VIVA LAS PHOENIX

 Meet the erotic roleplayers making a living in FINAL FANTASY XIV’s mini Vegas

- Mollie Taylor

As I step inside the room of Jessica Tulipe—a towering Viera with mahogany hair and flopsy ears—I’m surprised how unassuming it is. It’s decorated beautifully, with a bar and red plush seating, but it’s not the room I expected from a pro dominatrix. Then secret bookcase doors swing open, revealing hidden furniture—lanterns sunk inside an ottoman, their handles poking up to look like restraints. Wooden slats form a smaller room in the corner.

“Oh, this is a cage,” Jessica confirms. She sometimes leaves her clients there tied up. “You want them to think about you and you leave them with something at the end.”

Jessica is the head of entertainment at Phoenix Nights, a casino/club in Final Fantasy XIV that offers companionship and NSFW packages with its entertainers, known as Kings and Queens. When Phoenix Nights owner Masha opened the casino in 2021, its goal was an RP experience with gambling games. It’s grown into three storeys of activities: Eorzea’s own diet Vegas.

WHAT HAPPENS IN EORZEA

The top floor is an RP nightclub, with DJs on Twitch and creative drinks that mixologists make with emotes. The bottom floor is Phoenix Night’s moneymaker, with casino fixture Blackjack and original creations like Apple Crash and Phoenixmon (a play on Pokémon). The High Roller Casino Classic is broadcast to every patron, creating an exciting atmosphere. As I lurk around the tables I slowly witness one player lose millions of gil.