A real point of miscommunication I've noticed from casually browsing this thread (and I say casually because I haven't read every post, so it may have been stated already) is that OP is looking at FC applications the same way one would look at a standard FC/guild application in an MMO for a non-RP group. In these instances, you just kind of grab as many people as you can, essentially getting every able-bodied person who can run a raid or do pvp or whatever so that you can do those things at any time and keep the FC/guild from stagnating or plateauing when it comes to completing game content. The difference with a roleplaying group is that you want to test and interview everyone coming in to make sure they're not shitsters, or even if they're not shitsters and seem like nice people, you want to make sure they'd fit into your theme or existing dynamic. When my FC was more active than it is today, we met plenty of nice people who were interested in joining, but they had a different view of RP than we did, whether that was a difference in how we viewed the game's tone or how we handled situations or simply where our characters' stories looked like they were headed.Â
I agree that some FCs (well, lets say guilds, because I got into this FC in beta and haven't left, so I only have this experience in other MMOs) go a bit over-the-top and don't seem to get that there's always the /gkick function if they invite someone who turns into a lunatic once they're invited, and a lot of times guild leaders needs to calm down and roll the dice once in a while, but there are a lot of shitposters, meta-gamers, god-moders, lore-breakers, and genuinely bad roleplayers out there and you can't blame a guild leader for wanting to deal with them before they're in their guild chat.
Back to my point on paragraph 1, since I went off-course there for a little: FCs don't need a necessarily large player base, so long as they get the right player base for the way they want to play pretend. A lot aren't recruiting at all most of the time.
I agree that some FCs (well, lets say guilds, because I got into this FC in beta and haven't left, so I only have this experience in other MMOs) go a bit over-the-top and don't seem to get that there's always the /gkick function if they invite someone who turns into a lunatic once they're invited, and a lot of times guild leaders needs to calm down and roll the dice once in a while, but there are a lot of shitposters, meta-gamers, god-moders, lore-breakers, and genuinely bad roleplayers out there and you can't blame a guild leader for wanting to deal with them before they're in their guild chat.
Back to my point on paragraph 1, since I went off-course there for a little: FCs don't need a necessarily large player base, so long as they get the right player base for the way they want to play pretend. A lot aren't recruiting at all most of the time.
