…Your corp.

 

Something I feel safe to pat myself on the back for is my ongoing ability to leave behind an entrenched lifestyle with whatever my current group in Eve is, if the fun is elsewhere.

It’s hard to do that. You have a ton of ships, you often have a ton (or a few) close internet nerd friends in that group. You joined them in the first place to violently socialise, to build your wealth and to have a good time. Because this is an entertainment computer video game.

I was lucky, in that my first group in Eve cemented my first batch of lifelong nerdfriends. We were a small corporation, most of us relatively young in the game with a long spacefuture ahead of us. These people pushed me forwards, teaching me the basics, and learning and growing with me mainly in the PvP scene.

At the time, My first group pushed forwards faster than I thought was wise – but it always worked out. After that era’s “golden age”, came the inevitable decline – this is natural for Every group in Eve. Every group waxes and wanes, some multiple times, at varying scales.

Myself and just two of the group felt the declining activity, and we jumped ship – leaving behind everything we knew and still loved, a bond based on what was now the past. This was my first of several efforts over the following 15 years to reinvent the fun I was looking to keep alive.

 

It’s a big risk, leaving the certainty of your familiar but declining Corporation/Alliance. We all look back at the past in Eve through rose-tinted glasses, and while we ask a lot of very reasonable things of CCP, the other half of the puzzle is to recognise that CCP fixing or improving aspects of the game is not going to magically bring all of your Golden-era Eve friends back together to give a serious go at finding the fun. You have to do that.

Because of the multiple, often multi-year jumps I’ve made over my Eve career, I’ve made far more in number, opinion and playstyle friends – many of whom have variously accompanied me to one group or another. Sure, half of them won’t be coming back to Eve, but the ones who have survived over a long period of time have managed this by having the balls to start new relationships and endeavours, in the pursuit of finding where the fun is and getting up and going there.

Leave your dead corp from 5 years ago. It’s not going to come back in the manner you hope it will.

But you will find the right set of people and content if you let go. CCP has a lot of work to do, but you can find the fun now if you’re willing.

 

 

Full disclosure, I am actively recruiting for my Corp and Alliance. During my recruiting efforts, I have had conversation with a large number of people insistant that they would rather stay in their long-time dead corporations for senimental reasons, which made me think on this issue.