EVE Evolved: Running your own corporation
The term "corporation" in EVE Online is something of a misnomer. While a corp can be run as a full-on business entity, most are just like guilds or clans in other MMOs. It's a group of pilots that join together under one banner for mutual benefit, organised operations or even just to have some nice people to chat to while you mine. For those that can't find a good player-run corporation that's compatible with their aims and goals, there are a few options. One option is to stay in one of the many NPC-run corps but perhaps the most interesting choice is to start your own corp. With the upcoming 11% tax being applied to NPC corps, some of the people currently in those corps may even want to start their own one-man corps to evade the tax.
Running your own corporation provides you with additional tools like corporate hangers and the ability to set up starbases or declare war on other corps. It also opens the opportunity to recruit like-minded individuals and friends into your group so you can work together on anything from mining and mission-running to full-on PvP and piracy. EVE is one of those games that really starts to take off once you start working together with people. Starting your own corp can, however, be a daunting task that carries with it responsibilities and risks.
For all those that have ever wanted to run their own corporation, in this article I explain how to the process of starting a corp, recruiting and keeping the corp secure against threats. I also go into detail on some of the corp operations you can hope to enjoy with friends.
Starting a corp:
To start a corp, all you'll need is the Corporation Management skill and around 1.5 million ISK. Open the corporation tab on the left hand menu and click the "Create corporation" button to start the process. You'll be asked to supply various details like your corp's name, logo and website address if they have one. Apart from the name, all of these can be changed later at any time so don't agonise too much over them. When you create a new corp, it's a good idea to have an idea of what you want to do with the corp before starting it. Naming your corp appropriately based on what activities you plan to use it for can help attract people to your corp. On the other hand, a name that suggests you're primarily an industrial or mining corp may attract unwanted wars from people looking for easy targets.
Although you could just run a private corporation and operate on an invite-only basis, opening recruitment to the public can be a very rewarding experience. Getting together with people that have similar interests and working toward common goals is part of the EVE experience and making new friends in an MMO will certainly make the game more fun. Recruiting usually takes place on the official recruitment forums, the in-game recruitment channel or via adverts in-game. Another popular option is to invite people you meet in your travels to join your corp. If you're a mining corp, for example, why not invite the people you meet while mining or ask in local if any miners are looking for a corp?
Maintaining security:
When recruiting, it's of paramount importance that you maintain security. If you don't scrutinise applicants thoroughly and turn away everyone suspicious, you may end up being the victim of a corporate infiltration or theft. This is a risk you take when you open recruitment to the public rather than using an invite-only policy. Corpmates can attack each other freely in high security space without CONCORD intervention, so be careful who you recruit and keep a close eye on those people that make it into your corp. Regardless of the risks, the benefits of having friends close by to rely on and play with are immense and recruiting is definitely worth the effort.
Managing roles well is an important part of keeping a corp running smoothly. As the CEO of a corp, you'll have access to do practically anything you want in it. But to delegate responsibility, you may need to give roles to other members. Giving a member the "Personnel Manager" role, for example, lets them recruit new players to the corp. The role "Config Starbase Equipment" allows a member to anchor and operate their own starbase. Other common roles to give to members include access to various corp hangers. Be sure that you trust anyone you give hanger access to and limit the value of what's in the corp hangers. Corp thieving is not just an occupational hazard for CEOs, it's almost become an occupation in itself. In EVE there are always aspiring thieves on the loose and you don't want your corp to be an easy target.
Read on to page 2, where I look at the different types of corp operations people work together on.
