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^ That sounds rather paranoid to me. Good you found a secluded place to work on your own.

I have worked both in a group setting and from home. Although initially working alone from home felt like a lot of freedom, it has its downsides too. Not being in the loop anymore, less influence on decisions and all contact relegated to conference calls and email made things less efficient and created more friction than simply walking over to someone's desk or talk things through at the coffee machine. Maybe that's just the nature of the software industry where its very easy to go off in different directions when working on a large piece of software.

As for socializing itself. When I started working I thought all that team building stuff was bullshit, same as going out for a drink with my co-workers after work. Why would I spend even more time with these people.
Turned out I was wrong. Everyone complains about team building, yet it works. People work together more easily, productivity goes up. Makes sense really. Why would my boss spend tens of thousands of dollars to ship everyone off to a hotel for a weekend to get drunk and do dumb activities during the day. Or hire a boat for a fancy Christmas dinner. Sure the Monday after productivity is down, yet after that there's a boost in cooperation between QA, Marketing and Development, instead of the usual lingering animosity.