First rule about our XP reward system: The biggest XP gain is always to be made by completing core objectives in a level. So instead of running around lone wolf-style, not really contributing to the team’s overall chances to win, it’s in a player’s best interest to take the combat to the front line if he wants to score big points. Also, we give the player more points per kill if he’s sticking close to his teammates. This encourages players to stick together and move as a group if they want to get anywhere. And when they’re doing this, they have a better chance of working together and helping each other out of a jam.
It’s not just about XP, though. It’s also about communication, or in our case, “auto-chatter.” This is a system we’ve implemented that emulates what a really tight squad of competitive players will say to each other in a match, automatically, without the players having to worry about VoiP or anything like that. So for instance, if you see an enemy player and start to aim at him, everyone else on the team who didn’t already know about the existence of that enemy will hear your character say (in the voice you chose for him) “enemy spotted!”, and get that enemy’s location put on their mini-map. By streamlining the communication so it just “happens”, we create a system where players are co-operating and helping each other, often without even realizing it.