Late night FF14 feels so different to me. In the data centre I play on, there's a someone who will sometimes put up a party finder request that's just an offer to sit and relax in the Lavender Beds, and when I see it I always travel over to Omega to accept that offer. It's a unique feeling when it's so late and there's only the person who put up the request, you, and maybe 1 or 2 other people.
Moments like these are what make me love FF14, there's a feeling of connecting with other people that I can't get from other games. You don't make friends or anything from these moments (usually), but I'm not talking connections like that. What I mean by "connection" is the feeling of knowing that you and another person are doing the same thing. I can't get this feeling from something with co-op like Elden Ring or even games with longer co-op sessions like Left 4 Dead or Lethal Company because there's no downtime, to me it's the fact nothing is happening that makes it so special to me. When there's nothing happening it makes the tiny connection with the other players more meaningful because we all chose to sit and listen to the background noise of the area, there was no event to make us do that, we just wanted a moment of quiet in FF14.
Non-verbal forms of connection like what I've been talking about are extremely important to me. I struggle with communication and social situations, so having a space like FF14 where players can interact in ways like emotes and sitting together while enjoying the sounds of the game are incredibly important to me.