Creating and leading a Linkshell

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Creating and leading a Linkshell

Leading an LS does not make you a doormat.

heheh. Very true. Of course, it depends on the people and the expectations you set for them.

I'm in a pretty self-sufficient LS; the ratio of veteran players to newbies is very high. (Ok, I'm a forever-lowbie kind of a veteran player. >_>; )

The experienced players help the new people a lot (Kazham key, showing them the ropes on Promvyion fights, etc), but we expect them not pester us for PL or demand help with random things all the time. We also expect them to look for ways to contribute to the LS.

The veteran players then craft, level main or alternate jobs, or do missions/quests--whatever they want. No one make them help other people in the LS--everyone just sort of jumps to it.

We're also a very lay back group; it's a social LS with big emphasis on freedom. While no one is "forced" to do anything, we do have events and goal-orientated perma groups as well as static exp parties within the LS.

Mazon, I commend you for wanting to start a LS to help the new players; it's a noble goal and I wish you good fortune and great fun. ^_^

[Icemage]

Re: Creating and leading a Linkshell

Regarding the veterans vs. newbies thing:

No, it is NOT always a two way street. My original social LS at the start of NA retail had a lot of very intense and dedicated players, and our core membership of about 15 members worked very hard for about 4 months to get our AF armors for everyone, with occasional help from "sometime" members.

This caused a huge rift in the membership, where our primary members (including myself) who had spend countless hours camping for coffer keys and fighting one AF3 NM after another grew resentful of the people who would only show up for battles or keys that they themselves needed, but would never come to help other members. We eventually got a reputation as being a place where it was easy to get AF armor - since we focused on it so much harder than most other groups, and so were constantly pestered by people who wanted to join, many of whom ended up splitting once they got what they wanted.

It got so bad that at one point most of us simply started refusing to help other members with AF - we never, ever saw any payback for the favors we did for others, and ended up kicking all of the lazy ones out (which caused even more friction as it split up existing friendships, and very nearly destroyed the LS).

This is a primary example of one of the pitfalls of being a "help newbies"-style LS: people have a bad tendency to abuse trust, and not return favors owed. Not all players are that way, but I can say with hard experience that the honorable ones are far outnumbered by the dishonorable ones.

If you're going to lead a LS, make sure you don't make the same mistakes my LS went through.


Icemage

[Nakti]

Re: Creating and leading a Linkshell

Being an LS leader takes work. If you're very active at leading, plan on spending 2/3 of your FFXI-related time just researching and coordinating events. By "events" I mean anything from NM-hunting, quests, missions to farming and celebration parties. The events help improve morale and comaraderie. If you have a wide range of member levels, you'll need to be creative with events so you don't leave out the same people all the time.

Having a 2nd in command and designating some of your pearlsack holders as officers to share duties will help immensely and let you enjoy the game more on your own. But the leader needs to be present a lot of the time. The leader sets the rules and should not be afraid to enforce them. The leader sets the tone and mood("soul") of the LS.

Way back when, my husband and I started an LS originally just for the 2 of us and the few RL friends who joined. But we met some very nice people (some of whom we still play with) and decided to invite them in. As a conscientious person, I tried very hard to make the LS enjoyable and useful, but it took its toll. I'm not a hardcore player. I can't play long hours without getting tired and my level advancement is slow. I died so many times while trying to "help" others that I became a burden instead. Soon, RL issues began preventing me from playing FFXI much and I more or less left the LS to be handled by my husband and friends. Thankfully, they've been picking up some of the slack, but the LS is still...a bit anemic.

If you're afraid that new players will just be taking advantage of your LS (so far we haven't had much of that problem), set a probation period. Use that time to determine whether the LS & new member are a good match. Afterward, you can extend the probation time, welcome them as a full member, or drop them. Remember, though, there's more to benefiting others than just having a high-level job. There's information, crafting, and morale as well. It's good to be flexible about what truly "benefits" the LS as a whole.

My LS has an LS bank which contains items like the Mog Safe expansion beds to be lent around. The money to buy them came from an LS NM-camping event. We also have a website dedicated to the LS which helps a great deal.

Good luck!

sheesh, I wrote a novella!

[Ellamir]

Re: Creating and leading a Linkshell

I only have a small social LS ^^ but as i started it during the early levels, i can give you my experience.

LightWarrior LS was created sometime near November-December 2004, and the original members were "anyone that we deemed cool to play with" as we were fresh and new to the game and still excited about it all.

In the course of our gametime, we realized that there were some characteristics that those who had become closest friends shared, for example not liking PL, actually trying things ourselves (or with appropriate level help) and a sense of pride for tough achievements (as opposed to being spoonfed) much of this, of course, was the result of us -being- the linkshell, and not bugging outside friends for help except when absolutely necessary.

As differences showed, and people who did not really share these traits left, we set up some rules, some of which are guidelines, some others are just that, rules.

We started being a friends' linkshell.
We shared our love of the game, and sharing this space with intelligent, honourable people.
We don't look to increase our numbers, so we do not openly recruit... quality is better than quantity.
Even so, we enjoy meeting new friends, and we accept new people to the linkshell when they ask, when they really want to share our trust, friendship, and the spirit behind our being together.

Please:

- Play Clean that includes no gilbuying/mpk. If you have done that in the past... please dont do it again
- No begging for gil, equipment, teles, whatever. You can ask though.
- Avoid PL; don't use it a sistematic way to level, and try not to give PL either unless for a specific reason (dlvl, st pt, etc)
- No excess of profanity because some of us really despise bad language.
- Be willing to help others. If you need some help, organize it in advance.
- Should be your primary social LS, you can have "rear" specific linkshells (dynamis, sky, etc) but this should be considered "home" and share most of the time with us
- Have fun! with the adventure side of Vana'diel. The game is not just about levelling up

In addition to this, I might add that within the LS, there are certain cliques, usually derived from statics, or just sharing same gaming time. Sometimes it is a specific clique that will take care of helping someone else who needs. Most commonly we ask everyone that if they need help, they organize it (we got a forum) and investigate in advance.

I hope this helps you somehow ^^ just make sure you keep true to what you create the linkshell for.

Ellamir

[Mazon]

Re: Creating and leading a Linkshell

Sorry to pull this thread back from the dead, but I wanted to let you all know what came about from this.

Me and my girl did in fact start out our own linkshell GuiltyPleasures. We have and are still recruiting players old and new.

We stand at about 20 some players for the most part, it's about 88% New players, and it's turned out just the way we were hoping. These guys aren't asking for gil, items, etc and we've made clear that, that won't fly in the ls. Instead, they've been asking about how they can make gil by farming, what craft(s) should they consider for early stages of making money, they've been partying together (duo style in the early levels), we even had our first LS Dunes party 2 nights ago. Not a single death.

All in all, we're all doing great, and I just wanted to thank you all again for your input. We've laid down the rules, and we're looking to have fun now.

[Icemage]

Re: Creating and leading a Linkshell

Great to hear that you've made good progress, Mazon. Best of luck to you!


Icemage

[Nazo]

Re: Creating and leading a Linkshell

I would also go as far as saying you should plan out an exit strategy if you do create one; if you ever quit the game, what should happen to the LS? Merger with another? Break shell and have someone else recreate and gather? Continue to pay for your account to keep the shell intact while someone else acts as the leader?

OK reading this has got me worried, the leader of our ls doesn't play anymore and isn't coming back but still has her account as far as I know. I suppose at some point she will probably decide to cancel it, when this happens does our ls cease to exist? Is it possible to transfer leadership to someone else in the shell?

[neighbortaru]

Re: Creating and leading a Linkshell

no you can't transfer LS leadership. As long as her character still exists, whether she pays for it or not, and has the shell, your LS will continue to go on. When her character gets deleted (and thus the shell too), your LS will be broken.

[Nakti]

Re: Creating and leading a Linkshell

OK reading this has got me worried, the leader of our ls doesn't play anymore and isn't coming back but still has her account as far as I know. I suppose at some point she will probably decide to cancel it, when this happens does our ls cease to exist? Is it possible to transfer leadership to someone else in the shell?

The LS will still exist, but it will make maintenance of the LS very difficult since the shell-holder gets privileges that pearl- and sack-holders don't. When a shell-holder's account gets canceled, the existing pearls and sacks will remain (they won't break). My husband and I still have pearls to a defunct LS for old times' sake.

It's best for someone new to buy a new linkshell and create pearls for everyone who was in the old one. As neighbortaru said, you can't transfer leadership.

[Icemage]

Re: Creating and leading a Linkshell

I still hold a pearlsack for my old LS (which is long since defunct). It did not break when the shellholder retired for good.


Icemage

[neighbortaru]

Re: Creating and leading a Linkshell

hmm, was this retire as in stopped content id, character goes away after x months retire
-or-
hit delete character retire?

[Nakti]

Re: Creating and leading a Linkshell

hmm, was this retire as in stopped content id, character goes away after x months retire
-or-
hit delete character retire?

In my case, the old leader had some financial difficulties and SE suspended his account. Several months went by and someone else happened to make a new character with the same name as the old LS' leader. In the end, the old leader decided to make a permanent switch to World of Warcraft and gave up trying to re-establish his FFXI account. Since he didn't specifically delete his FFXI char, SE may still be keeping a backup of it with linkshell intact. At this point, it's been about 2 years.

[Icemage]

Re: Creating and leading a Linkshell

I think he cancelled his ContentID. I'm sure he didn't delete his character, but he's been inactive for over a year, so the character should (at the very least) be soft deleted by now.


Icemage

[neighbortaru]

Re: Creating and leading a Linkshell

Since he didn't specifically delete his FFXI char, SE may still be keeping a backup of it with linkshell intact. At this point, it's been about 2 years.

ah I see. I think so too. just in case ppl will return in the Return to Vanadiel campaigns