Free Companies: your thoughts and ideas

Hello everybody!

I am posing a question to you all on this day about what the playerbase thinks about and is looking for in a free company. I had a free company that I established back in 2014 that flourished briefly and then fizzled out. Mostly the fizzle was me since it is frankly quite hard to run an FC by yourself.

I have mostly, since the fizzle, been playing solo, which can get boring. But with the coming of Stormblood I am thinking of two options. Joining an already established FC or just rebooting my old one (if I can find someone who is interested in co-managing it with me anyway).

So my questions to the community is this...
1: What do you look for in an FC
and 2: What would you like to see in an FC that is lacking in most?

I have the standards covered like a med.house with all the bells and whistles (and decorated quite nicely if I must say so myself), workshop w/4 lvl capped airships, 800k+ credits, grade 6 wheel stand, yada yada and when we were active I had a fb page (no one used the website but I had that too), discord channel, a linkshell and event stuff, which most did not partake of.

But I would like to know more then just the fundamentals. So, tell me forumers, what do you think makes a successful FC? Or is there anything you would like to see an FC do both in and outside of the game?

In my experience, people either join FCs for a quiet place to relax and use buffs or a place to actively social. In the latter case, making sure newcomers have the chance to involve themselves in chat and activities is key.

One of the more successful social FCs I saw had members active in Linkshells, PUG raiding, and other places where they could make friends and people could see how active members were with each other. The chat was active and people would often hop in voice chat for maps, just to hang out, or host tabletop nights. Very easy to log in, spot some conversation, and join in.

Then, I've seen FCs where you won't be spoken to if you're not in TS, but when you go in TS it's a bunch if strangers making inside jokes or playing League of Legends. Very awkward.

It differs depending on the individual - everyone has their own qualities they look for in an FC. I've hopped around quite a few during my time on the game, and though it helped me meet some lovely people, in the end I didn't quite find what I was looking for and decided to make a solo one to take advantage of FC perks without any of the hassle. Some of the reasons I left various companies:
- Too much emphasis on a select group of people in the FC - newer members (esp. greensprouts) often ignored, didn't really communicate with others outside their "circle"
- The members in charge were inexperienced and couldn't really offer anything/ weren't up to date with newer content
- On the flip side, the members were Savage elitists no casual players felt comfortable playing with
- Chat completely silent, nothing going on
- As FunkYeah said, the "get on TS/ Discord or be an FC outcast" issue; not everyone prefers to use it
- Crude/ immature/ drama-mongering behaviour

IMO, the best companies have a strong sense of community, are welcoming, friendly and helpful, make an effort to have everyone feel included, are active and up to date with the game, keep things fresh by trying out different content together (ex fights, Coil, raids, Aquapolis, etc.) and treat each other with respect. Can't go wrong with that, really.

I find that FC's are a lot like bars. You got gay bars, biker bars, cozy bars, barcades and trendy bars ect. What makes it successful is the community and gathering like minded individuals for general japery. I like my FC's quiet with an estate stocked with NPCs and buffs. I know people who like their FC's loud and meme spewing. Just depends.

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

It differs depending on the individual - everyone has their own qualities they look for in an FC. I've hopped around quite a few during my time on the game, and though it helped me meet some lovely people, in the end I didn't quite find what I was looking for and decided to make a solo one to take advantage of FC perks without any of the hassle. Some of the reasons I left various companies:
- Too much emphasis on a select group of people in the FC - newer members (esp. greensprouts) often ignored, didn't really communicate withothers outside their "circle"
- The members in charge were inexperienced and couldn't really offer anything/ weren't up to date with newer content
- On the flip side, the members were Savage elitists no casual players felt comfortable playing with
- Chat completely silent, nothing going on
- As FunkYeah said, the "get on TS/ Discord or be an FC outcast" issue; not everyone prefers to use it
- Crude/ immature/ drama-mongering behaviour

IMO, the best companies have a strong sense of community, are welcoming, friendly and helpful, make an effort to have everyone feel included, are active and up to date with the game, keep things fresh by trying out different content together (ex fights, Coil, raids, Aquapolis, etc.) and treat each other with respect. Can't go wrong with that, really.

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It's not even that I don't like voice chat. I spent some time after PUGs this morning hanging out in Discord with a couple people from an LS, just talking about raid healing. It's definitely a nice *option* to connect people and socialize with other players.

What I resent is being expected to use it. People forget that their clique's inside jokes and banter in TS isn't funny and relevant to everyone, and isn't something a newcomer who doesn't know their personalities or limits can easily participate in. Newcomers need to be able to just talk about the game itself, ask questions, or chat about holidays and life. Unlike in FC chat, you can't have multiple threads of conversation in one TS room.

That's the problem with not engaging with new members or paying attention to who comes and who goes. They can't socialize quite the same as your current members because they don't yet know who likes to do what or what people's temperaments and interests are, when the FC chat is most active or when people's raid nights are, who does or doesn't have a static and might want to PUG with them, who the crafters and gatherers are, or if you have a voice chat server to begin with where all the activity may be.

Maybe it's my server, but I did a tour of some FCs and there are a ton of dead or barely active FC then we get the megasized FCs that have at least 30 people on at once.

Linkshells are a Godsend to keep talking to people who go to different FC. I have close knit people who stuck around, but for the most part we are remnants of a FC that broke due to a drama queen and her male suitors fighting over her. Barely active as it is, and most new recruits hardly last yet I like the lack of pressure and laid back atmosphere... no pressure and no arguments but yet I like playing content with more like minded people. Originally contemplated leaving my current FC and join a former neighbors but I'd feel like a tool for leaving old friends behind. Tried moving servers once and ended up regretting it.

It's a tossup really, I like to see some perks joining Linkshells that add bonuses to FC. It would benefit less active FCs as a whole and get those points up faster.