Is Sirius too big?

[Lucky Luke]

One problem that I see with factions not meeting the requrements, is that there are a lot of them, but only so many players. Sirius keeps on expanding, and new groups and unofficial factions pop up everywhere. If every faction requires x amount of time to stay alive, and each player is a member of y factions, then the total amount of time each player will have to spend just on this, soon adds up to a lot. Then there's the chars each player has that's not in an official faction. This will soon be a full time job, and that's when it starts to feel... not FUN anymore. Instead it will feel like another job on top of your RL job. Then there's the forum work that needs to be done. For those running the factions, I assume that it can be a lot of work.

Since there aren't 225 players online all the time, it would be pointless to increase that number now. I think it's high time to ask ourselves two questions, and use an open mind when answering them.

1. Does Sirius have too many systems in relation to how many players there are? Is it already too big?
2. Why do so many players choose to play as indies or in unofficial factions?

I'm not sure how many systems there are, but my guess is that we're getting close to one system per serverslot. There needs to be a reason to go to a system. And with so many empty systems, why not try to re-make them. Instead of adding systems over and over, a remake could make an old system feel new. Just as a faction needs activity to stay official, maybe there should be something similar with systems. Jumpholes aren't forever. They will appear and disappear. Why can't some systems simply be "closed down" if no one ever goes there?

Today we see unofficial factions popping up here and there. Some stake a claim in some system, and some exist without an "official" home base. Some of these factions manage to survive and go official, but most fade away for different reasons. If you start looking in to each groups RP, you soon find that a lot of them has an RP that is more or less identical to the official factions RP. So... Why create a new group if you don't bring anything to the table? Are the official factions that hard to get in to, or what? Why isn't it appealing to join the official factions for so many players? If I'm not mistaken, The Angels have some sort of weekly goal, and i think one of them is to get a new player to join an official faction. Maybe it's time for the official factions to do the same. Place yourselves on a strategic spot, and catch the new players in-game. If you think they're gonna find you in forums, you're wrong, coz most new players don't even know there is a forum. It doesn't matter that the info about forums comes up every time you log a char. A new player has other priorities, and it's OUR job to teach them how things are done here. Assign a mentor to them... Give them tasks to fulfill as recruits... Make them RP! Their mentor can help them out if they get stuck. With a higher number of active members in each faction, the workload will decrease. Think about it!

Now you give me your thoughts on this! Freelancer is the coolest game ever, and I'd sure be sorry if it just disappears like a fart in the wind.