Edit: The poll question was originally poorly worded and I can't seem to delete it and replace it. My apologies if you voted before it was changed. If a moderator could lock this thread I would appreciate it as it was poorly thought out and can't be used to valid feedback.
I love playing this game with friends and other players. Pubs can be great with active administration and cooperation.
We've all had this happen on a pub. Player joins and 5 seconds after choosing a character... "Where is base?" The worst players are those who refuse to do anything but sit at the portal until someone can pick them up or they die. (Especially if they join in Winter/Summer.) I don't mind helping newer players but players who expect to be handheld every step of the way are incredibly aggravating. (Especially if I lead them to a base and they complain about not having food/whatever. I couldn't gather food because you wanted me to walk you to a base!) I used to leave gear at spawn however no longer do this (as one griefer always decides to steal all the gear making this effort pointless) and signs pointing to a base generally mean it is either burned or completely gone the next time I log on. (And spawn bases magically disappear incredibly quickly.)
In regards to the different server play styles (Social, Cooperative, Competitive, Madness.) I have seen people complain about joining a Cooperative play style server and whining about other players not leading them to a base when they idle (aside from spamming chat) and die (Because they apparently can't use their keyboard to walk by themselves despite spamming the chat...) and promptly complain about it being a "Cooperative" server and thus every other player should bend to their every whim.
So anyway what are your thoughts about the different playstyles?
In regards to the poll I think its unreasonable to help carry players who join in Cooperative. I don't mind collaborating with other players provided they can find where I am but new players expecting others to babysit them is unreasonable. (Especially if they join in Winter/Summer. You chose to join in a hard season! Stop complaining the "other players" let you freeze to death by not standing at the portal and dispensing gear upon arriving while you die next to materials needed to craft a torch!) I don't leave signs pointing to a base or gear at spawn because it doesn't help new players; griefers just steal the loot and burn the base.
I like playing a Cooperative playstyle on pubs with other players but I view Cooperative (and maybe Social) as everyone contributing. If newer players want to contribute then fine, but Cooperative also implies that they will help others as well. If they died at spawn and couldn't get basic materials like food or even look for a base they can't play a Cooperative playstyle and weren't going to contribute anyway. (Aside from draining 75 extra food a day but I can waste that food if I wanted to.)
And also before anyone suggests only playing on private servers with friends I hate private servers. Pubs are great because you don't need friends; you can play the game and make them. If you have friends who enjoy the game then you can play with them on a private server. However this requires actually having friends who play DST (potentially not an option for new players.) If so the best way to make potential friends who enjoy DST is on public servers.
Also one thing I would really like to see Klei Implement. A Survival gamemode intended for dedicated servers with the sole difference being a single griefer ghost cannot reset the server. Endless portal respawn doesn't work well in dedicated pubs as griefers can form a wall of skeletons around spawn (blocking players from leaving spawn) and cause performance issues related to dying/world objects.