Suit to kill
“Check, check.
“WhenEve Onlineplayers hear that word repeated in quick succession, they fall silent.
They know an important message is to follow, and that everybody in voice chat needs to hear it.
“Check, check.
Shut up, everyone.”
Yet Eve Online has long proven otherwise.
Of how you manage conflict or deal with delegation.
Perhaps an MMO double life was always on the cards for Scott, aka Ithica Hawk.
Growing up, his mother sometimes made dinner early, because she was moonlighting as a raid leader inEverQuest.
I think theres a lot of transferable skills, he says.
Nothing happens automatically in Eve.
If youre in a fleet, you dont just hit a button and everybody shoots.
You have to tell people to do it.
And they have to listen and respond.
And its a skill that is really important in a lot of businesses as well.
Eve sets up a lot of people to be successful.
One has helped me do the other better, Ive found.
Ed now works as a VP at one of the world’s largest professional services companies.
Sometimes Eve can feel more intense than being the leader at your work, says Pusateri.
It can feel overwhelming.
At work I might have 50 people directly under me and a larger group that relies on me.
But when Im Dunk Dinkle, and I send out a Slack message, it goes to 3,500 people.
Sometimes Ill put more concern into crafting an Eve message than a work email.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
Goonswarm run their outfit like a Fortune 500 company, says Ed.
Whereas were [Pandemic Legion] more like a motorcycle club.
Part of the strain comes from the fact that nobodys obliged to stick around.
They can leave anytime.
In Eve it can become personal really, really quickly, says Ed.
Its very contrasting to the airs and graces of professionalism in the workplace.
Years ago in Eve I used to run a small low-sec alliance, says Scott.
And doing that, marshalling was a skill that you had to learn.
Once the art is mastered, however, its readily transferred back to reality.
During the pandemic, Scott changed jobs, switching from a big multinational to a startup.
It feels a lot more like an Eve corporation, he says.
Theres a lot of selling people on ideas, and pulling stuff from nowhere to make things happen.
Marshalling is exactly what Im doing now in my day job.
It feels like theyre one and the same.
Eve capsuleers rarely outline their achievements on their CVs.
But now and again, a top player leverages their skills to land a real-life gig.
They were like, This is astounding, you did this in your spare time?
Because everyone else gets paid for it, says Pusateri.
The amount of IT infrastructure we have built for our groups is higher than at most companies.
The lockdowns and remote working that came with Covid-19 have only weakened the membrane between Eve and work leadership.
Particularly during the pandemic, the lines between the two have become completely blurred, says Ed.
Its hard to tell where my paid job stops and my Eve job picks up after that.
The two things require you to be two different people simultaneously, which is quite hard to compartmentalise.
Occasionally, when executives deal with difficult partners, they wish for the wild west of Eve.
A good war can be cathartic.
Theyre not holding up their end of the bargain.
And theyre lying to me, and Im mad at them.
Well, theres nothing I can really do.
My threats are fairly hollow.
In Eve, I can strike up a war machine and punish you for doing this thing.
Theres times I wish I could declare war, he adds, ominously.
You sold me this software and it didnt work.
I want more than my money back, I want you to suffer.
