Welcome to the twenty-second installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week or so to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!
This month topic is brought to us by L'Dene Bean of Nitpickin's who asks: Why, and how did you pick your corporation? Is your loyalty solid or just until a better placed organization "recruits" you. The shorter version: Who holds your Unshakable Fealty and why?
By nature I am a loyal person, so it is almost natural for me to stick to a Corp even when it is wasting my time. I'm a sucker for giving too many chances. If anyone were to look at my profile they would see that in three-and-a-half years I have only seen four Corporations. And even then, two of those Corps are a merger so in reality I've only been part of three. And of those three my first was disbanded, the second I left and the third I'm currently still serving.
I enjoy being part of something. And even more than that, I enjoy being significant in that part. My second Corp I won't really count, as there was very little involvement from me (not by choice, I hasten to add!). More on that later.
My first Corporation found me, I never went looking. I was too afraid of Corporations at the time. It seemed a bit daunting to interact with other real-life players. EvE was my first (and only) MMO. Even though the game is about player-vs-player interaction, I still found it a little odd 'talking' to a funny looking spaceship on my monitor. It seemed a bit silly at the time. And I also thought I had nothing to offer a Corp while I was still a Newb. We all know that's not the case with many Corps, but back then I didn't know any better. So it's a good job I was approached, otherwise I would have eventually got sick of mining solo in my Badger and quit the game years ago.
I had a great time in my first Corp. Sure, it may have been only geared around mining, but a lot of the enjoyment was probably due to my learning curve increasing extensively. That, and the fact that the Corp and it's members were brand new. It was interesting to see the Corp flourish from a seed. And it was nice to know that almost everyone else was in the same Newb boat as myself. I was loyal without question, and this didn't go unnoticed. The CEO was starting to give me certain rights, and even a title. I was also well-rewarded, which made my loyalty stick even further. I don't remember ever thinking about leaving to find another Corp.
Then real life got in the way, and I disappeared for about 18 months.
When I got back the Corp had disbanded, much to my dismay. Even though I was playing again, I wasn't able to dedicate enough time to be effective to another Corp. So I ran solo for quit a while. But it wasn't long before the feeling of isolation set in. My game-time had picked up, so I scanned the recruitment channel looking for a new Corp.
I found one that seemed to offer everything I was looking for, so I applied and joined. There were only 5 of us in total, as it was just starting out. I liked the idea of this because, like my first Corp, it was nice to be part of something where I could have an effect on it's moulding. But it wasn't long before the two CEO's wandered into a Wormhole and never returned. The other guy was a different time zone to me so we hardly ever saw each other while the fourth was an AFK-King. So, I was back on my own running missions and mining but paying Corp tax on everything I did. Needless to say, I was getting frustrated. Not much loyalty there, although it did take me a while to hit that quit button as I kept piling on those chances. At the very least I do owe thanks because it led me to my current Corp.
My home at the time was Umokka, and one particular day I went scanning. I found a hidden asteroid field and took my Hulk for a spin. I was soon joined by other miners. While my strip-miners did what they do best, I decided to revisit the recruitment channel. I watched it for a while, but nothing matched my wants. I decided to try posting a message in the local chat about recruitment. Umokka always had between 150-300 pilots occupying the system at any time, so it didn't take long for someone to come through. It was Ron (who is now the CEO for my Corp) who spoke up first. And it turned out that he was floating right next to me in the asteroid field. In fact, a lot of the Corp were there mining alongside my Hulk. So, we got talking and I decided to give it a shot.
I'm still in that Corp. And I don't feel that I will leave for a long time. However, current times are very testing, and there is not a better point in time that this Blog Banter question could have come about. I'm not afraid to say that our Corp is experiencing a bit of a slump at the moment and Lucrosum Bellas is no where near as mighty as it once was. A lot of the 'original' players have left to move on to other things while a few have taken long-term breaks for various reasons.
The reasons for the current Corp 'recession' are too long to annotate well into this post without. But a recent move followed by some Alliance squabbles and Corp snitches/thieves has left our remaining members a bit spread out and lost. Our once tightly-knitted and active LUBEL has become an untangled ravel of (mostly) solo runners. Because of this, good members are dropping out.
However, I am in a good position to turn this situation around. I will soon be asking my CEO to give me 'Recruitment Rights' so I can rebuild our numbers. Before I do that, I want to get myself much better established - an operation that has already taken me many weeks so far. I'm aiming to be in position where I can offer PvP and Wormhole Ops as well as mission-running and mining. I'm half way to this goal.
But even through these tough times I am not thinking of leaving. Perhaps I'm being too sentimental to the 'good-old-days' I had in the beginning. But the pilots who remain are excellent quality, and I know we can return to the 'Elite (CareBear!) player Corp' we once had. I am so sure of myself that I've turned down a few invitations recently from other Corps who can give me a great deal more than what LUBEL could ever offer. Enough said.
I think it's safe to say that if I ever thought about leaving my Corporation, it would be to form one of my own.
