How can I enhance FC Recruitment?

[AdamuKun322]

Out of curiosity, how can I assist my FC in enhancing and retain members? The FC I'm in is a Rank 8 FC on the Faerie Server (medium population) and we're both casual and occasionally hardcore when it comes to clearing difficult content. We don't do much endgame stuff together because a lot of people are on at different times and work crazy schedules (I'm one of them). So, how do you all do it? Can you give me any hints and tips?

[Recaldy]

Voip.

Helps build a bond between people. I personally prefer TS3 but people flock to mumble...because it's free? Haven't looked into it personally.

[AdamuKun322]

We use Vent for our FC events and other than that it's normally dead.

[Vid]

I would suggest you set out clear goals for your FC. Such as Raiding, Events, Leveling, etc. The more interaction you have with your fellow FC-Mates the more likely they will stick around. However don't limit yourself to only your FC. Make use of Linkshells as well. This game has a lot of people who have old time friends they play with and are in the same FC so they don't want to leave, but they will seek out people for raiding or other events through linkshells instead.

My current FC has a handful of people on at any given time, and our numbers are quite small, but we have 2 separate raid groups for Coil, with various people from different FC's. However we all come together for the raid times and just have fun in general. We aren't hardcore, we'll spend 1 hour on Coil these days and then everyone else is free for the rest of the week, but we have found a nice group of people who are mature and easy going.

You will also want to find like-minded people for your particular needs or wants of your FC, and that will take some time.

As far as recruitment you can use forums (such as the server forums here), or Party Finder, or even /shouts. But if you just say you are an FC looking for members people will be reluctant to join. Why should they join? Are you raiding? Are you just leveling? Got to give people some incentive.

[AdamuKun322]

I do like those suggestions. We haven't started our FC coil runs yet, but a few of us run with Coil Groups in PF.

[Vid]

Also as a side-note when recruiting try to give a rough estimate of the typical play time of your other FC-Mates. For example if you are mostly on PST time, and you play from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. then you may want to discuss that with people interested in joining. Likewise when setting up raids or events for people to join. You will need a definitive time set out for these things and those interested should be able to be on at that specific time.

[Sagittarian]

Put up a website or some other way for members to communicate outside of game. The Lodestone actually has FC forums but almost no one seems to use them so I'm not sure how useful they are. But an outside website/wiki lets people communicate and plan when they aren't actually able to log in to the game.

Otherwise I agree with Vid that you need to set the goals and vibe of the FC and use that as part of the announcement/recruitment.

[Cigaran]

There are three main things I would recommend if you are needing help keeping a FC engaged and also working to grow the FC.

• Voice Chat
  Voice chat is going to help you in many ways. It can help to build a sense of camaraderie for existing members and can help draw in new players. It's much easier to form a bond with a group when you're actually able to hear them. There are all sorts of things you'll pick up in someone's voice that you'll never get from text. You will also notice that it's much easier to coordinate tactics while playing and that is going to lead to having better success while playing endgame content. Voice chat also be use to just hangout and socialize while playing other non MMO games.
• Out of Game Communication
  You mention that time and scheduling conflicts are a big issue that your FC is facing. Setting up some sort of way to keep in touch out of game will go a long, long way towards addressing that. You could set up a website with some basic forums for everyone to use, use some of the free forum sites that are our there, or you could set up a Facebook group depending on the level of anonymity you want. No matter what route you choose, again you're giving your members another avenue for social interaction to help form bonds that will (hopefully) keep them active and playing even when they are unable to be in-game for long stretches of time. You also have an excellent platform for scheduling events or other get togethers.
• Events
  Events are a big, big part of games like this. It's no secret that you see several events ran by the developers of MMO's. They let the player know that at a given date and time, there will be activities going on that they can take part in and where they'll be able to find other players. Free Companies are no different in this and a regular event schedule provides the same benefits. Even if everyone isn't able to attend every event, having a weekly, bi-monthly, or even monthly play night lets your members know they can get on at these times and play with their FC mates. These don't have to be grand events either. It can be something as simple as a night to work towards FATE Achievements, running Treasure Maps, or any of a number of ideas that fit your group and their play style. The bottom line is, there needs to be some sort of activity that is ran on a normal schedule. At the very least, it shows that those in charge of the Free Company are active and committed to enjoying the game.

[AdamuKun322]

We have a facebook page that we use to communicate outside of the game.

[AdamuKun322]

We try to run LotA on Fridays at 8p EST and we do Treasure Hunts on Sundays at 230p depending on if we have enough people. If it's less that six participants we don't run these events.