With the game's most valuable resources located in the dangerous reaches of alliance space, EVE hardly seems an encouraging place to launch a business. But in October, two enterprising pod pilots did just that, transplanting a real-life business structure into the virtual world in an unprecedented fashion. The remarkable thing is, no game mechanic allowed them to accomplish it. Instead, it was made possible by one of the rarest resources of virtual worlds: trust.

Count TaSessine and Serenity Steele are the heads of an alliance known as the Interstellar Starbase Syndicate. Twelve hundred pilots strong, ISS is unusual among the EVE alliances located in lawless space in that it's a "carebear" organization, for the most part - i.e., its pilots are more interested in mining, hauling ore, and manufacturing ships and ship components than they are in popping other players' pods and claiming sovereignty over star systems (though ISS does have a combat wing). Still, ISS located its business in the heart of one of EVE's most dangerous regions. So far, it's been a success.
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