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Doll Face
Eridium Technologies
1
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Posted - 2014.04.07 04:07:00 -
[1] - Quote
Before you read this, I'll let you know what it's all about. I'd like to tell you a story about my experiences. I'm telling this out of character, which I try not to do. and I'm going to end with what I think it means to run a corporation. Also, I'm sorry about bad spelling and grammar. I wrote this once already and lost it because of the IGB lol.
Here it goes.
I don't know if I'm starting off wrong by saying but it's how I feel so I'm sticking with it. I love Eve, I really do. I love it for the complexity. I love it for how dynamic it is, and for how many situation can arise. They are frustration some times, and sometimes I feel they're unfair, but it's a challenge that I love. When I started playing Eve, I was about 16 or so. I guess it couldn't have been that long because I'm 28 now however, it was a long while ago. When I started, it was with a friend from Texas. I'm from Canada. We were internet business friends and he told me that there was a lot of gaming business potential.
I became his wormhole space scanner and station manager in wormhole space. This was very lucrative and awesome for me at this age. I played for a year or so and moved on.
I came back later on as a trial with my current character doll face and just couldn't get back into it. I had started a more pvp oriented character for electronic warfare but it wasn't my cup of tea.
This was a few years ago. Recently, I got back on with a local friend not too long ago and we wanted to run a business in eve. The idea was to have a place for high security players to live and learn. This corporation was called Eridium Technologies.
The idea was to merge that business aspect with the family atmosphere where our members were protected and provided for to grow.
We were doing well to start. Grabbed up some new players and started teaching and learning. We were making headway and all of a sudden we got hit with two wars.
Both were just griefers but they hit us pretty hard. The first I tried talking our way out of but that wasn't going to happen. We managed to get some rules of engagement established, which were not followed.. but things could have been a lot worse!
After the first war we were all very demoralized but it was our job to keep something together, and we did. Our members were ready to move on and we took some valuable lessons from the experience.
We needed more structure, more training and more preparation. Just as we were starting on developing this, we were hit by our second war.
This was nothing but pain, and lots of it. There were a lot of deaths and losses, and at the end of the whole ordeal, there was less to learn from.
At the time, we told our members that they could leave Eridium and keep in touch in our public channel, and then come back in once the war was complete.
After the second war, I knew it was time to get our stuff together and prepare our members to learn how to defend themselves, get some cash flow, and make the corporation look less appealing to griefers.
This is what we did. I built a website, started talking about products and services, started putting a PVP partnership into place inside Eridium and began all the preparations to grow through our pain.
Between this time and now, we've got two player owned stations, three offices, a website, a teamspeak server, have had a peak of almost 40 members, and have started selling ammunition, minerals and ore on the corporations behalf.
Also between this time, our founder and my local friend, gave over the corporation to me because of the work I was putting in to running the business. He was also losing interest after not being able to simply "log in and mine".
I worked at hard as I could, protected my members, and made decisions that were RP oriented, consultative and stuck with our core values of safety and family. All of this passing through a voting structure where members would choose what they want.
The problem is that in the middle was also mutiny. Members wanted, members whined and complained, and voted for these stations. Doing our best to work through all the game mechanics of something we don't quite understand and all the other hardships of how to fund the station and protect it, it was decided by many that Eridium was not only responsible for doing all the work, but also for the upkeep... And to top it off, many became angry when the station wasn't a free for all for safety reasons.
Over the last two to three weeks I've tried my best to work every angle I can to balance safety and family, and now Eridium has lost half of it's members as a chain reaction of players who felt that the corporation asset should belong to them.
At this moment, I'm recruiting to find more members who share my vision. One where Eridium conducts business in roleplaying as a real business but treats all of it's members with the respect they deserve and provides to them first before the rest of New Eden. The issue we've run into is nothing more than the balance between what should be free as in free beer, and what should be a corporation asset that produced free beer for members. A difference in opinion.
What is running a corporation like.. It's hell.. But I love it.
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Scipio Artelius
The Vendunari End of Life
1064
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Posted - 2014.04.07 05:01:00 -
[2] - Quote
Nice story and nice attitude.
Might want to batten down the hatches though. I feel there may be another couple of wardecs incoming.
You are down to 18 PvE oriented members and about half of them are 2014 toons. The best combat record in your corp seems to be 2:4 win:loss record.
I suspect this thread might attract some inquisitive minds. . -á<- Argue this, not this ->-á( -í-¦ -£-û -í-¦) |
DaReaper
Net 7 The Last Brigade
291
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Posted - 2014.04.07 05:04:00 -
[3] - Quote
Some advise:
1) make sure you get people to help you run things, that makes a huge difference. When all you do is log in and feed 30 crying pos's a day its a pita.
2) make it crystal clear that the pos' are corp property. I'm harsh on this. Every pos belongs to the corp. Anyone who deploys a personal pos. and does;t feed it 3 times loses said pos (i.e. it becomes mine) I state all pos' are corp property because if they get blown up, or stuff gets stolen, too bad so sad. I do not reimbursed. in my corp if anyone bitched that they should own the pos i would of kicked them in a heart beat.
3) You can only really do an effective corp if its a quasi or complete dictatorship. Other ways are hard. If people don;t like your play style, they can leave.
Anyway, corp ops are pita, but yea its what i do. |
Mike Hakkar
Republic Military School Minmatar Republic
0
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Posted - 2014.04.07 09:20:00 -
[4] - Quote
Just trying to help you get the fact straight.
To my knowledge, WH space was introduced in the Apocrypha expansion which was released in 2009. That's 5 years ago. If you started when you were 16, that would have been 12 years ago. Not sure about your memory, but if you started as a WH scout, you were 23 years, not 16.
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Bad Messenger
Nasranite Watch The Fire Nation Syndicate
732
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Posted - 2014.04.07 11:22:00 -
[5] - Quote
there is not many independent country without good army or some bigger entity securing their independence.
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Ramona McCandless
The McCandless Clan Council of Peace and Prosperity
3152
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Posted - 2014.04.07 11:24:00 -
[6] - Quote
Bad Messenger wrote:there is not many independent country without good army or some bigger entity securing their independence.
I can think if plenty of independant countries with terrible armies
But yeah, join an Alliance
You'll live longer *** Vote MTU For CSM *** ***Free The Jita 1*** "They feel the need to cover their ears and eyes in horror at your very presence." - Pontianak Sythaeryn "Despite others being missing, at least Ramona is back." - Scipio Artelius |
Joshua Foiritain
Coreli Corporation Ineluctable.
632
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Posted - 2014.04.07 11:59:00 -
[7] - Quote
Running a corp is like herding cats. Cats that have ADD.
Coreli Corporation: Small gang PVP & Drug Production, Apply now! |
Marcia en Welle
Tribal Liberation Force Minmatar Republic
83
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Posted - 2014.04.07 12:06:00 -
[8] - Quote
Doll Face wrote:Between this time and now, we've got two player owned stations, three offices, a website, a teamspeak server, have had a peak of almost 40 members, and have started selling ammunition, minerals and ore on the corporations behalf And after this thread, you will have 2 less pos's.
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Doll Face
Eridium Technologies
1
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Posted - 2014.04.07 12:25:00 -
[9] - Quote
I'd like to take a second and thank everyone for posting any replies. I'm glad to see that there are some who agree that running a corp is not exactly easy, and in many cases requires you to take responsibility and authority in the same hand.
I do understand that this was like a light beacon for more griefers and such. And yeah, my memory is crap. I'm almost certain I was scanning before 2009. Either that or I've forgotten how old I am lol
None the less, I wanted to share something with the community. I love the depth that Eve offers when stories and events are turned into "real" happenings, and this was mine. |
Mike Hakkar
Republic Military School Minmatar Republic
0
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Posted - 2014.04.07 12:43:00 -
[10] - Quote
You're right, running a corp is a tough job. Thanks for sharing your story!
And about scanning, you could be very well scanning before 2009, just not in the WH's. Scanning is way older than the wormholes are. |
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Benny Ohu
Beneath the Ashes Margin of Silence
2831
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Posted - 2014.04.07 13:14:00 -
[11] - Quote
this is general discussion's thirty thousandth thread, if anyone was interested |
Agondray
Dark Forge Enterprise Ninja Unicorns with Huge Horns
88
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Posted - 2014.04.07 13:38:00 -
[12] - Quote
Only in eve does someone go after other that doesn't make it their job to shoot other players. Even if you got the upper hand they will just dock and wait to get you during off peak hours if you ran a combat team 24/7 "Sarcasm is the Recourse of a weak mine" -Dr. Smith |
Ramona McCandless
The McCandless Clan Council of Peace and Prosperity
3164
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Posted - 2014.04.07 13:40:00 -
[13] - Quote
Agondray wrote:Only in eve does someone go after other that doesn't make it their job to shoot other players. Even if you got the upper hand they will just dock and wait to get you during off peak hours if you ran a combat team 24/7
1) No. This is just untrue. Try mining Thorium in Venture Co. on a busy Saturday night and see how much Tauren **** you have to ****
2) Don't fight people near a station. That is teh dumb. *** Vote MTU For CSM *** ***Free The Jita 1*** "They feel the need to cover their ears and eyes in horror at your very presence." - Pontianak Sythaeryn "Despite others being missing, at least Ramona is back." - Scipio Artelius |
Maxpie
MUSE Buy-n-Large Metaphysical Utopian Society Enterprises
418
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Posted - 2014.04.07 13:54:00 -
[14] - Quote
Running a corp. is a tough job. That's why I do it. Sometime back, I was getting kind of bored and made my game goal to run a corp. It's been the biggest Eve challenge to date. Contrary to some other comments here, in my view you have to remember that Eve is just a game to most people. You can have rules and procedures, but you can't force people to do anything. Have a vision and guide your people in that direction and you will have fun.
No good deed goes unpunished |
Scarlett LaBlanc
Midnight Savran Industries
82
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Posted - 2014.04.07 14:13:00 -
[15] - Quote
As was previously stated, if you run a corporation as a democracy you will have a disaster. People vote for what is best for THEM, not for what is best for the corporation.
As CEO you really need to set the direction. It sounds like you already have a vision. Now set some goals. A two year goal, a one year goal, ect.
I use "projects" that are focused on for 8-10 weeks followed by a couple weeks of down time before the next project. All of these are aligned with the "vision".
Members are asked for input into how "it" gets done, but the CEO should provide what the "it" is. The CEO also makes the decision, sometimes the members just come up with wrong ideas.
Bottom line is that it is your corporation. If you want it to be a "family" that is fine, but you have to be the father. |
Kitty Bear
Disturbed Friends Of Diazepam Disturbed Acquaintance
1249
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Posted - 2014.04.07 14:32:00 -
[16] - Quote
I've never ran a corp I've never wanted to run a corp
Herding Cats is an expression I've seen used to describe it before.
What I've seen from other corps is, you need to be able to trust a few other people, to help with doing things I know, trust is a 2 edged sword with the thievery and scamming that eve encourages. If you do 'all the things' it can become a job and that makes eve 'not fun'.
Responsibilities - you may have to enforce them, remove granted roles that are not used properly or are neglected. People might ***** and whine, but that's the nature of people, if they don't like it remind them where the 'leave corp' option is.
A CEO is a leadership role so LEAD, that's what some people join corps for. leadership is providing direction, guidance and planning, it's not doing 'all the things' Use democracy at the advice level, listen to it, think about it, then decide, explain your decision.
this is all just my opinion, but hope it helps have fun, or die trying :D
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Yarda Black
Epidemic. Nulli Secunda
110
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Posted - 2014.04.07 14:41:00 -
[17] - Quote
People... Always those damn people man!
Nice story. I hope your corp manages to replace its members with guys and galls more in sync with how you want it to go. |
Pak Narhoo
Splinter Foundation
1409
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Posted - 2014.04.07 14:49:00 -
[18] - Quote
Mike Hakkar wrote:Just trying to help you get the fact straight.
To my knowledge, WH space was introduced in the Apocrypha expansion which was released in 2009. That's 5 years ago. If you started when you were 16, that would have been 12 years ago. Not sure about your memory, but if you started as a WH scout, you were 23 years, not 16.
That^. With EVE being almost 11 years around you got some facts wronk.
Also, most wars last less then 10 day's. Just check random corporations and their wars you'll see it's no biggie.
Most wars can be easily avoided by keeping your mouth shut in local. I know it sounds harsh but if you don't tick the 'scumbags' off they usually have nothing to bite into.
Also high sec grievers have some, uhm. trouble at times if you make it a bit tougher on them, like you move your corp into low sec. during the war.
Some wars are made to get rid of your pos. Two solutions here, either remove it or hang up as many hardeners as you can and be sure they're online when the war hits. Not like I did and had them just off lined anchored there.
If your corporation joins an alliance then just expect wars hitting you on a regular base, which should be no biggie and can be even fun if it's a well run alliance.
But to stress my second point, if you don't tick people off by bad mouthing you should be relatively "safe*" from wars.
* In EVE you're nowhere but docked up safe. |
KnowUsByTheDead
Krypteia Operations CODE.
1242
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Posted - 2014.04.07 14:58:00 -
[19] - Quote
I have never lived in WH space.
Can I join your lovely WH corporation?
I bring much to the table.
Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the comedian is the only thing that makes sense. -á-á-á-á-á-á-á |
cyboman
Mafia Italiana
1
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Posted - 2014.04.07 15:40:00 -
[20] - Quote
That brings back many memories on my first corp and wardecs. Very depressing for a group just starting to build membership that has no real exp in PVP.
Also living in 0.0 corp/alliances. Some were very controlling with regards to the market, individual pos and required corp ops.
I would agree, pos or player owned stations belong to the corp... NOT the individual. Maintaining and protecting assets are the corps responsibility. 100% corp tax and 100% involvement during corp ops may seem harsh but is is needed.
Suck it up or get out.
Cyboman 07 |
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Inxentas Ultramar
Ultramar Independent Contracting
1237
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Posted - 2014.04.07 17:56:00 -
[21] - Quote
I cannot stress the importance of delegation. You cannot do everything yourself. Well.. actually you can, if you aspire to be some hisec octopus multiboxing their business empire. I am very lucky to have two excellent Executive Directors with enough experience to feel confident FC-ing PVP ops up to a certain scale, as well as to dump a POS in some place or handle recruitment. Sure, you should not hand out roles willy-nilly, that's dumb... but having a few trusted people that can handle day-to-day business takes a lot of stress out of CEOship.
The only real downside I could think about, is that your have very little time to sneak in some PVE. Because if anything goes on RIGHT NOW people are going to look in your direction and expect you to act, and you should. For me thats a small freedom to sacrifice in a game that will kill you at every turn if you turn stupid or are found wanting, and part of the challenge. |
Teyr Schmitt
An Errant Venture
1
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Posted - 2014.04.07 18:06:00 -
[22] - Quote
Calling bullcrap on this.
If you started at age 16 and you're now 28, you would have been in EVE beta or have a birthday that is DAMN close to launch.
You say you started with wormholes? They were only launched under 5 years ago.
Quote: 1) No. This is just untrue. Try mining Thorium in Venture Co. on a busy Saturday night and see how much Tauren **** you have to ****
First, not EVE. second, he said off-peak hours, not PEAK hours.
Quote:Most wars can be easily avoided by keeping your mouth shut in local. I know it sounds harsh but if you don't tick the 'scumbags' off they usually have nothing to bite into.
....speaking of, where the hell is Cannibal Kane.......?
I wonder, does he only appear when you say his name, like Candlejack?
Because, really, what are the odds of |
Doireen Kaundur
550
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Posted - 2014.04.07 18:10:00 -
[23] - Quote
When I saw your avatar, I thought of Futurama's MOMCorp. Mow THAT'S a way to run a corporation.
LOVEGäó - tradmark of MomCorp. A great American humorist and author recently said: "The one unintentional flaw of the internet generation is its ability to give the stupidest segments of our population the loudest voices." I have a tendency to agree with his statement.-á |
Precentor Saggitus
Planet Express Transport
18
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Posted - 2014.04.07 18:22:00 -
[24] - Quote
Running a Corp (or guild, or whatever) is a tough job. Above all its a time eater, and certainly the rise in reward for it isn't on par with the rise in work it requires. "Herding Cats" is right if maybe the cats were more selfish, lazy, uncooperative and whined more. Just like running a real life business, running a corp really relies on getting the right people. Running a corp in EVE is probably harder since the people are generally less trustworthy since everyone wants to be the next big corp thief and many players will step over their own mother for another kill mail. Kudos to any who will take on that mantle.
To boot, one has a lot of competition out there for people and space. An unfortunate thing in EVE I feel is that there isn't a lot of room for new entities to form and wedge their way in, so the goal of getting somewhere (ie taking one's own bit of space to call home) is a long up hill one. There will always be more people who want to tear down what you create than to help build it. Few people understand the psycology of a highway traffic cop. Your average speeder will panic and immediately pull over to the side. This is wrong. It arouses contempt in the cop heart. Make the bastard chase you. He will follow. |
Doll Face
Eridium Technologies
5
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Posted - 2014.04.07 21:24:00 -
[25] - Quote
Just wanted to update myself on here and say thank you all for the lovely replies.
I stress again, you're all right that my dates and activities were certainly wrong. Whether I was simply scanning, or scanning wormholes, or whether it was later in my years than I thought, you're right.
Certainly, internet time passes much quicker than real life, so I may have been 23 at the time and not 16. None-the-less, the story stands true with a few brain-fart errors.
On the second half, running the corporation; I really enjoyed hearing what people have had to say. It's interesting to see how many of us, creators and benevolent dictators, must resort to harsh actions and such because of the "nature of the beast".
Whether that's the age of the player, the game mechanics, the general attitude, or something else.. It seems like there are not many options for doing it much differently. The difference is WHAT each corp does, since we all pretty much do it the same in the end.
Whatever the case, if I'm wrong or not, I find the whole ordeal very interesting and would like to especially say that I've enjoyed the opinions and experienced replies that've helped me gather my thoughts a little more.
If anyone enjoyed this post, please be kind enough to like it for me. Maybe I could write another some time. Maybe I create an OOC blog category on the Eridium website? Who knows.
<3 Fly safe Doll |
Precentor Saggitus
Planet Express Transport
18
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Posted - 2014.04.07 21:28:00 -
[26] - Quote
The mistakes are understandable, I think running a corp aged me a bit too much too. Easy to lose track of time. Few people understand the psycology of a highway traffic cop. Your average speeder will panic and immediately pull over to the side. This is wrong. It arouses contempt in the cop heart. Make the bastard chase you. He will follow. |
Gogela
Freeport Exploration Loosely Affiliated Pirates Alliance
3166
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Posted - 2014.04.08 21:24:00 -
[27] - Quote
I've been playing for a while now. I don't know how people who run real corps (mine is not) do it. It's so much work! Where do you find the time?
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Erufen Rito
The Dark Space Initiative Scary Wormhole People
132
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Posted - 2014.04.08 21:30:00 -
[28] - Quote
Man, this hit right at home. I came to think at one point that I hated playing Eve. But it was more like I hated running a corporation, so I delegated a lot of the tasks, and it didn't get any better :p
Now I am a happy average Joe in space. This is as nice as I get. Best quote ever https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=4137165#post4137165 |
Ficti0n
Ultramar Independent Contracting Advanced Amateurs
4
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Posted - 2014.05.01 14:33:00 -
[29] - Quote
Inxentas Ultramar wrote:I cannot stress the importance of delegation. You cannot do everything yourself. Well.. actually you can, if you aspire to be some hisec octopus multiboxing their business empire. I am very lucky to have two excellent Executive Directors with enough experience to feel confident FC-ing PVP ops up to a certain scale, as well as to dump a POS in some place or handle recruitment. Sure, you should not hand out roles willy-nilly, that's dumb... but having a few trusted people that can handle day-to-day business takes a lot of stress out of CEOship.
The only real downside I could think about, is that your have very little time to sneak in some PVE. Because if anything goes on RIGHT NOW people are going to look in your direction and expect you to act, and you should. For me thats a small freedom to sacrifice in a game that will kill you at every turn if you turn stupid or are found wanting, and part of the challenge.
It's a long-con. We want your secret management stash. Cheers inx |
Barbara Nichole
Cryogenic Consultancy
586
|
Posted - 2014.05.01 16:32:00 -
[30] - Quote
Always figure wardecs into your corporate plan... it's a cost of doing business. Your members need to know they are coming and they need to know what your official response is going to be .. before hand so there is no confusion and or disruption.
Membership attrition is also going to happen. You will find a small percentage who will remain through thick and thin but that's not the norm. If you aren't actively trying to grow you will be shrinking. This also part of the plan that you should put into play. Try not to do all the recruiting yourself - you need more than one recruitment officer.
-á-á- remove the cloaked from local; free intel is the real problem, not-á "afk" cloaking-á-
[IMG]http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a208/DawnFrostbringer/consultsig.jpg[/IMG] |
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