With the mothballing of Kite Co Space Trucking, and the exodus of the remaining active members, I think now is a good time to write up a little lay of the land for people looking to start playing Eve.
The very first thing you should do is join the chatroom called Giantbombing. You can do this by clicking the little chat bubble icon above the chat window, and typing the name in, then clicking join. This is where the duders of Eve congregate and talk, and is where you can find many veterans who are enthusiastic to answer any questions you have.
In Eve, the guild/clan equivalent is called a Corporation. These can join together under an Alliance. Alliances have formed Coalitions in game, though they are not officially supported by the in-game structure. You should probably join a corp at some point within your first month or two of playing the game. It will give you players to play with, and most of them run events and fleets you can join. Playing eve as a solo player 100% of the time is very rarely fulfilling. If you don't know what you like to do after the tutorial, have a chat with us in giantbombing and we can let you know if there are things we think might suit you. Without further adieu, here are some of your options for corporations.
Dreddit
A member of Test Alliance Please Ignore, this is the corporation most of the active members of Kite Co joined after the mothballing of the corp. They have fairly open recruitment, and were originally formed from a group of players from reddit.com/r/eve. They have programs to support new players, and also run plenty of fleets that use expensive ships flown by more expensive players that new players can come along on in less expensive ships. They generally seem to have a devil-may-care attitude, and find taking the game too seriously to be laughable. As a group, they have a long history with some near deaths, so you're looking at a pretty politically and logistically experienced bunch of guys near the top. Definitely a solid choice for a player of any experience level, and the group with the most active duders currently. I'm sure some of them can expand on the Dreddit experience below.
Pandemic Horde
As a member of Horde, I am biased as hell and am putting this second on the list. I left for Horde when corp activity was winding down, because I've personally had some bad experiences with TEST (figured that's where duders would be heading) and I made some friends in Horde while working with them during my previous tenure with Kite Co in the Brave Alliance.(sorry if none of that makes sense, don't worry about it). Horde is the newbie focused alliance in the coalition of alliances we refer to as the Pandemic Family. This contains PH, Waffles, and Pandemic Legion. The reason this matters is because PL and Waffles to a lesser extent, have a reputation. PL is probably the second most powerful group in the game, and are seen by some as bullies. I personally haven't seen this behavior and they haven't been involved in the day to day activities of Horde. We aren't directly supported by them or waffles, but we will fight together sometimes. If the shit really hit the fan, though, PL would very likely come to our aid in some way. We fly a variety of low level friendly comps and have some classes and events run by Pandemic Legion guys with more money than god and nothing to do with it. If you're looking for a place where it's incredibly common to ask very basic stupid questions, Horde is definitely a good spot. I could say a lot more from my own experiences but it'd detract from the point of this thread. Talk to me in-game if you want to know more specifically.
KarmaFleet
The newbie focused corporation of the Goonswarm, member of the Imperium(formerly known as the CFC). the Imperium is the most powerful group in the game, and has the most resources. In terms of making money, and not getting randomly blown up, this is your best shot. However, this also comes with a large list of other alliances/corporations you're set friendly to(meaning you cannot fight them) and a reputation which keeps the Imperium from a lot of conflicts as people don't want to bother fighting them. I definitely know guys in KF who have a load of fun, but it's maybe a little too stable for my tastes. I know one duder has joined them, and I'll ask him to come share his experiences.
Phoebe Freeport Republic
Formed after a change to the game that saw empires shrink their territories in response, the PFR was originally aimed to take over stations in sovereign space and then open them up to everyone, hence the name. They've kept this part of their schtick, but have morphed into a fullblown player group with their own campaigns, allies and enemies. I don't know a ton about them, but they have some decent folks and are welcoming to new players. Certainly someone to keep on your radar.
Wingspan Delivery Services
A corporation focused on using stealth ships in wormhole space to find and gank unsuspecting folks. The weapon of choice for this are torpedo launchers, and hence they state they are a torpedo delivery service. Started by noted youtube guy wingspantt, they're definitely friendly to new players as a lot of them were not eve players, just fans of his youtube channel. If you're into scanning down signatures and being a sneaky monkey, it's worth checking out.
Dirt n Glitter
Low Security group, worships Kesha for some reason. Seem to have pretty open recruitment, decent option if you're looking to learn small gang tactics. I don't know too much about them but they seem decently active and focused on Lowsec if thats your thing.
I don't know many other groups I would personally send people towards right now, but I am sure there are countless others. If you're a member of any of these groups, or another group you think is good for new players, please let us know and give us some experiences! I reiterate the first thing a new player should do is join the giantbombing channel in game. It's the best place to find help and answers from other duders, and we can't wait to say hello :D
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