Corporate Ennui

Is it ennui, or just a momentary lapse of energy? Got the word yesterday that a key member of the corporation is thinking about moving back to a former corporation. The member in question is primarily a mission runner, and is in a different time-zone than a lot of the players. It will be a real kick in the teeth if they (the player in question has multiple accounts) leave, both because he's a skilled pilot, and because he's a cool guy.

The other thing I've been noticing, now that I'm on my second corporation, is the difference in the feel of this experience versus my first time through as a CEO. The first corporation, Portsmouth Shipyards, got its start because the CEO and directors of the corporation I was in at the time disappeared for a few weeks. The gang of new players (me included) just recently recruited to the corporation felt abandoned, and we wanted the ability to chart our own course. After hemming for a few days, we opted to start a new corporation. Five of us got together, and as the character with the most skills in corporation management, I got the post of CEO, and the other 4 took directorships.

It was a very exciting time, and we were all just getting into the game, with so many paths ahead of us. For nearly a year (actually just a couple weeks shy) we stuck together, recruiting new players, never getting much over 30 characters in size (some alts there in the mix). During that time we built battleships, got war-decced, did huge mining ops, partnered with a 0.0 alliance for access to their space, and eventually joined a 0.0 alliance on our own merits.

After a while living with the realities of life in 0.0, I came to realize that it wasn't a play style that fits my schedule. I don't have unbroken hours to spend on hunting enemies, or coordinating system-wide mining operations, or deploying POS infrastructures. This was a semi-difficult decision, and it meant leaving the corporation, as we had several Starbases deployed. Also, some of the other players wanted to stretch out to other things EvE has to offer - some went to piracy, some stayed in 0.0, some opted to create a newer, smaller corporation.

Contrast that to this new corporation that I've started. A few of the old band have joined up, along with some newer players. Now that I've "been there done that", and am experimenting with advanced content (such as invention), the pull of mining ops isn't so thrilling. Grinding missions for standing with research agents is time-consuming, and my skills are focused in small-ship combat, so standings increases are slow.

Also, the old corporation had a full 5 directors (including myself) acting as checks and balances, and providing recruiting and management. Perhaps I need to promote a few more folks to director, to start recruiting in other time zones.