EVE General Discussion

Hello

Some of you may know me from way back when, though most of you will not. I don't post here very much any more, but today I want to share with you my final year university dissertation as it covers topics that are familiar to most of you. For a few weeks in February I spent some time interviewing members of large null sec alliances and I thank them for their assistance in helping me complete this project.

The topic is authority and leadership in Eve. It it is written for a degree in social science and the content and style of writing reflects this. Because you are all well versed veterans of Eve and other games, I don't know how much of it will seem obvious to you. The intended audience (my dissertation supervisor) has no knowledge of the game or virtual worlds, and so the text makes explicit much of what we take for granted in Eve. That said, I hope that even the most experienced among you may find something of interest, if only by clarifying and putting into words the things you may already have been aware of. For those who are less experienced, it may give you a glimpse into the roles played by alliance leaders and paint a partial picture of what it takes to be an effective leader.


Eve-files link

I don't remember anything of you besides, "IT'S OVER 9000!!!".

Sorry...I just had to.

Hi Veggy, long time no see.

question is if the topic you chose is well suited to being treated in < 12k words - because of the lack of citable literature on EVE and the presumed complete unfamiliarity of your readers with the topic you have to spend a large share of your dissertation on basic explanations and very little room is left for analysis/evaluation.

With a more conventional topic you could probably have utilized more space to show off your analytic skills.


imho that's the most important sentence in your whole dissertation - although I don't really share your conclusion:
the low cost of moving between corporations/alliances also makes rebellions/revolutions much less likely and might actually help to stabilize badly governed corporations (the unhappy ones leave before they had the chance to stir up/mobilize the population at large).

The ease of changing sides and its guaranteed availability sets EVE aside from RL and probably enables some governance models (dictatorships etc) that we wouldn't find desirable in real life.

It would be interesting to see if/how restrictions on movement (such as a very distinct alliance culture that creates loyalty to the alliance as an abstract entity, or the use of recruitment blacklists) impact governance and conflict resolution.

Very interesting read.

*is jealous of Chribba's mention in there*

I think he used to be in m0o?

You are correct. Vegeta was member of the very illustrious m0o Corp.

Anyone who can't remember or doesn't know about them read this

The created more history in a short time than most larger entities over years.

There are those who will impose their ideas upon you. And there are those who accept having ideas imposed upon them. The former is the leader. The latter is the follower.

Generally speaking, a dictatorship is what usually works best in EVE. Any sort of attempt at democracy (especially with large alliances/corps) will almost always fail or never succumb to true potential.

If I had the time, I would honestly read your dissertation due to the nature of what I do in real life , but I hope to get a summarized version if possible. Though not likely possible since it is a dissertation :)