I was just reading a blog by Katsumi1980 where he was urging a little restraint in quitting a corp before moving on. I thought about it for a minute and he's quite right to urge that. But what about restraint before actually joining a corp?
It is obvious you need to match yourself with the Corporation you want to join but sometimes people don't, they just join a corporation they heard about on the forums, answer what they need to get in and then find themselves in a bit of a limbo risking the quit button.
Now I have quite a chequered history myself so I am no expert, I would just like to post a few tips and what I've learned. If this helps you focus, then great. If not, then well there you go.
Firstly, we should go through the types of Corporations generally available, and there are hundreds of different types all with a different mix of the activities and qualities I'm listing here:
Large/Mid/Small Scale Fleet Ops 0.0
Large/Mid/Small Scale Fleet Ops Faction Warfare
Large/Mid/Small Scale Fleet Ops Low Sec Warfare (piracy/antipiracy etc)
Industrial (needs to be split so here we go!)
Ammunition manufacturing
Tech 1 manufacturing /BPO
Tech 2 manufacturing /BPO
Booster production
Moon minerals
Planetary Interaction – I suppose that can be PI mining.
Mission Running
Wormhole farming
Exploration sites etc
There's many more activities and many corporations will mix and match in what seem at first glance to be surprising combinations. It's quite common for a large pvp fleet ops 0.0 corps to also have a firm hold on moon mining and tech 2 manufacturing to raise cash for ship reimbursement, however the purse strings and access levels to do this are usually tightly controlled for reasons of trust so be prepared for that.
All Corporations and Alliances for that matter have different qualities. The obvious ones that spring to mind are the size of membership. While that's a pretty straightforward quality, it does deserve a little discussion before we move on.
It all depends if you want to be part of a herd or if you want to be more recognised. In a large corporation you can quite easily get lost in the general noise made by the other members and to a large extent become an anonymous blob. Some larger corporations don't mind this as you are essentially cannon fodder to them, others strive to make you take more of an active role. Generally key people remain the key people always, unless you rise above the crowd and make yourself noticed and there are many ways to do that such as help! Some pilots do like to take a step back though.
In larger corps you will likely find fleets and activities are easier to join and fly in by virtue of their frequency and availability.
Smaller corporations will have smaller gangs and sometimes less frequently depending on who's online. You will likely be noticed more and that's a good thing because if the corporation are worth their salt they'll be keen on giving you as many training and flying tips as possible. In smaller corps it's also more likely you will be FC'ing gangs quicker too.
I personally find that the larger the gangs, the easier it is for sloppiness to creep in and silly mistakes to be made. (Usually by me before anyone says anything!) After all, your gang of 100 firing at a POS generally isn't that bothered if you aren't firing 100% of the time. On the other hand, a gang of three in a fire fight will definitely notice if you aren't paying attention.
Any size corporation will have different rules on hangar access and roles. So that won't matter much. Smaller sized corporations tend to stick to their known activities but are incredibly agile when switching to do something else, larger corporations can take a while to switch. One example would be the move to the next base of operations 25 jumps away requiring 2 low sec staging points and 2 0.0 staging points. Over 100 members moving their stuff via the logistics arm of the corp can take a few days before everyone is completely ready...
To sum this size section up and I'm going to be candid, “What do you want, Pilot?”
Another quality is culture. This is a very personal choice and very much relies on what environment you want to put yourself into. Some notable examples:
GoonSwarm. A generally disrespectful culture which thought nothing of forum spam and scamming but formed a huge coalition with other alliances and destroyed one of the largest alliances in game through use of subterfuge.
Agony. A very helpful culture dedicated to learning and sharing that game knowledge with no non-aggression pacts and where every other corporation is a target.
Be careful with how you sift through this though, age has no bearing on this nor does the corporation aim. If the corporation are pirates or ninja salvagers it doesn't mean to say they are immature. It's just a profession after all. You can quite easily have a bunch of mature ninja salvagers or a mature bunch of pirates. Take Veto led by Verone for instance. A highly organised and mature self helping corporation that will gladly blow you up if you don't pay the ransom.
Ask yourself this and ponder where you want to be as there is a corporation for everyone's tastes, “Is the corporation full of immature players that have no respect or no concept of team play, is bickering and infighting common or is it a high percentage of mature players playing together in a supportive environment?”.
Lots of corporations are somewhere in-between. Quite often, even the recruiters don't think of this as a quality unless specifically asked and even then may not answer accurately.
Anyway, it's all food for thought for the next time you want to join a new Corporation.