Question Where's all the big Minor factions at?

[Rusty]

Minor Factions have zero visibility compared to the in-your-face nature of Major Factions, and in my experience the only successfully large minor factions are the ones that are attached to a Major Faction (you know, Subfactions), or minor factions that are gearing up to go Major.

Hard to overstate the visibility thing. Major factions and their subfactions have presence. They're the most active recruiters, and they're the easiest to find information on, either through official sources or word of mouth. Minor factions that don't want to make a splash in the map game are barely a blip on the radar.

 

[Isabella Pavan]

Imperial March intensifies in the background

 

[Jerec Asyr]

There are some great minor factions out there. Off the top of my head:

• The Bounty Hunter's Guild [ The Bounteous Hunt }
• Spacer's Guild [ Jerec Asyr ]

Nice of you, but the Spacer Guild is fundamentally just a tag list for interesting opportunities, always has been. We've done a few threads but we're not the minor faction dynamos the board needs.

 

[Jerec Asyr]

And come to think of it, the fact that something as low-intensity as the Spacer Guild is what comes to mind for someone as an example of minor factions doing stuff really reinforces Tef's point.

 

[Taji Nelson]

Currently working to make the Thieves Guild a more active Minor Faction, if possible.

 

[Elicia Hejaran]

They died because they needed to map game to prop them up.

I'd argue that the map game simply undermines the viability of a minor faction developing into a "big" one. Minor factions have always taken a back seat to majors, and the rules of the board - both written and unwritten - give little recourse for minors to develop to the point of being "big". It's been said that you can just ignore the map, but it's a little difficult to sell that narrative to others when its at odds with what 99% of the board uses as a baseline for their narratives.

 

[Rusty]

I'd argue that the map game simply undermines the viability of a minor faction developing into a "big" one. Minor factions have always taken a back seat to majors, and the rules of the board - both written and unwritten - give little recourse for minors to develop to the point of being "big". It's been said that you can just ignore the map, but it's a little difficult to sell that narrative to others when its at odds with what 99% of the board uses as a baseline for their narratives.

It's a catch-22. The map game is arguably what's kept Chaos going for as long as it has, but you could also make the argument that it holds it back in some ways. I've seen a few folks suggest ways to give minors a way to play without going full on major, but nothing ever came of it.

 

[Jsc]

People are doing a great job these days of catering to each other too. The need for "labels" and "factions" has really diminished because so many people find the opportunities they are looking for just from rubbing elbows in the LFG or in the Majors. The amount of people I rub elbows with who have taken their own initiative into creating oppurtunites for their own characters and drafting stories in Discord PMs has been amazing these past two months. Just a ton of solo shooters out there really smashing the game right now and finding good partners to work with. Very fun to see. Bravo to all you solo writers out there. You've found your niche' and your playing the game like it's your baby. Very cool. Kill it!

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Just thinking out loud here.

Some of the successful successful minor factions I've seen - Southern Systems Bazaar, for example - have been great at bringing main characters together on a part-time basis, recognizing that those characters are usually committed to majors. They offered something exciting that folks couldn't find in those majors, without jeopardizing those characters' connections to those majors.

Others have found success by identifying and gathering the main characters who have no current obvious major faction home. Usually best coupled with a concept that's better for a minor than a major - I'm thinking of the various incarnations of rebel alliances and vagrant fleets.

These days, there's a huge diversity of majors, which undercuts #2, and Jay's excellent point may be a factor in why we're not seeing #1 so much.

 

[Tefka]

I’m not saying what you see doesn’t exist, Jsc , as we all have different perspectives. But I’d say we’re at another height of labels, teams, and factions being displayed. I’d love to see it diminish, and veer more towards a middle lane between Major Faction threads and private threads.

Thats the healthy middle ground, and toxicity around the community would continue to sink with it - since it’s mainly stemming from “us vs them” mentalities. By no means do I want Star Peace, but maybe some more “let’s actually separate OOC and IC, not just pretend like we are”.

Whatever authority I possess is aimed at it, I’d say help me steer the boat to better achieve it if that’s what you want.

 

[Kitter Bitters]

It’s really hard to figure out what minor factions are active. At least that’s been my problem. It’s easy to see what Majors are doing because of the map.