How to earn ISK

Template:Work in Progress Please do not link to this page yet. The text below is meant to be a guideline as a base to write a new article. This guide is not yet meant for general consumption.

Welcome to EVE: Now get a job!

So, you've joined the wonderful world of EVE Online - congratulations! It doesn't take long for new players to realize that EVE does not present you with the keys to survival on a silver platter. After giving them a noob ship, a short tutorial, and some helpful starter missions, EVE kicks players into the harsh environment of space to fend for themselves. This is one of the aspects of the EVE sandbox that is both thrilling and frightening, all at the same time.

One of the first lessons that every EVE pilot learns is: InterStellar Kredits (ISK) runs the universe. Without money, you cannot buy ships, equipment, trade goods, and just about everything else one needs to thrive - or survive. In EVE, perhaps more than any other online multiplayer game, TANSTAAFL [1] ("There ain't no such thing as a free lunch").

So, one of the first questions that every new EVE player asks is: how do I make ISK? After some experience and education, that question generally becomes: how do I make the most ISK with the least effort in the shortest time?

Fortunately, there are many ways to earn ISK in EVE. This brief guide intends to describe some of the typical options that many EVE players pursue, and to provide some helpful guidance about which ISK-earning careers might be the best fit for your personality and playing style.

Your first career-affecting choice: Race and bloodline

Unfortunately, few new EVE players consider the implications of their racial and bloodline selections when establishing their first character. Generally, they select the race and bloodline that sounds like the most interesting or fun to play. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, however, as no in-game career choice is blocked to any race or bloodline - it just might take a bit longer to develop the skills and experience required to succeed.

However, certain races and bloodlines come with advantages that provide faster tracks to certain career choices. After playing EVE for a while, many players establish an alternative character (generally known as an "alt" in game parlance), either as one of the three available characters for any account, or as a new account. There are many advantages to having an alt character, or many of them, which we will explore further later.

If you decide to establish an alt, or a whole new character in EVE, here are the starting skills and abilities that each race and bloodline begins with:

Developing a career plan: What will you be when you grow up?

• Miner/Refiner – extracting and selling ore or refined minerals • Hauler – buying low in one location, selling high in another / courier contracts • Trader – playing the market • Corporate Executive – managing a corporation funded by taxes and fees • Manufacturer – building items and charging for the value-add • Researcher/Inventor – building advanced tech items or blueprints for sale • Explorer/Hacker– searching wormhole and hidden space, selling relics and information • Salvager – finding, collecting and selling items from wrecks • Mission Runner – executing assigned missions, solo or in groups • Ratter – hunting and killing NPC pirates • Mercenary – gun for hire • Bounty Hunter – executing contracts on player characters for pay • Pirate – attack and pillage players (mostly haulers) in lo-sec, or ransom them for money • Scammer/Thief – tricking players into giving you ISK or luring them into traps • Mining • NPC Hunting • Bounty Hunting • Agent Missions • Research Agents • Production • Trading • Pirating • Deadspace Complexes Edited by: Sleazy Cabbie on 19/03/2009 08:01:26 Okay. The REAL beginners guide to making isk in Eve.

Step 1) Create a concept in your head, of what you want to do. Anything you can imagine no matter how unlikely or outlandish. Step 2) Hoe missions until you have enough resources to begin doing what you thought of in Step 1. Step 3) Execute the idea from Step 1. Step 4) If the idea isn't profitable enough by itself to SUSTAIN itself, supplement with occaisional mission running. Step 5) Keep developing your idea, evolve, figure out ways to make it self-sustaining. Step 6) Mission Hoe as necessary to invest in your idea. Step 7) If your idea is ultimately NOT self-sustaining, think of a different concept, and go to Step 2.

Some professions you can do in Eve :

1) Miner (boring to some, Zen to others) 2) Salvager (I do not consider ninja salvaging dishonorable unless done in the spirit of wanting to grief, there is nothing wrong with flying around salvaging and looting wrecks of people who are done ratting and have logged off.) 3) Builder (rough business to get into unless you use the "Convenience Store" concept, that is go somewhere fairly populated that doesn't have a good market, and either haul or produce EVERYTHING they might need in small quantities, basically like a trade hub except its mostly your stuff for sale.) 4) Explorer (haven't tried this profession personally, people say it's lucrative and addictive.) 5) Scammer/Pirate/Criminal (I don't do this but whatever floats your boat) 6) Recruiter (I've successfully made a living as a 1-man recruiting agency.) 7) Trader (sit in a hub, buy low, sell high) 8) Hauler (look for courier contracts, also can do courier missions in between jobs, also can buy low in far systems and haul them to sell. NPC trading IE buy livestock where it sells for low, transport it to where it sells for high, both the buyer and seller are NPC's.) 9) Work up standings to a faction and sell your services as a "standings pusher." 10) Scientist (work up R&D agents and farm datacores.) 11) Scientist II (Buy BPO's, either research and sell them, or research and sell copies.) 12) Assassin (You have good concord standings from whoring agents all day, you can suicide gank people for money. Not sure if this is possible anymore as they have buffed concord alot.) 13) Operate a POS, join an alliance that lets you put up your own moon mining POS. Also gas cloud harvesting tho I have no experience with this aspect of the game. 14) Make boosters (drugs, yes you can be a drug dealer.)

I'm sure there's hundreds of profs I have not mentioned, but that's the beauty of Eve, if you can think it, chances are you can do it.

Eve does not require you to be smart, it simply requires you to have an imagination.

There are no NPC's to point you to your next task. You need to be self-driven, figure out what you'd like to do, and do it.