Why join factions?

[Jayenbee]

I see joining a faction to be an effort towards keeping the flag flying for the corresponding NPC faction, pooling your resources and throwing your hat in the ring to generate activity (RP, PvP & PvE (includes trading/mining & PoBs), which contributes to the greater whole of keeping this mod active.

Most people don't bother to log in unless there's other people who do so. This is why you get people joining numerous faction discords to wait for pings, but if these factions didn't exist to begin with and if players didn't join them, that wouldn't be possible in the first place! Hence, keeping the proverbial flag flying. Something I don't really see much appreciation for.

I've been a HC for many a faction in my time, wouldn't say I've ever been the greatest, yet my own personal desire to lead the way so that others are encouraged to join in is in my honest opinion a requirement to keep this mod going and those that suffer this, should be awarded something for their time and efforts, in whatever form it takes.

---

When contending with a monster, you'd be wise to give the devil his due.

[Major.]

Back in the days I joined a faction to not fly alone, learn how to play the game and work for something and achieve like a higher rank or for a specific faction goal.

Nowadays I join a faction because of nostalgy, friends or because I just like how the faction is RP'ed out.

The benefits of joining a OF are most of the time not worth it anymore.

Ps. Join Mollys, we need more slaves miners in the gold field.

---

[Haste]

Every faction I joined I did because of the community around the faction, not for any perks or anything. I joined because I saw it was a fun community of players who were interested in doing PVP and RP, rather than their mining bonuses, honestly I don't think theres much a difference between OFs and unofficial factions, as it's more about the players that attracts members than any special attention they might get for being official or not

This is the one.

A good faction is simply fun to be in. It provides a community of people that you enjoy playing the game alongside. That's infinitely more important than a higher mining rate or an extra system or two of ZoI. I personally view OF status as something to pursue if a faction I'm in has "lasting success" -- as in, people continue to enjoy it past the initial week or two of novelty where everyone's having fun because of how new and fresh the faction is. The other case I care for OF status is if it's needed to play the faction as it's meant to be. An example would be Musashi Innovations, that I'm part of, which operates off of a Freelancer ID but aspires to be a little more than that one day. Some factions are too limited by the conventional IDs available, but they're usually edge cases.

Being an official faction is generally an unnecessary luxury, but if a faction is doing well and is healthy, it's also quite trivial to get and maintain. If your faction is struggling and keeping the status after acquiring it becomes a chore, perhaps it's best to let go (or let someone else take it that might be able to breathe some life back into it).

---

[TheSauron]

Back when I still joined factions, it was a combination of sentiments already mentioned here. I liked the NPC faction, liked the player vibes and wanted to be a part of something bigger/more influential than a solo pilot.

But that was a long time ago, before OFs got nerfed. Nowadays I don't think there's much of an incentive to join factions, official or unofficial, besides the vibes part. Actually making an official faction is even worse of a time investment.

---

One MD Admiral

[Petitioner]

@BobMacaroni, @Karst, and Fat @Haste have summed up my thoughts already. I join factions because I like to play the game with the people in them and because I think the faction has a cool concept I would enjoy roleplaying myself.



I think that @Jayenbee also raises good points. I've occasionally thought, in the past, something along the lines of "the game would really benefit from X faction being more active because of Y reason" and then decided to join or make such a faction myself. In the latter cases my efforts are usually a flash in the pan because I'm not a great 1ic, but it's always fun while it lasts.

Seeing others create and sustain active and productive factions that do a meaningful amount to help keep the game alive is a beautiful thing -- I joined RPA precisely to help out with that exact endeavour by contributing whatever crumbs of log time I can, just because I think an active Molly faction's good for the server. (Of course, it's fun to play them too!)

---