EVE Evolved: PvP masterclass - The dark side, part 2
Corporate infiltration:
Not many MMOs are open enough to allow roles such as corporate spy, assassin and double-agent to be viable play styles and this is something EVE pulls off with style. With a bit of effort, a player can put their acting skills to work and talk their way into joining a corporation. Once on the inside, possible plans you could execute range all the way from gaining access to and then raiding the corporate hangers to assassinating the CEO in their prize ship or even usurping control of an entire alliance.
Over the years, a number of high profile corporate infiltrations have occurred in EVE, some even hitting the general world media. Perhaps the prime example of a perfectly executed corporate infiltration is the GHSC heist. Perpetrated in 2005 by the Guiding Hand Social Club corporation and under the direction of Istvaan Shogaatsu, this assassination contract ended in almost the complete dismantling of the target corporation "Ubiqua Seraph" in what has become the iconic corporate theft.
When the code-word was given out over the corp chat, spies implanted in all ranks of the corporation simultaneously raided every hanger the corporation had. In the same moment, Ubiqua Seraph CEO Mirial was blown up in their prize possession, an expensive Navy issue Apocalypse. Similar examples have popped up over the years but none has come close to the style, completeness and precision with which the GHSC heist was pulled off.
Getting your hands dirty:
For those players that don't mind getting their hands very dirty, there are some extremely underhanded options that can bring in a nice profit and in some cases bring a corp to its knees. As happened in the GHSC assassination plan, it's possible to get into a corporation and assassinate its members without any retribution from CONCORD. This is because members of any player-run corp are able to attack each other so they can engage in sparring matches or use nosferatu on each other to share some capacitor. Turning this to your advantage, you could take an assassination contract on someone and infiltrate their corp to complete the contract when the victim isn't prepared for attack.
An alternative and often more damaging avenue of dirty corporate infiltration is to be a "plant" and play the politics game. A plant is a type of spy that's inserted into a corporation for some specific purpose such as ruining their diplomatic relations or reputation. Back when I was in the Interstellar Starbase Syndicate alliance, this practice was commonplace and was used as a precursor to war. By planting someone in the enemy alliance to violate your non-aggression pact with them, members of your own alliance can be strongly motivated to go to war and seek retribution.
Summary:
This brief introduction to the worlds of piracy and corporate infiltration barely scratches the surface of either topic. If either of them sound like your cup of tea, I recommend launching head-first into it either on your own or with a small group of friends. Whether you're interested in being a space pirate holding ships for ransom or a sleeper agent in a corp hoping for a big score, there's no substitute for personal experience.
This final part of the PvP Masterclass series brings this guide on the direction you can take your PvP career to a close. We've discussed the different types of PvP available in EVE Online, how small gang warfare fits into that scheme, what large fleet warfare is all about and in this final part, the dark side of EVE with piracy and corporate infiltration. The possibilities don't end there though, in a game as open-ended and free-form as EVE, the possible directions you can take your PvP career are practically endless. Even if you're still on a 14-day trial, why not pick one that sounds appealing and give it a try? Once you're bitten by the PvP bug, you'll wonder why you never did it sooner.
