EVE New Citizens Q&A

Spying and scouting are also part of EVE. The Local chat channel is really a game-breaking problem for anyone who is interested in covert operations "in character" on their main account. It tells your targets immediately when you are in the system stalking or scouting them, and no cloaking device or stealth tactic can escape it. For some people this is seen as a good part of the game -- no enemy can take you by surprise ever. But for those new players thinking of training up for a covert ops frigate, a recon cruiser, and someday a black ops battleship, this may come as a shocking disappointment: wherever you go, no matter how sneaky you are, the enemy will always know you're there. Wormholes are the exception, but they're also kind of a message from CCP: "you PVPer jerks, go to the PVP zone and leave the rest of us alone".

So if you want to spy or scout, you do so on a second character. He should have an average looking avatar, be in a legit-looking corp with a plausible but not flashy corp history, no obvious ties to your main character or corporation, name should start with a letter somewhere in the middle of the alphabet, boring bio with the NPC damage types or something no one will spend much time looking at. If alts break the roleplaying for you, you can pretend he's an agent who you've turned. Your main can transfer money for your alt via dead-letter box: you drop valuable blueprints or implants in an anchored cargo container somewhere, the alt picks them up, and you both have clean wallet histories.

I would love to see an Eve where alts are not allowed, and you couldn't just buy plex.

But that's another topic! I agree with what's said before, your money your game. Alts aren't required but some players identities ingame require anonymous hauling and scanning alts.

for PvP ,having a scout alt is invaluable.

Mine is frequently the fleet booster for the evenings roam , can combat scan, And is out of alliance so can be used to find Wartargets in space without spooking them.
I always have it one or two jumps ahead of myself/the fleet following someone else alt who will be in a covops (also out of alliance) scouting further ahead.

What this means is I never have to jump a gate blind, I usually know what I'm engaging well before I choose to engage, I can land on them immediately (position alt 10k behind target away from gate, warp to alt at 10...."surprise mother******") And I can provide fleet boosts after I have moved the alt.

It also means I can carry extra ammo, paste and modules for myself or anyone that needs it.

It's also worth noting that with a second monitor it gets much easier to Operate two accounts at once.