Who else plays the faction for the story?

I went TR because they issue 2 ply toilet paper... FU NC ya cheap 1 ply bastards.. and NO Vanu I don't want to learn how to use the 3 seashells

Mattherson is the head of a major corporation on Earth, and coined the term New Conglomerate. He was one of the guys responsible for sending NC activists in the mission.

I play for the lore to some extent, and like to make up lorebased stories in my head as I play to fill in gaps(I do this with all games). There's good and bad to each faction, and certain things resonate more with certain people. As a Heathen, the ideas of loyalty and tradition really resonate for me. I like strength in unity, and professionalism. The TR saved humanity on Earth, and it was NC terrorists who killed Connery and other moderate leaders, driving the military crackdown.

More lore would be good; it'd be a good meta to reduce fourthfactioning. It's funny how it's reflected in-game. I have played a couple low BR NC & VS characters to familiarize myself with their equipment, and it's funny how on TR we're all about unity and being one TR in speeches and yelling, while NC is full of freedom, and VS....VS seemed to like spamming dance music. But I do think lore has a psychological impact on player behavior within and among factions, and toying with it could be a sneaky way to manipulate player actions (plus it's fun)!

I chose VS because TechnologieZ, and read the lore later.

But for the people that want more in-depth stories, try fanfiction, some are REALLY good.
http://www.planetside-universe.com/forumdisplay.php?f=30

I chose NC on moral grounds. I can't really see myself fighting for oppression and the VS seem far too cultist to me. Also, using alien technology has a tendency to go horribly, horribly wrong (games like Halo and Supreme Commander have taught me this valuable lesson). I admit that having a blocky appearance is also a plus to me, since I feel like it matches my name more. Now I'd just need to get into playing MAX more and it'd be perfect.

If I'd have to choose between the oppression and all the death flags tripped by using alien artifacts I'd probably go with the VS if it weren't for the spandex and color scheme in general. The TR just look cooler and have the best music as well.

One of my favorite games of all time is Supreme Commander and I'd say it was much harder for me to pick a faction in planetside compared to that. There my choice was a real no-brainer since not only do the Cybran look the coolest imo, they are also the only ones in that game that have a justifiable cause. The goal of the Cybran nation is to free their fellow symbionts from the mind-enslaving UEF, while the Aeon Illuminate want to eradicate everyone who doesn't follow "The Way" (or anyone who is a symbiont as apparently that's also against "'The Way").

Ironically I could see the UEF and Cybran as ideological analogies of the TR and NC respectively, but with the color schemes swapped. So now I'm fighting for a faction that looks like my former enemy. The fun of playing Cybran was that you could look like an evil organization while you were actually fighting for the freedom of your brethren.

Of course this leaves me with the fun of reimagining the Cybran intro cutscene for planetside...


Brackman: Thank you for coming, my boy. The situations is dire, oh yes... The TR is now losing the infinite war. QAI?

QAI: Projections indicate that the TR will not survive the next major VS MAX crash. The TR will fall within 42 minutes.

Dostya: The Vanu consider us noobs. If the TR loses, the VS will turn on us and kill every NC on Auraxis.

Brackman: We have survived for the last thousand years by camping, oh yes... Today that changes. Strategy my boy, strategy must be employed.