Fantasy XI: Crafting and hobbies

In addition to completing quests and missions, players can participate in several side-minigames and other activities. One such minigame is fishing, where players can measure their strength against the fish they attempt to catch. Another is clamming, where players collect as many fish or sea creatures as possible without going over their bucket's size limit. Gardening allows players to raise plants in their residence, or "mog house" as it is known in the game. The raising and breeding of Chocobos was a long-requested activity enabled in the summer 2006 update. Chocobo racing began in March 2007, which allowed for the racing of player-raised Chocobos against non-player characters (NPCs). Winning racers can earn "Chocobucks", which can be used to buy, for example, items that assist Chocobo breeding.
An important part of the game is the accumulation of items, especially rare ones, which allow players to create powerful spells and weapons. There are many ways to obtain items, such as harvesting, excavating, logging, mining, defeating monsters, and digging by using Chocobos. Square Enix attempted to increase the opportunity for players to find rare items in order to equalize the game and stop the practice of "gil selling", or exchanging real money for in-game items. There had been an item auction system that was shut down due to some players exploiting the system. Items can be created by combining elemental crystals obtained by fighting monsters with other items in a process called "synthesis". Recipe results can vary widely based on the player's skill and the quality of the player's items.