Dark Shines for CSM 18

Council Of Stellar Management CSM Campaigns
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My EVE Online story.

Hi, I’m Dark Shines, current Alliance Leader, and Main FC of The Initiative.

My journey in New Eden began in 2004, at the age of 15. I played on and off as school would allow until 2007 when I really sank my teeth into Eve, joining up with several friends from another game.

We played in High Sec, running our own Corporation, grinding missions and losing Raven Navy Issues to NPCs.

Next I relocated to Low Sec in search of more lethal content. I moved to Hophib and joined Corp 1 Allstars, where I began learning the intricacies of small gang warfare and roaming under the watchful eye of C4w3. It was here my love of Fleet PvP was born.

Over the next few years I joined various Corporations and Alliances in both Sov and NPC Null Sec, earning a living through trade, industry, ratting and PvP.

I became the Main FC of Systematic-Chaos after our FC quit, stepping up when Goonswarm invaded our home of Esoteria.

We got evicted not long after!

I rented a system in Catch from The Initiative to try and lure my High Sec friends to Null Sec, before joining INIT. itself.

In INIT. I had finally found somewhere I belonged. I started FCing, dragging a handful of well meaning corpies around the Southeast in search of content. I worked my way up, learning everything I could from Sister Bliss.

I was a minor FC during B-R, FCing a mixed INIT. and Imperium Capital Fleet.

I lost my first Titan in 2017 in F7C, Cloud Ring, fighting against Panfam and Darkness while using the new Boson Doomsdays against their Dread Fleet.

I fielded my new Molok in 2018, baiting out a PL dreadbomb in Fountain. Any rumours of my voice raising a few octaves are completely unfounded, you have no proof!

In 2020 I worked alongside Bliss and our FC team to slow down the newly formed Papi Coalition as they invaded Fountain and the surrounding regions. We held for two weeks before pulling back to Delve to join the rest of Imperium in 1DQ1-A.

Not wanting to sit idle, we took the attack to Papi’s homelands, attacking, burning, distracting; anything we could do to drag their attention from Delve.

I FCed our Titan Fleet, joining Goons in the battle of M2- in Tranquilities largest Titan Battle.

I had the privilege of announcing the end of the war to our members, that hostiles were retreating after 13 months of non-stop warfare, that despite our loses we had won.

I spearheaded the Southern Agreement, an agreement designed to give new groups a taste of Null Sec without interference from the established major Blocs.

Over the past 19 years I’ve done it all.

I was the High Sec carebear, I was the Low Sec Pirate, I was the wormhole dweller, I was the Null Sec renter, the F1 line member, the industrialist, the miner, the new FC, the old FC and now the Alliance Leader.

Maybe I’ll even get to add CSM member to my CV😊

My areas of expertise. In which areas of the game do I feel I am the most knowledgeable? What qualities set you apart from other candidates?

I have extensive knowledge and experience in Fleet warfare and Empire building and everything that goes with it. I’ve spent 19 years gathering this knowledge and adapting as the game changes.

  • Fleet Commanding
  • Fleet Tactics
  • Fleet Compositions
  • Ship Fitting
  • Escalation Chains
  • Logistics Routes
  • Content Generation
  • Citadels
  • Power Projection
  • Alliance Risk Management
  • Alliance Income Generation
  • Member Income Generation
  • Resource gathering and Industry
  • The odd mildly erotic fan fiction

Why are you applying for the CSM?

My position within the game allows me to see the good and the bad of New Eden. I want to continue play this game, I want to continue to lead my community and I want to continue to be a part of the larger Eve community for many years to come.

Eve Online has been a major contributor in my life. I want to see CCP and Eve reach new levels of success and I hope that my knowledge and experience can assist with that.

What can players expect from you?

I want to help CCP expand on the good and to address the bad.

Issues such as power projection need to be fixed, but they are neither simple nor straightforward. It’s not a case of nerfing jump gates alone, projection in its entirety needs to be addressed to not break the game for one playstyle or another.

Empire sprawl is a real issue. We need more groups in the game inhabiting more regions of space, not the same Blocs controlling everything. A change to Sov ADM generation while also introducing a tangible counter to ADMs is needed.

Resource distribution and income generation are an important foundation that the game depends on, something that was stripped away with scarcity. Scarcity does not breed conflict; prosperity is not a minimum wage. Getting pilots into space and interacting with their surroundings is one of my core beliefs. Put toys into the hands of players and we will make the magic happen.

Citadel mechanics have received some improvements, but allowing more counter play or player interaction is required to bring these to a good place. Repair timers have been the death of content. Making services and weapons shootable and repairable by players will re-open a whole dimension for content generation.

While my expertise is in Null Sec, and areas related to that, it takes all areas of Eve prospering to ensure the games success. A blossoming High Sec and a wreck strewn Low Sec are just as important and I look forward to engaging with people on the various aspects of this.

I lead my Alliance from the frontlines, leading fleets and taking part in all aspects of its day-to-day life. I work with a team of 90 individuals who graciously give up their time to run INIT. I am not happy to sit back and let others do the work alone.

I want to bring the same level of dedication to the CSM so that we can all continue to enjoy this online internet spaceship game, regardless of tribe or ticker.

Thank you for reading.

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I have been begging Dark Shines to run for CSM for a couple of years now. His experience, coupled with his in-game knowledge and his love of the game would make him one of the best CSM members - almost as good as me (pwnt). Shines understands this game and the people who play it in a way that is second to none. I am very much looking forward to voting for him and I hope you will do the same.

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got my vote.

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Shines would have been awesome to have on the last term and im glad he decided to run for this one!

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Pandemic Horde and FRT take note, if you want to hurt INIT more then you ever did you vote both these guys in :smiley:

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Some could think that i am biased, since i have been a member of Init for a few years now.
However i would like to highlight that Shines always paid much attention to building an Init community with no racism, no sexism, no homophobia, no toxicity. Imagine, he even asks us to not shittalk on local!
He is not only an excellent fc and charismatic leader but also a good person that i will be happy to have a beer with at next fanfest.
And i have no doubt that, if he joins the CSM, he will focus on the health of the game before even thinking about Init’s interests.

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Will vote for him.
For sure Dark S. know what he do and he do it good. He care about this game like praticly noone else and will be one of the head of the table for this CSM.

If you want good, you want Shines.

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Yes I’m an Init member, but even if I wasn’t, Shines would still get my vote.

Every single person that is PvP orientated should have Shines on their vote because let’s face it, we play this game for the explosions. He believes in a game that is all about the fights. And that’s what we need. More fights, leads to more explosions. Doesn’t matter if you lose a fight or objective if you’re having fun.

More content. More fights. More explosions.

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A few other reasons you should vote for Dark Shines:

  • He invented Painters Tape in 1924 as a way to track the accuracy of thrown Darts in pubs without permanently marking the dartboard with a pen. 5 years later, he sold the patent to 3M for 19.5 Million Dollars and used some of that money to buy a cruise ship that he filled with single Irish people and alcohol, setting the stage for reality TV shows 80 years later.
  • He was the first person to befriend disgraced rap group Milli Vanilli after their fall from grace due to their lip sync scandal. Courtesy of his friendship the duo are now the #2 and #4 Flycatcher pilots in EVE Online and professional Fortnite players.
  • His charisma and leadership style held together a disparate group of gamers who under any normal circumstances would have fled the game and or The Imperium during the Beeitnam war however courtesy of Dark Shines gentle shepherding, they were a united and focused fighting force.
  • His ability to dial down into nearly any aspect of the game and provide solutions to his alliance is renown.
    *His smile, much as his future CSM presense, is like a burst of sunshine breaking apart a cloudy day, and or bugs and bad in game mechanics.
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I will be voting for Dark Shines. Anyone paying attention in EVE knows full well what he has stood for in this EVE universe to help the game improve by fighting against large renter blocks, opening up NS systems for smaller groups to thrive and grow and taking down the Perimeter Trade Hub for the better of the game. Not only that, he is a modest Alliance leader and he is hard working with a SAY / DO ratio that equals 1.00. I don’t know when he sleeps…

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Another INIT. member here. I have a tendency to talk/write too much and make it about myself, so I’ll try to keep it brief: Returned to the game in 2022, at the turn of the year 2022/23 my corporation - you can see my CEO’s post just above - unexpectedly joined The Initiative. I hadn’t intended to get into nullsec anytime soon, as my previous experience with it more than a decade ago was rather meh.

More than half a year as an INIT. member later, I am very happy to be here, for many reasons. I have a lot of respect for the alliance, am super glad to have found these ingame homes of Corporation and Alliance and will gladly follow Shines’ leadership for hopefully a long time to come - He has proven himself to be a more than dedicated and fair leader, with an obvious passion for the game and an inherent respect for people. He and his team have created an enviroment I simply want to be part of and that has dragged me into the game and the community on a level I’d have never expected. No regrets - I am having an absolute blast.

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Thanks Brisc, hopefully I’m half as successful as you were <3

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I am also recommending voting for shines
I am not high up in any alliance but am simply a line member but Init. had been blessed with many great prople and having flown with shines in multiple fleets and seen his care and expertise for all aspects of gameplay i believe he will be a great and very knowledgeable CSM member.

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Butterfly Effect Corp! Those were the days.

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Dark I was impressed with the breakaway from Goons and I watched your interview on the Eve Show on twitch (can’t remember name) and you came across as authentic.

I am asking a few CSM candidates this:

I’m looking for a candidate that will hope to persuade CCP into getting rid of the 1000 vs 1000 blobs and getting rid of renting.

Do you have any thoughts on these matters?

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This is a statement I can stand behind.

This would be a very interesting addition to gameplay.

I have a question for you regarding the recent situation with the TTC, and CCP’s subsequent elimination of XL structures from high sec.

What’s your opinion on the idea of requiring Starbase Charters for -ALL- structures in High Sec as a sort of additional ‘fuel’ type? It would force Null Sec based empires that maintain structures in High-Sec to have to either directly interact with High-Sec content, or coordinate with those that do for the additional logistics requirement.

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I was an init member som etime ago and flew as a line member under a good few of Shines fleets, solid person, will have my vote.

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Shines is a good lad. If you’ve got spots on your ballot you really should put him on it.

My name is Mark Resurrectus, and I approve this message.

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I congratulate you on your endeavours but the southern agreement was more or less nonsense. You didnt just spearhead it but you basically gave panfam a head by putting weaker corps near them (that would later on feed super pilots to horde or eventually become content for horde).

I really hope your choice to leave imperium goes well. But respectfully, i don’t see you as a worthy candidate for the CSM as you killed a player base in order to make “space for new players”, when all you actually achieved was put your rivals in a better spot in addition to making waste of multiple regions from activity. It’s quite pathetic in all honestly!

Hope you have a good run though!

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Thank you :slight_smile:

I’d need to break your question up into a few different elements to give you a full answer.

I wouldn’t advocate for the end of large scale fights, because they are the content that people enjoy every now and again.

What I would like to see however, is that New Eden is broken up so much, that they become far more rare instead of the only form of Bloc or Alliance level fights.

Renting again is a complicated matter. Renting itself I think is okay on a small scale because it does give some legitimate players a way to “own” a small slice of space, thats something that I did years ago.

However the amount of, potential, botting and RMT that goes on with the majority of renters is a big issue. We are seeing large entities take several regions with the express intent of renting them out - that is not healthy for the game. Instead of “getting rid of renting” I would prefer to see a change to mechanics, making it essentially impossible for a single alliance to hold more than 1 region of Null Sec.

Hopefully this answers your question!

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