My EVE

Regarding BTC Wormhole Groups and History, Part I

Overview: I have read a good deal over the last year, increasing in frequency and emotional tone to a frantic pitch in the last few weeks, concerning myself (DG Athonille), Laura Agathon, and the rest of the wormhole group and our activities. Much of what I have read has been false or distorted, or simply wrong. I view myself as an authority on the topic since I have been involved for a year and a half now, and frankly, many of the developments and decisions in the last year I have had a part in.
History: I was very new to Eve when I joined BTC. I had tired of HS lvl 4 missions and gone solo out to NPC nullsec. I was having a good time and making decent ISK, but admittedly a bit lonely. I saw a frequent miner from BTC, so became interested, as well as looking into other corporations I saw represented about. In the end I chose BTC and moved from NS to Solitude. I lived and grew and learned. I enjoyed the comradery, the tense wardecs, LS adventures (there is a load of ISK to be made in Harner), etc.
Over time though, as happens in large groups, people began to fade off and away. Unfortunately, as they left gaps began to appear in regular operations. Lvl 4 mission running died off [for a good long while]. Mining ops became fewer. Wardecs became endless station spinning. It became rather damn dull. I started to run in incursion fleets and dabble more and more into LS, NS, roaming. As my skills increased I began to venture into those oh so scary wormholes on my own…and BLAM! I was hooked. Finishing a few hours of gameplay running back to Solitude with loads of Arkonor and blue loot – I had gotten a taste and I really liked it.
As happenstance, the existing C4 WH division connected to HS Solitude one evening, and I assisted with a massive mineral hauling OP. That got me names and contact, and I began to ask, “Can I join pretty, pretty, pretty please????” About the same timeframe Laura Agathon returned to BTC, and we actually met up in the WH C4. We hit it off easily enough and found that we were typically online about the same time each day. Unfortunately, that time of day did not often coincide with the predominately EUTZ folks that lived in the C4.
Over the weeks and months ahead, we tried to do what we could. We found hours and hours of idle time – C4 sites cannot be done solo [with our skillpoints] or as just two. Once again, the dullness began to creep in. So we collaborated and argued and planned – we came up with a concept: An easier WH training ground and “Voyager” was born. We discussed our plans with the existing WH group and with BTC management – it was met all around with approval and support.
The concept was to occupy a C2 WH with favorable static exits – we chose C2/LS to give us the broadest reach of soloable content. We purchased a system that had POCOs in place, a starbase and even a phoenix. We figured we could use the phoenix to discourage squatters. We set up shop and opened recruiting – the turnout was surprising! Fairly quickly we had a good sized gaggle running around and getting better and better and we (Laura and I) had been honing what was possible and what was efficient. At the height of “Voyager’s” day we had every industry array available in system and open for use. Members paid the division a monthly rent fee which went to fuel costs and we had set up a number of schemes (PI, loot, industry, etc.) aimed at increasing each player’s income while balancing logistics and risk. On the downside, we started to see that individual solo activity had an upper cap – so we began to plan for ways that individuals and gangs could make more.

Regarding BTC Wormhole Groups and History Part III

During times of war, we’ve left out of our C6 system in mass and come back to Solitude to assist. We’ve brought our learned lessons and doctrines with us. At times several of us have donated to BTC – I once flew in 2B ISK worth of ships and mods (PushX rocks) in preparation for a war. We’ve tried to host events (mining here is phenomenal and some of you have seen screen grabs of the moon sized rocks we have). We’ve been open to recruitment and some BTC folks over time have made the leap and joined us. Some liked it, some did not, some stayed, and some did not.
In the last six months though, both Laura and I, and to a shared degree the whole division, had been the target of negative commentary. Notions that “they steal the best pilots,” “they just leech off of us and do nothing for the corp,” or that “they are a burden on the corp” had surfaced more and more. Those are asinine comments; hopefully from my recount of events you each have gathered that much. We strove to open content and growth opportunities as well as gave back to BTC, both regularly and in times of need. Nobody demanded or asked this of us; we felt it was the right thing to do for love of BTC as a corporation and of individuals we’d come to know over time.
The reality was that we could not in good conscious openly recruit people into the wormhole division – they could fly to Solitude and steal stuff. By the same token, they could come into our wormhole system and steal stuff. We were governed (and frankly at times hampered) by BTC’s title and permission overlay. To that end, it seemed reasonable that all recruits to the WH division complete some basic time in corp and in Solitude. There are more good reasons for this being so ~ I am sure you can think of them.
Concurrently, we began to see a steady fall off of activity (player presence) in the wormhole. Real life issues, bored with game, easy PI income, etc. all contributed to a growing atrophy of participation. These things happen and are natural. The lifeblood of a corporation in Eve [or any other game] is fresh faces. I cannot run C6 sites without five bros to rep me up for example. Those five people cannot run the C6 site without me and the four others. See? But with the growing negative sentiment in Solitude, we began to see a slow death for our operation.
Laura and I decided to break off and form a new corporation, going back to our success – the C2 class of space and newbros. We’d stay in the C6 and assist with C6 site fleets, but *also* begin to recruit new folks and get them progressing. Ultimately they’d become skilled enough to join the C6 side of operations. They’d also have enough time with us to develop trust and comradery which are critical. By forming a new corporation, we could tailor our divisions, access, roles, titles, and permissions to secure ourselves from theft. There were sufficient investor funds and in-system built capitals piled up to pay us a reasonable settlement amount, so we broke off. It is important to note that we remained on good terms with the BTC division still present, and had understanding of why we were moving on and long-term cooperative support.
In the final months and weeks of this history, BTC politics began to become quite negative. Although Laura and I had asked for permission to move off and form a new BTA corporation throughout the last year, it was repeatedly turned down. We heard from numerous Solitude denizens that activity was dead, management was absent, and to be blunt I was vocal about that as well. When Raven took over as CEO, a vote was put out to BTC as to whether the WH division should stay or go. In the end, Laura and I decided to go of our own accord, and we formed Nothing on DSCAN. As we left, we asked that as part of the settlement of the ISK owed us that the POCOs be transferred to NoD. The reason was simple: BTC enjoyed a 0% tax rate on the POCOs, which would continue unchanged, however NoD could use a small tax rate on its members to help supplement an SRP (ship replacement fund).

Removed an off topic post.