Arrowspeeed Bounty's Eve Story and ExperienceI started playing Eve in 2014, working my way through the new player stage with 2 friends, all of us learning together. Both friends have long since left the game (one through a sad death, the other still in contact in a Steam chat), but their characters still sit in my corp, my own sentimental salute to the Eve friendship machine. One of my first light bulb moments in Eve was when I pulled up the full Eve map, while still trying to figure out what an asteroid looked like on the screen. "OMG, each one of those ovals is a region …. of constellations …… of systems …….. of planets? This is a pretty big game.” Next light bulb moment was when I realized how much trouble it is to MOVE things places. “Gee,” I thought to myself, “seems like a good business could be started just by moving things around for people”. (This was before I noticed that lots of people had thought of the same idea, of course.) And then – once I made my way into an alliance – there were those fleets that everybody said I had to join. “Wait, they’re all flying away somewhere … wait, wait for me – where are you? – what is this red circle being drawn on my screen and why is my body floating around all weird and looking … well, dead?” Which is what made me think it might be a good idea to have training classes for people new to fleeting. (OK somebody else already thought of that, too.) These new player moments were the seeds of several of my first space jobs like new player fleet training and logistics services, I got started in my more serious rental manager career the day I got furious at somebody for something (forgot what) and exited both corp and alliance in one angry click. Next day, to my surprise, a chat screen popped up from an alliance leader saying “Arrow, we want you back, what would it take to get you back?” I was amazed that I was missed at all, much less getting an offer to ask for what I wanted if I returned. But I did ask for what I wanted which was a space job that would allow me a voice in the alliance. I got the job and the voice, and returned to the alliance the next day. The job was setting up and managing a new rental program for Phoenix Federation (some may remember them). From there, I found that my primary interest in Eve is running space businesses and leading teams that provide good services Eve players. I started by creating and running a logistics team, then managed rental businesses for several alliances (and still do for Fraternity), and then later took on other projects like setting up a moon rental system, an alliance recruitment team, rule/wiki management, and managing a coalition diplo team. What do all these have in common? Listening to and understanding what those I serve want – and then delivering what they want. Whether it is fast, low cost delivery services, rental space with responsive and fair management, training classes for specific fleet roles, rules that are clear and consistent, or an organized diplo case management system that consistently hears both sides of a case and follows through. (And no, we don’t keep everybody happy doing this, that would be impossible – but we do care – and try – which is appreciated — well, most of the time ….. OK some of the time.)
