Okay, so I'm writing this at 2 AM as more of a "here's an idea stuck in my head I want to get out" than a coherent plan, so I'm essentially brainvomiting here and I'd appreciate any constructive thoughts on the matter.
So.
Right now it seems to me that there are two major types of corps in the Amarr RP community.
One is the PvP-focused corporation - PIE and a couple other militia corps fall in here. Now, no offense to any of my good buddies in PIE (seriously I <3 you guys) but not everyone is ready - or wanting - to make that hard leap straight off from the Imperial Academy to the target-ridden depths of the warzone. Or maybe they're not interested in FW for other reasons. Or maybe they're intimidated by the hardcore rank structure thing PIE has going - point is, not everyone's up for such a heavy RPvP corp at this point.
The other type of corp is the individualized RP corp. These represent various RP-required homes for people who, for whatever reason, are choosing to put themselves in a corp related to their current RP state; the obvious issue here is that often these are incompatible with wide recruitment. A good example of these is Tyrathlion Interstellar (Morwen plz don't hate me). It's a corp which Morwen is in because of where her character is, and aside from a handful of people Morwen knows and cares about IC, there's not going to be much potential recruitment.
So. Here's what I'm proposing:
An Amarr-aligned PvE/light industry corp for those who do not fit into the two larger groups above. I would roll an alt to take the CEO position; however, much of the daily operations would be up to individual members to handle. I would have a hand in planning extended RP arcs or operations in the corp, but really more than anything I am trying to kick-start a corporation to fill a niche that I see lacking, and hoping that once I have assembled people under this house they will produce a community of their own.
Some thoughts:
- If people wanted to step up to handle specific roles in this (mining director, newbie teaching director, etc) I'd be practically jump for joy.
- I would not be comfortable with handing off CEOship for a while. Before I handed this to anyone, I would want to see them hold an 'officer' position for some time, so don't join expecting to take over in a couple of weeks (conversely, if anyone feels like taking this project and running with it from the start, be my guest! I'm not copy-writing the corp concept!)
- RPwise, this corp would be mostly aimed at defending the Empire against threats already within its borders - pirate raiders, corrupt Holders, etc.
However, every plan has its flaws, and here's my top 3 concerns:
1. The everyone's alts effect: Everyone contributes an alt, and then is on that alt 25% of the time, resulting in a huge memberlist but an empty corp chat. Frankly, I'd be just as guilty as anyone else, considering I'd not be moving Esna-prime in!
2. The absent leadership dilemma: Extrapolating from point 1, my concern would be that as this corp is at least in part aimed at picking up rookies not yet ready for low- or null-sec, those who would join would find themselves often without guidance or assistance and end up feeling as if they were in somewhere no different than the NPC start corp.
3. Stealing people who'd already be going to existing Amarr RP corps: My experience suggests to me that the gap I described above exists, but it's possible I'm utterly missing a corp or something. If this already exists, I do -NOT- want end up in a cuthroat competition with you for new recruits.
So, with the above said, why am I even suggesting this? Well, firstly because I have been asked if something such as this by others. Secondly, with that said, I am really hoping that if I provide the framework people will build on it. I'm essentially tossing a pebble and hoping it starts an avalanche.
With this said: Thoughts/ideas/comments/criticisms of my 2-3 AM brainvomit?