As the title suggests I am going to outline why Mega Companies (and tribes in the case of Ark) are good for the game. Myself I am what would be considered as a small 'bob tribe'. I have played ark since its released and now Atlas since its release on PVP official servers. I have always been either solo or playing with a small group of 4-5 friends, so this post will be from the view of a small tribe/company pvp player.
Mega Companies/Tribes have been a large part of the game for a very long time, ever since games of this style has been created much to the love or despair of many different players. They do however have a very important role to play in the creation of the complete fun experience of Atlas and Ark Survival Evolved for many reasons.
1. Mega Companies and tribes create an incredible political side to the game enabling security and trade for your small company.
One challenging yet fun aspect of these games is the politics within the games. As large mega companies grow and take claim to vast areas of the map, they create large empires that often war with each other. As a small company/tribe within the world that gives you the opportunity to get involved in global politics and wars. On your own your strength and power is limited to whatever you are able to do in your small group. With such a vastly large world such as with Atlas there is only so far you can reach and so much you can do to survive on your own. Even if mega tribes were non-existent there will always be groups out there that will seek you out and destroy you even if it's just to be a troll. Allying yourself within the empire of a mega-company gives you security as they will often protect you. Being within the mega-companies empire it also enables a much strong ability to trade. The mega-company has access to far more resources then you ever will, and even if you don't trade with them directly, having other small groups within the empire gives you easier access for trading resources you otherwise might struggle to get. Being part of the same 'empire' will make the other small tribes around you view you automatically as friendly, and an ally and more willing to trade you those valuable resources that would be otherwise hard to get due to travel time or having to fight hostile groups that control those resources.
2. Mega Companies force you to improve in pvp.
A critical part of all video games is of course to improve your own ability to play them. If you do not improve you will lose and in a game like Atlas losing means being destroyed. There are many different types of mega companies out there. Some that are more friendly and will keep the peace with you if you do not provoke them, or even protect you from trolls and other mega companies that might seek to conquer your territory. There are of course highly aggressive mega companies that will destroy you without even pausing. These highly aggressive companies are critical to keeping a pvp environment competitive. If all mega companies were all roses and chocolates you would settle within territory under their protection and just let them defend you. You will never improve at the game and eventually, someone will wipe you. An aggressive mega on the map keeps you always on edge as any ship could be the one to end your existence on the map. Sure you can argue even if it was all small groups its the same but a small group only has as much resource and manpower as you do making the fight more even and easier to win. A mega-company however its game over. You see an unknown ship, shoot it, and you have 10 galleons on top of you and wiping your base in no time. You cannot win against such massive power, or can you? If you learn from getting wiped and improve at the game a small team can cause a lot of damage even against a mega. Anytime I get wiped I don't mope and cry about the mega-company and how unfair it is. I get even. Rebuild and be better. Learn how to rebuild stronger, learn how to fight better. Nothing is better than going up against that hyper-aggressive mega and have them waste more resources, more time only to have them lose more than you even had to start with. Hey, you may get wiped again but the satisfaction to know they lost half a fleet to wipe out 5 guys with 2 ships is worth having to rebuild again. A powerful lion with a thorn in its paw cannot hunt nearly as well, and will eventually die of starvation. Become the thorn that killed the lion, or just quit and play PVE noob.
3. Mega Companies keep the game alive.
In any game there will be trolls, and there will be some players that are just simply much stronger at the game than everyone else and trust me I've played many games that have suffered this very problem. As sad as it is some players just simply will never 'get good' enough to beat the trolls, or beat the few elite players, and will eventually just quit altogether. What can they do? if they can't get better at the game, and the game just isn't fun anymore why play? I don't blame them. However, if you can team up and become a bigger meaner beast then the trolls or elite players they are less of a problem now aren't they? Having the ability to form a mega-company in itself keeps the game alive. Let's look at it this way, and yes I am Canadian, but imagine the elite player or troll being a large aggressive Moose. That Moose will go around and thrash around wrecking everything in its path just because it can and nothing else can contest it. Only another moose can but there are only so many other moose, and soon enough you will only have a small group of moose out there. However to take down a moose you have a pack of wolves. Alone or in a small group they are not very strong and will never beat that Moose but with a large pack they will eat that Moose for lunch. If you cannot form that large pack however because the game forbids it then the wolves will just all die off. Being able to become that larger pack to take down the strong threat keeps players in the game. If there's no way to be able to group up to take down the trolls or elite players the game will soon enough be only a few trolls and a small core of elite players. Mega-Companies ensure that doesn't happen by keeping those players in check and keeping the player counts high.
4. "But Mega Companies just kill all small companies" - no you are just dumb...
Many people will argue that mega companies just kill small companies. They wipe all us small companies and force us to join them or quit. Well no I'm sorry you are retarded. As I stated before there are two types of mega-companies. highly aggressive and more friendly ones. If you find yourself getting wiped and told "join us or die" well I'm sorry to say you are living in an area of the highly aggressive company. Just pack up and settle elsewhere, OR get better at the game and become that thorn that I mentioned earlier. Most mega-companies don't give two shits about the little guy that is not allied with them or living under their protection. Every mega-companies main focus is that other mega-company. They pose the greatest threat to each other and the entire goal for them is to wipe each other out. They spend vastly more time and resources fighting one another then they do anywhere else. out of every 4 mega-companies only 1 usually has that 'join us or die' mentality and honestly joining them is going to be worse than just relocating anyway. 9 times out of 10 the company with the 'join us or die' mentality is full of toxic people with retarded leadership. If you have the motivation and skill to fight back and stay within their territory then do so and make their life hell, or if your more of a pve player who wants to casually play pvp go settle in a more friendly mega-company territory. Oh, but you don't want to 'submit' yourself to the mega-company? well then band together with other like-minded players and form your own mega-company as clearly a small company is not the place for you. Either that or go play PVE because PVP is not the place for you.
Summary:
At the end of the day, mega-companies are what keeps these games alive and create more complex and fun dynamics within these games. PVP environments are meant to be competitive where players fight over players. PVP = Player VS Player remember! Mega-companies keep the game competitive and really drive the pvp in the game. You have to either learn to get better at the game to stay competitive, form your own mega-company, or learn to play a more political game to ensure your survival. They keep the trolls and elite players from killing the game, and really make the game into what it was designed to be. If you don't like it then go play PVE or play a different game because this game is clearly not the right type of game for you.