What can you possibly do?

[Dark-Saviour]

Join party finder groups and socialize. Find people you enjoy playing with and play more with them in the future.

If you find someone you really get along with, ask them if they're looking for a FC. If so? Invite them. If not? Oh well; you've made a friend.

Then again, I feel that guilds/FCs/whatever (if they're to be formed at all) should come from groups formed naturally during the course of normal gameplay rather than via 'recruitment', so meh.

[Vladislav]

- Can use forums to post about your FC recruitment
- Shout (recruitment info)
- /tell players (never ever toss blindinvites , it just will ruin FC reputation at all)
- Make people know you , trust you (as already mentioned HM clears , get 1~2 Newbs in coil T1-3 runs , help ppl's , make friends)

[Elurra]

Shouting about your FC every minute is a lot. I can see why people would get annoyed by that. Try toning it down to once every half hour to an hour. Or only do it when you change zones or something like that.

[Ashira]

Sorry to hear you're having problems. I run a Free Company and I understand that it can be a hard task replenishing the ranks, though I'll share some information on what I've been doing since release.

I first started up the Company with a couple of other people I met while doing a Brayflox run a few days after release. From then onward I kept bumping into new people I got on well with, both in runs and while messing around in Gridania. I never liked the idea of doing shouts and decided early on that we were going to be a small, hand picked bunch; favouring quality over quantity. How my recruitment works now is as follows:

1. Are they in a Company? If the answer is no, move onto number 2.
2. Is their name offensive? If no, move onto 3.
3. Send them a tell, a simple greeting will do.

I want to find out more about them, before I unlock our front door and let them roam free with our family; so before outright inviting them I will start a conversation. I'll comment on their class, their appearance or anything we have in common and see how they respond. Obviously hostility, ignorance and sabotaged broken English are signs that I need to move along. After this though I'll cut to the chase and tell them honestly;

"We're looking for new members and I saw you weren't in a Company. If you would like to join us, you're more then welcome."

You can even go on to comment about the current problems you've been having:

"Our Company is going through hard times. We've had a few people leave due to real life issues and so on. I'm here trying to get it back on it's feet."

Honesty is key. You don't want to start off on the wrong foot with people you could possibly be spending the next couple of years of your life gaming along side. After all, a Free Company is the main attraction to a lot of people playing these games; they play for the Community; as do I. I've had a number of our members say they might have left the game a long time ago, were it not for our Company.

Once you have the members you need to keep them occupied; don't leave people out. Provide help whenever you can. As a leader you also need to be the most selfless of the bunch, always sticking your neck out for others. Be polite, be fair and try to set a good example. It's also important that you weed out any bad eggs, that might give your Company a bad name or upset your other members.

Best of luck to you Lokean, from Ashira and Seventh Heaven - Cerberus.