Sure, if the players don't want comradery, there isn't going to be any. If they do, there will be. I agree that it's up to the players. No argument from me on that one.

However, the settings indirectly can (I don't say must) induce teamwork. Teamwork is needed to gain aspects of information not readily available in standard mode. Information is, at least I would think, important to succeed. Teamwork is a good recipe for comradery. It may not necessarily result in comradery, but it's a good spark from which to build a fire.

Let me give a specific example of a particular difference involving death messages. Say I shoot at someone across the way who is behind cover. I get a few good shots off and don't see him any more. I think there is a good chance I got a kill but I'm not sure. I'm certainly not going to parade over to that location by myself to check. I'm going to tell my teammates I engaged and may have a kill but need confirmation. And I'm certainly not going to go to confirm the corpse alone, I'm going to ask for help. If the squad leader thinks we can/should investigate then we organize a team or the whole squad to investigate. If death messages were on, all I would see would be "Sloppy Joe kills FriedFish", and this whole teamwork oriented process would not be needed simply because an unrealistic game message gave me the information rather than needing to use skills to get it.

Realism settings are not, at least to my knowledge, being introduced in order to mandate teamwork. They are being introduced to add a dimension of mystery and immersion and "realism" to the game. Maybe communication needs to be stepped up in standards settings, maybe it doesn't. But in order to enjoy "realism", certain functions that the game standardly provide, such as death messages, are no longer available, and must be acquired in-game as one would do IRL, if that information is desired.

The settings don't "force" the team to communicate. If they don't want to, they don't want to. But good luck being successful. The same can be said for regular settings. And yes, the same standards for good communication can be carried over to any settings. It's just that in realism mode, some things taken for granted no longer can be and in order to get the information it's going to need to be gotten. And in order to be gotten effectively and with minimal loss, teamwork becomes important if not vital.

However, the focus really isn't about teamwork, or stepping up communications, although that is certainly an important by-product. The setting are not intended to force comradery, teamwork, objective play, etc. The central idea around the settings are to provide a place for players, such as those who thoroughly enjoyed last nights environment, to play AA as an immersed realistic sim. Straight up.