At some point if we want teamplay oriented games we need to start seriously speeding up the league-type atmosphere process and involve as much of the community as possible in organized games/units.
The larger and more noticeable such activities are the more they will help "nudge" people into units.
As it is now if SJ or TLL particularly aren't playing, I will only see one or two other people in units, heck I
just started being in one.
You
can't force teamwork on people; you can try to nudge them like some of the battlefields do with squad systems.
But in all honesty this game is so much more complex than any FPS on the market, that it takes more brains and commitment to do well just as one player, much less then starting to organize and apply any larger strategy in a round.
Hopefully as the mod progresses toward 1.0, each patch will add another layer of players in and fill the ranks of unit bound players.
Right now though I would plead to all the vets here who have yet to join or make a unit, do so, it doesn't mean you have to automatically take time out of your busy life and do things you don't want to. If you have friends you like to play with constantly, form a unit or join one together. You don't even have to play in organized matches if you don't want to.
But if more and more of us are in all sorts of units, it will nudge new players who are serious about MWLL into units as well and turn them into better players, faster.
I've played games like this in the past, smaller than the popular FPS and MMO monsters but as games much more awesome.
A game like Jedi Knight II/III has/had a population only slightly bigger than this. The difference was it was the norm to be in a clan in those games because there were so many clans and one would really be left out if they weren't in one. Not only that but the game was so difficult you really needed to learn from vets to know wtf you were doing. Everyone who tried the game usually joined a clan quickly, and learned from their vet members, usually they stuck around for years because it was just tons of fun. The similarity is that both games hold a complexity in the gameplay that clans/units/guilds/etc are almost a necessity to unlock the deep potential of the game. This game has the same potential older games like Jedi Knight and Tribes do imo, even more when you look at the history of planetary leagues in MW.
Right now the image of units is somewhat negative, so many slurs I've seen thrown at SJ are just unfounded, if there are two of them in a server and they play together ZOMG CLAN STACKIN! It isn't their fault they are usually the only two unit bound players in the server. Meanwhile there are 3-6 lurking vets who to all appearances to the average player, are just average players too themselves, but it is the evil clan who are breaking the game balence.
I'm saying this because as a community, there is so much potential in this game we can help by organizing ourselves to help it along.
I think by creating units and filling the game with them one of two things will happen to new players, either they will QQ that there are so many clans around and they got pwned, or note how organized the community is and seek to join whoever will take them, which as I described earlier has happened in other games.
Waiting on stuff like planetary leagues to get organized and for the mod to get to 1.0 I think may be mistake, as we may lose many players who may tire of the game itself before 1.0 from lack of thriving community (I've seen it happen.) Lately I've seen some posts that mention "teamwork" and "devs do something about it" in the same sentence.
I mean really? The ONE duty the community has that the devs shouldn't have to worry about is player organization, you know,
community.
The forums do work well for this, but I think more units will have the same sort of community felt here more tangible
in game.
There are already good examples, SJ being very popular, classic clan type with their own site and such, TLL is like this as well, but also you can go a different route, like DcK who do not recruit but are rather a group of longtimers who love playing together.
There are also "less formal" units, such as the 12VR, but then we start getting into things such as the IPA, and the line blurs (they don't compete in any leagues I guess?).
Even so I just reviewed a few to show anyone hesitant to start or join a unit that there are ways to go about it, you don't need a site and forums and TS3 and an elaborate ranking structure (all of which are good if you can get them of course) to add to the character of the community.
So yeah, after being a constant loner for the year+ I've played this game, finally decided its better for the community to unit up, the more we have the easier it will be to organize frequent matches and some real leagues. Not just the bi monthly SJvsTLL "league" match. Just look at the matchmaker section and you will see groups of lonely SJ stars asking for matches.
[you know i <3 you gais]
So unit up, don't worry if it is only you and a couple friends, I think it adds character to the game.
My unit may end up going no where, but I think its time to give it a shot.
This is my own thesis, but I've heard it said in many games, "Came for the pewpew, stayed for the community."
