If you can't beat them, join them says the old adage.
And lo and behold, after a year of fighting them I've now joined the CFC. I'm a member of Occupational Hazard, a corp in the Gentleman's Alliance.
So what prompted the change?
Most of it was simply to play Eve with friends. I left my old alliance with no intention other than to be in high sec for a bit and take stock. Some old friends were dissatisfied with their current corp and moving to Gents and asked me along.
But I also think that nullsec lacks people who are trying to win against the CFC. In order to win a competitor would have to blue lots of people. But the people who aren't in the CFC are still drawn to a romanticised notion of being edgy Spartans fighting outnumbered against a horde of lesser players.
Wanna know something about the 300 Spartans?
They lost.
Not to denigrate Leonidas and his chums who were heros who knowingly sacrificed themselves to both inspire and buy time for the rest of Greece.
In Eve however the absence of any rival coalition and the lack of a prospect of one coming about because people are too proud and too prickly makes donating free time to the cause feel futile.
So I'm with the CFC.
And I'm genuinely with them, I'm not "infiltrating" them. Like a footballer who signs for a new team I'll be giving my best to the side I'm now playing for.
So far I really like it. It's laid back and friendly. Fleet doctrines look interesting, I haven't yet gone on an op but it looks fun. There's no shortage of fleets as one might expect in a coalition of 40 000 people.
So it's a new chapter for me in Eve Online, have to see where it takes me.