"Final Fantasy XIV has such a wonderful, welcoming community!"
Part Two

But there comes a point, and we all know it, when a Free Company starts to see more questions, or requests for help or guidance, than it sees answers. Veterans start getting more focused on end-game content, which is a major time sink, and slowly-but-surely membership starts to dip. The veterans notice and start actively recruiting again, but there is less enthusiasm for answering questions or investing time in older content for the sake of a random newbie with whom the veterans have little, or no, rapport. membership dips again, quicker this time. Some veterans start to gripe about new players, or even older players with less time or energy to invest than themselves. Slowly the chasm grows, as the FC relies more and more on recruiting gimmicks like contests and giveaways, and less and less on personal interactions and human investment in the membership. That gap between the elite veteran members and everybody else grows wider still, and some start to view it as a firebreak. A way to separate the worthy from the unworthy.

And then it happens. The first spat between veterans. Usually when someone find themselves a few steps behind in content, or when someone expresses an opinion, thought, or feeling that someone else finds disagreeable. The argument may, if the FC is lucky, be easily dealt with and resolved with the intercession of another veteran reinforcing the common bonds and helping to remind each that they have more in common than not. The problem may then resolve with a few apologies.

Or, it may quickly (sometimes very, very quickly) dissolve into mockery, insults and hurt feelings. Someone either leaves the Free Company or is ejected, depending on who exactly is involved, and what the exact circumstances are. And the remaining veterans further tighten around their shrinking membership, circling the wagons, and after a few minutes (possibly) of pondering what exactly happened and why...they drift back into their own individual affairs, most likely never to speak of the matter again. And it is almost certain that nobody will, afterword, reach out to the warring parties to try and soothe hurt feelings or rebuild what was broken. We all know that in an MMO, when you cut ties, it's forever. As much because people are fundamentally lazy and selfish about their social ties in an MMO as anything else.