I’m curious what players look for in a corp. Of course, some of us would love a corp that gives out a 1 billion ISK starting bonus, free capital ships, and our own personal defensive fleet, but that’s unrealistic.
The question is, I suppose, what do you reasonably expect from a corporation when you join them?
Different corps offer different things, so I don’t think that there is a one size-fits all perfect corp out there. Moreover, you can always leave if you find a particular corp isn’t a good fit for you. However, here are a few things to consider when looking for a corp (or deciding to leave):
Corp Culture: Sometimes corps will straight up tell you what type of culture they have in their ads. Other times you just have to find out for yourself. And, of course, you can make inferences based upon various details about them. For example, a small corp will likely be much more intimate than larger, more impersonal corps (which are great if you’re an introvert that likes to get lost in the crowd). And a corp that requires x amount of SP and dread alt will probably be significantly more elite/self-serious than a corp that says, “we’re a bunch of knuckleheads that like to suck at PvP together.”
Activity: Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to tell how active a corp is until you actually join (especially if they’re a PvE corp who hasn’t given zKillboard API access). Regardless, I suggest bouncing if you find afk leadership and virtually no activity from line members. And on a side note, I once joined a corp that was like this. There was only one other dude that showed any regular activity, and he had joined about 2 months earlier. In fact, the only reason I didn’t immediately bounce was because the alliance they were in was active. Still, I am just befuddled that they kept their corp ad up and actually accepted my application. Like, why are you accepting applications to a dead corp that you yourself aren’t even flying with?
Time Zone: Look for corps that are active in your TZ. Just don’t be surprised if they effectively lied (particular problem for the AU TZ). They might have one turd active in a TZ, and somehow think that justifies saying they are active in that TZ. The least they could do is have at least one person from leadership be active during that time, and be honest about the fact that they are trying to grow that TZ. And if they can’t do that, then you should bounce. Corp activity for a time zone isn’t going to magically grow by half-assedly inviting randos who play at that time. They too will see that it’s dead and bounce.
Areas of Interest: Unless they are a huge corp with a bunch of SIG’s, the more a corp says they do, the less likely they actually do most of that stuff with any regularity. So, don’t just look for corps that say they do the things you’re interested in. Look for corps that focus on those things.
Age and Experience: A lot of new players with big aspirations tend to start corps in spite of having no idea what they’re doing. So, they tend to make silly mistakes, implement bad policies, and teach bad tactics, strats, and/or attitudes to their newbros. Thus, unless you have good reason to assume someone is good to go (or you don’t care about that and want to join them for the friends/culture), you might want to shy away from corps started by new players.
SRP: I wouldn’t avoid a corp that doesn’t offer SRP if it has a lot of other things going for it, but it is a nice bonus -especially if you are new, and your isk efficiency isn’t all that great.
Willingness to Learn versus KB Activity- A corp that requires things like x amount of solo kills and regular KB activity wants fully formed members that can hit the ground running (and aren’t a bad choice if you are looking for a more elite corp). A corp that says they are newbro friendly and that they want people who are willing to learn is a group that is much more willing to help you grow as a player. So, look for the one that fits your needs and wants.
Scam Corps- look for signs of scam corps. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), I don’t have a lot of experience with them. And I’m not sure if some of the corps that I suspected of being scam corps were actually scams, or simply run by incompetent people who didn’t know any better. So, I can’t offer you the best advice here. However, I will say that the most common type of scam corp appears to be the skimmer. They skim tax revenue off of their members without offering comparable benefits in return. Sometimes they might actually offer some benefits, but those benefits are not justified by how high their tax rates are. Other times, they might have really small tax rates, but offer no benefits at all.
Alright, I’m sure I’ll think of more stuff, but this is already a wall of text. So, I’ll leave it to others to chime in with more suggestions.
Well, one last thing. If the corp you are in isn’t meeting your expectations, you should leave. There are a crap ton of bad and mediocre corps out there, but there are also some really good ones that might have a huge impact on how much enjoyment you get out of the game. So, don’t settle for mediocre.
Thank you for your detailed feedback, Shipwreck. It’s extremely helpful for me. I was just promoted to a recruiting position within my corp, and I’d like to be able to make suggestions to my corp if and when they ask “what else can we do to attract newcomers?”
As a newbro, I don’t have the depth of experience others have, so it helps to have input from more experienced players. Most of my “corp” experience comes from games where the corps are called “guilds,” and while there are similarities, guilds in WoW are a different animal from corps in EVE.
These two statements combined would be a red flag for me. A well-run corp should not be putting recruitment in the hands of a player who is new to the game. The phrase ‘the blind leading the blind’ comes to mind: if you don’t have enough experience to tell what your corp is doing well and what its focuses are, how can you possibly represent it to other players?
At this point i expect to get paid.
Seriously.
I get hired by a corporation so why dont my services (paplinks, killmails, general help, perhaps ore) get financially honored.
A corporation that would offer a monthly paycheck depending on perfomance would bw highly interesting.
I understand your concerns. I consider myself a newbro, but perhaps my corp doesn’t. I’ve been around for about four months, so I understand my corp is better than others at some things and worse than others at other things.
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