#csm9

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EVE Online - CSM9 Voting Begins

EVE Online – CSM9 Voting Begins

The time has come to elect a new Council of Stellar Management in EVE Online.  CCP even has a fresh new logo for ninth CSM.

Voting runs from now through April 22.

CCP has a nice page up describing the voting process and the changes from last year, along with a statement about how vitally important the CSM is to them.  And maybe it is.  But as The Mittani proved back during Incarna, and Jester…

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This post will be hard, because the field is wide and the candidates are strong.

I am, of course, running myself, and I hope that you’ll be voting for me. One of the most active members of CSM 8, I plan to bring the same dedication to bear on CSM 9. I’m focused on improving the game for new players, preserving and expanding gameplay options for small independent groups in all areas of space, and continuing communication with the community.

My corpmate, Psianh Auvyander, is running on a platform of small gang PvP and support for small independent groups, as well as communication and transparency for the CSM. A strong candidate, he’ll represent the merc community and independent PvPers well. While we overlap somewhat, we have slightly different focuses-- I’m more focused on new players and have a great deal of “living in nullsec” experience, while Psianh has more PvP focus.

Following these two, my ballot will be mostly tactical (I want to maximize vote power), and may not precisely track my endorsements for those reasons. I’ll start, then, with the endorsements. These are the candidates that I think absolutely need to make it onto CSM 9:

Sugar Kyle. From reading her posts and listening to her interviews, Sugar would make an excellent CSM. As has been said all throughout this campaign season, CSM 9 needs a lowsec representative. It’s a valuable area of the game and CSM 8 was worse off for not having one. Sugar is the best person to fill this niche. She has a wide breadth of lowsec experience, spanning all of PvP, PvE, and industrial/marketeering. She’s got the right attitude to work well with the rest of the CSM and her feedback has already changed the game.

Jayne Fillon. Jayne is one of my colleagues and friends. He’s a good theorycrafter, a numbers nerd who’ll dive head-first into the spreadsheets. He’s an FC and community leader with the skills needed to represent a wide range of players, and he has a non-resident’s angle on PvP and nullsec that needs to be covered.

Mynnna. Mynnna has been one of the best members of CSM 8. He’s also a numbers guy, and he’s used those skills to offer insightful, constructive, and valuable feedback on nearly every proposal CCP has brought us. Several areas of the game have benefitted directly from his work, and he has maintained consistent activity and a remarkably apolitical perspective.

Xander Phoena. I’m a process person. This means I tend to prefer quietly but firmly telling CCP that they’re fucking up over big loud public furors, especially when I’ve seen the latter make life harder for CSM and CCP. That said, the last year has convinced me of the value of having a variety of personalities, and Xander has the right balance of passion and political know-how to be an incredibly valuable asset to CSM 9, and he’s already promised to bring his considerable platform to bear to help CSM 9 communicate.

Psychotic Monk. Highsec griefers and gankers are another chronically underrepresented group, with an interesting love-hate relationship with CCP and the game. Monk can represent them well, and not only that, he’s knowledgeable about highsec and the structural improvements it could use. I’ve talked with Monk a lot, both during the CSM campaigns and throughout the year, and he’s got good ideas and could improve the game.

Mike Azariah. Mike has been a fantastic member of CSM 8 and has provided both valuable perspective and valuable communication. He’s active on forums, even the threadnaughts where other CSMs fear to tread. He provides a unique insight into some balance and design discussions, and should return to do the same on CSM 9.

And then there are the candidates that are merely very very good-- like I say, it’s a strong field.

Mangala Solaris, representing RvB, is another knowledgeable highsec and PvP candidate. He’s been a good member of CSM 8, and he’s been a fellow keeper of newbie interests. Definitely should come back on CSM 9.

Progodlegend is another CSM alumn. He did a fantastic job at the winter summit, and will provide the high-level FC experience the CSM absolutely needs when evaluating ship balance and territory changes.

Steve Ronuken has 3rd party dev and industrialist experience that the CSM could use. He’s also a strong member of the community who’s been active and involved over the last year. He’d do a good job, and he’s worth a vote.

Proclus Diadochu, Corbexx, and James Arget. These are the best wormhole candidates for CSM 9. All three are very knowledgeable about w-space, and they each have different strengths. Proc has some of the best k-space experience, as the founder of fweddit. James is a CSM 8 member and has the most CSM experience, and did valuable work while there. Corbexx is a member of No Holes Barred and is deeply wormhole specialized.

I would happily see any of them on the CSM, and will be voting for all three.

Finally, although by no means last, Matias Otero, founder of Brave Newbies. Matias is the most strongly newbie-focused candidate of the set, and his campaign focused on some of the same optimism and enthusiasm that has defined Brave Newbies since their founding.

My former running-mate corebloodbrothers is also running again, on a similar platform as last year.

I said that ballots will be challenging. That said, here’s what I’ve voted (CLICK THIS LINK TO VIEW IN VOTE PAGE), and here’s what I’d recommend to anyone who wants to send as much power to good independent candidates as possible. Feel free to adjust orders or swap in mynnna or PGL or your favorite candidate I didn’t mention; if you’re in Providence, you should add corebloodbrothers in place of your least favorite candidate for additional NRDS support. If you’re in w-space, move the corbexx-james-proc group up to 2-4. I’ll have a post with more complex slates later.

Ali Aras Psianh Auvyander Sugar Kyle Psychotic Monk Jayne Fillon Mike Azariah Xander Phoena Steve Ronuken James Arget (wormhole three, reorder as needed) Corbexx Proclus Diadochu Matias Otero Mangala Solaris Mynnna or Progodlegend

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CSM 9 and other updates

I'm running for CSM 9, to what I'm sure is everyone's great shock.

I've got a Jita Park thread up, and so far it's quietly active. Responses have been a bit slow, partly because my RL is exceptionally busy these past two weeks; that's clearing up now.

In the course of the thread, we've discussed platform (my CSM 8 record + a brief statement of philosophy I intend to expand on later), how the CSM actually works, and my thoughts on CCP HR. 

Providence politics reared their head, but calmed down before I had a chance to get back and post about miscellaneous issues and what I hope to improve on, followed by NRDS and player communication with bonus tutorial question.

One of the more interesting answers I gave was regarding bias and my drone assist posts. In there, I said,

Man, it’s interesting you bring up that post, because the thing that you (and a lot of people) seem to have missed in there is that I’m equally if not more annoyed at Goons for that stupid meme. Goons build and maintain the idea that their posting drives CCP changes, making them the unsung heroes of EVE Online. When the sentry drone change went in, they weren’t saying “our posting does nothing”, they were saying “SEE WE DID IT, WE SHOWED THEM.” It’s self-aggrandizing, it gives them some amount of political power, and it’s complete and utter bullshit.

Today, well, whaddya know, the latest GSF CEO update comes out and makes my point for me. Oh, propaganda.