Basing gangs aren't stupid, they're just boring. When era is packed full of basers, it's pretty fun. However, it becomes frustrating when you can't gain hours due to a power struggle, loosing the flag/safe over and over. Yes, you can attempt to take over other bases, but you need an army for that and most gangs do not have that kind of a following. Sadly, only the large gangs (Ebi, sK, iFreeze, etc) are the only gang like that. So, unless you have a panel of no lifers, you can't be "dominant" in such an environment. And, when you do grow, the responsibilities of being a leader grow. Which makes the gang harder to control. So, the size of these large gangs cannot be matched easily and you have to pursue good basing members to keep it running. It's a tough job.

In addition, I'm not making any negative assumptions about people who spar. By all means, you are great on your own. The only facts I can add is that boosting cannot be proven or disproven, unlike basing hours that you have to maintain.