ALDRAT, METROPOLIS: Earlier today, shortly after 19:30 on July 5th, the Recruitment Officers (ROs) of Eve University accepted the days eleventh interviewee, bringing the corporation to 1,500 active members – a new record in its 6 year history.

While Eve University has reached as high as 1,800 members in the past, its policies on inactive students (who enrol only for their attendance to drop off) recently changed. This had the effect of reducing the membership significantly, while lightening some administrative overheads and promoting more activity from its members.

The increase in membership is believed to be linked to the recent ‘Planetary Interaction‘ guides, produced by the corporation’s special ‘PI Taskforce’, who worked tirelessly to provide full and detailed documentation on the new mechanics before they were finalised and opened to the general population. The release of this, and the associated video guides, have proven to be very popular with the capsuleers of New Eden, accounting for the majority of the traffic on the UniWiki in the past month.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the tireless work of the corps Recruitment Department, who’s RO’s work tirelessly to interview and vet potential members. We spoke to Darian Reymont, Recruitment Manager and Acting Director of Personnel about their work: “The majority of them are working hard, given the time of year.”, referring to the recent national holidays, “I expected their work rates to drop some over the summer months but they have really exceeded my expectations”.

Unfortunately we have been unable to directly contact Eve University CEO Kelduum Revaan for comment as of yet, but he has provided a statement, mentioning that he is “delighted to see the University continuing to grow, [and looks forward to] setting new milestones with the assistance of the wider community [passing on] the word of our existence and success to new and existing pilots.”

Six Years of Eve University Six years ago today on March 15th 2004, Eve University was founded by Morning Maniac, who stepped down earlier this year after years of hard work. For those who don’t know us by name, chances are that you have encountered more than a few ex-E-UNI members, and have flown with or against them, as we have alumni throughout Eve in pretty much every major alliance or sizeable corporation. We have been described as one of the few truly altruistic corporations in New Eden – we take new players and teach them what is necessary to survive and be successful in Eve with support such as lessons, events, guest lectures, ships and modules, skillbooks, forums and a wiki crammed full of information. In the last 6 years since E-UNI was founded, a great deal has changed in Eve. Back then, New Eden was a very different place – there were no alliances and sovereignty, no mining barges, destroyers or battlecruisers, no capital ships, no faction ships, modules or ammo, wormholes and exploration didn’t exist, there were no deadspace complexes, no level 4 or 5 missions, no epic arcs and no factional warfare. There were only eight races to choose from, and Eve itself was substantially smaller. The drone regions were closed to players, and there was no Black Rise region. The skill queue, rigs and invention were a long way from existing, and there was no API – not to forget the introduction of warp to 0. Those changes were significant in terms of gameplay and how Eve developed, but throughout these six years, one thing has remained constant – there are always new players, and there is always more to learn. We still see the same sort of questions from the new players which we did all those years ago, but with more complexity within Eve comes questions on broader subjects: “Can I pod someone who has a bounty?”, “What happens if someone steals my loot?”, “How does this work?”, “Is this a good fit for a cruiser?”, “What is the best ship?”. While they initially seem simple, they lead to much more complex questions, many of which can’t really be answered by guides and howtos, and require direct experience to answer fully. With an estimated 10,000 pilots passing through our doors since we opened, (over 1,700 of those in the last 6 months alone), we have members and alumni in over 2,500 cities across more than 80 countries worldwide. This volume of membership is possible due to the way E-UNI is set up, with members assisting each other, and the vast majority of costs being paid for by donations we get from various donors all over the Eve universe, who we would like to thank for their generosity and support. E-UNI is more than just a corporation though, it is a true community, and even the newest member can help out, by answering the questions of fellow members. Very often alumni stick around after they graduate and have moved to other corporations – in doing so they bring some significant knowledge of areas we can’t cover directly, such as nullsec politics, and the darker sides of Eve. (continued…) CAOD Thread
Ivy League Forums Thread
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PC Gamer magazine in the US has a round-up of MMOs, and of course includes Eve Online, which gets a glowing write up, with the verdict:

An always surprising, delightfully deep player-driven experience awaits those dedicated enough to learn its intricacies.

Of special note for us however is the “How Should I Start?” box, which says:

Get connected with EVE University, an in-game group of friendly veterans that take new players under their wing and teach them the ropes. Visit www.eve-ivy.com or simply join the chat channel “E-UNI” in-game to get in contact with a representative.

Full Article Welcome to E-UNI, PC Gamer readers! Thanks to E-UNI student Din Chao for the tip off.]]>

Official Eve University Press Statement – For Immediate Release Many of you know Eve University as the new player training corporation which was founded almost six years ago by Morning Maniac. We have spent that time teaching new players in all aspects of Eve, and helping them on their way in New Eden to become successful pilots, freely providing information, skillbooks, ships, modules and various other resources. On February 1st, Morning Maniac will officially step down as CEO, replaced by Kelduum Revaan, current Director of Operations.

Statement from Morning Maniac, Eve University Founder and CEO Five years and 11 months ago I founded Eve University to create a place where new players could get together and be appreciated for who there were. Classes and doing things together were important but nothing was, and is, more important than the positive attitude towards new players. In the first three years I clocked about 4000 hours logged-in in the service of the University. After some real life changes my available free time was greatly reduced but I could rely on a great team of directors and managers to run the Uni. In the last three years I was mainly concerned with extinguishing fires and the occasional directorship drama, but fortunately for me and everyone involved these issues have become less frequent and intense. The current leadership is stable and doing well, and they seem to share my vision of what the University should be and they work hard to shape it as such, with all the limitations of the game and the people in it. More changes in my real life have resulted in even less Eve time and as a result I feel now removed from the game. Because of that I have decided that it is in the best interest of Eve University that I resign from my CEO position. I have asked Kelduum to succeed me and he has accepted the job. What does this mean for the University and its members? Well, nothing. It means that now the formal power will be with the person who has already been in charge for a long time. I trust that Kelduum and the rest of the leadership will continue to run and build the University as they have done in the past. If they should decide to take another route then that’s fine too. As for me? I hope to stay a member of the University. If and when I have time I would like to log in and just join the chat with the new guys. The enthusiasm of new players is what I always enjoy most about EVE. Besides, there is always a lot to learn in Eve. Finally, I would like to thank everyone for putting your trust in me. When I founded the Uni I had no idea where it would go. Where we are today is far beyond anything I could have imagined. I have learned so much, I have met amazing people and had a great time. All thanks to you, members past and present of Eve University.

(continued)
CAOD Announcement]]>

“Despite our best efforts to regulate traffic, unless we are given the authority to take extraordinary measures, Aldrat is at risk of becoming another Jita. Applicants to Eve University are currently stacked ten ships deep in holding patterns around Aldrat IX, and the situation is becoming worse every day. Accidental collisions between vessels are up 200% in the past month, cases of space rage have resulted in 52 deaths, and our analysts predict that by this time next year the queues will be backing up to Hek. (more)]]>

Forum should be up soon. I knew things were going to well… Got a problem, something is buggy with the calendar. Gonna check a few more things but I may just open the forum with the calendar not working properly. Calling things a night, new forum is up, sorta, you should all be able to use it. I’ll continue working on in when I’m awake again. Oh new link for forum aswell 🙂 Click to your right!]]>

Reports of a hostage situation began to trickle out of Battlegroup 1 earlier today as an unnamed E-UNI member was being held in a wormhole space against his will.The trapped pilot had jumped into the wormhole to practice scanning, but was prevented from leaving by a pair of drakes, a cheetah and a hound class vessels, who had set up a ‘bubble camp’ on the exit from w-space to Hardbako, and the would-be kidnappers used local to attempt to ransom 50M ISK from the Unista. That opportunistic decision turned out to be a costly mistake…