THE QUORUM
Editor’s Note: Welcome to Pulse’s new section, The Quorum. Here we give people a chance to talk about any issue
they’d like, with minimal editorial oversite and interference. Think of Quorum articles as our miniature version of the
RSI Forums; each Quorum writer’s views are their own, and we present them here to give our readers a raw look at
what the fan base is thinking. We hope you enjoy it!
Why Large Orgs Don’t Matter - by Madcap
There are a lot of very big organizations being formed for Star Citizen, several are rather large multi-gaming clans such
as The Devil Dogs or Goonrathi. Their external, non-star citizen memberships are known to sit at several thousand players each. The largest star citizen specific organization currently, at the time of writing sits at well over 1700 members
(for reference, the first draft of this article had it sitting at just 1200 under a week ago), with the second biggest sitting
at 780 or so players. There is a lot of concern in the forums about big organizations being able to stomp out smaller
organizations, or their ability to make recruiting for smaller orgs impossible. This mostly comes from smaller, more
tightly knit organizations. I disagree, and think that most of the first concern is irrelevant, though granted the second is
legitimate. I also think that the very idea of huge squadrons is itself pointless, with it being possibly more of a liability
than a benefit to have huge numbers on your side.
Firstly, they won’t be able to use pure numbers in combat in order to stomp out or suppress opposition. Due to the way
the game is being built, when combat breaks out, there will be a cap on how many players can be in a single instance
fighting one another. While this is open to being raised or lowered, it will be impossible to fit huge numbers into a fight in
order to use blob tactics. Safety in numbers only goes to a certain point. It has been pointed out several times that the
use of instancing for combat is likely to keep fights from being too lopsided. The entire point of having huge numbers on
your side is that only after a certain point does quantity become its own quality. This only works if you can leverage all
of them at the same time. It doesn’t work, however, if instancing splits combat up into evenly numbered groups. Even
if a fight isn’t perfectly equal when instancing kicks in, it isn’t likely that quantity will have enough leverage to matter to
begin with.
Secondly, they are prone to infiltration. Large organizations usually have less strict recruitment requirements (look at
the requirements to join them on the organizations page, the barrier to entry is non-existent). This means that they are
not as tightly knit as smaller groups, and are prone to being spied on and hurt from within by their own members. The
bigger they are, the harder they fall and all of that. This also means, typically, that they have fewer truly skilled players
that are real threats. They get by on pure numbers alone. As I said before, this is possible but only to a point. If a large
organization insists on recruiting huge numbers as most do, it is a simple matter for most anyone that has spent much
of any time in EVE Online to infiltrate any group in order to topple it. I know that many people have a legitimate fear of
that being commonplace in Star Citizen, and while I do not think it will be as common, I do think that there will certainly
be a place for certain aspects of a similar metagame to emerge.
Thirdly, the bigger organizations usually have an atmosphere that is highly impersonal. Their members are little more
than a cog in a very large machine. I don’t know about you, dear reader, but being a number on a spreadsheet isn’t
something I care to be apart of. It may not be something you mind, but generally it is rarely to your benefit on either a
social or mechanical level. The thing with smaller groups, is that you get to know those you fly alongside a lot better,
which usually leads to a more enjoyable experience.
Finally, overall quality control is usually low, or even non-existent. Larger organizations usually have policies that
involve simply inviting anyone and everyone that they see without so much as getting to know them. This often leads to
a lot of unnecessary drama fueled often times, by simple personality conflicts that can be avoided by simply focusing
on the quality of the player you invite rather than the quantity. It should be noted that quality is not the same as ‘skill’ of
any kind. When I speak of quality, I refer to the fact that you don’t need to worry as much about people that are liable to
kick up drama with interpersonal issues. It allows a group to be more selective of those they bring in to ensure a team
that works well together with minimal issues.
Agree? Disagree? Want to talk about something completely
different? Send your opinion into pulse and we’ll publish it!
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