That might just work Mynxee, as long as the funds and items transfers go both ways as needed, and you don't have one character living off the "hard work" of the other :)

We can agree it doesn't ruin the game. I don't know that I'd go so far as saying they enhance it :)

I'm going to be the naysayer again, but it doesn't make much sense. A pod pilot is immortal. They can rule the skies and master all fields in time. Why would someone like that work for a wage? I guess it's possible to say that they're contractually obliged because the main financed them through pilot school or something, but that's awfully contrived given the number of alts out there :)

Probably not going to happen, given that I don't think they do ruin the game :)

Sorry about the multiple replies. I tried the reply via email thing, and then couldn't see any sign of the post. If I post directly here I can see it's in the moderation queue, but didn't see even that much after the email post. Hence I posted here again :)

As for the "free" comment, well, from the perspective of the main character, it is free, and that is the perspective you have to use to make the measure of "...whether or not the game play would have a different outcome as a result of metagaming", The main getting free stuff does give a different outcome, because he can sustain more of whatever he is doing because of the free source of income.

Of course it's not free for the alt, but that doesn't mean that gameplay hasn't changed.

Me personally, I don't run alts, as they diminish my immersion. I'm not a roleplayer (well not online anyway), but I like the fact that the EVE world is the most internally consistent MMORPG on the market. Most things in the game can do reasonably well when held up to the metric "Would things really work like this if this situation were real", and trading and industrial alts specifically diminish that aspect for me.

In my ideal world, people wouldn't run alts at all, but that being said, they don't come close to ruining the game for me...

I'll concede your point if we're talking about a trading alt that is working directly for an alliance/corp. That would be much the same as an industrial main doing the same. Sacrifice personal profit to increase the effectiveness of the group.

But that's not the same as funding another individual. Say for example a corp provides free ships to its members, but they have to buy their own modules. Someone with an industrial alt will also get a free/cheap source of modules (not free for the alt, but effectively free for the main), giving them a leg up over someone without an alt. And there is no reasonable expectation that someone without an alt would be able to talk an industrial character in to giving them free modules on a regular ongoing basis. There is again a difference in gameplay here. It's not a gamebreaking difference, because someone could simply skill up their main in time anyway (though at the cost of skills in other areas), but it's a difference none the less

And before you argue that you could talk a builder in to giving you free tech I modules or the like, remember it's to make an examaple. Replace modules with ships/minerals/research slots or whatever, and my point would still stand :)

Unfortunately, your conclusion that they do not ruin the game is based on a premise that has not considered all of the options. Sure, your points stand regarding hauler alts and scout alts. It's not so relevant when you consider industrial and trading alts. Would an industrial character ran by a person as their main character hand over the bulk of their profits to fund the personal interests of another character, without any other tangible gain? It seems unlikely to me, and that means that people running trading alts or industrial alts /are/ altering the game play experience as a result of metagaming.____I wouldn't go so far as to say that ruins the game, but it certainly does undermine your premise :)