It’s no secret that EVE Online is filled with psychopaths and sociopaths. There’s a bloodlust that fills the very hearts and souls of many of the capsuleers that journey through New Eden. Within this world of constant PvP, there are a few that carve out their style of gameplay. They refuse to play the game the way the rest of us cretins try to dictate; instead focusing on the positive – the mystery that New Eden offers. We frequently hear about charity projects like the Angel Project and Operation Magic School Bus and there are community groups like Best of Us and Broadcast4Reps. These groups transcend EVE gameplay, existing as communities beyond the borders of the game. Within the game, one group stands as a PvP-Free bastion for capsuleers that want something different.
EvE-Scout Enclave, anchored by the corporation Signal Cartel, is well known and rather well respected by many in New Eden. They are perhaps most well known for running the EvE-Scout website, which is continuously updated to track the newest Thera connections. They stand as a neutral, law-abiding entity looking to advance the game for others, and their leadership created a credo to guide the pilots in their alliance:
Signal Cartel is a service corporation to all of New Eden. In this role, members are encouraged to treat all players with respect regardless of affiliation. In challenging situations, our goal is to look for a graceful resolution and set an example of dignity and friendship through our actions.
We embrace the attitude of a true explorer: we are friendly to others in our travels, neutral and never initiating aggression, and endeavoring at all times be perceived by the New Eden community as a non-threat. Although we never intentionally seek to harm, we may defend our friends and our ships. In suffering losses, we respond with good cheer and shed no tears. In this way, we aim to be recognized and respected by all across the cluster and left in peace to do our work.
Among our ranks and with others, we are patient and generous with knowledge, ideas, and experiences. We foster a mentoring culture by answering questions, freely sharing experiences and learning resources, and when possible offering rookies one-on-one tutoring.
Specifically prohibited with your in-alliance character: Piracy, baiting, or scamming; initiating aggression on other players’ ships, pods, or deployed structures; sovereignty interference; participating in NPSI fleets; aggressive actions in support of PvP fleets including boosts, cynos, bumping, or target Intel; use of mobile siphons; corp or other theft. Note: Ships, wrecks, and drones abandoned in space are considered salvage and may be harvested. Abandoned ships may not be destroyed.
EN24 spoke with Mynxee, CEO of Signal Cartel, about the credo and the recent first birthday of her corporation. She mentioned that Signal Cartel has no intention of changing their credo to accommodate PvP stating, “it defines what we are about perfectly and reflects clearly the mindset we want our pilots to embrace and the manner in which we want them to treat others. The credo will continue to serve as a guide for our corp culture, and we will continue to serve its spirit and intent through our actions. Yes, it makes unusual demands on our pilots in the greater context of what’s typical in New Eden, but as our steady membership growth rate shows, there are a lot of people out there who find it to be a perfect fit, and we are happy to provide a haven for them.” With 776 members, it seems unlikely that the credo will deter new members in the near future.
One of the newer members of Signal Cartel is System Baud, the winner of EVE’s Amazing Race. Wanting a ‘line member’s view’ of the corporation and credo, EN24 reached out System Baud.
After my experience with EVE’s Amazing Race I felt a little like someone returning from a trip from a developing country in West Africa. I kind of felt like – wow.. ok, so that was my life for six weeks.. and now I was just standing in an isle at Walmart in Southern California wondering what my life would be like next and what would replace or refill that experience. Traveling to some 5600+/- systems, I have had an incredible experience that many capsuleers never get to have, let alone as an entry experience into New Eden.
What drew me to Signal Cartel Initially was their exploration goals and perspectives on life in New Eden. It felt like my experiences with EVE’s Amazing Race had prepared me perfectly to fit into their “Mission” Statement and Credo.
When asked if the credo ever felt restrictive, System Baud summed up his feelings in a couple of sentences.
So far I have not felt burdened, nor restricted by the Signal Cartel’s credo. Maybe I just enjoy being the rabbit hunted by the fox hound, gaining it’s adrenalin rush by the chase and evasion.
I like that Signal Cartel is unique as it makes me feel a bit set apart from the rest. This definitely fills my need to be a special snowflake <smile>.
This past weekend, Signal Cartel celebrated their first birthday with a surprise hug fleet, ECM Hugs, and a treasure hunt. Mynxee had mentioned during our conversation that “logging in every day to a warm, welcoming, genuinely nice internet spaceship family is a joy” and, having had the opportunity to eavesdrop on Signal Cartel’s mumble while the surprise hug fleet took place, I have to agree. Comms were amazing and unlike anything I’ve experienced with groups of this size. With more than 30 capsuleers in fleet, comms were quiet and respectful, almost subdued. I couldn’t help but smile as I overheard comments like “wow, battleships are so big up close” and “What does ‘blops’ mean?” Watching that first black ops bridge open and pilots learn how to take the bridge was very heartwarming. I knew right away that I was experiencing something that special that many EVE players will never see.
This is just some of the activity going on within EvE-Scout Enclave. More recently, via Eve Scout, Director of Special Research, they questioned the competence of the Upwell Consortium to protect both worker lives and the Research Components that so many capsuleers are currently gathering. To ensure that all collected Research Components are safe and available when needed, EvE-Scout Enclave is offering 6 PLEX as rewards for capsuleers that entrust them with Research Components.
I reached out to Eve Scout to find out if the Upwell Consortium had responded to their press release.
Following our initial inquiry, Lina Ambre published a news release titled “UPWELL CONSORTIUM HAILS CAPSULEER RESEARCH EFFORT AS CITADEL PROTOTYPE CONSTRUCTION RESUMES”. In it, she quotes Lee Brinalle, Special Accounts Manager of Upwell Consortium, as saying “Security has improved over and above the original levels. And we are assured by the Upwell Department of Friendship and Mutual Assistance that all traces of the illegal AI virus introduced into the original sites’ systems have been purged from our constructors.”
Though we have yet to receive a direct response, this statement has increased our confidence in Upwell’s site security. Time will be the real test of this statement considering no further details are provided.
Unfortunately, the lack of details still leaves us with questions. According to Ms. Brinalle, “At present, Upwell Consortium has requested that Capsuleers assist with the return of stolen research materials from various partners in the venture.” Which partner(s) or subcontractor(s) were responsible for the original work, manufacturing, delivery and storage of the Research Components?
EvE-Scout Enclave and its members have large sums of ISK and effort invested in acquiring Research Components to assist Upwell’s efforts. As mentioned in our press release we could not in good conscience publish these materials without confidence-inspiring reassurances. Other capsuleers to share our same concerns. Those that do can take advantage of the option to entrust us with the handling of Research Components on their behalf and in so doing, increase their profit opportunities.
Without direct dialog with Upwell’s management, we can only reconcile our concerns based on what we can observe. All that we have observed are mistakes being made without a prototype citadel to show for it yet. We believe we could better resolve these concerns if Upwell’s management would reach out to us and address our questions directly.
Additionally, she mentioned that EvE-Scout Enclave had allocated over 20 billion ISK to reward their members for their efforts in contributing to the Research Component cache.
In addition to both mapping Thera connections and acting as an intermediary in holding these Research Components, EvE-Scout Enclave is launching a new service, EvE-Scout Rescue Caches. While EvE-Scout already provides search and rescue services for capsuleers, this new service aims to help individuals that find themselves stranded in wormholes be more self-sufficient. Rescue Caches will be secure containers anchored off-grid from celestials and containing core scanner probes.
The concept is the brainchild of Forcha Alendare, who described the service for EN24.
Signal Cartel Corp members seed and maintain Rescue Caches throughout wormhole space during their regular exploration travels. When a capsuleer is in need, they can contact a scout in the EvE-Scout public channel for assistance. The Scout will assist the stranded pilot, by helping them locate and access the Rescue Cache in the wormhole. They will then be able to retrieve a set of Core Scanner Probes from the cache, which will enable them to scan a way home.
As a wrap-up to the conversations, Mynxee was asked where she sees Signal Cartel going in the next year, the response was as hopeful and enthusiastic as everything else I’ve seen from this unique group.
I see us keeping on with more of the same. I want to organize our wealth of information better to help our new players more quickly identify the most critical things they need to know as an explorer in dangerous places. I am also going to implement an internal loyalty point program and “store” to reward members for consistent and organized effort to mentor and teach newer players. We will likely continue to dip the occasional toe into roleplay in response to lore developments and in-game events. We will continue to encourage our members to be entrepreneurial and undertake initiatives, supporting those as we can. We will continue to be experts at exploration.
And as always we will as always keep our eyes open for fun opportunities to engage our way with other pilots and groups in New Eden and spread the message of our corp culture.
If you are unfamiliar with Signal Cartel and EvE-Scout Enclave, you should visit their channel, EvE-Scout, for more information
