313 replies to this topic

[Wildcat]

the OP assumes the Commander knows what the hell hes doing, im willing to bet 75% of the time the commander is clueless and will just feed us directly into the enemys hands...

I may follow the commanders orders, up to a point... as soon as I notice the commander is trying to kill us im just gonna fall back a bit and use my own judgement...

[Wydell]

I will follow what they say, generally, though I will reserve the right to modify the order to be more effective.

[Regina Redshift]

Said my many: "Everyone wants to be the commander"
Off Topic --- (Sort of)
I don't. I don't have the mindset for it, and I certainly don't enjoy it. In other games with commanders, people ask "Who's going to command?" I always usually first, and I usually respond "Not it!"

On Topic ---
I almost always play support roles, so of course I will be following the commander. I don't care much for glory, I care about a job well done.

[IronGoat]

i wont have to i AM the comander. however i intend to run my merc corps as the Germans ran thier premium Units in WW2
i will give my team a directive and guidlines. i expect them to decide how best to achive my goals.
if i need to micromanage my men i will fire them and hire more professional pilots..
insubordination is good for the soul but bad for the profit margin.

[Thehunterslayer]

I will follow all orders but one the one I won't follow is "retreat"

[Papertarget]

I will follow suggestions unless it isn't fun to do so. I do not believe anyone can give me orders in a game. If someone tries, I will likely ignore them, and try my best to just help someone else.

[Dozer]

As someone pointed out earlier people with actual military experience (US I presume) would, if they hold consistent to their oath and training, will obey orders from a 'superior' as long as they consider them lawful. Interestingly, being ordered into 'suicide' missions is defined as lawful as said personnel are not actively committing a crime under the articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

But here's the thing. As much as some people spout off opinions about the game being treated as 'this is war' they don't hold to what is fundamentally the foundation for successfully waging war; following orders. Why? Because this is a game. They can ignore the disconnect between the 'image' of war and the actual 'reality' without significant consequences to themselves. This thread shows clear evidence of this given the substantial number of people who simply will not obey orders they deem as being 'irrational', 'incompetent', 'suicidal' etc.

In short, the needs on the one (player) will typically outweigh the needs of the many (other players) despite some people's protestations to the opposite.

Edited by Dozer, 12 July 2012 - 02:52 PM.

[Papertarget]

As a former US Army Infantryman, I will not follow orders just because someone orders me to do something. My oath stated that I would follow Lawful orders given by those that have been placed over me. This means my chain of command. It is that whole "being in the military" thing that makes me refuse to "follow orders" in a game, where no-one was given that authority, or I am not contractually obligated to do so.

[Dozer]

Papertarget, on 12 July 2012 - 02:36 PM, said:

As a former US Army Infantryman, I will not follow orders just because someone orders me to do something. My oath stated that I would follow Lawful orders given by those that have been placed over me. This means my chain of command. It is that whole "being in the military" thing that makes me refuse to "follow orders" in a game, where no-one was given that authority, or I am not contractually obligated to do so.

lol That is inane logic. C'mon, you're a lone wolf, plain and simple, and you just found a way to logically justify it to yourself. Unfortunately you also just flagged yourself as a potential liability to pretty much every team in MWO.

Edited by Dozer, 12 July 2012 - 02:48 PM.

[Ramius Hazen]

Mentioned this in a related side thread. But if I'm part of a House unit then yes. Because why join if you're just gonna lone wolf every time? But in a pug it's really gonna depend. If it seems to make sense, the rest of the team seems on board and the "commander" isn't a total d-bag then sure.

[Papertarget]

But Dozer. You do realize that the whole point of your post, was that those in the Military are going to go the different route? I am part of a clan that is made up of only Military, Ex-Military, and those that are family of the same. And that is the general belief we all share. We DO know the difference in playing a game, and being deployed into a war zone. We also know that when you play a game, you do need people to take point, but no-one in a game should ever feel they have the right to order someone else around. If someone tells me that I would be an asset on the flank, or that I would be better placed in the center, or if they ask me to go do an end run around an "enemy" formation, I would likely say "Sure", and do it.

When someone tells me I WILL do something, I just laugh and do my own thing by finding someone else to support. I have years in the Infantry. I have been deployed. And the one thing I can promise you, is that this game, is in no way anything like a situation where following orders quickly will either save lives, or mean someone isn't going home.

Some of my Clan are looking into the game, and when they join in, I will know what faction to join. Till then, I am a lone wolf.

[Sean von Steinike]

I generally to follow the orders unless they are clearly stupid.

[Vaktor]

Sean von Steinike, on 12 July 2012 - 02:52 PM, said:

I generally to follow the orders unless they are clearly stupid.

You go that way... and I'll go home!

[Adm Awesome]

perhaps I will... but there will be that moment when we're getting demolished and he's yelling for me to back off for a retreat, and I won't listen. I'll do some awesome shooting and push them back, but there will be too many and slowly my armor would get whittled away until all that's standing is me and the enemy Atlas and I start running head first into him as he's pumping me with lasers and srm's and the commander will be yelling at me to stop, but all I'll say is "Tell my wife I love her" and suddenly the beeping will start, and the computer voice "EJECT EJECT EJECT" and I'll yell at it to shut up and latch onto the atlas as the core melts down and a giant explosions consumes boht of us...

but yeah other than that I'll listen to them.

[Damballah]

yup, I'll be following my commander's orders...whats the point of having one if people aint gonna listen?

[Zack Delphirian]

Following orders I will, whatever the commander.

I follow the simple guideline, by Napoleon : "It's better to have a poor plan well executed, than a great plan that fails."

Well...Sounds better in french

[Theal Swena]

I'll obey as long as (s)he isn't stupid. Who wants to lose because some nerd doesn't know what to do?

[Dozer]

Papertarget, on 12 July 2012 - 02:51 PM, said:

But Dozer. You do realize that the whole point of your post, was that those in the Military are going to go the different route?

Not sure which post you are referring to but I think you've misunderstood completely. Both try to make the same point. These forums, and this thread in particular, show clearly that of those who posted a growing majority 'talk the talk' but don't 'walk the walk' about this game being a war simulation. As a result of this the games we will play together are likely to be utterly chaotic despite the best efforts of the commanders who have been assigned. Note I said however that being in a guild (clan, cabal whatever) is likely the only way to avoid this in a meaningful way.

Personally I would rather follow orders because I understand the realities of doing so intrinsically remain the same inside the game as in the real world. I value the lives of those I fight beside, be they real or not, and following orders is likely to more often than not saves lives, including my own. But hey, at the end of the day, when we leave the battlefield no harm, no foul. It's just a game. I'd would just rather see more people played that way too because imho it ends up taking (most of) the chaos out of the equation and let us all have more fun. Unfortunately this thread would indicate otherwise... but then again this is just a sample. I sincerely hope it's wrong.

Edited by Dozer, 12 July 2012 - 03:35 PM.

[Insidious Johnson]

As a mercenary, yes. It is your money, hire us to do what you want. If you want to win for sure, we have our own drop commanders with years of experience in league matches. But we have a wide variety of contracts and will be happy to do the job you want, whether it is win or lose. We make sure you get what you pay for. At least, that is our plan when it will be more than just NPC's handing out the contracts.

We aren't really sure exactly how Mercenaries will work in MWO, but if it is in the traditional sense at all, you will want KaoS Legion as a preferred mercenary contractor.

[Sirous]

Battlefield 2 had a commander role, which looks to be very similar to this one.
The commander role actually comes with a lot of responsibility and battlefield awareness. If you have a competent commander the chances of winning go up exponentially. A bad commander and you are basically thrown to the wolves.

With that being said, if you get extra C-bills and XP for following orders, chances are I would follow them even if it seems like a suicide mission, maybe.

Sadly the only people that can answer this truly have all signed an NDA and we won't know exactly how it will all play out till we get to play.