Diorama Abdhaljs – Ghelsba for staging the event
- Having GMs move event participants and the event organizer to the area of the event
- Distributing items that cannot usually be purchased, such as fireworks, and handing out warp scrolls for leaving the area

The Support System

We, the OCR team, would like to help everyone with their player events. Please feel free to e-mail us at ocr@us.playonline.com.
After receiving e-mail about the event you are planning, we will consider the event's scale and achievements, decide whether we can provide support or not, and contact you with our answer.
Please contact us about support well before the plans for your event are completely decided.

Support Criteria

The OCR team decides whether or not to provide event support based on whether the following requirements are satisfied.

- The event is not inappropriate
- The event is original and interesting
- The event does not harm the Vana'diel worldview
- The event is not exclusive to specific players or to only a small number of players, but, instead, is open for everyone to participate and enjoy.
- It is determined that the event actually requires support.
- The organizer has experience in organizing player events.

While an event is being held, if a problem arises such as too many participants gathering in the same place which results in unavoidable lag, the OCR team may intervene to deal with the situation.

A Message from the OCR Team

When planning a player event, you may have many questions such as how to make the event more enjoyable, how to deal with an area's congestion and lag, how to hold an international event, etc. To solve these various problems, please attempt to hold events as often as possible to build up experience. If you contact the OCR team after doing this, you will have a much better chance of receiving support for your event.
We would like to help everyone make Vana'diel an even more interesting place to be.

Lastly, we have conducted an interview with the staff who organized the Laughter Mania 2006 player event and have put it below.

Q1: Why did you want to hold this kind of player event?
Gillbert: Well, the main reason is not really the enjoyment it gives me, but the enjoyment I find in the event. I honestly wanted to see everyone's smiling faces.
Mapleleaf: Normally I don't go to other Worlds – well, because you can't. I wanted to take part in a meeting place that transcends the Worlds in the game.
Yoshimotolumine: I enjoy reading all of the blogs and journals that people write after the event has ended.

Q2: Please tell us about the number of staff members who participated in this event and how long preparations for the event took.
Arashis: Altogether, there were over 64 staff members!
Anahime: In June, the official blog went online. From staff recruitment to the actual event at the end of November, it took almost half a year.

Q3: What are some of the difficulties that went into planning the event?
Mapleleaf: All of us are working adults. So it was hard to find the time to get together and discuss the event.
Anahime: Things like differences in opinion and the direction we wanted to take the event... It was pretty difficult coming to a mutual understanding through the chat window and creating the event from the ground up.

Q4: Please tell us about your plans for future events.
Mapleleaf: Including events that I'll be planning myself, I'd like to participate in a lot of different events as a staff member.
Lunta: This was my last Laughter Mania, but I'd like to continue sharing my own event know-how with others, and plant the seeds for future events.

Q5: Could we have a message for all the other players out there planning player events?
Vdb: Keep on planning events! I'd like to see the community grow from there. Just make the best events you can.
Lunta: You know what? If you're going to do it, be prepared. It's a lot of work, but it's also a lot of fun!
Mistyoll: Mistakes only make you better.
Gillbert: I'm looking forward to making a player event that no one else thought of!
Arashis: There are a lot of difficulties, but the memories you have from the event and the connections with the people are definitely the most rewarding parts of holding a player event.
Rosewhitejr: Hey there! Decide the event-planning schedule as soon as possible. There will probably be a lot of arguments about the player event, so decide beforehand who has the final word. These two points are very important.
Estaciel: The bravery to take one step forward and the guts to walk a thousand more.
Pancoco: There are a lot of hard things to deal with, but the reward is worth it. The harder you work, the more you can enjoy it yourself.
Silverhawk: This time I did a lot of preparation behind the scenes, but there is a certain satisfaction that accompanies that kind of work.
Lordsandoria: Be sure not to upset anyone with your event.

Q6: Lastly, any closing words?
All: Thank you!
Anahime: I'm grateful this event gave me the chance to meet so many people.

* Screenshots are taken by the players.