I encourage anyone who wants to truly experience EVE to run solo for at least six months. Unlike other popular MMOs, where the difficulty of the game is tuned down in order to satisfy the demands of solo players, EVE challenges the solo player to be smarter and more resourceful in order to succeed. In EVE, being a lone wolf is a choice in how you experience EVE and not as a result of being anti-social. Being a lone wolf means no attachments or loyalties to any faction or political bloc, and thus offers the most freedom in your choice of activities. I suggest everyone to be a lone wolf at some point so that you can discover yourself what activities you enjoy doing.
There are however, clear advantages of joining a corporation. Everything in EVE is designed with a level of complexity to encourage group play. As we discussed in Chapter 2, When I Grow up I Want to be a (Wealthy) Miner, there are multiple activities involved in the mining career, and while you can...