CSM8 Voting Recommendations

The day has come, its time to go to the polls and vote for the 8^th Council of Stellar Management! And as one of your retiring representatives, it is both my responsibility and my pleasure to endorse the candidates I want to replace me and my outgoing colleagues. I'll make this introduction short so I can move on to the actual list, and save the detailed explanations as to why I've selected these individuals for last for those readers who want to know more.

There is no "Faction Warfare" candidate per se this year, and no real dedicated "low sec" candidate either. Many of you have asked me who I'd recommend in place of myself, and my answer to you is to vote according to the following list. It's simple as that. These are the 14 best candidates eligible for CSM8, and a team that I know I can work with even without being a CSM member to make sure our concerns are heard and fought for. I've had the honor of getting to know most of these candidates personally throughout the last year, and I know they are all individuals that will listen and work with players like myself regardless of their background or political affiliation.

TL,DR: Were you happy with my performance the last year? Would you have voted for me again? Voting the following list (in specific order) is an easy and convenient replacement for voting for me with your accounts, had we run with the old election rules and had I chosen to stand for re-election.

Without further ado, my personal ballot:*

Trebor Daehdoow
Malcanis
Ripard Teg
Mike Azariah
Steve Ronuken
Mangala Solaris
Psychotic Monk
Roc Wieler
Ali Aras
corebloodbrothers
James Arget
Korvin
Kesper North
Mynnna

A general explanation of my decision-making process:

Many of you are confused and overwhelmed by the new Wright STV electoral mechanics. That's just fine. There's little value in trying to overly strategize here, the value of the transferable system means that you should put the ones you want in the council the most at the top of the list, and make sure that the list as a whole reflects the 14 you want elected to the council above all other votes.

There's already an alleged leak of the prescribed HBC/CFC bloc ballot, which if remotely close to the real deal simply reaks of irresponsible political leadership trying to prove a ridiculous point and "punish" CCP for handing them a "clear advantage" via the Wright STV system. It's nonsense, its rooted in ignorance, and it'll result in a weaker council if such a stunt were to indeed be employed. The bottom line is that the voting results will be proportional to voter turnout. This is simple mathematical truth, no amount of metagaming can change this. If nullblocs only bring 50% of the total vote to the polls, they'll only obtain 50% of the seats, even if they list an entire slate of 0.0 candidates. This mathematical truth about Wright STV is widely known by CCP already, so there's zero opportunity here to "teach" CCP otherwise. YOU, the voter, get to decide what percentage they take this election, not any arrogant bastard that says otherwise.

This reality affects my ballot as well. Just as I think its reckless and counterproductive to put weaker candidates on a ballot because they happen to align with a coalition's political interests, I think its reckless and counterproductive to exclude a candidate from your ballots because they "already have enough votes" from a bloc. Your vote has 14 different stops on its way to being discarded – make sure everyone single one lands on a member of your personal dream team (or mine if you trust me).


For those that want to know why each of these candidates belong on your ballots:

Trebor Daehdoow – Trebor is the real deal, there isn't much more to say than that. His CSM experience is unmatched, his wisdom has been critical throughout the year during difficult periods of working with CCP, and above all he has demonstrated unbreakable patience in "playing the long game" when it comes to accomplishing goals. Patience that has paid off in spades as one by one he continues to check off boxes – Black Ops improvements, PI improvements, UI improvements, POS improvements, CSM White Paper reform, Voting reform, refocused attention on 0.0, resource rebalancing. Trebor asks tough questions of both CCP and fellow CSM members – which is exactly why he's been a lightning rod for propaganda from parties threatened by the "inconvenient truths" exposed by his work.

Malcanis – Malcanis was of great inspiration during my original campaign, and I was one of many that lamented the fact that he was not running alongside me. He has fiercely defended everyone's right to play the game wherever and however they please, and has long elevated the conversation surrounding high sec to include respect for the fact that veterans live and play there too. He is one of New Eden's greatest philosophers both from a game play perspective as well as politically, and doesn't have any patience for the bullshit and metagaming that people try to inject into the process. I can say with complete confidence that he'll bring respect and acclaim to the CSM as an institution during his term, and provide extremely valuable insight during a time where CCP is positioned to reap the maximum benefit by using him as a stakeholder in their development process.

Ripard Teg – Ripard is without question the most prolific blogger in the EVE community, outspoken, hard-working, and meticulous in presentation. He will no doubt be a strong voice for independent organizations in the changing 0.0 landscape this coming year. Like Trebor, Ripard has a knack for drawing criticism from within certain political circles that perceive him as a wily threat. But even if you agree with some of their cynical rhetoric (like that he's been blogging for two years just to build up for an inevitable second run), you still can't argue that he hasn't earned his seat at the table. Ripard Teg will no doubt be a clear and consistent source of information for those looking to stay plugged into the CSM's activity.

Mike Azariah – Year after year, Mike continues to stand for CSM as one of the most highly deserving and vastly underrated candidates on the ballot. Mike has a warm heart, a keen intellect, and a strong voice yet stubbornly refuses to present himself as anything other than who he really is – a role playing "carebear" who refuses to get caught up in the greater metagame. The result is that Mike usually ends up failing to captivate voters despite being a better man than most who end up on the council. This year the changes to the voting system offer him the best possible chance he could ever have given this too-honest-for-politics campaign strategy, and I encourage each and everyone of you to capitalize on this opportunity and put Mike at the top of your ballots as well. Mike Azariah will no doubt bring wisdom and patience to CSM8 along with insight into a demographic that CCP cannot afford to ignore – those of us with families, full-time jobs, and who want to enjoy EVE on our own time at our own pace.

Steve Ronuken – Steve is one of the younger candidates on my ballot, but one I was particularly impressed with after hearing his interview with Xander Phoena. He's down to earth, thoughtful, and demonstrated a good understanding of the role of the CSM in working with CCP. In addition to valuable experience with industry (which I think will see a heavier focus this coming year than the last), Steve is also a third party developer, a skill set that is greatly needed on the Council. CSM8 needs an API expert to observe and advise CCP during the CREST rollout, and Steve Ronuken is well-qualified to accept the mantle of responsibility from Two step as he retires.

Mangala Solaris – Mangala represents an iconic institution within the EVE community, RvB, which has performed with great success a similar role as the Faction Warfare system in providing a home for all of us impatient players who simply want to log in and blow shit up. Not just me personally, either. In fact - casual, accessible mixed-gang PvP is such a staple form of play in the EVE universe that countless veteran players continue to spend hours flying on RvB or FW alts every week while bored out of their minds elsewhere in the universe. Given the state of the war dec system (its still barely functional) and the fact that FW is once again churning the way I always knew it could given the proper grease, my hope is that both Mangala and Psychotic Monk will continue to engage CCP on the state of wars in EVE and assist in bringing them to the point where they generate real conflict.

Psychotic Monk – Monk is what many would call a griefer. He's the guy that wants to kill you, even though you don't want to be killed, and the more you don't want to be killed, the more enjoyment he gets from killing you. And guess what? This is one of the most common reasons people enjoy EVE in the first place. There are bound to be some intense discussions about safety, consent, and the role of PvP in EVE Online in the coming year, and Monk will be a strong voice for those that like to help create the very danger that makes the game so thrilling and meaningful. James 315 built himself a cult following based around these ideals (mixed with some old-fashioned schoolyard bullying), but ultimately chose his cult over the chance to work with CCP and enact real change. Psychotic Monk on the other hand has eschewed much of the ridiculous rhetoric that would only serve to watered down his message at the negotiating table, a wisdom and maturity that has not only earned him respect amongst the community, but also a place on my personal ballot.

Roc Wieler – Despite all the bravado, the pushups, and the image he sells, there's something remarkably unpretentious about Roc Wieler when you actually sit down and listen to him speak. He is simultaneously capable of respecting and defending the fact that this is a role-playing game and that we're all putting a mask on to dance in the ballroom, but he doesn't place this joy on a pedestal or protect it at the expense of wanting to do something greater for the community. Much like Mike Azariah, his refusal to engage in the dog-and-pony show each election season could easily be called out as a sign of laziness or a form of campaign self-sabotage, but ultimately my responsibility is to elect people who I think have the right combination of talent and respect for the position, not those who learn how to play an arbitrary and often irrelevant political game in the run up to the proper CSM term. Roc has approached me with a desire to personally look out for the Faction Warfare community's needs wherever applicable this coming year, and I look forward to working with him should he be elected.

Ali Aras – While Kelduum has done a great job advising CCP all year with regard to issues affecting new players, his retirement leaves a void here that I think will be filled very effectively by Ali Aras. Ali isn't simply declaring herself an advocate for those new to the game, she's experienced the very frustrations that drive people away from the game in the first place, and yet returned to redouble her commitment not only to the game but also to the player community. This not only suggests that CCP is heading in the right direction where this is concerned, it mandates that CSM8 have a powerful and informed voice for those just starting out in our universe. I will tell you this, everyone – Dust514 is already bringing the first wave of new trial accounts to EVE proper, and its essential we have talented representatives who will make it a matter of personal responsbility to ensure these players have a wonderful time and stick around for years to come.

corebloodbrothers – coreblood is another perennial candidate well-qualified for the job but who often under-performs during election season because of the unfortunate realities of a conventional FPTP voting system and lack of a large bloc in 0.0 to support him. None of that detracts from his resume, nor from his absurdly logical and balanced approach to CSM work in general. Dont just take my word for it, take the time to listen to corebloodbrothers' interview with Xander Phoena and I think you'll seem the same enthusiasm, intuition, and good judgement that I do. Corebloodbrothers eschews the conventional treatment of CCP as the enemy, and clearly understands that the CSM accomplishes the most when it partners with dev teams in solving mutual problems encountered during the design process. For all of you that enjoy small-gang PvP and want knowledgable and effective representatives keeping an eye out for us, corebloodbrothers belongs on your ballot as well.

James Arget – There's no denying the fact that wormhole community has proven itself a powerful voting presence in the last two elections, and with Two step standing alongside Trebor as one of the loudest voices for electoral reform amongst the various members of CSM7, smart money is on this new voting system guaranteeing a WH candidate despite the explosion of volunteers for the job and competitive race. It's precisely because of this close race within the wormhole community that I want to make sure my ballot counts here too if needed. James conducted himself extremely well during his interview with Xander Phoena, answering tough questions with sensible answers and demonstrating skill at articulating a nuanced point of view effectively. CSM8 will be stronger with a shrewd voice for the wormhole community on board, and James Arget is my pick for the job.

Korvin – Simply put, the Russian community in EVE hasn't gotten their money's worth out of the CSM this year (however you want to interpret that, I'm sure there's a hilarious if distasteful RMT joke in there somewhere). Korvin on the other hand is a known quantity as a CSM representative and comes recommended by others who have worked with him previously. I see no benefit from such a large portion of the player base continuing to suffer from voter apathy or cynicism, and I'd love to see Korvin seize the moment and reverse the trend. Last but certainly not least, I see value in Ripard Teg's desire to build more consistency into the CSM's practices and communication, and am happy to help him build a team he can work with to achieve this goal.

Kesper North – Kesper is the CEO of Gentlemen's Agreement, and will likely be voted in as part of the CFC ticket. However, Kesper is also one of the most grounded candidates on the ballot and deserves a seat alongside Mynnna. Like myself, Kesper started his EVE career as a diplomat, a skillset that I believe is crucial to success at what we do. CSM work is nothing but diplomacy. Alhough he's having a blast being remembered as the hero of the revolution, the truth is that The Mittani's success came from him casting aside unnecessary formality, by treating CCP staff as human beings rather than a collective enemy, and from understanding (and supporting) CCP's corporate goals. He was never in a rush to give players the pitchforking they ironically now idolize him for, and despite criticism over "taking the wrong side" he continued to remain practical throughout the crisis – harnessing the voice of the player base through media exposure but never inciting riots in an attempt to bludgeon CCP with a personal agenda. This lesson has deeply influenced my own work on the CSM, and you'll notice my entire ballot here is filled with people who understand this critical nuance as well. Kesper North is certainly no exception.

Mynnna – Mynnna needs little introduction, and many would argue doesn't need my vote either, but he deserves a seat on CSM8 and I'm happy to include him amongst the 14 I most want to see in office. Mynnna's knowledge of the game's economy is unparalleled, his work ethic is well-demonstrated not only through his extensive public writing but also to me, personally, throughout our ongoing conversations during the last term. Mynnna is one of few candidates who's really stepped forward and sought to learn as much as possible from CSM7 about the responsibility he's accepting rather than taking this opportunity for granted. And while The Mittani constantly grappled with reconciling his position as CSM Chair and as the primary propagandist for the CFC, Mynnna derives far more pleasure from tearing down the tinfoil and riling people up with simple truths instead. I have little doubt that Mynnna will use his grounded perspective (uncommon amongst those in his position) to bring success and respect to the CSM along with the rest of the candidates I've listed today.

*Positions 1-4 are all tied for top choice. Each will be number one for one of my four accounts, the rest in the order as listed.

The Pen and the Sword

This post began as a comment on Mabrick’s Mumblings, in response to an excellent pair of articles:

Why the CSM concept is broken, part 1
Why the CSM concept is broken, part 2

Take some time and read them through, my reply is below.  It simply was too long to bury in a comment, and this discussion is important enough it deserved to have a wider audience.


You said it yourself, Mabrick: The CSM isn't "broken" as much as it is perhaps poorly named, and plagued by the fact that players expect something that we try to explain to them they can't have, but continue to ask for anyways. And for the record, I think lobbyist is a perfectly appropriate term for the CSM.

To me personally though, what the CSM really represents is the opportunity to influence.  It is an open conduit between players and developers, one that often goes underutilized because of the other fact you pointed out - most EVE players don't care about the CSM and don't care to take the time to express how they feel about an issue or reach out to a representative out of fear that they won't be responded to.  They will blame the fact that the institution doesn’t serve them, or is flawed, and use this to justify lack of participation in the system, upon which the ineffectiveness of the CSM in that situation becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  

In contrast, we’ve had many players come to us throughout the year and take a gamble by offering up feedback or questions to be answered despite the fact that we don’t represent their play style or in-game organization, and seem completely surprised that we would take the time to help them out regardless.

This has come into sharp focus now that CCP is forming a War Council for Dust514 players.  Lacking an elected vote - some could argue that the council doesn’t represent players at all, let alone the 15% statistic you cite here.  But if CCP picks quality individuals - than the "player representative" title will ALSO become a red herring.  :)  Why might not this matter, you ask?  Because the responsibility of CSM/WC members is to advocate for all players, for the community as a whole, regardless of who elected for them.

In fact, I truly believe that when candidates consistently refer to "their constituency" (even including The Mittani, historically) they disrespect both the institution and the rest of the players these institutions are designed to serve by suggesting that they only have a responsibility to those who elected them.   This is rooted in the idea that the election itself is what grants these candidates legitimacy and effectiveness, and I don't believe that’s the case at all.

We can't force CCP to do anything. We don't have hard power.  We don't "manage" the players, and we don't "manage" CCP's messaging (they have their own PR team, and they don't pay us enough to do their dirty work).  But we do have an audience with CCP, and we provide an audience for player concerns.  Influence is our greatest asset, and it is earned, not granted.  Influence is earned by those that listen well and give sound advice to CCP when and where it’s needed.  Whether a "representative" is elected, or selected by CCP, this reality and the responsibilities that come with sitting for office remain the same.

And as we’ve seen time and time again, regardless of how that influence is obtained it can also be lost in a heartbeat through the representative’s behavior – whether through gross misconduct, violation of our legal responsibilities, or even something as subtle as trying to wage war against CCP during a time they are genuinely trying to be cooperative (many of you would refer to this behavior as “sperging”).  CCP guarantees and provides all council members an audience – its up to us and our individual skill to make the most of that opportunity to influence and affect real change.

Am I trying to diminish the importance of democracy in future iterations of the CSM and newly forming War Council?  Of course not, and I really don’t think “its going to be a nightmare” is any kind of excuse for the formation of an electoral system not to be a priority for both CCP and the members of the interim War Council.  I also don’t think it would have been too much to ask for CCP to allow open application for the War Council position, even if the final selection would have been at their discretion.  The worst that would have happened is some extra paperwork for CCP Dolan, and this was my recommendation to CCP when they first informed the CSM of the creation of the War Council at a stakeholder meeting* last Thursday.  

My point in all of this is that both the CSM and the War Council are uncommon and significant resources for players to take advantage of, and CAN take advantage of, regardless of the methods used to create them.   We’ve all heard “use it or lose it” and I think this describes the situation perfectly.   In the days ahead, there will no doubt be plenty of cynics that roll their eyes and whine about CCP’s decision to appoint the War Council themselves, and argue that this somehow undermines its value or usefulness. 

These cynics will be the ones that lose their voice in the long run – because they won’t take the time to reach out to these representatives and take that chance that many of the rest of you have this past year.  And they’ll be eclipsed quickly by other hardworking players who will take advantage of this new opportunity regardless of how it came to pass.

Thanks, Mabrick!  And to the players in both communities – there’s never been a better time to stand up and serve, whether as a representative yourself or as one of the many people we rely on throughout the year to send us your thoughts, concerns, and questions to be answered.


*I also know many of you are wondering “Aren’t we long overdue for another one of Hans’ Progress Reports? “  And yes, we are.  Expect it in the next day or two, its grown into a monster and keeps getting bigger the longer I get distracted.  On top of the time I’ve spent diving headfirst into the Dust514 community and development process, we’re also in the middle of one of the busiest segments of our term working on the expansion that’ll be announced this Saturday at PAX East.  I’m making sure all of our various public appearances, significant posts, and Stakeholder meetings are archived and compiled nonetheless and will be posted shortly.  Thank you for your patience.

The Elephant in the Conference Room

By now, many of you have tore your way through the recently released summit minutes. Others are taking their time. In either case, the questions are pouring in. And feedback. The full range of emotions from the community that comes with every major CSM information release. There is cheering. There are tears. There is hope. There is pontification. There is analyzation. There is circlejerking. There is hair pulling. All that good stuff.


Many of you have also noticed the absence of something from these minutes, compared to past releases. Details. About future plans. About really, really, really, important stuff that needs to go into those future plans. Stuff like 0.0, mining, industry, and corp management. Stuff like the elephant that never signed an NDA but managed to sneak his way into just about every single meeting at the summit. (He wore a giant blingy monogrammed necklace containing three letters – P.O.S.)

What happened to Modular POSes? What is coming this summer for those of us out in 0.0? What about Industry? But CCP, you PROMISED! All of this and more will be pouring out of the community in the days ahead, just as the CSM warned CCP that you would at our recent summit.  And these questions should be raised.

The issue here, as is often the case, one of messaging and expectation management. Speaking of which – lets rip the bandaid off right now. Are we going to see Modular POSes in summer? I sincerely doubt it. Are we going to see a complete 0.0 sovereignty overhaul on par with the recent Faction Warfare updates? I sincerely doubt it. The truth of the matter is, CCP has developed a new rubric for building expansions, similar to the design strategy we proposed in our talks with CCP Ripley, which will govern each expansion effort starting this summer and leading into the next decade’s worth of work on EVE Online. If we want to see modular POSes, or 0.0 improvements, these will have to be built into the new theme system just like any other feature. CCP is not refusing to work on these features, only warning the CSM and the player base that no one particular feature will have an entire expansion dedicated to it. So no, this summer will not be the summer of modular POSes. It will not be the summer of 0.0. It may be the summer of the beginning of both, however, depending on how well elements of both can be integrated into this new design strategy.

Take a look at Crimewatch - it took CCP the entirety of Inferno just to gut the code driving Crimewatch, let alone produce surface level features.  Frankly, there is a ton of work that can be done on POS code and the POS interface, even before we begin exploring a modular structure for their physical form.  There are a hundred "little things" that could be layered into an expansion to vastly improve POS life without even getting to the building-block aspect, and that can be addressed through code replacement in anticipation of a modular switchover.  The time for this process to start is now, not later, as CCP has fully admitted that this is a colossal undertaking.  The same all certainly applies to 0.0 as well.  We may not see modular POS's in summer, but we can certainly see the genesis of such.

That is the objective of the CSM in the coming months, an objective that will hopefully be supported by you, the players. Now’s the time to stand up and make some noise. Not the rage-filled, monument shooting type of noise (there is zero indication this is necessary), but a strong clear signal about the type of features you want to see is exactly what CCP not only needs to see, its what they’ve asked for. So don’t disappoint, folks! Two step is already well ahead of this of course, as the resident point man on all things POS-related within the current CSM, and he’s not only blogged about this issue but started what will no doubt turn into an extremely active thread in the days to come.

That’s not to say there haven’t been communication mistakes already. We can go back as far as FanFest, where CCP Soundwave infamously mentioned that 2013 would finally be the year CCP resurrects the dead horse and gets down to working on modular POSes. In the game of telephone that all players play whenever CCP makes an announcement, this quickly transformed into “But you PROMISED!” regardless of a tacit commitment on the part of CCP’s upper management. This is most certainly what CCP Greyscale was reacting to in the 0.0 section of the summit minutes, and what CCP Unifex is referring to when he discusses CCP’s business obligations.

Regardless of the players tendency to morph “this is what we’d like to do” or “This is what we’re planning right now” into “We promise to deliver this feature in this timeframe” and however much it may frustrate CCP’s upper management, this is no excuse for ignoring the fact that features like POS’s and 0.0 are simply extremely high up on player wish lists, and shouldn’t be easily discarded or skipped over simply because they are daunting and won’t fit into a single release. POS’s in particular come up year after year, and much like Charlie Brown running up to kick Lucy’s football, CCP has a tendency to pull out at the last second, no matter how many times we come back and attempt to connect once again.   

This is exactly why CSM7 has made a point all year of emphasizing the need to follow through with POS work in 2013. If we have anything to say about this, it’ll be the last time Charlie has to run up to kick the ball.  In our opinion, POS’s, along with 0.0 and Mining/Industry issues, form the three prongs that have the most to offer to the players in terms of both new features and much needed fixes. POS’s compliment industry, of course, and they also can play heavily into 0.0 gameplay and can solve many of the economic issues plaguing nullsec. Read Weaselior’s excellent article from TheMittani.com if you want a sense of where I’m going with this. “Destroying the Shipyards” would be an excellent theme to tackle.  POSes are not a veteran-only feature, regardless of how CCP may see them.  Kelduum Revaan has spoken often to CCP about how common it is for new players to ask "How do I get my own starbase?" and than are crushed when they find out what is entailed.  

Lastly, I wanted to give everyone a quick rundown of where the CSM sits with these talks with CCP. As of yesterday, the release day of the Winter Summit Minutes, the CSM has received a set of presentations from each of the development teams in the form of a video recording. The details of these presentations will remain under NDA until further notice, but it was an opportunity for every team to pitch both feature sets and themes to CCP Seagull and the CSM, to kickstart the internal discussion. We are reviewing these presentations with a fine-tooth comb, evaluating the merits of each feature and theme, and comparing it to the feedback we’re receiving from each of you regarding what you’d like to see in summer of 2013.

CCP is making good on their commitment to involve the CSM in these high-level, pre-planning discussions, and this means that your input is in a better place than ever to make a difference. Stop by the POS thread. Speak out about the need to improve 0.0. Speak out about the need for more tools for the enablers that construct all the cool toys we’ve been blowing up in 2012’s PvP-oriented expansions. It is by no means too late to make a difference, and to influence CCP, and as I said before, they asked for it. I’ve been warning everyone our busiest months are still ahead, and now you all can see why. So no moping, no raging, no hair-pulling, let’s put our noses to the grindstone and work together as a community to get what we need addressed in the coming year. We’ve finally arrived at that place every past CSM has longed to be, and that the players have longer for us to be – perched in the right place, at the right time, to help steer the course of an expansion effort in a direct, tangible way. Let’s make the most of it.

CSM Winter Summit 2012: Minutes Update

Recently Xander from Crossing Zebras has been inquiring anxiously on Twitter about the status of the CSM summit minutes. I replied at length, but wanted to share this with a wider audience as well. One of the questions regarding the process was actually asked by Marc Scaurus, who wanted to know what the procedure was for producing the minutes.

Up until now, there hasn't ever really been a standard procedure. CSM6 outsourced the minutes to CCP, to painful result as they had to question almost everything CCP wrote about the summit sessions. Another criticism of CSM6's minutes was that there was no transparency in who said what within the sessions, the CSM was described as a single-minded entity in [most] of its public communications. CSM7 has taken major steps to correct this, not only writing our own minutes but attributing individual statements to individual members, as many in the community have requested. The first pass at this was time consuming, involved a lot of trial-and-error before the "right" balance of detail was achieved, and the minutes were released in what would normally be an unacceptable time frame.

In contrast, the minutes from the Winter summit session have been written in record time, completed just over two short weeks since the summit ended. Without the trial-and-error process used to come up with the new transparent form of summit minutes, it was much easier to expedite their creation. We also hope this methodology can be used for all future summit sessions. So to answer Marc Scaurus's question, here's the procedure we are settling into:

1.) We submit sessions to CCP Xhagen.
2.) Xhagen disseminates them to the CCP members participating.
3.) They make edits / approve them.
4.) They go back to Xhagen.
5.) While this happens, they also go to CCP Manifest for PR / NDA approval.
6.) Once We have approval from PR and from the participants, they are returned to the CSM.
7.) They than get reviewed one more time by the CSM, and than are labeled "locked" in our mutually shared GoogleDoc.

Currently, we have "locked" all but 5 sessions - two of which we have not received back from CCP (the Dust514 sessions) The other three are the FW session, and the two 0.0 related sessions. We are reviewing these three right now before locking. Of the three, the second 0.0 session appears to have some odd redactions that involved CSM member's opinions, not CCP's words. We will be challenging these redactions, which of course means another slight delay.

Delays in the 0.0 and Dust sessions aside, the goal is to get the rest of the minutes published this week as soon as a supporting dev blog from CCP Unifex is released.

...and that's all the CSM7 minutes news that's fit to print!

Clear Skies

Well, its unstoppable. We're now 3/4 of the way through our CSM term, and while there's arguably more work to do in the final quarter than in any of the other three, there really is no way to prevent people from rampantly speculating about the coming election. So before we get swept up in minutes madness, and planning the summer expansion, I just thought I'd take a moment to make it known that I will not be running for re-election in CSM8. I'd rather get this over with now, for a few reasons. It means I get to kick back and relax as the shitstorm heats up, and step out of the spotlight, and it also means that if another candidate from Low sec / Factional Wafare wants to step up and lead, they have as much advanced notice as possible.

Don't get me wrong – these last 8 months have incredibly fulfilling, if not always what I would call "fun". I knew in advance I wouldn't be able to continue my classes at school, I knew it would cut into my time to actually play the game, and I knew in advance it mean exposing myself to the masses in terms of legitimate (and deserved) criticism, not to mention the (often undeserved) paranoia, tinfoil, and slander. I've made enemies, but much more importantly, I've made friends as well. Getting to know each of you has certainly been one of the highlights of the year.

But what many of you don't know about me is that this journey also started about 6 months after getting married, to my partner of 7 years. To put this into perspective – I've essentially spent the first year of my married life intensely involved with space politics, and not entirely on my family. THAT, my friends, is true love on the part of my wife, her patience and support of me taking this opportunity has allowed me to enjoy this incredible experience. However, she deserves more, and I knew not long after the election was over (which was exhausting as a non-bloc candidate) that I would be a one-term representative. When someone gives you a gift like this, you don't take advantage of them.

For many of you closest to me, this is not news. You've protested, questioned, doubted, but I warned you this day would come. I'd love to put this off even longer, its not easy for me, but I've decided it's just better to clear the air now and shed politics as much as possible as we enter this busy period of minutes review and expansion planning.

I am only prepared at this time to make two unequivocable endorsements – Mynnna, the GSF's lead Economic advisor, and Malcanis, whose writings were a huge inspiration and source of wisdom during my own campaign and CSM term. I've written back and forth both to Malcanis throughout the year, and Mynnna I have spoken with almost daily for months now, he is incredibly talented, level-headed, and diplomatic. His economic expertise is unparalleled, and will no doubt bring good advice to CCP in the coming year Both of these candidates wield their words like a scalpel, they understand that the CSM is about more than having good ideas – its about effective communication. No matter how smart you are, if CCP doesnt respect you and want to listen to you, you're not going to have any influence. Both of these men are more than prepared for this and both deserve your votes.

Good luck to the other candidates this season, and I look forward to continuing my work as part of CSM7 as we finish off the year. This is not the end, just an announcement of the end. You'll soon see not only how important it is that we keep focused and aggressive in the final months of our term, those of us that won't be running again. Some may divert energy into elections, but I will not be, nor will I be slowing down.

We have a white paper to rewrite. We just launched Dust 514 onto Tranquility and there's a massive community there that needs to be served, whether they have a voted-in representation or not. We need to get 0.0, POSes, and Mining/Industry back on the agenda for 2013, so that CSM8 can do for these areas of the game what I did for FW. CCP is making good use of the CSM these days, more than they ever have historically, so there's never been a better time to step up and put the work in. I will not be endorsing any CSM8 candidates that are not already demonstrating in advance they have been a workhorse on behlalf of the community. It is time for the age of half-dead councils to come to an end.

Many thanks to all of you in the EVE community for your support, your advice, and your appreciation. I could not have done this alone.

o7

Fly dangerous,

-Hans

CSM7 Progress Report: November 19, 2012

Hello again, Pod People!

It's time for another no-nonsense archive post, for the purposes of summarizing and centralizing the recent activities of your CSM7 representatives. Links to outside resources will be provided where possible, though some of this content takes place on internal CSM / CCP forums and Skype channels and cannot be directly referenced.

This is by no means the sum total of everything the CSM has been up to, merely the items not covered by NDA that individual CSM reps have self-reported. If I missed a key conversation, posting, or media appearance, I'll update this reference as needed.

The CSM Winter Summit will be held December 12-14 at CCP HQ in Reykjavik, a schedule of the topics to be discussed should be posted shortly.

Public Appearances:

Voices from the Void Episode #58 - with Elise Randolph

Declarations of War Episode 35 - with Alekseyev Karrde and Seleene

Declarations of War Episode 36 - with Alekseyev Karrde

Declarations of War Episode 37 - with Alekseyev Karrde

Declarations of War Episode 38 - with Alekseyev Karrde


Ongoing Forum Conversations:

EVE Online Development Strategy (CSM Public)

CSM Chairman Hotline - AMA (Ask Me Anything)

For all the FW peeps: "Dockblocking" - working as intended?

For all the FW peeps: "Diagonal plexing" - working as intended?

[Proposal] - "Place Bounty" option on forum posts

Reddit community discussion on the Development Strategy Document


Stakeholder Pilot Project:

Interactions with CCP management as part of the Stakeholder project have mostly consisted of feedback regarding the details of the Bounty Hunting system coming in Retribution, as well as CSM7 inquiry into CCP's plans for 2013. 

In particular, CSM7 has been almost unanimously concerned with the fact that kill rights can be so easily shed using an alt purchaser and cheap ships, and urged CCP to prioritize adding selective options not only to who can claim kill rights, but also to who can collect on bounties as well.  These options are critical not only to delivering a healthy bounty system with a marked advantage over the uselessness of the current mechanics, but also in helping to create a true marketplace for paid PvP services.

Additionally, discussion during a recent meeting with CCP Ripley, the new Sr. Producer of Expansion Content, led to the CSM offering a set of recommendations for building compelling expansion material that not only meets CCP's marketing needs but also delivers on fixing core problems.  CCP Ripley was appreciative of the feedback, and shared the document with other management staff as well as with the individual developer teams.  This was a great opportunity to share high-level advice about the coming year just in time before CCP begun the process of developing their own 2013 plans (which are currently underway).  CCP will be monitoring the stickied discussion thread as we go into the summit.

Internal Work With CCP:

-Trebor Daehdoow discussed issues that affect color blind players with CCP via Skype, with regards to the upcoming UI changes.

-Elise Randolph posted internally to start a discussion focused on gathering ideas for useful FC tools such as improvements to the overview, ways to facilitate intelligence sharing, and overlays for better tactical management.  Elise emphasized that FC's are essentially content creators and that making their job easier means more content for players to enjoy every single day.

-Two step, Alekseyev Karrde, and Trebor all provided feedback on the new targeting brackets heavily encouraging CCP to better differentiate between the HP bars and to accommodate user-picked information i.e. velocity, transversal, etc.

-Alekseyev pushing for all ECM to be changed to a lock breaking mechanic ie Burst ECM and Lockbreaker Bombs, Hans favors jam time being modulated by sensor strength and ECM drones that simply pop locks, as elaborated upon the blog post linked below.

-While most of the CSM members have chimed with their own walls-of-text in CCP Fozzie's various ship balancing threads, Elise Randolph continues to lead in this effort with immediate and incredibly detailed feedback on every single ship and module change.  Disclosing what each CSM member liked or hated about each of the ship changes is far beyond the scope of this summary, you'll have to contact us individually for further comment.

-Alekseyev has continued to lead the charge internally on wardec issues, asking for and obtaining a 1 vs 1 meeting with CCP Soniclover, to review the current situation and backlog.   Aleks emphasized the need to have a dev blog outlining the upcoming changes to the wardec system.

-Alekseyev called for the bounty minimums on organizations to be drastically reduced.

-Hans Jagerblitzen has been closely monitoring Faction Warfare developments going into Retribution, giving feedback on the work-in-progress NPC overhaul.  As there will now only be single spawns instead of waves of NPC's inside of each plex, attention will need to be paid to the tag drops (in this case, the lack thereof) and encouraged a multiple tag-per-spawn adjustment as well as tuning the drop rate of the plexes to be useful for FW pilots collecting tags for use in the creation of Faction modules.  While praising CCP's decision to bump up the implementation of the geography changes (due to it being a much faster issue to address), Hans continues to emphasize the importance of the timer rollback for unoccupied plexes and the system-wide timer visibility as measures directly affecting the PvP risk level.

-Hans reiterated the need for PvP LP bonuses to be paid at the maximum level possible regardless of Warzone Control, and Alekseyev also seconded the motion.  Elise responded that he wasn't convinced there needed to be an explicit bonus for the losing faction, noting that since the farm-and-push mechanic has disappeared, Amarr have been able to hold Tier 2 consistently and thus the old income discrepancy had narrowed considerably.  Elise also pointed out that the losing side does enjoy increased target availability as bonus for PvPers.

-Hans has been encouraging CCP Fozzie and Team Game of Drones to announce the final list of Faction Warfare features to be released on Dec. 4 as soon as they know which items will meet the deadline.

-Two step and Dovinian both have been leading the feedback effort regarding the removal of corporate hang divisions, Two step posting in surprise at the sudden announcement of Greyscale's changes, and emphasizing the need to have privacy in order to make hauling viable.  Dovinian seconded this, explaining that the "double wrapping" used via courier contract is what makes these services possible and that removing the ability to force gankers to gamble hurts logistical chains, and small-scale operations in particular. He also urged CCP to pay close attention to good posts expressing player frustration with the proposed changes.

-Alekseyev Karrde also provided feedback on the Fleet Hangar changes, calling them positive but wishing for more organizational tools within each hangar.


Recent Blog Posts:

The Permaproblem, by Hans Jagerblitzen


Recent Forum Activity:

-Darius III on Crimewatch changes

-Darius III in support of Poetic Stanziel's blog post asserting that CCP has an agenda to make highsec completely safe.

-Issler Dainze sharing her thoughts on upcoming Retribution features

-Issler Dainze reflecting on the Mining Barge changes in a thread about progress on miner issues

-Two step sketching out his suggestion for layered damage indicators rather than the original "pie slice" design from CCP.

-Trebor elaborating on his advocacy for universal UI design

-Trebor referencing a developer tool to assist with design for colorblind players

-Elise Randolph on fitting large shield transporters on the new Scythe

-Hans responding to a call for an update on the state of the Decshield situation

-Alekseyev Karrde elaborating on his confrontation with CCP Soniclover

-Alekseyev touching on Farms and Fields and where it currently stands.

-Kelduum Revaan responding to the idea of a CCP training corporation

-Hans Jagerblitzen on Mineral Compression

-Hans Jagerblitzen on the need for an economic balancing initiative

The Permaproblem

Last week, CCP Fozzie made a post on the Features and Ideas section of the Eve Online forums introducing a series of E-war changes being proposed for Retribution.  Many of you have been actively chiming in on these changes in the comments, which is awesome.   I'm happy that the developers are taking the time now rather than later to tweak these modules, because of the fact that so many of the rebalanced ships depend on them for their primary role.  Damps need love, TD needs tweaking, TP's are still useless for a lot of things, but the real discussion here for me centers around what are arguably the most controversial module in the game - ECM.  I've been thinking a lot about this lately, and I wanted to take some time and share my concerns about these changes.

As I've spoken to Fozzie about, I really don't like flat out nerfing ECM even as a temporary holdover.  I think its masking the underlying problem - ECM isn't a particularly interesting mechanic in a lot of ways.  First of all - unlike other E-war modules, ECM is binary - it either works or it doesn't.  And when it does function - it's effects last for a fixed period of time (20 seconds), a variable which does not change whether the effect is applied by an ECM drone or an ECM module.

I presume as most would that when ECM was originally designed by the developers, the random success rate of its application was a response to the fact that its effect was fixed, and there needed to be some way of modulating it through skills, rigs, and other upgrades.  The result is that using ECM drones or an ECM module is like playing a slot machine - and the more you upgrades you have, the better chance you have of hitting the jackpot.   This is something that is almost completely unique in EVE's mechanics - the only other example I can think off of the top of my head is the success rate of the "mini-professions" codebreaking, analyzing, and salvaging.  Everything else you can do is a direct result of piloting skill, the only random element is what your enemy brings to the table.

Compounding the fact that ECM relies on waiting for a dice roll is the frustration for the victim once a jam is successful - he is now out of the fight for 20 seconds - quite a length of time in a gang situation.  And 1 vs 1?  In solo PvP, one lucky successful jam can allow a much weaker ship to toast his attacker before he can fight back - lending to its popularity on even non-bonused ships.  No other module is as powerful at tipping the scales in a pilot's favor.  Team Game of Drones is approaching this by introducing new skills to increase your sensor strength and resistance to jamming - but this doesn't affect the fact that one lucky diceroll is as powerful as the effect doled out by griffins and blackbirds.  

Griffins, Kitsunes, Blackbirds, and Caldari recon ships are bonused heavily enough for success rate and have enough midslots that they can chain these lockdowns one after another, essentially increasing the chance of getting that lucky dice roll not by how you throw the die, but by simply grabbing larger handfuls of dice.  This doesn't even need Caldari ships, either - any gang can load up on ECM drones and form a cloud around an opponent and keep them "permajammed".

From the slot machine mechanic, to the fact that players are mostly frustrated by jam *duration* not just how often you get jammed, I think there are far more elegant solutions to this than simply making you get jammed less often.  Increasing sensor strength through has other ramifications too - like hiding your ships from probes.   It would be easier for Fozzie to just reduce the success rate of the modules than implement skills to do the same thing (and he'd skip on the side effects).

Personally, I'd much rather a plan be put in place to have jam length reduced by sensor strength, and have ECM drone functionality match that of ECM Burst modules - breaking locks, but not having a fixed-duration jam.  This creates a synergy between scan resolution dampening (which slows lock times) and the ability to pop locks, to create the "permajam" effect players only have to roll the dice for right now.  Drone users, additionally,  could make use of shorter jam periods to relock, switch targets before getting jammed again. It would also justify the new skill addition by having sensor strength be more valuable an attribute than simply reducing the opponent's chances of a jam. 

The real benefit of this is that in large scale fleet situations, more ECM ships and larger clouds of ECM drones could still permajam a key enemy vessel, but that in smaller situations, being jammed wouldn't take you out of the fight for the often-deadly 20 second window.   If you could start relocking immediately, or even in 5 or 10 seconds, your survivability rate goes up substantially.    This takes care of the scaling issue in a tangible way.  This doesn't remove the current usefulness of ECM as "chaff" dumped out to interfere with kiting enemies that are keeping you from an escape, but it does mean that one really unlucky dice roll won't negate the years of time you've spent learning to duel in frigates.

My main concern here is this - there doesn't appear to be any such plan for the future of ECM, other than this current fix.   I suspect that a lot of this has to do with the fact that ECM already is out of place in EVE Online as a random effect, and the devs would prefer to replace it entirely with something thats works more similarly to other forms of E-war.  The difficulty of coming up with a compelling replacement probably led to this weaker short-term solution, out of reluctance to further commit to the random model.  The result is what we've seen posted so far: essentially a shot of morphine to ECM victims, but not the true fix that ECM really needs.

My advice to the development team is this: chance-based doesn't have to be a dirty word in game design. Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good, in this case.  Take poker, for instance.  Poker is a game with a random element - you have zero control over the cards you are dealt.  But the individuals who end up in the tournaments every year are not by any means random.  If we give players the ability to have more control over the situation despite the "unlucky draws"  built in to ECM, we can create a more skill-based mechanic without needing to face the scary prospect of throwing it all out and starting over.   

Modulating jam length based on sensor strength and killing the 20-second lockdown on drones are both popular player proposals. They address many of the frustrations that players have with both ECM as a game mechanic, as the frustrations many of you have right now with the prospect of new "mandatory" skills to inject and invest time in.

If you've got other amazing ideas, I'm all ears (just post them in the forum thread too).   But I think we all need to send the message to CCP that band-aids aren't the way to go with something that is as critical as damage and logistics in fleet compositions....let's take the time to make this truly more interesting and fun.