Building a Better HNM Linkshell, Part 1

[Norelco]

Saying that a LS needs to have "no drama" to be successful is an ideal.

People are imperfect and they will always have wants and opinions that differ. Since this is an online game and their a huge level of anonymity, those characterisitcs are exemplified.

There will never be a LS that has no drama. A person or a group of people in this game will never be so perfect as to not bring any drama in a LS.

A LS is successful not because there is "no drama", because that's impossible; rather, a LS is successful is because they know how to deal with the drama.

There always going to be disputes over items, over playing time, over personal issues, over skill, and more. Every end-game LS that's created comes across these problems sooner or later.

That doesn't mean drama shouldn't be avoided, on the contrary, a LS leader should always take the initiative on avoiding uneccessary drama, but at times it's inevitable.

So hinting towards "no drama" is an absolute ideal. If you want to be a successful leader of a successful LS, then you have to learn how to deal with the drama and not let it make matters worse.

(Of course a successful LS also relies on having skilled members who aren't morons and are dedicated, among many other factors, but i'm just talking directly about the drama factor)

You're taking my words too literally. I know there is no such thing as "no drama"...and yes, it is an ideal, but everything you mentioned above entails striving for that ideal.

[Daahan]

how does saying that "no drama" is impossible and it's better to just deal with it imply striving for the ideal of "no drama"?

[Norelco]

how does saying that "no drama" is impossible and it's better to just deal with it imply striving for the ideal of "no drama"?

Sometimes a leadership squashing drama by dealing with it head on is a faster way of getting closer to "no drama" than it is to sweep it under the rug, ignore it, and letting it build to unmanageable proportions.

[Makore]

Best things I can offer in advice, are:

-- Find good, supporting sackholders who will help guide the shell, and have time to dedicate to the game / LS matters. Having people the members feel comfortable talking to greases the gears of the end-game machine and makes things go smoothly.

-- Set up basic guidelines ahead of time. You don't need to write out exact details of how you want things to be in the shell, but putting some kind of guideline helps members who may be interested know what they're getting into when they join the shell. Make sure it's clear what you're after (hardcore HNM camping, friendly laid-back enviornment, dynamis, etc). This will keep some people from joining who are detrimental to your LS's growth, by hopefully discouraging those with interests that conflict from yours from joining.


I'm half asleep, so I'm sure there are other things that would help you, but here are the two bigger ones I can think of off the top of my head. Hope it helps.

[Elesirdur]

-- Set up basic guidelines ahead of time. You don't need to write out exact details of how you want things to be in the shell, but putting some kind of guideline helps members who may be interested know what they're getting into when they join the shell. Make sure it's clear what you're after (hardcore HNM camping, friendly laid-back enviornment, dynamis, etc). This will keep some people from joining who are detrimental to your LS's growth, by hopefully discouraging those with interests that conflict from yours from joining.

That's a really good point, however I would suggest that you do write it out. I wrote a constitution including bylaws and a code of conduct as a measure to help keep Fanta together during its breakup period. You can see it in its unfinished (but 90% there) state here for a document download.

Without a set of written rules and regulations it's very easy to devlove into arguments of 'he said/she said' over a rule that someone decided on at some prior time. That's not to say that with a written document people won't argue over interpretations of certain articles, but when you have a common frame of reference for rule and order settling disputes is a much more civilized affair.

[Ryany]

I’d say to have an asexual leader.

Obviously that won’t happen. Therefore, I’d say to have a leader that is a good enough of a person in real life to be successful with the gender they are attracted to. That way they won’t get all emotional over some internet relationship.

[Samis]

Don't try to feed to many mouths!

keep a nice close circle of people who play the game well together. Deck them out, make shit easy on yourself... don't try to grow a ls beyond what you are capable of putting the time into.

Otherwise you end up with a ls full of people sitting around at end game with nothing to do but quit and not eough gear to go around.

GOGO 21-24 hour spawns.

[Omalika]

just wondering, is there going to be a "Building a better HNM linkshell, Part 2"?

[Boyiee]

To build a better HNM shell, do not choose leaders with slavic names to follow behind.

lol, i hope noone reads this that i know... i forget what my name is but its weird.

[Norelco]

Don't try to feed to many mouths!

keep a nice close circle of people who play the game well together. Deck them out, make shit easy on yourself... don't try to grow a ls beyond what you are capable of putting the time into.

Otherwise you end up with a ls full of people sitting around at end game with nothing to do but quit and not eough gear to go around.

GOGO 21-24 hour spawns.

Or you end up with a LS of just your close friends and not have enough for fights because everyone else quit at your biased ways.

Your suggestion pretty much goes against everything we've been discussing in this thread.

[Daahan]

Should change the thread's name to "Captain Obvious's Guide to Building a Linkshell"

[Daahan]

Defender of the Known?
(tmMartinius)

Yup lol

I'm just annoyed at the obvious and worthless "advice" that has been given in the thread.

[Norelco]

Defender of the Known?
(tmMartinius)

Yup lol

I'm just annoyed at the obvious and worthless "advice" that has been given in the thread.

Stop reading it then? What sort of specialized information do you want?

[Daahan]

Defender of the Known?
(tmMartinius)

Yup lol

I'm just annoyed at the obvious and worthless "advice" that has been given in the thread.

Stop reading it then? What sort of specialized information do you want?

I think I'll keep reading because A) there is a chance that people will post useful information and this topic has potential and B)These are my forums.

[Norelco]

Defender of the Known?
(tmMartinius)

Yup lol

I'm just annoyed at the obvious and worthless "advice" that has been given in the thread.

Stop reading it then? What sort of specialized information do you want?

I think I'll keep reading because A) there is a chance that people will post useful information and this topic has potential and B)These are my forums.

Criticizing supposedly obvious comments but then not offering up your own advice seems just as worthless.

I'll ask again. What sort of specialized information do you want?

[Daahan]

I wish had the time to sit here and offer you my entire compilation of experiences and instances of the Linkshells I have been in. Instead, at your request, I'll name a few things that come to me that seem important.

I think it's important that a LS does not adopt the "We're a family, so therefore everyone has to be friendly and there can be no drama" stance. I disagree with the idea that a LS is a family. As stated before, people in a LS want items, through the items they get more utility from the game. They get the $15 dollars a month that they pay for. My point being that if people have beef with each other, or want to start stuff with each other, let them. No person likes being babied around and being told what they can or cannot say. If you're LS is going to be successful, let them handle themselves like adults and say what they want to say, just as long as it's not wholly offensive to others (i.e. racist or prejudice remarks). It really is very strange. The LSes that I have been in that adopted the "family atmosphere" have all ended up in crap and disbanded, but the ones where people were free to act like adults and say what they wanted to say were the most successful.

As Elesirdur mentioned before, some sort of list of rules should be written down. I think writing a constitution with bylaws is going a little too far, but general rules for lotting rights in dynamis, abjurations, and other things is neccessary. That way, you can measure whether or a not a leader is being biased. If you sense bias, then take a look at those rules and see whether or not they jibe with what the leader is doing. Writing down rules may seem like something that Captain Obvious would say, but it's often taken for granted. If you stick to the rules (which lots of LSes don't), then you can avoid many problems.

The last thing that comes to my head is that idiocy should not be tolerated. Now I know that unless I give some details as to what I'm talking about, Norelco is going to be all up on my case. In my personal opinion, any sign of being a total idiot that can't do his job right is an idication that a person should be removed from the LS. Mistakes are going to be made by even the best players of a LS and that's okay, but here is an example that I think helps explain what I'm talking about:

My LS and I once went up to try and claim Cerberus but another LS beat us to it. In the main tank party of this particular LS, we see a Ninja who's wearing a Bomb Queen Ring and a Scorpion Harness, and it getting hit more than a PLD would. I wonder to myself, why would you want a moron like that in your LS? It only makes things more difficult.

Hence why I think trial periods, that are longer than only a couple days, are absolutely neccessary for a LS. As simple as it may sound, the core of many problems in a LS lies within people playing and acting like total idiots, and that's something that shouldn't be in an LS at all. There is no single person on this server that is the perfect player, but you can DEFINETLY distinguish between someone being a notable player between someone being a total idiot.

There are a lot of other things that I can mention, but that's what I'll choose to say right now.

So senor Norelco, that's the kind of information I think people should need to know. This is all in my opinion and I'm not saying it's the absolute truth, but it definetly beats "hey guys, no drama."

[Norelco]

Hehe, Daahan, it's a start.

Again though, I didn't exactly state my case when I said "no drama".
I really meant just do what you can to keep drama to a minimum. I'm also not advertising that a leadership needs to step in every time there is drama either. In my linkshell, if people want to duke it out we only ask that they bring it to /tell because most people don't want to read that bullshit. The last thing the average player wants to do when they log on is see people fighting. I never said it was an officer's/leader's job to police the LS. Yes, there are instances where an officer is asked to arbitrate or they step in because they feel things have gotten too far, but this sort of drama usually can be worked out between two people.

Furthermore, what I meant by "no drama" is obviously set up some drop rules that won't facilitate it. I don't want this to turn into another divine rule vs. point systems, but set up a system where a member knows where they stand so they don't feel ripped off when shit drops. If they don't feel ripped off they're less likely to complain.

Also, I didn't say anything regarding a "family" environment In my experiences, anyone who tells you their LS is a family is fucking full of shit. I was in a linkshell that were like "blah blah blah we're family we love one another" yet there was clearly favortism and instances where members got kicked because the leader had a bug up their ass. Since when do you treat your family members like shit or disown them? Don't buy into any linkshell that advertises being a family.

Furthermore...regarding leadership, it's my experience that democratic LS's are poorly run, meaning, don't set up a system where the leadership is elected. More often than not when you have re-election you won't find many people stepping forward to help lead. Someone who is an officer should have the time and want to be in that position, and they should know that it's not a path to get gear any faster than a regular member.

Also, no LS banks. A bank is always asking for trouble, especially when only one or two people have access to it. A breaking linkshell is like a person hitting the lottery for the owner of the bank, because in most cases he/she won't feel obligated at all to split what's inside of it. Luckily, when my last LS broke the leaders were aware of this and split the bank holdings between every member, but most of the time you won't see this happening. If you insist on having a bank, keep a book to show members exactly what goes in and what comes out so they are aware of what is in there at all times.

Anyway...I hope this is more specific information you wanted my me, Daahan...and less of the obvious information.

[Daahan]

I think having total "democracy" in a LS is also BS. Most of the decisions of a LS should be made by one person.

That doesn't mean the rest of the members don't have a say in anything. For example, if the LS brings up an issue about upgrading a relic using the LS's currency, then that should definetly be something the LS discusses as a whole.

LS members should also have a say when new people are applying to a LS. Good and bad input from current members on the applicant is a tremendous help. Combine that with the trial I mentioned earlier and 95% of the time you'll weed out the morons applying to your LS.

In my opinion, there can be other officers, but only to act in the case where the sole leader is not present, but when the leader is present, he should be making the decisions, mainly on drops.

The biggest problem with my argument here is that there is no perfect leader, and there are so many sole leaders out there who suck and are extremely biased. My argument is fixed, however, because of the fact that there are people who come pretty damn close to being the good and fair leader. I have come across a few in my time.

It's very possible to find the leader who limit his/her bias to the farthest extent, while giving people what they deserve. Finding the good leader, or being the good leader is difficult, but quite possible.