Investment opportunity!

[bleach168]

Shares of Intersteller Starbase Syndicate (EGSE: ISS) stock have nearly tripled since it's IPO just 8 months ago. Since then, the company has also doubled it's workforce which now stands at nearly 2000 employees strong. Meanwhile, record breaking dividends keep the stockholders happy.

So what's this doing in this forum? ISS exists only in the virtual space of Eve Online, a video game. It's 2000 employees are actually people from all over the world. ISS is one of many corporations that are publicly traded on the EGSE or Eve Galactic Stock Exchange.

What they have done is raise billions of ingame money (which would be worth tens of thousands of dollars if sold on ebay) to build space stations in the lawless Eve Online virtual universe. Profits come from renting office space to docking fees to market broker fees. Their full business plan can be found here.

So is Eve Online just an economic simulator game set in space? For some, like the members of ISS, yes. For others, ISS may exist in the vacuum of virtual space, but they are not immune to the other potentially deadly threats of the Eve universe. ISS has to constantly deal with space pirates (other players) who view ISS as wealthy and poorly armed industrialists. ISS has to worry about competitors (other players) who may hire mercenaries (other players) to disrupt ISS operations. Worst of all, ISS and its stockholders have to live with the possibility that if someone else were determined enough, they could destroy the ISS stations and loot the remains.

Who knows what is going to happen. At the heart of the game, it's the players who will decide. That's why I play Eve Online.

[acsguitar]

Thats craziness ... how do I get into this crazy game .. can I make money?

[bleach168]

You can make money, but you won't make thousands or anything unless you are a really good scammer, but that's not cool. I've been playing 7 months and if I sold everything I own I could probably get about $300 on ebay. It gets easier the more you skill up and learn about the game. The first 3 months, I was broke.

http://www.eve-online.com/ if you are interested. There is a free 2 week trial. I wouldn't recommend the game to anyone less than a hardcore gamer willing to invest a minimum 6 months.

[Pogotheostrich]

I'm totally hooked on this game now.
Of course I have a crappy frigate and spend most of my time mining for $$$.
Any helpful hints bleac?. I've only been playing 4 days. Seems like the best thing to do now is improve my skills since I can't use 90% of the equipment.

[bleach168]

I'm totally hooked on this game now.
Of course I have a crappy frigate and spend most of my time mining for $$$.
Any helpful hints bleac?. I've only been playing 4 days. Seems like the best thing to do now is improve my skills since I can't use 90% of the equipment.

Whoa, someone actually is playing? That's so cool. What's your ingame name? I'll send ya some isk to get you started.

You're right. There isn't a whole lot to do right away as you have no skills. Explore a bit and try to fight some rats. If you venture into the bad part of town (security space .4 or less) expect to be killed by other players. You have little to lose if you get killed though so don't be afraid to take risks as long as you learn from them.

Normally I would recommend joining the Eve University corp as they take on new players under 6 weeks old and teach them about the game, but unfortunately a couple pirate corps declared war on them so admissions is closed. They are furiously trying to teach their students how to fight back lol! But you can always join the Eve University ingame channel and ask questions there. Highly recommended!

Before I can give any real advice, any idea what career choice you want in Eve? I'll try to list some,

Miner - You're probably familiar with this one already. It can get quite boring. High level mining isn't that much different from what you are doing now except you can pull in 30-50 million isk per hour.

Industrialist - Build stuff to sell to other players. Can be very profitable if you have capital and resources.

Trader - Buy low, sell high! Requires you stay up to date on current events but can also be very profitable.

Missioner - Run NPC misions. A lot more fun than the previously mentioned career paths, but no where near as profitable.

Pirate - Yarrrrr! Attack miners, industrialists, and traders and take their goods! Or at the very least extort them for isk. Very fun lifestyle but be ready for a lot of hate. A good pirate might only break even in the isk dept.

There are other things you can choose to be, you are only limited by your imagination. Like, there are those who specialize in infiltrating corporations and selling secrets to rivals for isk or even robbing them when they get access to the corp hanger.

Eventually, you will have the skills to be all of these things. But we're talking 2-3 year skill investment.

[Pogotheostrich]

My name is the same as it is here, pogotheostrich. Thanks for the offer but I want to give it a whirl without any help for right now. As for the career path I'm thinking of industrialist but who know by then I might change my mind. Right now I'm just mining, taking out lone crappy pirates and building up my skill points. As for the hints I was just wondering about things like the best minerals and skills to go for early on.

[bleach168]

My name is the same as it is here, pogotheostrich. Thanks for the offer but I want to give it a whirl without any help for right now. As for the career path I'm thinking of industrialist but who know by then I might change my mind. Right now I'm just mining, taking out lone crappy pirates and building up my skill points. As for the hints I was just wondering about things like the best minerals and skills to go for early on.

Scordite is good to mine for starting players. Make sure you are refining the minerals before selling it. It will usually net you more money.

For industrialists you want a decent memory attribute. It will make mining, industry, and trade skills faster to learn. Another good thing to do early on is focus on learning skills. These improve your attributes so you learn stuff even faster. Some people who know they will be around a long time, spend the first 2 months of their career only training up the learning skills.

[acsguitar]

Did pirates take down the website

[Pogotheostrich]

Scordite is good to mine for starting players. Make sure you are refining the minerals before selling it. It will usually net you more money.

For industrialists you want a decent memory attribute. It will make mining, industry, and trade skills faster to learn. Another good thing to do early on is focus on learning skills. These improve your attributes so you learn stuff even faster. Some people who know they will be around a long time, spend the first 2 months of their career only training up the learning skills.

I've been mining mostly veldspar and pyroxus (sp?) and getting 10,000+ ISK per cargohold after refinement.

Right now I'm learning Amarr frigate III so I can get a Punisher but most of my skills have been in learning.

Thanks

[bleach168]

Did pirates take down the website

lol. Strange since the servers are up.

I've been mining mostly veldspar and pyroxus (sp?) and getting 10,000+ ISK per cargohold after refinement.

Right now I'm learning Amarr frigate III so I can get a Punisher but most of my skills have been in learning.

Pyroxeres is good too. Veldspar is probably not worth your time. If you can find omber, that is the best mineral to mine without going into low security space. Big if though. Oh and use cargo expanders on your mining ship if you can.

Soon you'll have several ships at your disposal. The Punisher is a good combat frigate. Tormentor is a cheap good mining frigate. Once you're done training frigates, I would recommend skipping destroyers and heading straight to cruisers. Maller is the best combat cruiser. I doubt you'll have the 7 million isk for the Maller right away, so if you will take a loan I'd be happy to help.