The Furball

«Adventuring isn't all about killing monsters and getting levels, it's about the people you meet along the way.» - Maat

How to run a linkshell

February 07, 06 — 5 hugs!

When walking down any street or travelling through any rural area you will most certainly run into someone bearing a linkshell attached to his shoulder. It is and has been the best way of communicating with your friends, both new and old, since it was introduced just after the Crystal War.

Managing a linkshell of your own isn’t as easy as it may sound though, especially when the linkshell experiences a rapid growth. I’ll outline a few things to take into consideration when making a linkshell.

  1. Be unique.
    Before you make your linkshell you might want to consider what kind of linkshell you want to start. Do you want it to be a social linkshell or maybe a specialized linkshell for a certain type of monsters or events? Should it be restricted to a certain level range, the member’s nation or maybe even their race (team galka, anyone?) ?
  2. A home
    You should strive to make the linkshell feel like a home you want to go back to. There’s nothing more frustrating than a linkshell where no one cares about each other.
    1. Be active
      A leader shouldn’t just sit by himself and let everyone talk for him. Take part of discussions and answer people’s questions.
    2. Prohobit any offensive behavior
      A linkshell is a little community, and you should make sure no one gets insulted or harassed by fellow linkshell members.
    3. Care about their opinions
      People usually have a lot of ideas, and you should make sure people feel that their opinions matter. You don’t have to agree with everything they say, but at least take the time to listen to them.
    4. Treat people the same
      All members should be treated equally, no matter what. Just because you are goods friends with someone doesn’t mean he should be treated any better than the others. If people feel that they’ve been left out then they will most certainly leave the linkshell.
  3. Be clear
    1. Have clear rules
      Make sure everyone knows the linkshell’s rules, and explain why you have them in the first place. Also make a few guidelines on what will happen if someone breaks the rule. Will he get kicked or just recieve a warning. The pearlsack who kicks a member should also send a note about why he or she was kicked.
    2. Be honest
      Don’t fall into the temptation to take something that belongs to others. Gil or items, a theft is a theft. A leader found stealing something or keeping something away from the linkshell will hurt the linkshell as a whole and your reputation.
    3. Inform
      It’s a good idea to tell your linkshell of future plans and changes being done.
    4. Above all, make sure the pearlsacks also know what is happening to the linkshell. All of them.
  4. Be proactive
    1. Stop an argument before it turns into a fight.
    2. Talk with your linkshell members to sort out problems before they happen. Don’t make people feel that their presence isn’t appreciated.
  5. Be a leader
    1. Being a leader doesn’t mean you are always right. Being knowledgable and arrogant are two completely different things.
    2. Be firm in your decisions, but don’t go too far.
    3. Be just!
  6. You are not alone
    1. Appoint pearlsacks to help you take care of the linkshell.
    2. Your linkshell members are people, so make sure they are treated as such.

You should also ask yourself if the linkshell is really needed. There are hundreds of linkshells out there, and most of them are empty most of the time. Is it really worth the time and effort to make another linkshell? Maybe there’s a linkshell out there that will become your new home.

Kimiko the Furball
February 07, 06

I’ve decided to leave FantaSky after a few friends of mine have left the linkshell. We don’t have faith in the pearlsacks who are managing the linkshell anymore and how people are treated – that’s also why I decided to create this guide.

Our linkshell’s leader has kept the money items (non-Rare/Ex) to himself whenever we have fought a god without ever explaining what would happen to the money. There was 38,000,000 gil as of yesterday in the “linkshell bank” (at least that’s what they like to call it). It’s no wonder people are starting to get worried when an amount of gil like that are being kept hidden from them. I was the one who raised the question, but the leaders never really answered my question which of course raised our suspicions.

The linkshell had three core leaders, the linkshell leader and two pearlsacks that are his best friends. The other pearlsacks never got to know what was really going on. Why would you treat your co-leaders differently like that?!

Rapid changes of plans has also been bothering me. One week we’re doing farming on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the next week they’ve changed the schedule without giving prior warnings or taking people’s playing time into account. We’ve got a few European people on the linkshell and they were unable to be on during certain events.

A Divine Might run was hosted last weekend but was unsuccessful because we never got the pop item neccesary (just bad luck). The next week the “core leaders” said they didnd’t know of any reattempts on the mission and was rather rude when they told us to organize it ourselves. They were not interested at all since it wouldn’t benefit them. And everyone had expected to go do the mission since it was planned on the original run.

The leader wanted the linkshell to have a website, but never used it. Never wrote anything nor did he ever read anything either.

People seldom showed up during events, something that resulted in quite a few canceled events. This meant that I, who are an European player, ended up wasting a whole evening waiting for an event that people didn’t even bother coming to.

During linkshell runs the “core leaders” all shouted out how things were going to be done instead of having one person taking care of the whole process. This causes confusion among the linkshell members.

The “core leaders” almost never said anything on the linkshell, nor did they really bother to answer questions asked. Alarming in my opinion.

Oh, and last but not least. The linkshell was using a point system where you are awarded a certain amount of points for every half hour spent during events (pop item hunts and god runs). These points could be used to bid on the items you want, but the system was made in such a way that the leaders always ended up getting a lot of points (they did show up, I’ll grant them that. But they’d have to be present for the points to be awarded in the first place).

Now, the thing I was starting to get worried about is: what happens if Kirin’s Osode drops? If two linkshell members (or leader + member) have the same amount of points, and bids the same amount of points, who would get the item? The leader’s favorite person or do a fair and square /random? I would bet you 100,000 gil it would be the guy the leader likes the most. That’s totally unfair.

So, right now I only have the meow and Dienamis linkshells left. I don’t have a sky/HNM linkshell anymore since meow is a social linkshell.

Kirsteena
February 07, 06

Wow Kimi, sounds like you have had a real run of bad luck. Makes me realise how lucky I am with the linkshell I am in. Like you, I am European, but I chose to be in a NA HNMLS with friends – 2 of the five leaders I have known for well over a year (both of them invited me to join the ls about 4 months before I actually did) and most of my social ls is moving over to the HNMLS. As such the atmosphere is generally very friendly – yes we have our moments, but as we say, we don’t do drama, we have issues. Our leaders have created forums where people can speak their minds – and the level of discussions on linkshell issues are intelligent, well thought out discussions.

To organise a Divine Might then not have a pentasphere? The leader that organised our run actually waited until he had a pentasphere in his hands before he set a time and date – and he generously set it at a time I could go (we actually had well over the 18 people required for it, so can do another run).

As for linkshell fund – that is always a tricky one. Our system is you either use points to buy the big money items (or the ls gets them made into nobles tunic etc), or else the funds are split between those who went on the appriopriate gem hunt – not those who fought the gods. You always get more turning out for the gods than those who do the donkeywork, so I think this is a very fair system.

If there is ever a world shift – come to Bahamut!

Hugs – I hope you find a home soon.

Kimiko the Furball
February 07, 06

Thank you Kirsteena,

the Divine Might run wasn’t very well organized to begin with – like most of the other things with the shell. I really liked the people on it though – except for that Japanese guy who thought I was the purrrfect girl to flirt with. I don’t like people getting the wrong idea or trying to “get too close” since I’m married and have the best husband a mithra like me could ever have. I love Zelthas. :)

(which reminds me.. I need to make a plugin for simple emoticons. I want to get back my smileys, hearts and so on)

When I asked the leader just before leaving he said that the bank now had 38 million gil (and that’s when most of the linkshell realized that there was a bank in the first place since it had never occured to them that the items just dissapeared). The money will be used to sponsor a certain % of people’s cursed items and to offer gil for people’s points (let people sell their points).

I don’t have any abjuration items, nor do I really care much for the Zenith set (except for the Dalmatica) and the nice MP. There’s really only one thing I want from sky, and that’s a Venemous Claw – which I won’t get anyway. I don’t really care much about the Noble’s Tunic although it has a nice Cure Potency+ effect and looks good… I may get one handed down to me but not really getting my hopes up.

Right now I have the following priority:

Do Dynamis for Relic Armor

Do CoP missions to gain access to Limbus, explore new areas and complete the CoP story line to have something interesting to write about here. :)

Sky – part of the endgame I guess.

HNMs – seriously, I hate camping…

Kirsteena
February 07, 06

Want a Venemous claw? Grab a group of friends and go camp Tyrannic Turrock in Ifrit’s Cauldron. We have killed it with 4 before (carefully mind you), and got the drop. We do it for fun every now and then – also you can target Lindwurm (he is fairly close by) and get the skins which sell nicely. Good excuse for skill ups =)

I hope you enjoy CoP as much as I am (apart from the odd battle which is seriously annoying). Noble’s is very very nice, and if you can get one it is good, but if I wasn’t getting one left to me by a friend who is leaving, I probably wouldn’t bother with it.

Kylin
February 08, 06

Wow Kimi… I’m real sorry about what happened. Yendrix did mention something about that the other day to Obsidian, but I never got the full story. I do know, however, that Yendrix is now in Offline.

I have heard people say Tactics is a joke, but from what I seen by Obsidian, they really care about their HNM / Dynamis LS. You don’t have to be in Dynamis to be in the HNM ls and visa versa. They run off a point system that is easy to understand. And their trial is very easy. You start off with -100 points, and once you reach 0 points, your off trial (you can easily get to 0 points by doing 2 Kirin fights). If you wish to turn in your points if you ever decide to leave, you will gain a certian amount of gil per point. Very nice system.

All of the people there are friendly and I do know a few others myself that I’ve met or partied with (i.e. Butcher).

So if you ever decide to go back into another HNM ls, might want to look Tactics up. They also have a website:

http://www.ffshell.net/

Check them out

Leave a hug

Line breaks and paragraphs will be added automatically. Email addresses will never be published.

Note: Don't troll in my diary, please, it's bad karma. Although I'd rather not moderate hugs posted in my diary, off-topic, blatant insults, or otherwise inapproperiate hugs will be removed. Thank you!