EVE New Citizens Q&A

Hello all,

Just want introduce myself as Red and say that I am new around these parts. I have followed the ongoings in New Eden for a month or so before taking the plunge to purchase the game and get some first hand experience of what it's all about. Now, I've toyed around a bit with the game and its basics, I'd like to take a step into learning more about what interested me in the first place, that being the politics, diplomacy, relations or whatever you would like to call the madness. So, I come here to the forums to find someone who can guide me in the right direction. Would simply trying out my luck in PvP be the right start, or are there other methods, perhaps follow/shadow someone who could advise me and I could learn from, I would really appreciate it if someone did give me a chance to learn and do what I am interested in.


Thanks, and once again, hello to the Eve community

Red

Hi o/

Welcome to Eve! The politics in Eve are fascinating and I'm sure there are more qualified people on these forums to speak to this than I. If I were starting out and wanted to get into politics, I'd probably start by getting myself involved in a corporation. I'd probably pick a smaller group where it was more likely that I'd be able to stand out, but large enough that they'd have a need to interact with other groups. Being involved in PvP and building yourself a bit of a name and reputation in your space of the game would go a long way to furthering your goal.

Diplomats in Eve are often very high-level positions. This means that becoming trusted enough in order to be placed in a position like that could take time, especially for the more established corporations. However, smaller corporations or one that you started yourself would be an easy way to skip ahead into powerful positions like that.

That's how I would probably get started. I'm sure that others with more experience in the area might be able to pop in and give you better insight than I'm able to offer.

Again, welcome to Eve and good luck out there!

Sure. Like Mr Fractal said, find a group you like, join up and get involved.

If they've someone who does their diplo type work then get to know them, let them know it's an interest of yours, maybe even ask to shadow them a little and I'm sure they'd probably give you tips and knowledge relative to what their group does.

As other's have said politics in Eve is a very broad term.

IRL we have very structured and ineffective politics. In eve it is more natural in that it grows out of interactions between players and groups of players.

I would say that starting out by seeking to be involved in politics is probably not the best way to go about it. That is more of a role for some one more experienced and involved. That is not to say that you can't gain that experience. I'm just saying start out by playing the game. Play around with a lot of different aspects to the game the broader your experience the more opportunities that will be open to you in the future.

Also politics is not something that you run for in this game like others. You step up and take the bull by the horns and prove yourself worth following and then other's jump on board. It's not the kind of job where you submit a resume or run for election or anything of the sort. You just have to make it happen.

From my personal experience almost as a rule the people that are worth following typically don't want to lead and will do so reluctantly if shown support. The ones that seek out leadership roles typically are the last people that I'd want to follow into anything.

With power comes responsibility and most people that understand that will not actively seek out power due to the burden that comes with it. Those that do seek power typically are either ignorant to the responsibilities that come with it or intend to ignore them. Either way to me it's a recipe for disaster. Luckily for you this is Eve and disaster is a selling point.

Hi, I do see where you are coming from. Eve politics is unlike anything else I have seen or read about. However, on your comments stating those that 'seek out leadership roles', I would just like to mention I do not regard my interest arising from wanting to have power as such but more from the fact I study a Political Science degree IRL, coupled with the fact I have always loved online gaming, in particular MMO's, is probably more of the reason why I wish to learn more and get involved with the politics in Eve if the opportunity arises. Thanks for the comments however.

Inter-organization politics in eve starts at the ground, working up, meaning that it depends on the wants of individual gamers. If you join an average/small corp that wants a certain specific type of content, then the inter-organization politics will be defined by that pursuit, and little else. Due to this, practical politics and diplomacy is at an absolute minimum/nonexistant. It's only when corps and alliances get large that space-politics becomes 'a thing.'

For most corps, who are small, their need to interact with other groups is super limited. And for those instances where group-level interaction is needed, then that interaction is typically done by the sole leader of a corp. There's little to no need for any more than 1 decision-maker for most groups. And the motives of a small group are so limited and defined that a corp leader can handle things personally somewhat easily. In this circumstance, a diplomat's potential contribution is typically very redundant - they're relegated to being a go-between from the leader, and the other representative. It makes more sense for the sole leader to interact directly, and the other group tends to appreciate this directness.

So to encapsulate, small group diplomacy is kinda like having a translator follow a leader around even though everyone's speaking the same language. Offputting, redundant, and of very little value.

Diplomacy comes into it's own once organizations get large, interests and motives become broader or more intricate, cramming more people into one place makes more crossed wires, and leadership thus needs to delegate tasks. They can't be there first-person for everything.... But will still be there first-person for the important things. So in this manner, a leader is still a bit of a chief diplomat, while the 'formal' diplomat role is typically just a lieutenant taking care of smaller issues, and ironing out minutia. You're not an Otto Von Bismarck or a Richard Holbrooke of Eve when you're cited as Alliance Diplomat. With rare exception, that tier of diplomacy tends to be the role of an alliance leader(or mega-corp CEO).

This varies depending on the group, but in the end, it nearly always makes the most sense for the group's primary leader to deal with anything of high importance due to expedience and availability, and no specialized requirement for the role.

If this is your interest, I would suggest finding a larger alliance. You will likely get into the arena sooner, that way. It's less likely in smaller groups due to the very limited scope and consequence that they deal with. In a smaller group, you can get named chief diplomat, but then just sit there with nothing interesting or relevant to do for months.

By contrast, in a large group, once you've been there a while, and feel comfortable in Eve, you can probably just open up a convo with the lead diplomat and say, "I want to be a diplomat. Do you have room for me?"
If the group is large, then the answer will probably be yes. You will then get delegated to resolve small-fry squabbles, but at least you're now in the arena.

Good luck.

Step 1 is to make a very, very important decision, one you must make secretly.

Do you want to become a diplomat that is loyal to your alliance, or do you want to be a disloyal spy?

Make that decision, then either way you want to join the alliance you want to become a diplomat in, and demonstrate loyalty (feigned or real) and competence over time.

Trust is a currency. Amass it and you can spend it to perform miracles.

Hey Red -

Welcome to EVE.

As a tip to get into the end-game politics, I would recommend you join a corporation that is in a major alliance. The trick after that is being active, friendly, and take everything in. This means participating on EVE Forums, corp forums, roams, etc... Immerse yourself in the game. At the end of the day, its your ability to communicate that will get you into the politics of EVE, not necessarily your skills in-game.

In order to chose where to go, do your research on the forums. Check out the Alliance and Corporation recruitment threads, and see which ones have been around a long time and are active. Its okay to switch corps/alliances if what you chose doesnt fit your play-style.

I would not recommend you get into piracy or scamming/corp theft since that will get your character/account blacklisted. It follows you around if the people report you to the community (ie. http://www.evewho.com) - That is unless you want to get into piracy politics (every group has its own clique with their own famous players they look up to for guidance and inspiration).

Hope this helps a bit.

Francis

IMO, a "direct learning path" does exist, and has been presented to you: form your own corp, and lead it to success.

The advantages are:

- you get to directly talk to other diplomats as you establish relations and alliances for your corp

- you don't have to go through the whole "gain trust first", which actually never happens... this game has too many spies and thefts to ever allow anyone to be trusted fully

- the effort and work required to manage a corp (herding kittens) is the same as the effort and work you typically have to do as a diplomat

- success or failure are completely your doing


The disadvantages are:

- a lot of work
- you kinda need to gain knowledge of the game mechanics first
- you build your reputation from the ground up, rather than taking advantage of an established corp's reputation


Personally, I'd spend a few months training some skills for some ships, and using the ships in PVE then PVP, to learn the game. Figure out, besides politics, what interests you. Scout an area to operate in, whether low-sec or null; Providence for example allows neutrals to fly in, and you can certainly interact with their diplos, for a glimpse of 0.0 politics and ways of doing things. Not just them though, there are other groups out in 0.0 you can interact with.

Thanks to everyone for their input, I didn't expect to receive so much advice from a good amount of people, the community here really is great. That being said if there are any diplomats out there who would like to give me their advice or share their experiences they will be most welcome to do so either here or through mail inbox.


I think it may be too, joining a newbie corp in a known alliance will be one of my aims over the next couple weeks/months. From there hopefully learn more about the game itself using it as a platform to build knowledge as my platform in preparation for building diplomatic skills.


I like this, a lot. I will take it with me where ever I go.


Forming my own corp this early might be a mad/bad idea, but always a possibility in the near future.


Sounds about right!