To all you successful FC leaders... How did you do it?

[Super_Bee_Brian]

(what Vidu said. Post count too long.)

There's one thing that you're wrong about. Most of what you said is good and helpful, and I thank you for that. But you're wrong about one thing.

Any community, whether online or offline, social or business, needs an egomaniacal leader. History will tell you this as well, not just me. The greatest military leader of all time, surpassing Caesar and Alexander, is Napoleon Bonaparte. He's my childhood hero. He wasn't a perfect man but his ego knows no bounds. Yet despite his ego, he was well-loved by his own soldiers. They remained loyal to the bitter end, even after his one-year abdication to Elba. His secret? Well, that's a lot of things. It's complicated. But the point is, his ego drove him to greatness. I have a fondness for the man because I'm the same way. And my experience tells me that greatness in leadership is not gained through purely morally upright motivations, but through sheer willpower and arrogance. The secret is to learn how to hide this arrogance when it counts, and flaunt it when the time to show-off is ripe.

You're talking to someone who have earned over 30 million gil throughout his 7 months of playing, half of which were gained by socializing alone. That's 15 million gil gained through sheer social skills. And wanna know something else? Before buying my FC house, I had 200k gil. I went to the house plot and hustled a nearby player who eventually gave me enough to get the plot for myself.

I created this thread to get practical advice, NOT to be sermoned to become a kinder, "purer", morally-upright person. My intentions for my FC is for my own benefit. But who cares? I'm forced to do things for others' benefit as well, so no harm done.

[KaivaC]

My feelings were genuinely hurt from this post. Seriously, the others were insulting but not to this exten

If that's the case, then let this serve as a wake up call. Stop and listen. You've built a reputation here and folks are pointing out why you are failing. You can either adapt and improve yourself, or you can continue doing what you're doing and eventually end up on the shitpost section of ffxiv. Seriously, be happy you haven't ended up there. Yet.

[Super_Bee_Brian]

Where are they?

I'm one of them.

[Hazmick]

Any community, whether online or offline, social or business, needs an egomaniacal leader. History will tell you this as well, not just me. The greatest military leader of all time, surpassing Caesar and Alexander, is Napoleon Bonaparte. He's my childhood hero. He wasn't a perfect man but his ego knows no bounds. Yet despite his ego, he was well-loved by his own soldiers. They remained loyal to the bitter end, even after his one-year abdication to Elba. His secret? Well, that's a lot of things. It's complicated. But the point is, his ego drove him to greatness. I have a fondness for the man because I'm the same way. And my experience tells me that greatness in leadership is not gained through purely morally upright motivations, but through sheer willpower and arrogance. The secret is to learn how to hide this arrogance when it counts, and flaunt it when the time to show-off is ripe.

You're talking to someone who have earned over 30 million gil throughout his 7 months of playing, half of which were gained by socializing alone. That's 15 million gil gained through sheer social skills. And wanna know something else? Before buying my FC house, I had 200k gil. I went to the house plot and hustled a nearby player who eventually gave me enough to get the plot for myself.

I created this thread to get practical advice, NOT to be sermoned to become a kinder, "purer", morally-upright person. My intentions for my FC is for my own benefit. But who cares? I'm forced to do things for others' benefit as well, so no harm done.

Sorry to say this OP, but you sound like a sociopath and it's very clear to everyone here that your problems with maintaining an FC are precisely that - YOUR problems. Successful FC leaders are usually kind, relaxed, and do their best to foster a similar atmosphere in which everyone feels comfortable. Nobody cares how much money you have, and there is more to the game than gil.

I'd suggest taking everyone's criticisms on board. Good luck with your future endeavours. ^_^

[Penthea]

Just to let you know, I don't scam people. They give me their gil of their own free will. I simply have the social skills to induce them into wanting to give it to me. That takes subtlety and finesse, which I have plenty of. Yes, I'm proud of having social skills. I'm NOT scamming people. Major difference.

In your attempt to defend yourself you have actually made yourself sound even worse.

Perhaps karma is at work when it comes to your lack of success with your fc.

[Vidu]

There's one thing that you're wrong about. Most of what you said is good and helpful, and I thank you for that. But you're wrong about one thing.

Any community, whether online or offline, social or business, needs an egomaniacal leader.

I created this thread to get practical advice, NOT to be sermoned to become a kinder, "purer", morally-upright person. My intentions for my FC is for my own benefit. But who cares? I'm forced to do things for others' benefit as well, so no harm done.

You are... comparing yourself an a community of people to a military organisation? Are you really that out of it or just trolling again...? I honestly cant tell - I can only tell you that in this context you are completly wrong.

The military might need egomanic leaders to keep everyone in check and disicpline, but thats not what is required here. You're not running a buisness or an organisation of any kind, most of the time you're even working towards a common goal within an FC, which is completly fine, because FCs in this game arent set up like that.

Maybe our approachs are just extremly different, because you are talking to someone who easly earns that amount of money by crafting each week, or even day - if I put my mind to it - and then use that money to make sure that even the people in my FC who have less time to play, get to enjoy the game - either by just giving them the millions they need to buy a small house or by getting them a minion they really love or by just saving them the money outright by spending 20 minutes of my time to craft them some gear so they can continue their adventure. (And I honestly wouldnt be surprised if some of the people who gave you money just weight how little gil is worth and how much their peace from you is worth)

You can try to live your Napolean-leader-fantasy, but it doesnt seem to work to well for you, so I'm telling you: If you want to change the behaviour of your members, aka: have them not leave, you need to change your behaviour and approach towards the whole thing.
People will care if they're there for your benefit - or for theirs. And if they dont like you very, very much - and they dont seem to do - they will leave. They're not your employees, they're not your soldiers and they dont owe you s*it. And the sooner your realise that, the sooner you can start building a healthy and strong community.

Your ideas for your FC and for your position in it arent well recived, obviously. An "egomaniac leader" might have been required in france, but not in Eorzea and specially not for an FC. I like to think of my FC as a family - a family doesnt need an egomaniac leader, a family needs someone whos willing to put their own needs behind and nurture its members - and not their loyalty.

So, practical advice: Drop that attitude, stop believing you're the greatest human being, work on your social skills instead of bragging about them, humble yourself - and then start trying to build a community, instead of a company.

[Super_Bee_Brian]

(What Vidu said.)

I swear to you I'm not trolling. I'm serious.

But let me quote something (completely memorized, as a way of showing my wisdom) to you from Niccolo Machiavelli...

I certainly think that it is better to be impetuous than cautious, for fortune is a woman, and it is necessary, if you wish to master her, to conquer her by force. And it can be seen that she lets herself be overcome by the bold, rather than by those who proceed coldly. And therefore, like a woman, she is always a friend to the young, because they are less cautious, fiercer, and master her with greater audacity.

To be a leader, you must be bold. And usually, the boldest and most brazen people are the ones at the top. Leadership is leadership wherever you are.

My goal in the Mateus server is to first earn 180 million gil so that I can fund a 30-man army who'd conquer Ul'dah through roleplaying. (Mateus is a roleplaying server) That's 6 million gil per year per person.

My INITIAL goals are humble, but overall, long term, I'm out to gain big stuff. I'll become the Napoleon of this game.

And similar goals require similar methods.

[KaivaC]

I swear to you I'm not trolling. I'm serious.

But let me quote something (completely memorized, as a way of showing my wisdom) to you from Niccolo Machiavelli...

I certainly think that it is better to be impetuous than cautious, for fortune is a woman, and it is necessary, if you wish to master her, to conquer her by force. And it can be seen that she lets herself be overcome by the bold, rather than by those who proceed coldly. And therefore, like a woman, she is always a friend to the young, because they are less cautious, fiercer, and master her with greater audacity.

To be a leader, you must be bold. And usually, the boldest and most brazen people are the ones at the top. Leadership is leadership wherever you are.

My goal in the Mateus server is to first earn 180 million gil so that I can fund a 30-man army who'd conquer Ul'dah through roleplaying. (Mateus is a roleplaying server) That's 6 million gil per year per person.

My INITIAL goals are humble, but overall, long term, I'm out to gain big stuff. I'll become the Napoleon of this game.

And similar goals require similar methods.

Annnnddd, this confirms the trolling. And my interest in this thread has now evaporated faster than Bee's FC losing members.

...oh, too soon?

I'll see myself out now.

[Super_Bee_Brian]

Annnnddd, this confirms the trolling. And my interest in this thread has now evaporated faster than Bee's FC losing members.

...oh, too soon?

I'll see myself out now.

Please stop. I'm not trolling. I didn't wanna delete my previous post but I had to because of such an accusation.

[Super_Bee_Brian]

Annnnddd, this confirms the trolling. And my interest in this thread has now evaporated faster than Bee's FC losing members.

...oh, too soon?

I'll see myself out now.

Nevermind. I reposted it.

Seriously, please, don't accuse me of trolling. People get banned for that stuff. I'm completely serious.