Originally Posted by
Meph
I'll tell you right now- having the mentality of "Find people with good guns" is the wrong mentality to have if you wish to be successful.
Nothing says "I'm a newbie gang" more than "BAR / GM4 / SHIPKA REQUIRED"
When you say, "I'm looking for people with good guns", you're really saying "I don't care how you can fight, as long as you have a wallet, I'll hire you."
And with that, you're setting your standards very low.
With such low standards, you're not setting yourself apart from any other gang out there.
If you wish to be attractive, you need to be exclusive.
Before recruitment, fight them. Either in a spar, base, PK Arena, or overworld. Make sure you're not hiring dead weight with a wallet.
Somebody with an Uzi that knows how to fight is much more valuable than somebody with a BAR who has no clue what they're doing.
Obviously, to know who is good and who is bad, you need to be good yourself.
Theoretically, you could have somebody else do this for you, but let's face it- good PKers/Sparrers don't typically follow somebody who is worse than them.
This is why it's best for you to be good yourself.
Once you're established as a respected top-tier player among other top-tier players, you need to forge a relationship with 3-5 of them.
This is your core.
It's important that you lay out some ground rules for your core-- establish a chain of command, recruitment standards, ranking, and general acceptable behavior centered around mutual respect amongst one-another.
Do not underestimate the power of being a role-model. Carry yourself with dignity and respect, and encourage your core to follow suit.
Assign 2-3 of these people to be co-leaders with recruiting rights, and the other 2-3 as the highest non-leadership rank, whom will take up a leadership role in the absense of real "leaders".
Now, yourself inclusive, you'll have a strong group of 3-6 respectable members. Now you look like you know what you're doing.
This will help you with building your gang up. The funny thing about good people, is that they like to run with other good people.
With this established core, you'll attract others from the community because you've now advertised your gang as one who doesn't hire just anybody-- that's what good players look for.
The key is that you keep your standards up. Don't ever settle for sub-PAR.
I don't care if it's your fricken' brother-- if they don't meet your skill standards, don't hire them, and pass this message along to your leaders.
The reason behind this strict policy is: You're only as strong as your weakest link.
Do you think real good PKers want to be seen in a gang with some guy who has a fricken' wing shield and hangs out in the Z-Room? Hell no.
Remember: Your member list is your best advertisement.
When people with standards are looking to join gangs, they peruse the member list.
The last thing you want to do is lose a potential member because they looked at your member list and thought "the hell is that guy?".
Also, think about the perspective a newbie has on other gangs.
Your ultimate goal is to eventually win over as many "good" members as you can, right?
So what does it say about your gang if somebody consistently beats the piss out of some guy on your payroll?
"Why would I want to join them, when I'm better than them?"
If it's the other way around though, and somebody good is being beat by your members regularly, then it's a different story.
It turns into, "Man, my gang sucks- I want to join these guys."
Loyalty will come naturally if you follow this plan, respect your fellow members, and enforce respect among the gang at large.
If they're part of a gang where they feel respected by their fellow member, as well as the community, they have no reason to go anywhere else.