If you're a casual, but active player, we may be the right for you. Mostly for the soc chat, but we do trade, and naturally give advice to new players, do some team hunts now and then. Most members are europeans(timezone), and we are Calypso based. You're very welcome to join!
Thank you! It will be a long road, or cost peds in bribes ;). Maybe I/we should change the name. Suggestions?
A name is just a name, but if it has meaning to the members it can be even more. When we formed Lost Renegades we spent a day hanging out and brainstorming on a name, but now years later it is pretty much just a name. (though the original core members have some sentiment attached to it) I think bribing is the wrong road to go down, I am a firm believer in quality over quantity when building up your society. The biggest thing you will need is consistency in leadership. In the 4 years since we founded our soc (I am the general) there have been only a handful of days which I have not logged in. I have seen lots of socs start-up and seem to be growing strong when the leader takes a few weeks or a month off either due to RL responsibilities or in game frustrations and returns wondering why their soc fell apart. (I have never observed assigned leadership during the true leaders absence working out well either) While I think bribing is a bad idea, generosity is not. When building up a society (at least one interested in helping new players) group hunts, tp runs, adventures, etc... usually end up costing the 'leadership' or higher lvl players in the group more than the low level or recruits. Its just the way the game works. You kill an atrox, a feffoid, an argonot, or whatever it is that agros on you during your adventures, most of the cost to kill is yours while they plink away with their opalo or modern day equivalent. Be a mentor in action rather you use the in game system or not. Study the game, study the items, study the systems. Have fun, relay that enjoyment to your members. Be open to different opinions, ideas, and approaches to the game, everyone plays differently and it is those differences that can make a society strong, or tear it apart depending on how you approach it. If you have a spouse, get them involved in leadership with you. Lost Renegades wouldn't be where it is now without my wife's dedication to it and its members. (esp. during events etc.. where I am not able to communicate as easily with everyone and times while I am at work) I think a website w/ private forum, or getting a private forum here (or any of the entropia related forums that offer private groups) would help a lot with keeping track of players with different playing times and scheduling soc events/outings etc...) Having groups or groupings of similar skilled or at least same activity level players is important for camaraderie as well. When I started Lost Renegades I had 30k skills and my colonels had 20-30k, so we started pretty fresh. We thought we knew it all (and still do :D) but the point is we were at a similar lvl and our 'lower' skilled members were all the same level as well. I think its easiest to recruit in batches so that they can grow and skill together. The longer your society has been going the more 'groupings' of skill levels and activities you will have. This will make it easier for new members to grow at their own speed and find their comfort zone. We currently have non-depositing life time sweater who enjoy that level of play, and we have players who deposit 1000s a month, we have players with over 300k skills, we have shop owners, traders, miners, crafters, etc.... this makes it easy for new members to find their niche in the soc at their comfort lvl. It is hard to do this and stay small enough to keep the 'family' feel though, and that is the hardest part imo. I have never wanted to be a 'top soc' because I want to let people play for fun how they want to, but it is fun to see when your guys make it into the top slots on tracker or the hof list. Well, sorry about all the rambling, not sure if its helpful or not. Basically to run a good soc you have to be the Patriarch, the dictator, the diaper changer, the shoulder to cry on, the buddy to hunt with, the adviser, the teacher, the friend, the trusted allia(however you spell someone your in an alliance with), the rock that never moves, and to be the fun and family that your people need. gl and have fun with it :) narfi
Really don't know what to answer, because I got a bit hubled or something. That, Sir, is one of the best notes on running a soc that I've ever read! And I've been playing mmos from before UO was released.
This old thread had some interesting responses: http://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?157429-Your-Society-Experiences
"we spent a day hanging out and brainstorming on a name" Brainstorming is always good. Narfi hit most of the key points. I would stress the point about the soc leader being active and taking time to pm members just to keep the communication going. Greet, gratz and goodbye are very important for morale and soc longevity. You might also want to work out some basic soc rules particularly for promotions and kicks - and tell possible new members these guidelines before they join. It will save a lot of problems in the future. GL with the new soc and I hope to see members of 1st Society lighting up the HOF board soon.
