Going about building a ls!

[Zhero]

Over the past couple of years, SE has given the players a lot to do in the spare time of the game. We have some ls that specialize in 2 to 3 EG events and some that do all.

At the moment, I want to rebuild my ls, which is a average social at the moment! Just how do I go about doing this without it getting out of hand..

Most of my friends tell me I should start small with something like Assault/Salvage and go from there. I know the most common ways to do it is to.

1. Shout
2. Get Friends to join
3. Word of mouth
4. external curiousity (People examining your character and theyre impressed by the gear)

My ls peeps and I discussed ways to go about this 2nite. Just asking for some solid advice from some more advance players with established ls.. how do we go about getting more activity w/o over stressing ourselves generally?

[LilWhmMan]

Every LS I have ever seen, was started by a small core group of friends who enjoyed doing things lowman with each other. And weren't afraid to fail and keep trying. Just keep going like you are, and people will begin to come along. Word of mouth is your bestfriend. You don't want to shout, those people only want gear. You want people who will be happy to be in the shell. Just let word of mouth spread that you are doing things. It will grow.

Disclaimer: Word of mouth works if you have a good group. If you have a bunch of douchebags (I don't know who you have) then it doesn't work as well.

[malak]

What the guy before me said. Don't shout for members. Those almost always end up being complete messes of linkshells. Start small, learn how to coordinate people and events. Eventually, quality people will find out about your linkshell, become interested and apply.

You can start doing like two events a week. If that's not enough, try more. If you or your members feel like you're too busy with events, back off some. It's all just common sense really.

[Zhero]

how long does it usually take to get good results?

[The Stig]

how long does it usually take to get good results?

6+ months

Don't expect instant results and prepare to be dealing with lots of petty issues even ...

[Thistle]

My ls peeps and I discussed ways to go about this 2nite. Just asking for some solid advice from some more advance players with established ls.. how do we go about getting more activity w/o over stressing ourselves generally?

If you're looking to attract quality players, keep in mind that there are many things potential new members would judge you on. For example, I would never join a LS where a leader used "2nite". If you're unwilling to put the effort into typing "tonight" (oh my god! It's two letters longer!), I'd have to strongly question the effort you'd put into other things.

Maybe you type differently on-game, I don't know. Just something for you to keep in mind.

[TacoTaru]

It really depends on what you what want to do in a longer term. If all you want to do is Assault/Salvage then 5 other reliable friends is all you need. I help run a Dynamis shell with my LS lead and we recruit strictly by word of mouth (sometimes people inquire out of bazaar comments as well).

Like someone else said, only do enough that your lsmates are willing to handle. If you plan to get substantially bigger I'd HIGHLY recommend divvying up your responsibility as well. Nothing would be a kick in the balls to the people under you more than being in say an active dynamis shell, you get tired and decide that the shell is suddenly over because you have no more interest. Plan accordingly so that as people get tired and need breaks or simply don't want to play anymore the shell has long term future goals as well as the short term and is still able to function accordingly. That said, if you're looking to larger scale events that's going to require anything more then a party or so of people you can rely on to be fair and rotate the drops accordingly and not be pricks, there are plenty of threads on what kind of system you should use to make your loot system "fair".

[AmarenFairy]

1. Shout
2. Get Friends to join
3. Word of mouth
4. external curiousity (People examining your character and theyre impressed by the gear)

1. Shout? Havent you tried this before? Infact i know you have, seeing as you havent still got any members, shows how much they value your company.

2. Well, wouldnt your friends already be in the LS?

3. Fair Point.

4. Ive seen your gear, i dont mean to sound out of order, but you aint exactly pimp..

Best way to start and LS is what you are currently doing, start small and work larger.

I have been running an LS for around 3 years now, i wouldnt change it for the world, we only have an average of 8-12 people on at peak times. It still works for me.

[Silenka]

If you're looking to attract quality players, keep in mind that there are many things potential new members would judge you on. For example, I would never join a LS where a leader used "2nite". If you're unwilling to put the effort into typing "tonight" (oh my god! It's two letters longer!), I'd have to strongly question the effort you'd put into other things.

Maybe you type differently on-game, I don't know. Just something for you to keep in mind.

Thhhhhissssss

A lot of your credibility is how you present yourself to others. Even if it's a game and you can't be bothered to type out full words...well, do it anyway. A leader has to command respect or else his followers will be less sure of him and try to take charge themselves.

A good event to start with is ZNM. This way you can see who are the diligent people (go out and get zeni themselves, or join your zeni-getting runs) and who are the greedy people (our shell freelots a lot of stuff, especially on T3 because of our rules). It's a fair gauge of talent as well because all the mobs are so different, you can have your members go on different jobs every time and see who is best at what. Not to mention ZNM is a fun and rewarding thing to do, get your ls some nice gear to take into other situations.

[Tubbers]

If you're looking to attract quality players, keep in mind that there are many things potential new members would judge you on. For example, I would never join a LS where a leader used "2nite". If you're unwilling to put the effort into typing "tonight" (oh my god! It's two letters longer!), I'd have to strongly question the effort you'd put into other things.

Maybe you type differently on-game, I don't know. Just something for you to keep in mind.

As odd as this sounds, especially coming from me, I don't really agree with this at all. While there probably is some correlation with using correct grammar/spelling and putting forth a lot of effort into your shell, a large number of excellent players and excellent leaders have atrocious spelling. I'd go as far as to say the majority of good LS leaders do not have fantastic grammar/spelling. From my own LS I can name at least three people, and there are plenty on BG as well, Arthars comes to mind right away!

Honestly the only leaders I know of with near perfect grammar/spelling all the time are Aiyanna and Merona.

That said, try to spend the time to type neatly anyways

[Thistle]

a large number of excellent players and excellent leaders have atrocious spelling.

Oh, I don't disagree with that at all. I'm sure there are many fine players who couldn't spell/type their way out of a paper bag. However, I'm also sure that there are a number of players like me who would not put up with their online lives being full of "lol", "gay", "iono", "2nite", etc.

I bet you could make a skilled LS full of people who cannot type or type like they're straight out of an AOL chatroom, but that's a LS that would chase away many people.

Honestly the only leaders I know of with near perfect grammar/spelling all the time are Aiyanna and Merona.

The leaders of both my social (two leaders) and Dynamis (three leaders) LS all type nearly as well as I do. A "lol" slips in now and then, but I can put up with that. "lol i dont no lol where 2 kamp lol lol lol" I cannot put up with.

[drwaffles]

I've met both fantastic players who type like AOLers and fucking God-awful players that "Type in this manner at all times whilst logged into the game.". However, I have to agree that, in most cases, quality of typing does indeed correlate to how good a player the person in question is. Funnily enough, though, for some reason people that use capital letters and fullstops for every sentence in-game piss me off; I think it might be because "Lol." and "Yes." and such look extremely pretentious, and can easily seem insincere or patronizing.

[Zanz L. Barre The 3rd]

I fucking hate when people capitalize "lol."

[Zhero]

1. Shout? Havent you tried this before? Infact i know you have, seeing as you havent still got any members, shows how much they value your company.

2. Well, wouldnt your friends already be in the LS?

3. Fair Point.

4. Ive seen your gear, i dont mean to sound out of order, but you aint exactly pimp..

Best way to start and LS is what you are currently doing, start small and work larger.

I have been running an LS for around 3 years now, i wouldnt change it for the world, we only have an average of 8-12 people on at peak times. It still works for me.

I wasnt talking about my gear specifically Amaren! Just the reason people might want to join a shell is because of that also.

[cdgreg]

There was another topic along these lines recently with a lot of replies. Maybe in events?

[Kumbai]

I fucking hate when people capitalize "lol."

My iPhone automatically does it... and I type so fast on it I tend to send it before realising.... so I always have to text them back and be like "lol* -_-;" cause LOL looks stupid ;x Same with all acronyms actually, wish I could turn it off. (If you can and you know how, PM me <3)

[Byrthnoth]

If you're looking for a fun and profitable event to do (and think your LS is up to it) you can go low-man Dynamis - Bastok to start up an LS bank. You should be able to pull in a few ores with 1-2 parties worth of people with approximately the right jobs, and 2 ores pays for the run on my server even just letting currency free-fall. As long as you get about 7 ores per Bastok, you could alternate between the starter cities and the bank would never run out of gil.

[Thistle]

Funnily enough, though, for some reason people that use capital letters and fullstops for every sentence in-game piss me off; I think it might be because "Lol." and "Yes." and such look extremely pretentious, and can easily seem insincere or patronizing.

You hate me then!

However, I've never once in my life used "lol", so you don't have to hate me for typing "LOL"?

"Lol." is stupid though. 'lol' is not a word. 'LOL' is correct, 'lol' and 'Lol' are both equally wrong.

[Cantih]

Also, members will come and go. You will get people who flake out after a few months, but over time, you'll get someone who stays, then another, and another.
These people will be dedicated, and they may also be good. Treasure them, they'll be the most valuable thing you have.

[drwaffles]

You hate me then!

However, I've never once in my life used "lol", so you don't have to hate me for typing "LOL"?

"Lol." is stupid though. 'lol' is not a word. 'LOL' is correct, 'lol' and 'Lol' are both equally wrong.

If you want to be truly pedantic, the correct abbreviation would be "L.O.L.".