There has been significant discussion lately, here and in-game, of the different megacorps that get little attention from CCP. I see no reason why we can't have separate discussions for individual ones - let's see how the community interperetes and perceives them.
What we know from canon:
Practicals Bloc:"The Sukuuvestaa Corporation, CBD Corporation, and Nugoeihuvi Corporation between them make up the Practical faction, which cares little for limiting concepts like ethics. This bloc is frequently associated with organized crime and has an exploitative view of international trade. It also takes a zero-sum view of profit and loss in cluster-wide markets.
Generally the most pro-Heth of the three political groups, the Practicals appreciate the new opportunities he's delivered, and while being forced to cede political control to his Providence Directorate is not a slight that they will easily forgive or forget, they're generally prepared to play along with him for as long as his actions remain productive. They're fully aware, though, that this state of affairs won't last forever, and they're quietly assembling plans to ensure that when he is brought down, the Practicals won't find themselves hamstrung by the other corporations. If in the end they have to topple Heth themselves, then that's what they'll do. In the meantime, they're content to beat the war-drums and use the fighting as a cover for their other activities.""Heading the self-proclaimed “practicals” faction is the huge Sukuuvestaa Corporation. The SuVee, as it is commonly known, is one of the oldest Caldari corporations, matched only by the Kaalakiota Corporation in size. The exploiters, which also include the CBD Corporation and NOH (Nugoeihuvi) Corporation, have practiced unethical business tactics for a long time, as well as being frequently associated with organized crime elements. The practicals see the other empires merely as naïve markets ready to be exploited by unrestricted and ruthless trade where everything goes. The recent Protein Delicacy episode serves as a good example of what kind of business these companies want. They care little about who is a friend with whom and even less about what long-term political ramifications their unscrupulous business practices can have. They are mercantilist in their views on trade, believing that profit for one always means loss for another."Nugoeihuvi Corporation"The only Caldari mega corporation that has focused on the entertainment industry. NOH, as they're commonly called, have always been suspected of strong ties to the Caldari underworld, mainly because many of their products cater to that social element or are on the borderline of legality."
"Chief activity: Nugoeihuvi is the largest manufacturer and distributor of entertainment products, as evident by its name (Nug-oei-huvi means play-relax-enjoy, the corporation is commonly called NOH).
Brief history: NOH was originally a conglomerate of small companies that manufactured all kinds of luxury goods, ranging from delicatessens to quality furniture. But once the Caldari had formed their independent empire, they filled the void created when the Gallente entertainment business was cut out. Over the years the entertainment business has slowly become the main activity of NOH. The NOH have many times been accused of having dealings with the underworld, those rumors have never been proved or disproved."Entertainment:"The professional gladiators, gamers, and gamblers of the State make up the entertainment caste of the Caldari. This group is widely considered the most diverse in the State, being made up of citizens from a wide array of backgrounds, particularly ordinary Caldari who broke into the professional scene through luck or skill. At the bottom, competitors engage in daily battles to ascend up the ranks, a labor grind in itself. At the top, prestiged warriors are honored highly by the Caldari masses, and are among the most wealthy State citizens. The dynamics of this particular brand of entertainment means it is very easy to plummet to become a nobody, even from an esteemed position. The non-meritocratic nature regarding games of chance is mostly overlooked by the Caldari.
A slight majority of the members of this caste are from the NOH corporation, though they are nonetheless found in all corporations. Entertainers in the commercial arts (such as music and visual media) are few and far between, as this is not considered an aspect of typical Caldari entertainment. This niche is filled in by the Gallente instead.
There is a niche in Caldari entertainment for the classical arts, consumed by the chief executive and executive castes. Citizens who have already well-established themselves in one of the more standard fields can earn respect by the production of classical artwork in the ascetic and minimalist Caldari style. Wealthy traditionalists pay a large cash sum to these individuals. It is considered bad form for a citizen to earn a living purely from making art, as their art must be representative of everyday Caldari living, and not the product of a detached citizen who does not commit to the same hard work as everyone else."/Canon
My Take:ContradictionsFirst, there is one potential contradiction implied by the PF here:
But once the Caldari had formed their independent empire, they filled the void created when the Gallente entertainment business was cut out.
Entertainers in the commercial arts (such as music and visual media) are few and far between, as this is not considered an aspect of typical Caldari entertainment. This niche is filled in by the Gallente instead.
Either the Gallente entertainment business was cut out only initially after the Caldari gained independence and slowly regained exposure, or this is PF is contradicting itself. This is important for considerations of NOH - if the Gallente still fill the need of holovids, music, etc., then the industries NOH is involved in is even narrower than it already is.
What does NOH do?First, the PF states that entertainment "became the main activity of NOH." This implies that they are still involved in their previous markets, namely, luxury goods.
Second, the emphasis in Caldari entertainment is gladiators, games, and gambling.
Games:We have virtually no information about Caldari-specific "games" beyond gladiator arenas. The other games mentioned in the PF are intergalactic in popularity. The most well-known, and the one we have the most PF on, is Mind Clash (We have almost no PF about Pettokori or Skyball). There is strong evidence in the PF that Mind Clash is popular amongst Caldari alongside gladiators:
The early years of the sport were often marred by controversy and shady dealings. Numerous accusations of match fixing were leveled against both players and tournament officials, cheating through the use of drugs and neural boosters was rampant, and many players cracked under the intense psychological pressure that top-tier matches induced. By YC 20, the sport was more popular than ever, but also was tottering at the edge of collapse under scandals and criminal charges.
It was the Caldari who potentially saved the sport. Their sanctioning body, the Caldari Clash Coalition, began to enforce strict rules against the use of performance enhancing drugs by competitors, opened their books to public review, had winner's purses dwarfing the other bodies, and permanently banned anyone caught violating even the smallest rule. Combined with aggressive marketing that often overstated the corruption in the other sanctioning bodies, these unusual methods worked; players flocked to their tournaments, abandoning the other organizers.
First, shady dealings in a sport are just begging to have NOH involved. Second, if the Caldari had a sanctioning body, it would seem Mind Clash enjoys significant popularity with Caldari.
It would seem the most logical to me that NOH, as the largest entertainment conglomerate in the State, would have an extensive system of sponsorship, teams, and organizing regional Caldari leagues. With Mind Clash, I am imagining an extremely upsized version of the Starcraft leagues and tournaments that exist in real life.
GamblingWith Pettokori being a gambling game played on a board, it is implied that many gambling games have an element of skill involved. I'm imagining less slot machine style games, more blackjack - still luck, but skill slightly increases your luck. Given the other implications of PF, which I discuss below, it seems like this style of gambling is certainly the least popular.
Since NOH is described as shady, it seems that a conglomeration of casinos and gambling operations would make sense. In addition, the potentially limited involvement in holovids and music implies operations on a massive scale in other industries in order to justify the label "megacorp". For a real life analogy, I am imagining the gambling beast that is MGM Resorts International but on an even larger scale.
From the PF:
Whatever the sport, they love betting on the outcome, making gambling a massive industry in the State.
While I am not saying that I see them having a monopoly on gambling, it does seem the most rational that NOH is as close as you can get to a monopoly in an industry. Especially with the little PF we have explicitly making note of the fact that they are the only megacorp to focus on entertainment.
In addition, this also creates more situations for shady dealings. If you are close to a monopoly and are in the Practicals bloc (which explicitly is described as viewing profit as purely zero-sum), it follows that you would use shady and criminal tactics to maintain that near-monopoly. The obvious real life examples are the mob dominating Las Vegas for the time that they did.
Gladiators:The big one, in that it is the specifically Caldari one. Besides the PF I started with, we also have this tidbit:
To curb their aggressive tendencies, the Caldari actively pursue and sponsor a range of sporting activities. Many of these are bloody, gladiatorial-like competitions, while others are more like races. Whatever the sport, they love betting on the outcome, making gambling a massive industry in the State.
This provides the second possible contradiction - it doesn't distinguish between sports and gladiators. In the earlier PF quoted above, gladiators and gamers are listed separately. This implies that violent games (rugby on steroids or something) are separate from strictly gladiator events.
Beyond that minor detail, here is how I've interpreted the PF:
First, these competitions are actively bet on. Further, that quote implies a direct connection between the betting on events and the massiveness of the gambling industry. This reinforces the notion that gambling in the State is less slot machine, more betting on competition. It also implies how unbelievably massive the gladiatorial and sporting industries must be in order to almost singlehandedly drive a huge gambling industry.
Second, it says sponsors. This implies a UFC-like system where an overarching authority organizes the leagues and sponsors support individual events, teams, and athletes. Based on the PF, it would seem logical that NOH is that overarching authority for a huge percentage of the leagues and events, with other corporations specifically sponsoring the outcomes of teams and athletes. Owning and operating most of the leagues and gambling institutions in the State can easily justify the label "megacorp".
So in the case of the UFC, a fighter has a contract with the UFC itself - but their team or individual training is sponsored and paid for by other corporations or entities; in some cases (typically newer or, frankly, untalented fighters) they pay out of their own pocket. This system of contract with the organizer but sponsorship by others is what maintains active competition instead of a sport turning into scripted entertainment like the WWE. Given the State's corporatism, it would make sense that sponsorship would be an extremely important, cutthroat, and vital component of State entertainment. This again provides ample situations for shady dealings with NOH.
The other benefit to this perception of gladiators and gambling is that it would also explain a league structure that would allow a tiered system of leagues. Regional leagues would have local sponsors, local audiences, local gambling, with the gladiators attempting to launch themselves into the larger State-wide leagues and the mainstage. This provides a basis for some gladiators, mentioned in the PF, as being hugely famous and some of the richest Caldari. It also provides reasoning behind the PF stating that these stars can drop from their glory incredibly fast - nothing would do that faster than being relegated back down to a regional league.
When I am saying regional here, I am meaning it in the general sense - not the Eve designation of an area of the cluster. It would be rational for tiered leagues to go all the way down to planetside. You have to start somewhere. So leagues could go planetside, constellation, region, State-wide. Some system of tiered leagues would almost have to exist, because you can't have someone become a gladiator and the very next day validly challenge a current champion.
The other aspect of gladiators that is often debated (though the Caldari RP community has started to reach a consensus on this it seems) is what "bloody" means. Well, it means bloody. Don't insert death where it is not written. To again use the UFC example, none of those fights are stopped due to blood. All competitors are screened for diseases before they are allowed to compete and fights are typically only stopped for obviously broken bones, someone giving up, or a knockout.
I see no reason why State gladiator competitions would be any different. Would deaths accidentally happen? Of course, all combat-style competition has that risk. But this is a huge industry attached to untold amounts of gambling money. Besides the unjustified grimdark^2 aspect of death sports, it would make absolutely no business sense for your stars to be constantly killing each other. An industry of this size would have rules, regulations, and culture-wide respectability.
Broad Implications:Beyond all of this overthinking of specifics that won't be too interesting to someone not writing a character who's background is deeply involved in all of this (ahem), the implications here for NOH are rather huge. It denies the validity of those who have argued that NOH is essentially a corrupt version of Viacom. This is not what entertainment means in the State.
The PF is clearly implying a huge sporting and gladiatorial industry driving a huge gambling industry. It seems clear to me that this
is entertainment in the State. It is a deeply significant part of the culture.
Sure, there might be some holovids and some music. But this bit of PF really crushes the idea that the State consumes popular culture in that way:
It is considered bad form for a citizen to earn a living purely from making art, as their art must be representative of everyday Caldari living, and not the product of a detached citizen who does not commit to the same hard work as everyone else.
Entertainers in the commercial arts (such as music and visual media) are few and far between, as this is not considered an aspect of typical Caldari entertainment.
I have heard many players somehow interpret this as the Caldari not caring about entertainment. This is clearly not in line with the rest of the PF already quoted. Entertainment is a massive industry in the State that drives an equally massive gambling industry. It is simply more focused genres of entertainment. Take the music, art, holovids, and fashion that make up a typical entertainment industry and combine those markets and industry all into competition and gambling. That is a huge industry.
This is why NOH is a megacorp, in my opinion. Yes, the PF leaves room for them to still create some luxury goods and other industries. But frankly, they don't need much else beyond the massive sporting and gambling industries in order to qualify as a megacorp. In my opinion, people are underestimating the sheer size and influence of gambling, games, and gladiators in the State.
EDIT/UPDATE:
NOH Signal Operators
Trusted with secrets that at times, are shared only with the uppermost echelons of Nugoeihuvi, these signal operators are the very definition of "insiders". For these men and women, there will be no other career in their life. The classified information they transmit on a daily basis ensures that much.
Although Caldari in positions like this tend to lead lives as happy as any other citizen, those lives can also quite easily come to an end if they ever decide the grass is greener elsewhere, or cave to an offer of ISK for information. Those who are identified as potential risks are frequently targeted by Nugoeihuvi's own Internal Security department, if not immediately "removed". Nugoeihuvi’s defense force is called "Internal Security" for a reason; they practically invented the concept, refining it to the level of ruthless self-scrutiny inherent in every corporate infrastructure today.
Nugoeihuvi Caretaker
Those who watch over Nugoeihuvi's secret storage facilities are entrusted with secrets that run deep inside the shadowed histories of the NOH staff. Valued for their loyalty, discretion and endless hunger for ISK, these men and women serve Nugoeihuvi's darkest interests without question.
Under the Radar
Nicknamed the "Shadow HQ" after its curious location, the Nugoeihuvi station in Poinen sits just one jump out from their Headquarters and shares the system with Internal Security HQ, the security arm of NOH. For certain individuals, the station is ideally situated, offering fast and easy personal access to many of NOH's highest-ranking officials - whilst remaining on the periphery of things, unnoticed in the shadow of the 13th moon. To those who are charged with the defense of Nugoeihuvi interests, it is not Josameto but Poinen that is considered the nexus, the bustling heart of a corporation that is their whole world.
These tidbits reinforce the notion of organized crime with a laundered or somewhat presentable front. That presentable front could be luxury goods or the gambling and gladiator industries, but NOH certainly has their fingers in many pies. I think my initial interpretation written above is reinforced even better with this added info.
Also, Bloodsport Arenas:
To escape the jurisdiction of those who would curb their entertainments, full-contact fight promoters and unlicensed, duel-to-the-death Clash Masters have taken to setting up these deep-space arenas for their brutal games to take place in. A hive of scum and villainy -- or, alternatively, a wonderland of sport and blood-stained jollity.
It would make sense that smaller versions of these would exist throughout the cluster and, within Caldari territory, have underground connections to NOH. From the basement beneath the bar to an obscure arena in deep space that can hold thousands of spectators, it would make sense that no-holds barred fighting would be an outlet for those who can't make it in the regulated leagues - or in the case of NOH, it could be an outlet to try to get yourself recognized by them or potential sponsors.
Fighting leagues typically have very strict schedules and once you are actually making a living, you have very limited fights per year. This would be another way for gladiators to make a living while waiting for the next official bout to come along.
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Topic: Nugoeihuvi Corporation (Read 3077 times)