EVE New Citizens Q&A

Try to find a preexisting, profit generating industrial corp to fly and collaborate with. Network. Work out how they're making profit, what works in the industry and what does not as well as why it's working or not working out so well. Bring a sense of humor and light-hearted approach to the overall experience.

1) don't create your own till you know wtf you're doing (on many levels), people who WANT to lead but lack qualities/experience make for the worst corps.

2) read this

Another Avenue, and it is one I personally took myself, is to become the Production Manager for an already existing corporation/alliance. This takes some time to build trust... but if you are "hungry for it", most of the time people are glad to promote you up and let you do that kind of work.

The most important advice you can be given is to find someone to fly with. Get experience by watching, paying attention, and asking good questions. You will figure out in a hurry if you are capable/willing to get into leadership.

Being a leader feels good, but it's not always the best idea unless you have a ridiculous amount of time to invest in the game.

As an example, I have led a massive real life sales team of over 300 sales reps from coast to coast, and did so with extreme success. I have a gift for leadership. However, the truly great Eve players of the world tend to be in game for ridiculous periods of time, some up to 18 hours a day (because they clearly hope to die of exhaustion at an early age). Unless you are willing (and able) to put in that level of dedication to the game...and unless you are able to find several other players with that same level of dedication, I strongly advise you to be the best soldier you can be, and maybe function in a recruiting role for an established corp.

The allure of being a CEO is very tempting, and you will completely ignore this post, but mark these words: If you start your own corp and are not able to play for exorbitant amounts of time, you will quickly fail and just be an awesome lone wolf CEO paying taxes to yourself.

You have some good goals, but they can all be accomplished by being a member of an already established organization.

Vilnius' suggestion to read that guide... I second that. Also read the rest of the topic, there are great insights in the comments.

I believe the most important aspect is to not just tell your corpmembers what your corps does, but to actively engage in those activities yourself. If all you do as CEO is dock up and talk, you are not very inspirational. Don't feel to much of a bigshot to take a Rifter out of the hanger and fly with the newbies. Not all of your actions will make you ISK, a lot of them will actually cost ISK. There is no instant gratification, and possibly no gratification at all.

Akanamon warns you for good reason, but I also believe that with (proper) delegation you can be a successfull CEO within acceptable gameplay hours. Just take a look at IRL business: the big boss isn't always on the workfloor himself. He is represented by multiple individuals (managers) each with their own specialisation. Finding the perfect person for whatever you wish to delegate, can be very, VERY difficult however. Especially if you wish to grant them roles that can potentially endanger your corporate assets. If you are able to find a few good managers, grant them a proper title and motivate them to stay active in that role even if you are offline. They'll do a better job when they enjoy themselves: having an incentive is very important.

As a CEO, you re not just a leader. You create an "operational context" or uphold a certian status quo that goes beyond good leadership. Autistic anti-socials need not apply: you must be able to speak to the social part of an EvE player's mind. You'll have to appeal to a sense of camaraderie, friendship, and honesty. Have a good sense of humour, and be an excellent conversational partner or inspirational writer. You must be an addition to each and every corp members EvE experience, whether directly or indirectly.

I also wanted to say: if you think you are CEO material there is little harm in just trying it. You can always join another corporation if it doesn't work out.

This.

Also:


I lead my own corp (Rifterlings) and with proper delegation and handling it's not quite a second job (though it can get very hard at times). And yes, I have put it on my resume. Serves as a talking point if nothing else

The corp you made is just for alts and you and your friend. It had very little relevance to setting up an actual corp of real free people :P Those ones are very hard and very expensive at the start, very.

Just wanna throw out here that while I agree on the statement "wait untill your know what you are doing", you shouldn't need knowledge on ALL of EvE's gameplay aspects. Just the ones that pertain to the focus of your corporation. If you want a hisec carebear-corp that does industry, know your BPO's. If you want a lowsec exploration corp, learn the different sites and their difficulty levels. Want to be a pirate badass pirate gang leader? Just start a corp from day one to show everyone you are either stupid or have balls. Which you then proceed to show.

If you ever introduce another element to your corporate focus, first learn it yourself and then poke around for interest. I have chosen to focus on a few aspects I am good at. People with skills and interests that fall completely out of this focus, just shouldn't be part of my corp at this very time. CEOship has to be fun too, there is nothing wrong with surrounding yourself with likeminded individuals, so you can keep to your focus instead of gameplay elements you dislike. The smaller and more oriented your group is, the easier time you'll have with this. "Corporation" is a catch-all term for all kinds of co-op gameplay over any length of time. If you think you can upscale your personal goal into a grouped one, and can manage a few individuals working together on that, by all means start a corp.

On delegation: use those corp bulletins to immediately direct questions to the proper individual. Use sensible titles to make some sense out of your corporations structure. Leave benefits in place that do not require your immediate intervention (manufacturing off of corporate BPO's is a good example) and inform your corp when you need to be offline for a longer period then normal (vacations and stuff). Keeping things rolling without you needing to be online per se, is important to maintain cohesion. It's a bloody game, and only a second job if you let it. Be smart about who you trust while delegating, but don't be a paranoid dictator. Space pixel fuhrerdom is indeed a second job.

TL;DR
A few ppl blapping other ppl is a legit corp too.