What do you look for in your FC when you consider joining a new one?

[Enla]

I generally only join FC's of people I know these days but if I were suddenly to up and leave I'd be looking for the following qualifications:

-A good deal of maturity and an ability to laugh off drama for the sake of community cohesion. That isn't to say I like communities where genuine issues aren't talked about, but the friend group I've been with for the better part of four years has a pretty strict 'talk it out, don't trouble others - but if talking it out doesn't work then we'll step in and help mediate' policy. You're expected to be an adult and solve issues like one. Not triangulate your fellow Free Company members and cause petty drama. I've seen way too many Free Companies allow nasty people to stay with them and cause discomfort within the ranks, and also allow rather childish behavior to run rampant - to the point I just don't have any tolerance for it anymore.
-Keeping the buffs up.
-A well managed discord. It doesn't need to be active from a voice comms perspective however.
-Leaders who actually act like leaders and not children with god complexes. Fastest way to get me to leave a Free Company is to see the leadership be petty rather than restrained and thoughtful. Ain't nobody got time for being managed by someone with the emotional intelligence of a five year old.

Other than that, eh? I prefer casual guilds so that's pretty much the extend of my requirements.

[Renato]

Social interaction is the biggest thing for me but I'm kind of picky about it. It's more a personal liking that anything.

Most of the FCs I've joined have been with generally nice people for the most part but most of the have also been filled with people who liter the chat box with odd jokes, OwO symbols or just generally goof off to break the silence during downtime which I find really annoying. I'm 31 years old...I don't mind just having a converstaion about random stuff. How was your day? What are you working on in-game? What's your favorite FF? I don't know something interesting. I've yet to find an FC that I just "fit" with and it sucks. Like...Make me want to log on to just hang out and chat with friends when I'm not doing anything of importance. Or let's do some dungeon runs, or go searching for aether currents...I don't know.

Another thing I look for is an FC where people are online often around the same time I am. I prefer the smaller groups to be honest as they seem more tight nit.

FCs that do side-events are cool too. I joined one on Leviathan once before I switched servers that held Triple Triad tournaments every Friday at a certain time. I don't even play TT but I thought it was cool. It was a nice gathering and a good way to meet people.

[Aeducan]

Good for you for taking the time to gather more information, this attitude will take you far as an FC leader. Throughout my journey on FF, I've joined 3 FCs and I've been FC-less for about 9 months now. These 3 FCs that I joined had some things in common:

1. Medium-size FC (<30): I don't want to become "just another name" down the list, which tend to happen when the FC gets too big. I knew everyone in the FCs I was in and we were close enough to call each other by our irl names. I think this is the most important thing: sense of belonging and camaraderie.
2. They were specific on the things they could offer: how often do you see "we have a house, helpful people, etc" when people advertise their FC? Personally I've seen plenty and never find those appealing. For example, my first FC specifically mentioned that it was a school FC; designed to help sprouts integrate into the game and we were expected to "graduate" (aka leave the FC) at one point. Establishing expectations is healthy for both sides: they would know what they're getting into by joining your FC and you don't have to be master of all trades IOT satisfy your members, constantly feeling like you have to engage and please them so they won't get bored and leave the FC. I'd say RP FC advertisements on Balmung are pretty good: they tend to be specific in their lore-building focus and that attracts like-minded individuals.

As for name, it really comes down to personal taste. Personally, I won't join FC with names like "Knights of Death" or "Dragon Warriors" but others might find them cool. Although I'm FC-less, I run a cross-world LS to keep in touch with my friends and we're technically an FC on its own minus the nametag, buff, and house. My naming taste is a bit random, but my friends seem to like it. Here are the names:

Gault Cres
Helden Sterben Nicht
Éclair de Larmes
Ding Dong Dell

usually during Christmas I change it to Operation Red Nose just for fun. I see that you're also on Balmung; it'd be interesting to see what you ended up deciding with. Who knows, perhaps I'll see your advertisement one day, haha. In any event, good luck and I hope you gained something from this.

[TwistedTea]

1. I look at the name/FC tag. If your FC name is Pantsu even as a joke...nah. I like to see a name,even a joke one, that clearly has been well-thought out by leadership.

2. An FC, that is focused in a few areas rather than trying to be the jack of all trades.

You wanna be a raiding FC?

Okay be a raiding FC.Don't also try to be a casual FC because raiders and 'casuals' are very different groups of people with different mindsets.

Wanna be a RP/Crafting/Gathering FC?

Same as above, just focus on your core areas in order to attract and retain like-minded people.

Also, on this note, I cringe when I see FC recruitment ads,stating that the FC "is friendly,social,will be your second family, LGBTQ inclusive..."

Like duh, is there an FC out there that thinks,"Gee, it would be great to be exclusionary anti-social a-holes"

3. Member count.

I've found smaller FCs better (10-20 members). In a large FC, often you're just another name in the FC list until you find your own clique,at which point you can ignore everyone else.

4. Do regular FC members make new members feel welcome?

Not asking for regulars to drop everything when a new players logs in to help them out. But do regulars at least say, "Hi" when a new member logs in. Do regulars try to include new members in all group activities?

5. Communication. If FC chat is dead, at least be active on Discord.

6. So this is more of a personal gripe and perhaps an age thing but I often see FCs advertise themselves as for "mature people,18+, who like to make adult jokes from time to time".

Often this translates to, chat/Discord is mostly going to be filled with NSFW stuff. If a FC's collective maturity and humour revolve mainly around NSFW stuff, that's a red flag for me.

[Vivi_Bushido]

Good for you for taking the time to gather more information, this attitude will take you far as an FC leader. Throughout my journey on FF, I've joined 3 FCs and I've been FC-less for about 9 months now. These 3 FCs that I joined had some things in common:

1. Medium-size FC (<30): I don't want to become "just another name" down the list, which tend to happen when the FC gets too big. I knew everyone in the FCs I was in and we were close enough to call each other by our irl names. I think this is the most important thing: sense of belonging and camaraderie.
2. They were specific on the things they could offer: how often do you see "we have a house, helpful people, etc" when people advertise their FC? Personally I've seen plenty and never find those appealing. For example, my first FC specifically mentioned that it was a school FC; designed to help sprouts integrate into the game and we were expected to "graduate" (aka leave the FC) at one point. Establishing expectations is healthy for both sides: they would know what they're getting into by joining your FC and you don't have to be master of all trades IOT satisfy your members, constantly feeling like you have to engage and please them so they won't get bored and leave the FC. I'd say RP FC advertisements on Balmung are pretty good: they tend to be specific in their lore-building focus and that attracts like-minded individuals.

As for name, it really comes down to personal taste. Personally, I won't join FC with names like "Knights of Death" or "Dragon Warriors" but others might find them cool. Although I'm FC-less, I run a cross-world LS to keep in touch with my friends and we're technically an FC on its own minus the nametag, buff, and house. My naming taste is a bit random, but my friends seem to like it. Here are the names:

Gault Cres
Helden Sterben Nicht
Éclair de Larmes
Ding Dong Dell

usually during Christmas I change it to Operation Red Nose just for fun. I see that you're also on Balmung; it'd be interesting to see what you ended up deciding with. Who knows, perhaps I'll see your advertisement one day, haha. In any event, good luck and I hope you gained something from this.

I actually really like your names. Perhaps you could help me pick one haha

[Vivi_Bushido]

Thanks for all the advice everyone, this has definitely been educational for me. I think I am confident on how I want to take my FC though I still struggle with the name. I have been at it all day but just can't really come up with anything that clicks for me. I don't want anything that sounds very RP-ish, and most names thus far seem to fall along those lines. I though about a meme name but that was even tougher. Best one I could think of was "My Heals Missed" and even then, that felt to memey? Like not even a funny way.

[Raltar]

The FC I am in, barely anyone ever talks. But the EXP buffs are always up. I mostly joined because my brother and cousin are in it and they have the exp buffs. I'm waiting for my schedule to stabilize before looking to get into a raiding FC and at that point the thing I will mostly be looking at is raid times and if they are looking for a tank.

[Vivi_Bushido]

The FC I am in, barely anyone ever talks. But the EXP buffs are always up. I mostly joined because my brother and cousin are in it and they have the exp buffs. I'm waiting for my schedule to stabilize before looking to get into a raiding FC and at that point the thing I will mostly be looking at is raid times and if they are looking for a tank.

I don't really know how to go about the exp buff thing somethings. I was once in an FC where someone had asked for some raid buffs for one day, 3 hours only. We had enough credits to compensate them. They did nothing wrong and we provided for them. One FC member exploded sooo hard when Heat of the Battle was disabled (they weren't even using it at the time cause they were role playing). Started calling the guy that wanted the raid buffs an elitist and if they wanted to raid they should go join a proper raiding FC. Mentioned how they had to stand up for the casuals before this turned into a regular problem and was just out right aggressive about it. We didn't see any issue with having the buffs on for 3 hours and left them alone. Surprisingly enough, this bothered them enough that they, and 5 other people left the FC right then and there all because Heat of Battle was off for 3 hours....

Ever since then, I had been terrified to put anything else on, like ever.

But honestly apart of me also feels that if you're here just for that buff, you can go find some place else.

[Allegor]

The one thing I look for in an FC is one that participates in the same level of content I want to do and actively throws up invitations to members, regardless if they know how to clear the said fight (assuming they're showing interest in learning).

for example, my FC:

leader: "hey anyone wanna come clear Titania ex"
player: "i havent got past phase x"
leader: "dont worry about it, come anyway"

Our whole FC teaches one another and its a pretty great thing. On weekends, we sub for each others statics to help people get their weekly clear. I guess my point is that an FC that fosters a culture of helping one another get through tough content really forges a bond (it did for me at least) and now I never want to leave.

For me, it's all about the socialization and sense of community. There is nothing worse than being in an FC and no one chats or says anything. I've had pretty bad luck in this area where I've joined an FC and it's very quiet socially or you ask for help and it's like talking to a brick wall.

The whole point for me is to have people to engage with and enjoy the game with. Otherwise, I would just stick to playing solo.

Pretty much this. I couldn't upvote enough

[Aeducan]

I actually really like your names. Perhaps you could help me pick one haha

Aww haha, thanks. Well, just send me a tell either tonight or during the weekends and I'd be happy to brainstorm FC names with you. It's always good to make new friends