Noob Mercs (Player corporation)
Noob Mercs
In March 2008 The Noob Mercs (PHAIL) corporation was founded by the Nubbin King, an alt of DJ Funkybacon of Eve Radio. Having hosted a series of suicide fleet ops with live narration on his radio show the idea was tried and tested and very popular with his audience.
PHAIL killboard (out of use now)
Recruitment
PHAIL based itself on a revolving door policy and not taking part of any politics. Anyone could come and go as they please, even if only to partake in the Thursday Live Ops. Jokingly it was often assumed that spys where everywhere, but there couldn't possible be any intell to pick up on. This was particularly true as the only voice comms used by the corp where the orders relayed on Eve Radio, which anyone could listen to.
Excerpt from the first recruitment thread
For those who follow the show, this is no surprise, but for others you might be thinking... "WTF???"
After 2 1/2 months of suicide "pick-up fleet" ops, we're advancing things to the next level on The FunkyBacon Show.
1 Week from today we will open a new Corporation for alts, noobs, and really anyone else who wants to try their hand at being a merc, but not just any merc, Noob Mercs.
Each week we'll be opening bidding to the general eve public. Highest bid that week gets to pick the target that we will wardec, and throw ourselves at... and any target is valid.
I can't tell you that we'll be going out and beating anyone's arse, but I can tell you we will die trying.
If you're corp is in need of some easy to kill wartargets? Hire us to wardec you. Someone annoying the crap out of you? We can annoy them back for you! Get Concordokkened? We'll even attack Concord if you want... won't be much fun, but if you have the high bid, so be it.
Who can join the Noob Mercs? Anyone. 900k SP to 50m SP, doesn't matter. You can come and go from the corp as you please. There are no politics. All apps will be accepted, and no one will say anytthing to you if you decide to leave... or come back weeks later. Each week, someone hires us, we fight, we die, people win prizes. We're primarily targeting alts and noobs for members though, but hell, if you want to bring in your mothership, I'm not going to stop you.
History
In its founding week the corp's member count exploded and it quickly measured in the hundreds, exceeding prior expectations. The mission statement was simple, but important: Take a newb and desensetize him to PvP and ship loss.
The first contract would also come to be the most memorable one. During the show The Fallout Project (HALO) chose to meet PHAIL's T1 frig blob with a frig blob of their own. The result was a climatic lagfest favouring the Noobs who outnumbered their brave opponents. The video of that engagement can be found here.
The war itself ended with PHAIL killing 145 of HALO, while suffering a staggering 673 losses themselves. Due to the wast difference in weapons of war though, the total loss for PHAIL was 2billion ISK while HALO suffered 2.5billion.
While the active member base outside of Thursdays was low, the entertainment value of the live ops was quality comedy, involving strung out FC's cat-herding the zerg through perils such as disco battleships and Concord intrusions, all the while trying to lose as few members as possible to distractions such as NPC pirats and Veldspar astroids.
Veterans of the Noob Mercs still keep the corp alive to this day, but the time of the Live Ops are a thing of the past.