So you’ve signed up for EVE Online, you’ve done the tutorials (you have done them, right?) and you’re ready to find your place in New Eden. But you’re not here to fire mining lasers at asteroids, no no. You’re here to fight! So where does a newbie find a piece of the action in these parts?
Being alone in EVE isn’t very fun or rewarding and finding player versus player action can be hard on your own, especially if you’re a new player. The easiest way would be to poke around in low security or zero security space, but if you do chances are that you’ll be on the receiving end of the action and find yourself in the sights of pirates or pilots protecting their territories.The solution is to get organized and save yourself from a lot of trouble. Except for factional warfare, which in Inferno looks to (finally) become a viable place to find good fights, you have a couple of other options to choose from as a brand new pilot..
EVE University has been around for eight years, helping newbies to understand the complexities that is life in New Eden - most importantly, EVE Uni helps new players to understand the game itself. The university holds lectures and courses in every aspect of EVE, including PvP. They even have a “camp” out in zero security space, where students can dive in and learn the ropes. While the organization has been involved in various political dramas over the years, they come highly recommended.
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Red vs Blue is in fact two corporations - the Red and Blue Federations - that are in constant war with each other. There’s not much else to it, you sign up, undock and start shooting things. RvB holds tournaments and contests and keep cheap ships available for their members, and doesn’t really care who you are or where you come from - something that other corporations and alliances usually want to know. They simply exist to fight each other, and sometimes other people. Including, incidentally, EVE University which they’ve declared sudden war against in the past.
If you want to learn about the finer nuances of PvP in EVE Online, RvB might be too crude for you. If so, there’s always Agony Unleashed. Compared to EVE Uni, these guys are all about the PvP. You don’t actually join Agony to take their classes, and thus should look for more traditional social aspects elsewhere. Instead those are held from time to time as a “service to the EVE community”. 
Lastly, a popular place for new players to go is TEST Alliance Please Ignore. They are happy to take in newbies (or newbros, as they lovingly call them), but with a caveat - TEST’s main corporation, Dreddit, is based around Internet mega-hivemind Reddit. You have to show that you are an active Reddit-user to be able to join up, but if you are you should have no issues finding action up in the area of zero security space they own. Do keep in mind that their culture is not for everyone and that they are closely related to Something Awful’s Goonswarm. If you’re sensitive and easily offended, you might want to look elsewhere.
Either way, with those four to choose from you are set to take part in a grand and noble EVE tradition - shooting at things. You will die, you will die in horrible and embarrassing ways. Even so, remember that even new players can bring something to the battlefield. While a level 1 will never be able to even scratch the surface of a level 85’s armor in World of Warcraft, the damage a fresh EVE player does - or the electronic warfare modules he can turn on the enemy - can be the straw that breaks the Megathron’s back.
Want to get started in Eve? Jump right in.
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