[SeanDav]

Eve is a great game but you cannot play effectively solo - you have to join Mega Corp X to be effective and really who needs a boss telling them what to do while playing a game...

[mfringel]

Indeed. I stopped playing EVE when the web of obligation felt too much like an uncompensated and slightly boring job.

[outworlder]

Depends on what you mean by 'effective'.

If you have no greater ambitions than the average MMO gamer, you can do well solo. And if you are smart about it, you can amass quite a lot of wealth.

If you want to own territory or have fleets, then you do have to join a big corp.