How flitk manages people online with overwhelming levels of paranoia

“Heard the Elephant is in command now?”
- In terms of?
- Well, remember, he is admin?
- Yes.
“So you're laughing now, his management skills turned out to be ideal for managing a clan.”

In general, I always really wanted to learn from the experience of the fleet commander in Eve Online. There is such a phenomenon: people unite in large corporations and alliances, while they get nothing for the game financially, but by some miracle everyone does common tasks together. Lessons management places abruptly MBA. And the first is the understanding that Eve is not a space game, but rather a social network, to which the game about space is attached. And it is necessary to behave exactly as in the social network. That is, the management of a corporation is the proper flow of content.

Flitcom has very much in common with what the manager needs to know. And I am very sorry that this dialogue did not take place about five years ago.
')
So, get acquainted - Vadim, the former (and formally current) head of the 2nd Echelon corporation, part of the famous Red Alliance, the oldest and largest Russian faction, shares wisdom. The Red Alliance is one of the oldest alliances in the world of Eve. His case is not up to par, but even if you read the forums 10 years ago - there are mentioned some structures and empires that are long gone, and Red Alliance. Here he is alive in the game, he is already 12 years old.


In the heyday of 2011

Corporate management level

I’ll say at once that a corporation is what we used to call a “clan”, but this term is not used in the game metagame and is considered to be somewhat offensive. Perhaps correlated with a joke about the fact that when a person from Eve goes into another game, the average IQ rises there and there. But to the point.

The main thing you need to understand is that people come into the game to communicate and follow interesting events. That is, for the content of the social network. The game can be regarded as a social network: there are, in fact, the game itself and in-game events about space, and there are many external information channels - forums and chats, where people discuss different game and near-game events. The management lesson is this: the main thing that motivates people to play and do something together is the content that is received as a result of communication. That is, if the interest was in the intelligence-construction-and-etc., then they would play singles.

People do not come to the game as to work, they have no rational reason to log in and do something for the common good. No salary, no fines for non-arrival. There is nothing special material that holds even developed pilots within the corporation. In general, people can only be motivated by “carrot” without any carrot.

It's simple: people pay with their time and buy interest for it.

Accordingly, the leader ensures that everyone is interested, in fact - 1) supports the infrastructure and 2) creates events or prerequisites for them. And a culture where people enjoy being close to each other. Where everyone feels they need.

For experienced pilots, a lot is kept on traditions. For example, to raise everyone on the campaign for C-J6MT, which is sacred for the Red Alliance, is like capturing Jerusalem on a crusade, an event in which everyone wants to participate because of its legend. People who have not logged in for years, go into the game, blow away the dust from their huge ships - and join the campaign. This in itself is motivating - you fight side by side with those about whose exploits you just read. That is why any serious alliance lives when it is at war, that is, when there are many active events. Campaign periods (motivation peaks) alternate with periods of fat accumulation (activity decline, preparation for the next campaign, licking of wounds). War sometimes arises not because the alliance is technically and strategically ready, but only because interest is dying out. And the main resource is the people, the team. And it is for them that something small and victorious can be arranged. That is, the density of game events directly affects the morality within the corporation.

The second interesting feature that visually intersects with the business - most of the players come to communicate and follow the events, but do not want to do anything for this. Waiting for the wind inside the game, and then puts the sail under it and drags. If the wind is not brought - dies away in despondency. In business, these are people who work not because they want to do something, but because if they do not work, then suddenly, they will have nothing to eat. Accordingly, there are separate so-called “windmakers” - those who set the very density of game events. It can be pilots who create something, it can be politicians who have agreed on something, it can be those who just invented a move. But usually - active pilots.

A typical corporation hierarchy consists of an authoritarian charismatic leader (CEO of the Directorate), then of the members of the Directorate (people who are responsible for coordinating combat actions, logistics, building assembly, recruiting, etc.). That is, in fact, it is the operational director (PVP), the commie and chief accountant (logisticians) and the heads of subdivisions in medium business, fleet commanders. Under them are windmakers - significant pilots for the corporation, creating propulsion, or strong tactics. Then - the rest of the pilots who do not create content, but consume it, and come in a crowd to break into the enemy when necessary.

Interestingly, the official management structure almost always lags behind the actual one. The fact is that an active pilot may appear, who has influence at the level of a member of the Directorate, but within the game he will be given admissions in six months or a year. For example, Vadim began to command as follows: at some point a power vacuum was formed. Every company has a friend who ultimately decides where the company goes. Somehow it happened by itself that this guy turned out to be exactly Vadim - calm, confident, laconic. It is easy to trust him, he never puts pressure on people, but he knows how to interest them in dull repetitive work (the experience of archeology and communication with complex users as an administrator has affected), always keeps his word, sometimes to the detriment of himself. He taxied informally for six months, and only then became the CEO of the directorate with all access to the game mechanics chips. Another reason for the slow tolerance changes is overwhelming paranoia. But more on that later.

Motivation to get ready

Russia is a rather big country, so for many the game is not just “came home at 19 after work and started to smoke,” but getting up at 3 am or 5 am for specific combat actions. And not everyone is ready to get up at 4 am on an alarm clock. Accordingly, this is how stocks are usually collected:

1. The easiest option - one of the corporation participants says: guys, I want a small camp (a planned strategic action, call to arms) there, let's drive to a party, it will be interesting. If this is really interesting, then another ten people join it, bring the necessary software for the action. Then post photos in Instagram discuss on the forums, how cool they were. Everyone is happy. A special rare type of such raids is drunken fleets sitting in ambush for the weekend. The company is going to comrades, flies into a given system and begins to wait for random guests. In the process, unlike ordinary camps, you can thump, swear, and even fall asleep (if the pilot snores in general chat, they just block the sound). Like a picnic with friends, only quite on the sidelines.
   
   
2. Sometimes the task comes from above - these are pre-planned large and small stocks, rather a routine, but partly interesting. Here, everyone uses his own methods of motivation: somewhere a raid promises good prey, somewhere it will be interesting (because the last time was epic fun, and there is a report), somewhere psychological pressure is applied - for example, in corporations it happens that I came twice - give me a billion, and if I came to a planned action and lost a ship in battle - the corporation will pay it in full. The whip for serious misconduct is a knockout from a corporation without assets, that is, the loss of the “home” and some game values ​​(usually restored in a month or two). There are methods of pressure in the spirit of "who does not come to the common actions, he does not help the common cause" - if you repeat this every day, you may get the impression that this is true, and who did not come - that sucker. Vadim preferred to use more subtle motivation, prokidyvaya path to the future. “Guys, the epic takeover of C-J6 will take place soon, this is a living legend of the Red Alliance. I understand, for all families, many of you have not logged in for years, and in general you don’t need all this nafig - I wouldn’t have stood in your place myself - but here such a thing is CJ. If we win, then you yourself will regret that you missed such a thing, which happens once a year. ”
   
   
3. You can motivate with money (in-game and external) - this is usually done for mercenaries and professional players. Vadim asserts that this was not practiced within the corporation, but I know that some flitcomms from other alliances, during serious campaigns, went on vacation at work and received “compensation” during the time. In general, in the world of Eve, there are about 10-20 people capable of conducting large-scale 2-3 monthly campaigns - I think some of them play for money, since the in-game currency with effort, but is converted into real. Although I will definitely not argue.
   
   
4. And, finally, there are “emergency pings” - this is when your opponent despicably attacked your strategic wealth. In this situation, all the means of alerting the corporation are turned on, and calls in real life to each other begin, they say, connect faster, beat ours. What is interesting, on especially large-scale actions, the mechanics of the game slows down time so that the server can count all the ships - it is assumed that instead of the Battle of Bolshoi Lagalovo there will be a turn-based strategy. For 1 second in-game then it takes up to 10 seconds of real. This gives enough time to pull out all the necessary pilots in real life and send them to the system where the fight is going on in slowdown - they will join the battle in full swing, and not to the debris.

Therefore, collecting the fleet for a counterattack is also a whole adventure. And it goes easier, because there is a fear of losing something. In all other cases, there is no fear in the motivation - I repeat, you can only be interested in content or “civic duty”.

Recruiting

Vadim, when he was “in business,” spent a day at least one and a half to two hours on the game, and flew approximately twice a week (these were 3-4 hours). Most of the time he spent in the logistics window - it was his interest in the game. If the whole Eve is called “Excel in space” because of the peculiarities of the orbital control interface, then trade is Excel inside Excel. So, logistics is a background process, such as trading on the stock exchange, when something is taken at point A, purchased, transported to point B and sold. It is necessary to ensure that orders are higher, playing “throw three pennies”, as in the quotation requests in the real world. Then specify what else is needed in system B, get it and take it.

At the same time, recruiting or communication within the corporation was going on, sometimes fleet management. Vadim immediately said that he was weak as a tactician, and therefore drove usually roaming, where the main thing is preparation for 2-3 hours and then 15 minutes of shooting. Often playing this - you burn out, this is a difficult job. By the way, he does not eat at the computer, only puts tea so that the throat does not dry out in the voice chat. From my point of view - almost a feat.

For real meat, there are individual tactical specialists, and this group of commanders is built so that one or two of them are always within walking distance from the computer. An unexpected attack on a key system (or two at once) is a reason to quickly convene a fleet and lead it into a righteous battle under the leadership of a person who is able to quickly assess the situation, improvise and use all other people's mistakes. Therefore, each major alliance has one or two people who sit around the game all day long - even if they are not the best leaders, their ability to immediately start resolving the situation is very valuable in the game world.

But let's go back to recruiting. So, there are three channels for the arrival of people:

1. Recruitment channels - in-game and near-game, when people just knock as if they were hired by Magnit or Pyaterochka. There is usually a story like this - a novice is looking for where to stick, and Eychary attack him, telling tales about huge fleets proudly plowing the expanses of the universe. Sometimes experienced pilots come who know exactly what they want - yet the Red Alliance is an old game legend.
   
   
2. Familiar friends and acquaintances friends. You have a pilot Peter in the corporation who put your friend Vasya on the game. Everything is simple and understandable here, and, most importantly, the credibility of such people is very high - after all, it is clear that Vasya was hardly friends for 10 years from school with Petya just to get into the corporation.
   
   
3. There is a recruitment on the forums - this is when targeted advertisements about the recruitment of people are posted somewhere outside. Vadim almost didn’t do that, but he raised an ad every three months with a “standard work environment” on the Russian forum.

Then the interview took place, it was carried out each time personally (there are people who filtered out applications, but each new pilot communicated with the head of the corporation). It is necessary to pull out for live communication by voice chat or telephone for at least 10-15 minutes, to understand what kind of character a person has. The task of the interview is to assess how experienced a person is and understands the mechanics of the game, and understand what his character is. This is damn important in the real world - for example, we are in Mosigra, when we select people for the team, we put professional qualities on priorities for the opportunity to fit into the team. So it is here: if Vadim understood that something was going wrong, he simply explained right away: sorry guy, I think you can’t get it, so I can recommend another corporation to you. And he warned “Eychara” another, that there is such a fighter, there are no problems with him, it was just impossible to get snuffed.

In the world of Eve, developers laid a lot of opportunities for betrayal, framing, going to the other side with requisitioning of values, and so on. This all causes wonderful dramas, so it is actively supported by mechanics. The logical consequence is the overwhelming paranoia of all those who are responsible for more or less serious material assets.

And then the fun begins. Usually, paranoia interferes with business development - it automatically denotes a hierarchical control system with tight linear control. There is almost no dispersion of control, everything is controlled. In general, if you are familiar with why it is very difficult for banks to hire developers, you understand the situation. And the world of the game raises this paranoia to unprecedented heights.

The most valuable thing you can find out is information about the coordinates of the fleet at a certain point in time (or even better, the plan of movement and strategy). Knowing where the fleet will be allows us to destroy most of it in ambush, attack one of the systems whose security is temporarily weakened, and do many other unpleasant things. Implementing a good flow of information means losing tangible assets over the years of the corporation.

Vadim decided the following: it is still impossible to figure out good spies, so you need to build relationships within the corporation so that security does not interfere with work, but so that one-time damage cannot be done. That is a lot of small things - please, but it is simply not economically feasible when there are other comrades around without any security systems at all or with poorly developed ones due to the novelty of the association.

That is, the main thing in recruiting is to pick up the right person, help him with training, convey traditions and mythology to him, fit into the structure - and simultaneously check for reliability. The security system should be invisible, and Vadim concentrated on this. The idea is simple:

1. Inside the corporation, everyone should be trusted and helped. But outside the hostile world, there must be careful.
   
   
2. Every newcomer was subject to a chain of checks. For example, they were given a chance to hold a couple of billions of ISK (in-game currency) - Vadim “accidentally” when he connected corporate accesses, gave the keys to a pair of extra hangars, and then after a day or two, he found an error and apologized. It was assumed that what a novice can carry away is cheaper than knowing that he can be trusted. This, by the way, is practiced in many large companies and in the real world - for example, the purchasing department is almost always controlled by security guards, who appear to be buyers or customers, and incline employees to rollback.
   
   
3. Professional spies will not “pierce” anyway, there is no need to create special measures, they will cost more than the damage from such a really steep implementation. However, the "legend" and the past of each newcomer were recorded at an interview, and then during the course of hostilities, when it was necessary to focus on goals, was checked in the voice chat with cross-cutting questions. Could be lucky, and the spy "pierced." If not - well, it was just a dialogue-acquaintance with a few old pilots.
   
   
4. It was a good information sharing. Flitcoms knew about their promotions. The pilot of a small ship did not even know anything about the entrance of "capital" (in order of large ships) into battle. For him it looked like this: the commander called for a "party" in the system of such and such, he came, counting on a regular fight, and here - once! - the cynosural field is developed, from which the allied dreadnought comes out. And the pilot understands that they were not just going to a regular action, but defending the exit point.

For those who later enter the core, there is a motivation at the level of “do everything well for six months, and we will give you a place in the directorate”. It works great if the place really give.

The main assets - after the team - are concentrated in the material support. Vadim Corporation operated at an “empty warehouse”, that is, purchased equipment only when necessary, without creating large capital stocks. However, the game mechanics themselves require large working capital, or agreements with external logistics and merchants. A corporation is much stronger if it has its own tried and tested logisticians - then operations can be carried out independently. Accordingly, if a regular PVP ship costs about 300 million ISK, then a logistics specialist ship is about 5-6 billion. And in the hold it carries up to 20 billion goods. The core of the logistics of the alliance is a separate structure: in the described case, everyone was personally acquainted for many years, trusting each other, but ... still, everyone jumped only and exclusively to their own cyno-field. And then I kept thinking why another alliance known to me hung out the home address of the “zinschik” - a specialist in the transfer of fleets. It became a little clearer - dissatisfied players would come to visit him in the game for the “setup” in the game and shake his manly neck.

There is a constant turnover in the corporation. At first, Vadim tried to ask people why they leave, but did not get any clear answers. However, looking at where they go and what they are doing at the new place, he received a comprehensive answer. About 20% of people went back to real (the game did not catch), the rest were looking for places in other corporations, because there was just the active phase of the movement. Accordingly, in the active phase, the flow of newcomers increased by an order of magnitude.

Flow is reduced when external events occur. At the same time, it is interesting that not necessarily popular with the players - of those who grumbled the loudest, two or three have left for all time. The rest of the "disgruntled" grumble about any changes, but they play with pleasure. This is also part of the metagame.

The next moment that surprised me is the continuity of the corporation. The fact is that in the conditions of paranoia it is very difficult. However, Vadim often left for half a year on archaeological expeditions. Returning for the first time, he found a bunch of extended assets and scattered key pilots. Tidied up and promised myself that more will not be so. As a result, the corporation is experiencing its long absences calmly and steadily. This is very, very cool in the real business - the class of the leader is estimated, in particular, by how well his department will work without him.

Competently established business processes - the third, which is the price of a company in the real world when it is purchased - after the brand and tangible assets.

Corporate infrastructure

Each union more than 3 people in Eve usually has its own non-game infrastructure. As a rule, this is a news block and a fast communication channel. The first is, for example, a site with a database for beginners and all sorts of appeals, internal corporate materials and a little srachim for their own. And, for example, the Jabber channel, or something similar. Plus, there is external communication - at the official forum, at the largest Russian-speaking forum, small sub-forums, then - half-open groups in social networks. For an old corporation, a site is also a means to keep up to date with those who have not logged in for a year, but are reading. And maybe catch up on an epic share.

The corporation's account is formed from income tax (up to 10% of deductions from combat mining), one-time target fees are used and another fixed tax (they just don’t like it), there are corporation resources (the moon with minerals, they sell development contracts to peaceful corporations) There is an opportunity to collect tribute from such peaceful corporations for the right to go about their business (it is rarely used, but it is an entertainment event with double profit).

The second important value of the old corporation is the role distribution, mythology and ideology. That is, in my terminology - corporate culture and business processes. When any new problem arises, people know how to solve it, rather than asking each other. Mythology is also needed for motivation - for example, battles for key systems collect a lot of “sleeping” pilots. Another goal of this mythology is for the alliance to experience bad periods, for example, fans of famous sports teams do not move after another two or three years of failure to another team, but continue to root for their own. Judging by the fact that the Red Alliance is still alive, he has complete order with it.

Assets in the outside world intersect with gaming. For example, the pilot who paid for hosting for the site suddenly decided to move to another corporation and took the database - this is a whole drama. Or just left the game and forgot to extend the domain, no less fun. In business, we see such dramas when Gender is having sex with his wife CIO. Sometimes the business falls apart.

In general, the general rule of Eve Corporation is as follows: more people are bigger (more epic) tasks and more content created.

Friendship in the game often goes into real. For example, when someone travels around the country, in the cities through which he moves, meetings of allies, joint gatherings are organized. In some corporations, the ideology is also attached at regular picnics, which are attended by people from 5-6 nearby cities.

Internal PR is very important. That is, any leader’s decisions are heard by every pilot, chewed and explained why he should do it. One of the best examples of such a method is the so-called “hypno-pub” or simply “toad”, that is, the appeal of the corporation leader to all participants. It is organized in the general chat inside or (more often) outside the game, is recorded by the participants, then distributed to those who did not attend the general meeting. Often reheard again, because the motivation is very dependent on the leader’s rhetoric.

Here is an example of the average treatment, here it is directly stated that the move is for the sake of interest. And here is another collection of references. It is worth looking at Dodger, his logic fits well with showing the possibilities and drawing pictures of the future (there is a bit of mate). In the same thread there is a thesis text.

The military “toads” structure is approximately the same - there is an appeal to patriotism first, it explains why the bastards are reptiles, then the plan to restore justice with broad strokes, a noble goal, the promise of women and gold (in local equivalent) - and a story about epic will be a hero on the forums (indirectly). Then, in fact, a call to action. That is, this is a classic speech of the leader before the project.

By the way, if you do not tell the essence of the problem - people can not do it. Therefore, those who ask questions during the execution, and not before, are valuable and are near the director. That is, they first begin to do it, and then clarify why this is necessary. Sometimes it is important in combat conditions.

After the start of the campaign is an active media. You can lose the battle so beautifully and epically that many will catch up with revenge. You can show a traitor that many have known for years - then dozens of pilots will go to take revenge on him, and will sit in the game until they find and punish. And you can win the battle, but with wild lags - and few people will want to come again, because there is little fan and drive. With the success of the campaign increases the involvement of players, with the loss - they go. In a long positional war, despondency overwhelms all parties. In large corporations, one way or another, a similar thing is used for large projects - when you have seen the result of work after two years, you need to tell what is happening in general, in principle, it is interesting for everyone. In theory, HSU or a psychologist should do this, but you know how this ends. If you are a leader, you need to explain what you are doing together, why, and what will be the result, and not just report “dig here.”

Fraction level

So, the corporation resembles the work of the department. The faction as a whole works at the level of a large dispersion - this is a set of independent corporations that do a common task, and if necessary, change resources (including knowledge and time of specialists). From the point of view of the head of the faction, it is extremely silly to climb with tight control or stand behind the head of the corporation. He works in a large fraction because it is interesting or profitable for him. Accordingly, the essence of management at the macro level is to make an ecosystem where it is interesting or beneficial for everyone.

And this two-tier system very vividly reminds me of the work of the parent organization (faction) and franchises (corporations). Therefore, the old flitkom showed me a couple of very useful things.

PS The last post about the game - specifically about Rimworld - has already cost me frustrated fishing, because some people defended the settlement and did not leave the house. Therefore, I immediately warn you - the management model is a model, but you don’t need to play Eve.

Well and, I hope, it was useful for you. Or at least interesting to see how it works.

UPD: Called Vadim - Tovarish_SLon