Linkshells...

[indira]

i hate when you do events people get geared up, use up crafting resources then leave to another shell and your still left high and dry.

[Rau]

Hmm. What makes you say they are just chattrooms?
Can't they be a well organized community of people who work together for something?
Also i have another question for you. Have you mostly been doing stuff in everchanging pickup parties?

It really depends what kind of linkshell it is. I have a multiple linkshells, but my main is a tightly knit group of friends, whereas my social linkshells are kinda just "there" if I'm bored.

[SniperRifle]

The game is so bad it doesn't matter if you have 20 solid members running Moogle all day everyday. You're still going to hate yourself for playing this game and not spending your 2012 better until 2.0. Even if 2.0 bombs, theres going to be a massive sky rocket in server populations for the first month. You'll probably meet a ton of new cool people and actually have fun. Maybe even recruit some newbies n show them the ropes if that's your kind of thing. It's going to be a completely new game, not like your gear now will be optimal after the overhaul (an excuse to not stress over finding a linkshell to call home/run content with... during the games lowest population time).

The thought of running Ifrit or Moogle 100 times for your LS mates after you've already obtained all the weapons may sound like fun, but it really isn't.

[alexi14]

Hmm,

Okay so I'm the leader of Kisses LS on my server. The LS currently has 31 members online "11:25pm EST". Peak times, it's up to 45 members, and slow times perhaps 25 members online. There is ALWAYS events going on at least one a day, and they are pre-organized. Also, our members always help eachother, and a Hello will usually get you 4-10 responses.

There is a couple mindsets I've seen for people who lead their shells. One mindset is that they recruit only the best. Very exclusive, and very elitist. Usually these shells live quite long, and are quite small. They do an event a night "I think", and are respected within the server. I've seen these shells die, and I've seen them do well. Most that do well are groups of friends from FFXI servers who moved together.

Another kind of Shell I've seen is the Anyone can join shell. This is likely the most common shell. The biggest problem with this shell is that usually some stupid person creates the shell, and just wants to collect people. They usually have a lot of drama, or aren't active, or simple don't care. As a result, they don't put much time into growing the shell, improving it, organizing events ETC. In order to do well leading this kind of shell, you must have a leader or leaders who have the mindset that their shell is ALWAYS dieing. Everyday I look at my shell, I check the numbers of people logging in, how many events go on a day, how active the chat is. If I even see the slightest drop, I do my best to recruit. This was EXTREMELY important earlier when the shell was new. Also, when the shell hits 120+ members, we restart moving the active members to the new shell, and recruiting new member with the extra space. This next shell will be our 4th shell. We're currently at 98 members.

Problems I've seen that leaders make:

1. They make their friends leaders -- Titles give people big egos. Giving someone a title over someone else creates resentment, and if they are a bad leader, drama. Best to make everyone the same rank. Leaders will create themselves. They will organize events, and gain respect of their members. There is no need to make it so one person can feel they are more valuable than another. It's Drama.

2. They only allow you to have one shell -- This is a social game. If you only allow your members to have one shell, you BETTER have the best shell out there because if players don't have the capability to join events or make friends with other players outside your shell "other than shout", they are not going to stay for long. Instead, of a member picking up another shell, and keeping yours, they will leave your shell and likely bring some of their friends with them.

3. They don't engage their members -- People come online, they don't want to do a lot of thinking. They don't want to get everyone together, set up member lists, and set times for events. As a leader, you are the organizer. I've created a system for my shell where members can create an "event" on our website, and members can simply sign up. It's great, and people can easily schedule and execute events from it. If you're a leader, and you don't engage your shell, you can only hope you're lucky enough to have a couple members who will do it for you, or people will quickly join a shell that's more engaging.

4. Creating a bad rep for your shell -- We have this one shell on the server, where if you even mention their name, people say "ew". Honestly, their not bad, and their leader has all jobs maxed at 50. The problem is that he botted most of them, and he shouts for members for events, and then yells at them when they fail. The only people I see join his shell these days are noobs who don't know better.

5. Websites are not user friendly -- I hate sites where I have to sign up, get approval, and then remember stupid credentials that must have capital this, a digit, minimum of 8 characters, and than we can't forget email verification. It's a online game. Not a bank account. Make it so your users can get in, get out. Non-members aren't going to care about your super secret moogle strat.


If you're going to look for a LS, you need to find a LS with a leader who doesn't play favorites. Who engages his or her members into doing events. Who unites the LS to complete challenges and goals for the LS, and who recruits like no other. This is an extremely hard shell to find, but when you do, you will have a family that will stand the test of drama, time, and bad updates!


Closing note: This is just my experience. I'm sure I'm wrong. I'm 15 years old, but this advice that I've used has made my LS one of the top linkshells in the server in activity, ranking, and size. I'm realy proud of it, and I'd love to see more Linkshells like it because I firmly believe that it's the families people make in FFXIV that will keep them, not the updates. Though the updates are certainly nice hehe.

Astin Prey

If you would like to see how many Events are planned: http://kissesls.net/
-- The top part shows how long until the event, the event, and how many members are signed up. As you see, it's quite active! This is what I think is the key to success for Kisses. That and recruiting! Well, and no playing favorites I.E. No IN-LS- drama


Update: I basicly just wrote a guide here. I'm going to make my own Post for this as well. I want more peeps to see it in hopes they will make a good shell, and unite people in their server. Forgive me!!

[Meleena]

I am a member of 2 main active Linkshells.
I know all the members on both of my main shells and I can party with any of them at any given time.
Finding someone to party with, or finding a crafter to fix my stuff was never a problem for me.

I support the having more than one LS mentality as long as you have nothing to gain for being 100% loyal with one guild.

So a LS for me is an easy way to find ppl to help you with ingame stuff, or chat and socialize.

[Fensfield]

To me?

It's a roleplay organisation medium >.>