Choosing your allies in FFA PvP

There's are some very interesting opportunities for dealing with griefers when you're playing a free for all PVP game. Other games which use factions automatically assign you permanent allies and don't really give you a say in the matter. Thus sometimes you'll find yourself allied with someone who thinks anonymity gives them the right to act like a jackass. In most games I've played you can't really do anything about it except put the person on ignore and avoid them. Factions seem great for encouraging open world PvP but they tend to put you constantly in situations where you hate your fellow allies.

In World of Warcraft there were several times where I really hated the faction system, especially when playing alliance. The horde could only gank me, but my fellow alliance could roll need on items they couldn't use and repeatedly go AFK next to me in battlegrounds. It's was enough to make me want to tear my hair out when AFKers would yell at me for fighting instead of just losing so they could get marks quicker. Recently in Age of Conan I've come across a couple situations that really showed me the difference between being able to choose your allies and having them forced on you. I still think factions are the best way to go for large scale PvP but free for all doesn't seem as stupid as I used to think.

1) A friend of mine has a low end computer and loading can be a problem for him in Age of Conan. While coming out of the Sanctum of Burning Souls one night he was ganked by a player. Later that same night he got to point out the player in question while in a full group. Everyone got to have fun taking care of someone who camped zone lines. It's funny, but griefers and greifing guilds are starting to become "KOS" to players on our server. It actually kind of neat the way you can't hide behind a faction to protect your griefing addiction.

2) We repeatedly had a member of our group roll need on items he couldn't wear in a dungeon. The first time no one else needed it but we had specifically listed our loot procedures. The second time it happened he had barely managed to wrap his hands on the ill gotten item before he was kicked from group. Almost instinctively everyone moved in and slaughtered him. We then continued on our merry way and even ran the dungeon again.

3) A bad situation a friend of mine had was when a griefer told everyone in his group that he knew of a secret boss in the dungeon and that they had to jump onto a ledge to get to him. The second everyone had jumped down he then left the group and tried to use knockbacks to force people to fall to their deaths. I'm sure he thought it was amusing but it didn't work like he planned since not everyone fell for it. Still it stressed the importance of choosing who your allies are in a free for all type of game. Now I know why corporations are so paranoid in EVE Online.