Politics and War

In light of the war my corporation is undergoing over the wormhole system and the continuously ongoing war between the nullsec alliances, the empire faction wars and any other current corporate wars in Eve, at any given time, one can't help but think about the political arena that surrounds the Eve universe.

I've always been one that takes little interest in politics. The aspect of coalitions, alliances, and such were never something I thought I'd be all that interested in when I first became a pod pilot. All I wanted to do was make lots of isk and blow stuff up. As long as there was a place for me to do that, I thought I would be content to just live my life out in Eve, caring little for what transpired beyond my own personal concerns. For the first few months, I was completely naive to just how much politics plays a role in Eve. However, that mentality at some nonspecific point, did a complete 180.

I've now realized that in Eve, there really is no real possibility of ignoring politics. Even if you make no attempt to be actively involved in such things, it will eventually force you to be so. I suppose one way to avoid such things is by staying within the empire corporations, never joining one of the hundreds of independent corporations that attempt to stake there claim in the universe but the possibility of truly getting ahead in anything will be seriously hindered. It's almost a necessity to become involved if one is wanting to survive and thrive in this universe.

Since my "enlightenment", I've begun to take more and more notice in what's happening beyond the borders of empire space. The battles over sovereignty in nullsec, the espionage and corporate infiltrations, all the offensive and defensive moves on the chessboard....it's all really begun to intrigue me to no end. My corporation at one point talked about eventually staking their own claim in nullsec. Whether it be aligning with one of the major alliances or attempting to make our own name was still in the air of unsureties but it was a goal either way. Now, with the appearance of wormholes and the possibility of basically "owning" a wormhole system, the corporate directives have changed.

So why am I bringing this up? Well to be honest, this wormhole move has left me wondering. Is this something I really want to get involved in? Is this the direction where I want my career in Eve to go? For awhile now, from when I first really started getting interested in nullsec politics, I started to sort of dream of getting involved. I figured best method was to find a good corporation that would eventually make the move as a whole to nullsec and find myself riding along with, ready and willing to join in on the action and entertainment.

My first corporation was, and forgive me for saying this to any that read this and were in it, but we were a complete noob corporation. Every single one of us, from the CEO and down, were fresh out of the academy. We knew little about what it took to make a good, strong corporation and were far from having the resources to do it. So we joined an alliance. At first I thought this was great but as time went on, I began to see the holes the alliance had, the too soft mentality, and the lack of real skill in combat ops. And then some events happened from which the alliance started falling apart. By then, if you've followed my writings, I had become the XO of my corporation which put me in a better position to see just how things were working....and it was then I realized they weren't working at all. So when a fellow alliance mate told me of another corporation he was intending to join and what they offered, what their abilities were and all....well..I was quick to hop on the bus and join up.

So now I'm in my second real corporation and things have been great. We were growing steadily, were running numerous ops that would impress most empire based corporations, and showed a lot of promise for what I was beginning to make my ultimate goal. Living in nullsec. However, the appearance of wormholes changed all that.

In a few ways, w-space isn't all that different than nullsec. There is no Concord. There is lots of minerals and gases to be harvested with big rats to go up against. Though there is no actual sovereignty by the books, corporations and alliances can still basically stake their claim. Take for instance my current corporation who has placed a POS at nearly every moon in system (excluding of course the moon where our intruding POS owners set up at). We have in essence, secured the system as our own and have the ability to maintain that. Only thing lacking is some sort of beacon or something to make that aspect known to any who randomly venture in.

The question is, is this what I really want? Do I really want to live in a place that is essentially cut off from the rest of Eve? A place where, once the intruders are eradicated, there will likely be no politics, no real war, little chance of ever experiencing the grand, epic battles between capitol ships? Possibly never having the chance of seeing my first Titan? (A sight I've been craving to see since nearly day one...though hopefully not right before I die. hehe)

The other question is, if I were to decide to leave this corp, to continue on with my journey to eventually live in nullsec, at what level should I be before I consider myself ready? What level should I be before others would consider me? How do I find a corporation that is already based in nullsec without actually venturing out into their territories unannounced? A lot of people say, "check the forums." Well I don't think those people have been on the forums lately. Most of what you see is Empire corporations claiming to have 0.0 access. 0.0 access?? I don't even need to be in a corporation to "access" nullsec. And I don't want just "access". I want to live in nullsec. The other corporations I see demand you to have at least like 10mil skillpoints (which I don't have even after like 5 or 6 months of being a pod pilot) or know somebody personally from outside of the pod (aka, real life, of which i don't know anybody). So is there no place for me there yet?

For now, I'll just keep trudging on. Pulling my agent missions, hacking and salvaging the hidden sights, mining the high sec ores, maybe venture into the wormhole space my corporation has claimed and make a few iskies. But someday....hopefully sooner than later....someday the local channels of nullsec will see a new face flying around...and that face will bear the name of Mikolan Lutrova.

-ML-