Beitrag von: Aura am Juli 29, 2013, 10:45:09 Vormittag
Cooperation. Administration. Community.
I've only been in nullsec a short while, but from what I can tell, these three factors really govern success or failure in sovereignty nullsec. It's certainly the reason why Goonswarm Federation, and by extension the CFC, have proven as successful as they are. I would bet that Goonswarm is top of the heap in at least two of those three areas, if not all three outright.
If an alliance or coalition is not very good at any of the three, or has no real interest in developing their weaker areas into strengths, then that alliance is probably a better fit for lowsec or NPC nullsec. If they're already in sov nullsec, it's likely at the behest of some group strong in those three areas. If that group finds it has to stand alone, it is going to find itself faltering.
That is exactly what I think has happened with Test.
Cooperation
Test, N3, and Pandemic Legion operated as three separate entities. They didn't share Jabber channels. They rarely ever formed fleets together. Their ability to effectively cross-communicate was hampered by a disconnection in communication.The rarity of Test, N3, and PL ever flying in the same fleets. They acted and behaved as autonomous organizations (which they are), which didn't help in the defense of any system. It created more difficulties in communication when multiple fleets were on the same battlefield, each not quite knowing what the other was up to. One hand not knowing what the other is doing. A disconnect between the left and right hemispheres.
Compare to the CFC. A collection of alliances, certainly, all autonomous, yet during strategic operations fleets are a complete amalgamation of the coalition as a whole. Every part of an offense or defense knows what every other part is doing, because the communication lines are very well-defined. The entire CFC shares a communal Jabber. The entire CFC shares a communal Mumble. Intel channels are shared across the coalition. Fleets are available to all. The right hand knows what the left hand is doing. Ten fingers playing a single symphony.
A high-level of cooperation among allies gives a group an immediate leg-up over an enemy. This is simply an advantage that Test & Pals did not have. The sadness is that that level of cooperation was not out of their reach.
The level of cooperation in the CFC creates a much bigger whole. Even though I'm a member of Gentleman's Agreement, I still feel like I'm part of something larger. Alliances in the CFC feel much like corporations do in other alliances. As such, and especially during these large strategic operations, I identify more strongly as CFC than GA. When the war is over, when each CFC alliance goes back to their own territory and doing their own things, I'll return to identifying as a Gentleman again.
Administration
Paxton Industries has a high-level of administration. This was made clear during a recent State of the Corporation meeting. That meeting also revealed some of the high-level of organization that Gentleman's Agreement conducts. The administrative efforts of GA pale, though, when compared to the organization of Goonswarm, the defacto leadership of the CFC.This brings us back somewhat to the idea of cooperation. Goonswarm has learned how to harness its talent, which has over time turned it into a well-oiled machine. Goonswarm in turn shares these resources with the rest of the CFC membership. We benefit not only from their Jabber and Mumble services, but we benefit from mapping/routing software, we benefit from market software, we benefit from the analysis of their financial teams, we benefit from their Wiki, their theorycrafters. All of these services trickle down and make each constituent part of the CFC better within the group than they could ever be on their own. It's space communism at its finest, really. (Which could lead into another lengthy post of its own, "Why does space communism work so effectively in the EVE Online environment, but breaks down so readily in other MMOs and especially in the real world?")
There are certainly many talented people within Test Alliance, but the alliance seems incapable of harnessing that talent for any greater purpose. Which might actually be a reflection of their community.
Community
I can't speak to Solar Fleet's strengths in cooperation or organization, but they most definitely have a strength of community. It is why it has been so difficult to remove them from nullsec. Even at their lowest ebbs, they lose almost none of their membership. That speaks to an especially strong and cohesive community. How many groups fail-cascade at the slightest sign of adversity?Test Alliance is about to become either a lowsec alliance or an NPC nullsec alliance. How their fall from sovereignty holding affects them remains to be seen, but it will certainly test their strength as a community.
Test Alliance is a Reddit community. Goonswarm, who are the backbone of the CFC, and without which the CFC would not exist or be able to hold itself together, is a Something Awful community. How do those two compare as communities?
Something Awful is a forum-based site. Forums by their very nature tend to encourage discussion. Discussions tend to encourage familiarity among those engaged in the discussion, whether actively or passively. Forums tend to encourage stronger community, a stronger sense of belonging. Something Awful is a place you visit to shoot the shit with people. There seems to be a stronger sense that you know the people with whom you engage. Something Awful is an older crowd, generally 30+.
Reddit is an aggregator. It encourages people to comment on links. To vote them up or down. There are rarely conversations that occur. And ones that do occur are usually short-lived, the format of the site doesn't encourage lengthy debate. As such, the community seems more transient. Reddit is not a place you visit to simply have a conversation with people. The people with whom you engage, it's more random, haphazard. Reddit is younger crowd, sub 30s.
Members seem to feel a greater responsibility to the whole in Goonswarm, and that probably has something to do with the type of community Something Awful has created. Whereas in Test, there seems to be an unwillingness to invest into the community if it means effort, and that might have something to do with Reddit, which is a reasonably effort-free experience for the most part.
How much the sources of each community play into each organization, hard to say, but there is effect certainly, and perhaps the core of those communities play strongly into how easy or hard the members resist organization and administrative efforts.
Read more about the War in Fountain:
The War in Fountain - Battle For J5A-IX and War Poster
The War in Fountain - What Are The Russians Doing For Us?
The War in Fountain - Fweddit Chooses a Side
The War in Fountain - Test Alliance Has a Bad Day
The War in Fountain - The Depth of Gameplay In Sovereignty Wars
The War in Fountain - The Importance of J5A-IX
The War in Fountain - Divide and Conquer
The War in Fountain - Gnrrr. History.
The War in Fountain - Cracking Down on Pornfleets
The War in Fountain - Blueballing
The War in Fountain - Old Montolio Had A Jump Bridge, EI-, EI-O0O
The War in Fountain - Hemorrhaging ISK
The War in Fountain - Fish or Cut Bait
The War in Fountain - Metrics of Success
The War in Fountain - Isn't That What Happened To BoB?
The War in Fountain - The Z9PP-H Node Crash
The War in Fountain - Centaur and Pegasus
The War in Fountain - Can the CFC Be Stopped?
The War in Fountain - Moving Day
The War in Fountain - If They Could Have Held It Together
Source: The War in Fountain - The CAC Advantage (http://)