[Murphie]

I see what he was getting at (Consigliere) re: Help.

If you as a leader don't make an effort to encourage higher level members to help out the lower leveled ones, or even to help each other out among the high levels to get things done or even just to encourage LS members to level together if and when they can, then the rest of the LS generally won't do it.

When I first started playing the game I was the shellholder for a small LS of friends (there were about a dozen of us). Some of us staticed together, but all of us got together occasionally to camp NMs, or do missions or quests together. When I left the game, I gave my right hand man the money for a new LS (although he didn't actually need the gil, it was intended more as a way to indicate to everyone that I wasn't leaving them in the lurch, and that he would take on my responsibilities as head of the shell/group/whatever).

When I returned to the game in the middle of last year, I got back in touch with him and he invited me to join the shell that he made with the money that I gave him. It was a mess. No one did anything together, and a lot of the people he had given sacks to were unfriendly, immature, and generally really difficult to get along with. I didn't keep the shell on very often, because the conversations were very annoying, and asking for help, or even just trying to start a conversation that wasn't about breasts, or what was currently labeled gay, or whatever was impossible. My old friends were totally focused on the endgame, and only popped into the shell for a few minutes a day to tell everyone what was happening in their Dynamis or HNMLS shells. Eventually I just dropped my pearl.

Now, on the other hand, since I've started over on Bahamut, I've gotten into a truly wonderful shell made up of folks of all levels. They try to keep from losing members to HNMLS and Dynamis shells by going after HNMs themselves and by allying with another social/help LS to do Dynamis on a regular schedule. Helping others is strongly encouraged, to the point that I often feel embarassed at how many folks are willing to lend a hand to help me with things from time to time (I had five level 75's do my Kazham keys). They all do it because we like to hang out with each other and we enjoy helping our friends to succeed. I really do think that a lot of that has to do with the fact that the leaders of the shell are so focused on fostering that kind of environment. If you lead by example, people truly will follow, be it for better or for worse.