So a bit more of a serious discussion about a
Bay12 corp took place today between Erisu, myself, Spraypaint Junkie and Lady Kaye (and later a little with Slu, Anja, and Wulf
So far a few people are tied to their current corps, either for personal reasons or because they are involved in wars/incursion stuff. But being in different corps doesn't really impact our ability to fly as a fleet when people have free time to leave their warzone etc. Currently people are congregating around
Ordion, a 0.5 high-sec system in Kor-Azor(
Amarr), it's where myself and Anja have called home(ish) for a while now. It has good access to agents of all levels (of various factions, though with an obvious emphasis on Amarr) and very nice mining too. As well as access to low-sec 2 jumps away, though a bit far from Jita. We're probably looking at having an office down here at least, though with the way offices work, if there are groups of us who operate in different areas, we may simply be able to have separate offices spread around to accommodate people as they move.
Although there is HFS which is currently dormant, I don't believe the CEO is playing right now. So rather than try to get in touch and ask them to re-sub for the soul purpose of transferring control of the corp to a new member, we've been trying to think of names for a new corp. Erisu has suggested the name should contain
Armok in there some place, but other than that (
and the general consensus that is should have obvious tie-ins to DF) we're pretty open still on the name. Any suggestions?
One of the reasons that I think it would be more fun for everyone to be involved in setting up a new corp, is it would be a group project, and allows us to brand it as B12 in some way. Something unifying that we can all identify with, rather than inheriting the baggage (
both good and bad) of another existing corp, such as my own. As much as you'd all be welcome in Order of the Pathless Way, I just don't think it would be nearly as fun for everyone if you all moved into
my 'house' as it were, as opposed to us all making a communal house from scratch that we can name and build from the ground up. Kinda feels more epic if you're one of the founding Dwarfs, and you're there for the mining of the first dormitory, as opposed to a migrant who moves in once everything's all set up and running
However, Lady Kaye has kindly offered to let us move into her Corp should people not wish to make a new one: Fluffy Bunnies of Death
As for the focus of the corp, it seems we have a fairly wide spread of skill levels, from brand new players all the way up to players who've played previously and recently re-subbed, or those who've been active for years. So there's an interesting collection of skill sets and interests, both military and industry orientated, so whatever Corp we make will likely want to have access to both of these things rather than focus exclusively on one or the other, that said, there are lots of options.
From what I recall of the last push, B12 spent some time in a wormhole, living out of a POS. That's an option this time too, though I was wondering if people would rather try something else? There's living in Low-sec or even Null-sec, or just basing out of High-sec, with or without a POS. We could also delve into Incursions (pretty lucrative) or Faction Warfare to get some experience of PvP, perhaps with a goal of eventually turning to the life of mercenaries or pirates?
Finally, there is the question on how to set up the Corp? Assuming that we do make one of our own, how will it be run? Will it all be '
serious internet space-ships' or a bit more relaxed, and of course will it be run with one person at the top or many? Over the years I've had the pleasure (and the burden) of being a part of many corps, the CEO of most of them and a director in most of the rest. I've been part of serious corps where it was run more like a business, with managers and senior managers etc, and others which were just a collection of friends who sometimes did stuff together, where there were no divisions of power (everyone was a director except the one person who, due to game mechanics, had to be a CEO).
Personally, I've usually found that groups of friends who do things together is much more friendly and welcoming to new players, and tends to build a better sense of camaraderie. There is a lot to be said about the top down approach to running a corp, but I kinda like the idea of a '
round table' of sorts, where at the very least, all the founders are considered equal, if not everyone. I also think it is generally better not to place too much responsibility on one person, and is part of the reason why I've mentioned to the others that I really don't have much interest in being a CEO again. As fun as it sometimes is, you do end up feeling like you're responsible for everyone having a good time, and can end up running yourself ragged setting up events, trying to make sure there's enough people attending, organising fleets and that only gets worse if the corp starts to turn into a business (the corp produces and sells items, rather than the individual members doing it for themselves.)
So for my part, I'd like to suggest that a fun corp where things aren't taken too seriously, where no one person ends up being responsible for the enjoyment of the others, and decisions are made as a group. Eve has a decent method for handling corporate votes, if we want to make things a little more official. But generally, just a place for B12 to group together, work towards a goal, having fun along the way. Maybe let the corp evolve into whatever it wants to be... if we evolve into a lean and mean merc corp, who turn war into a precise art-form, that's cool, but if we end up being a corp who runs the occasional low-sec roam, dabbles in a bit of industry and runs a few missions a night where anyone who's on is welcome to drop in or leave as they see fit, that's also cool
So, to summarise... tl;drWe're looking at setting up a new corp, initially based in Ordion, but can put offices all over the place if other groups develop around other areas.
We need a corp name, something dorfy, with Armok in it, any suggestions?
We also need an icon, anyone have a preference? Colour, style, should it menace with spikes of awesome?
What should we focus on, something different from last time perhaps, or just see what happens? Some basic options are: Missioning, Industry (mining/manufacture), Incursions, Faction Warefare, living in a Wormhole, living in Low/Null-sec, being Pirates, being Mercs, being pirate-hunters.
How should it be run? With an iron fist? By a council of founders? By the people for the people? Or 'just chill out man, it's a game. Who cares?'?
Finally, don't worry if you can't join us in a new corp, you can still fly with us as often as you like!