People who don't play in outfits - a growing problem?

Sonny · 2013-03-06, 06:26 AM

Hi all,
There's quite an interesting discussion going on at reddit at the moment that started with the question 'Are you currently not playing with an outfit? if so, what's your decision behind it?". I thought that this would be a good discussion to bring up here at PSU also.

EDIT: (to make clearer the issue with increased lone wolfing)

Of course, it is not a problem for someone to play lone wolf (people shouldn't be forced to play together after all), but since Planetside 2 is supposed to be a social game like other MMOs, outfit play is a core part of the community. If more and more people feel like playing solo is more fun with time, then more outfits may slowly wither away, eventually detracting from the community feel of the game.

I'm interested to hear if people feel that the number of players who play regularly in their outfit is going down because a lot of people now prefer to lone wolf? Or has recruiting new players to the outfit become more difficult because people prefer to play alone? Do you feel that this is a growing trend, or is this simply down to general population issues?

End edit

Top comments in the reddit discussion so far for reasons not to be in an outfit:

1. People generally enjoy lonewolfing and bringing havoc to the enemy behind enemy lines.

2. Some don't like outfit politics, having 'leaders' and being forced to listen to their orders. The leaders sometimes take the game too seriously, which is annoying.

3. Others just don't want to join massive zerg outfits.

4. Some don't play enough to be willing to make the time commitment to an outfit.

EDIT 2: to add points 5 and 6 following the discussion here at PSU

5. The Planetside 2 capture system doesn't work well for large groups of organised players; bases are capped too fast, bases that you have just conquered can be taken very quickly, lack of meaningful metagame for outfits.

6. The PS 2 in-game user interface does not help players to quickly find information about or join outfits that suit their play style.

Personally, I fall into camp no. 4.