Diplomacy in New Eden is a world which is wide, wild, wily, and wise. Often the interactions and perspectives of leaders and diplomats happen outside of the view of the common line member and lowly miner. This interview is an attempt to bring some of that hidden perspective to light.
As part of my interview process with the significant leadership, diplomats, and FCs of New Eden, I asked each the exact same questions as a way of standardizing my approach and also soliciting answers which would reflect their own unique views. These views and expressed opinions are their own and, except where the interviewee is the alliance leader, are not reflective of the views or official position of their organization at large.
The following interviewee is none other than LadyScarlet, head diplomat to Northern Coalition. Thanks to LadyScarlet for honoring me with the interview.
Jurius Doctor: For those who are unfamiliar with you, who are you and what do you do?
LadyScarlet: My name is LadyScarlet. I’m CEO of Destructive Influence – Part of NC command.
JD: What can you tell me about yourself and what you do; i.e. your role in your Alliance?
LS: I am the Alliance diplomat. I also help run 2 rental alliances; Hold My Ticks and Brothers of Tangra.
JD: How’d you get your start in EVE? Did you start with planning to run an alliance?
LS: I moved to EVE from a game called Planetarion in 2003. I followed friends over; I just joined to have fun didn’t care about running anything back then. It wasn’t even in the scope of things for me back then.
JD: What, for you, was the hardest part of growing (into) your alliance? What do you struggle most with now?
LS: When I first joined I would say fitting in, getting past egos, making sure the corp proved itself. Now I don’t really care so much, we just do our thing and work on keeping things cohesive in the alliance.
JD: How did you broach diplomacy when you were first growing your alliance; what were the early growing pains?
LS: I took over as alliance diplomat when our past diplo had left, so the alliance had already been established. The biggest pain for me was trying to show that there is a better way of dealing with and treating people – one which gets better results.
JD: How does diplo currently – or continue to – shape your day-to-day and the experience of your members?
LS: Its finding a balance. Can’t have too many blues or FCs and members get anxious, but you need friends as well. If you can manage this (part of diplomacy) well you keep everyone happy and entertained as well.
JD: From the high-level, what’s the unspoken or unsung role of diplos that most people don’t get to see?
LS: Most don’t see the day to day silly questions I get, like, “can I get standings to get my stuff out. I just log in EVE after 5 years.” Or the fun stuff like pre-war knowledge you can’t share with others.
JD: Do you ever feel diplos are sometimes in the position of creating more problems than they solve?
LS: Yes, if they are given too much power. They can act as handlers for their alliance or coalitions while the leaders have no clue what is going on. They can also be in a position of stirring the pot and creating a lot of drama which we all recently have seen in the Drones. A good diplo is not afraid to be in good communication, be it good news or bad news, with their leaders. And (good diplos) know when to filter the nonsense no one cares about.
JD: Let’s talk regional – A lot of recent attention has been paid to the Drone Lands and their residents. What are your thoughts on the region and the diplomatic situation?
JD: Does the situation in DRF differ significantly from the North, or the Southwest (in your opinion)?
LS: Ya I believe politics played different roles in both. The southwest blew up bigger then it prob would have been, had Tri not been made out to be a huge monster who was going to burn everyone’s space. (Based on so call leaked conversations which I’m certain had a few edits ) and the north war was revenge for Test being put in MTO2-2 and allowed to hit GotG under the rumor Tri was going to hit everything; which really didn’t add up since they sold off much of their space to move south, to get out of that part of drones.
JD: By your assessment, are the problems diplos are incapable of solving?
LS: Oh sure, you can’t fix egos which is generally what gets in the way the most in dealing with situations, and usually what leads to wars. Everything else tends to be a walk in the park.
Jurius Doctor is an author, YouTuber, and a teacher/recruiter for Iron Armada. Stay tuned to INN for the following parts in this series.
