Player want many things, but only David Braben is the Person that say what we get
This is an "appeal to authority". You could use this fallacious argument to stop any discussion about the game. Please respect the right of others to speak without demanding they stop just because "DB is boss". In any case, a good boss listens to ideas, feedback and criticism. I promise you our influence here is very very limited. If you want to discuss things your opinion is welcome but if you respond to the argument of other people, please argue about the merit of those arguments and not just that your or DB's opinion is different. It's not about "sides" but about pro/cons in rational arguments.
The sad thing is - you only have to look at the SC forums to see the nonsense involved in clans. .... It's pathetic really.
This is an appeal to emotion that paints everything black or white. Groups of people are very diverse, guilds would not automatically lead to a "childish" culture. In any case if you don't want to have any part of it then simply don't.
And as for someone wielding supreme executive power and knowing everything that his underlings are doing - that is ridiculous. Are you suggesting that Barak Obama, Queen Elizabeth II, Hassan Rouhani and Joachim Gauck know what all their citizens are up to?
Hahaha very funny, thanks Obama! Second, Joachim Gauck does not wield any executive power - he is just a representative, a figurehead, same as the Queen. In any case these aren't military squad leaders or military units that would compare to a wing or party in Elite Dangerous. They are sitting in palaces, we are in the trenches.
To the factions in-game, if they are complete strangers with no reputation, then they will remain neutral and that will be reflected in your scanner. If you and your friends work towards faction goals and become friends, then you will all appear green to each other as members of that faction.
You make a very good argument why factions are totally unsuited as a substitute for guilds / wings. By highlighting the inadequacies you are making an argument FOR better ingame guilds / wings tools.
Besides, why would a pirate wing follow what some other group of players want to do? Players want to make up their own goals and agendas and "roleplay". This is where the emergent gameplay from guilds create a better game for everyone in the sandbox. It turns boring sand into interesting sandcastles.
There is no forced organisation or grouping involved however. The outcome will be based on the overall activity generated for the sides appearing in that location, or related locations, where more interest and support for one side, surely might not be so good for the other. But this very much involves the lone wolf, since he is part of that final number that is looked at, when the event has reached the appropriate stage to move on. (It might be that they also just want to inject material completely on the side of the event system, that is in fact called "adding content/patching the game with new material", just to answer/talk to myself.)
Well nobody knows how these injected political events will work exactly, but it is clearly aimed at multiplayer. DB underlines cooperation of large groups. Otherwise you could have used the same system in an offline game. This is not a single player game and it would be very boring if all we can do is "vote" on a specific conflict but not really interact with each other. It would make for very poor gameplay.
This "forces" you into a group in the sense that if you want to achieve a gameplay goal you have set yourself, you can do so better in a group.