Reaching Out

I've had this post in my drafts folder for a couple months now.  I've been reluctant to publish it because doing so somewhat commits me to executing a change, and change is scary.

But wtf, let's pull the trigger.

I've maybe said before that I largely play the game from the sidelines.  I'm not a big name in null politics, I am not a FW hero burning up the killboards.  I'm fairly anonymous.  Time is limited, and I play the game on my own terms, even if some nights that means I sit in station and spin my ship while I chat a bit.

But, one of the things that I honestly struggle with is my empty Corp channel.

As I've said before:  I'm a mostly solo player.  By "mostly solo" I probably mean 99.9% solo.  So to be fair, "fiercely independent" is perhaps a better description.  But that doesn't mean that the corp channel doesn't feel a little empty.

There's an easy solution:  find a new corp.  Awhile back I posted to the blog banter with the advice: get involved.  I should maybe take my own advice.

To be honest, that scares the crap out of me.


So, here's a thought experiment, and maybe you can help me out.

First, let's define the (self imposed) constraints:

1. I'm reluctant to give up the corp tag; there's a long history with it, and literally a picture on my wall with our logo.  Our roster is full of inactive players that pop up once or twice a year; I like leaving the lights on for them.  
2. I'm also a time-limited player.  I need CONTENT to be available within minutes of my login.  I can't sit and wait for a Fleet to form up or a bunch of travel from wherever I am to wherever the action is.  Out of necessity, I typically shun group-ops because I need things to start and end on time (I force myself to adhere to a hard logoff time), and group ops tend to start late and run long.
3. I really detest voice coms.  I sit on telecons at work for 6-8 hours a day; sitting at the desk here with TeamSpeak running and random nerds (no offense) rambling in the background always feels a helluva lot like work.  Also, sitting here with headphones on isolates me from whatever Mrs. Durden might be doing; it's bad enough I'm tied to the PC as much as I am.  I'd rather put some music in WMP and escape all that for an hour or three, and be available to her when needed.
4. Historically, I've been unhappy in null and low. It's ok for short stints, but the nirvana the null guys promise has historically not panned out for me.

But the corp channel is quiet.  So quiet.

The best I've been able to do is hangout in open channels and try to latch on to another existing community.  EVE-Uni resided on my chat bar for quite awhile.  Sugar Kyle's public channel. Other corp's public channels.  One or more of the Incursion Fleet channels.  You get the idea.

My only real ingame link to the larger EVE community comes from channels like these.  It's hard finding an open channel that's not overly spammy that isn't full of trolls, that is active enough to be worth the UI space and yet not so large that I don't feel anonymous.  I want to make a few friends and be noticed when I login.

Options I've considered, but am reluctant to undertake (no particular order):

1. Build my own community; i.e. a Burners channel or something.
2. Rebuild PUKE.  This scares me because of the time investment, but appeals to me in the empire-building, making friends kind of sense.  I've been corp/guild lead off and on for over a decade, and make no mistake, you players are a needy bunch with high expectations.  :)  I like the idea, but I'm fearful of the eventual burnout phase it would likely bring.  And it also scares me because if I need to disappear for a week or three (work, in particular), the wheels could fall off.  I would need to locate a strong cadre (oooh, there's a good word) of co-leads to work with.
3. Move PUKE into an existing alliance.  Make friends, find fleets, influence people.  In the past, this has just resulted in more random nuisance wardecs.
4. Create a new alliance.  I've got the skills from our d0gma days, I could found my own alliance if it suited me.  I started down this path awhile back, but it fizzled quickly (long story for another post).
5. Kick an alt out of one of my holding corps and go sow the seeds of mayhem with a lesser skilled character in low, null, or WHs.  (To be honest, I've started down this path, but when I hit the login screen I hover over those characters and then grab Aba instead).

I mentioned awhile back that Fight Club was one of the most influential movies in my life.  Another on the list is Good Will Hunting.  Here's a quote that's always stuck with me:

"You'll never have that kind of relationship in a world where you're afraid to take the first step because all you see is every negative thing 10 miles down the road."

So, here's me being bold.  I'm calling for ideas. Given my long list of constraints, I'm looking for solutions to put myself (a mostly highsec solo mission runner) "out there" more.  Ideas can be as simple as good public channels to join, or can range into crazy ideas like starting an empire.

Thread comments are welcome here, ingame mail, convos or whatever work too.