THE WHO
Hi everyone. I don’t post very much these days so I guess it is time for introductions. If you’d prefer to just watch a YouTube video instead (Kazanir for CSM - YouTube) you can probably skip this filler content.
In a previous era of EVE (loosely known as “Dominion”) I was a corporation CEO, leading a band of refugees from World of Warcraft through the EC-P8R gate to join our distant cousins in Goonswarm during the summer of 2010. At the time, Goonswarm was a bit down on its luck and owned approximately two star systems, and I was neither aware of this, nor did I understand what it would mean. I had previously played a bit of EVE Online, you see, but not comprehended its true nature. Over the course of the next few years, that’s exactly what happened, as my corporation got a front-row seat to, and had an active hand in, the conquests and reconquests that built the then-CFC and the original Imperium.
Summarizing my own EVE career in the span of a forums post is tricky. Straddling the weird line of corporation CEO and alliance director gave me the opportunity to fill many roles and have a much broader experience in EVE than I am properly an expert in. I have done just a bit of many things: flown many classes of subcapital and capital alike, built big ships and an outpost or two in those days, done the olde drudge work of mineral compression, hoboed around C5 wormholes with dreads when that was still good, and several other things besides. My favorite ship in EVE is still a jump freighter: for most of our time in Goonswarm, my corporation was known for a freight service with a perfect, no-losses track record and billions of cubic meters moved.
At the same time, as an alliance director I’ve had insight into the backroom dealings that drive nullsec politics. I belonged to the much noted “finance team” as Goonswarm’s original auditor, and was also effectively a minister of colonization for the then-CFC, helping to distribute moons and space as we conquered and re-conquered various regions during Dominion’s wars. Recently returned to EVE thanks to the Horn of Goondor, I currently serve as an architect of Goonswarm’s and the wider Imperium’s financial and economic policies, and am well-known internally for helping to lead the mobilization effort that took place between the M2-XFE armor and hull timers.
THE WHY
The unvarnished truth is that New Eden finds itself in an extended economic crisis. Having previously helped handle an economic crisis or three within Goonswarm, they have chosen (by means of the will of the State) to entrust me with the opportunity to advise CCP about EVE’s. This is something which, in spite of my long career in this game, I cannot help but feel overwhelmed by, and so to write this section I decided I would just be as honest as I can about how matters stand.
The plain truth is that Goonswarm is worried. Our alliance loves EVE Online, even when we complain mightily about it being a bad game. But we can see the PCU count as well as anyone, we feel the malaise that has infected parts of the game, and we don’t like where it leads. People aren’t happy, these feelings about EVE are far from limited to our political sphere, and somehow solutions need to be found.
The uncomfortable truth is that many recent mechanical changes to EVE have inadvertently left Goonswarm “at the top” for reasons that are not well understood. Often those changes were first perceived as “anti-goon” in many respects, but have only entrenched the alliance’s power, as well of that of similarly-sized groups in EVE, and we find this state of affairs to be bad for the medium and long term health of the game.
And the unavoidable truth is that we cannot have this. Goonswarm needs a healthy EVE Online, because we need opponents to keep our lives fresh. Most of us still think that EVE could be a great enough game to attract those opponents once again. We want, more than anything, to see changes to EVE that invite new flocks of hostile players to our doorstep, attracted from from their Twitch streams and hailing from their silly mobile games to make the next war on Delve even more stupendous than the last.
This is why I am running for the CSM and will lead the Imperium’s official state ticket. These are the facts, and I decided, while writing this, that it was unwise to dissemble about them.
THE WHAT
I can be fairly classified as an expert in EVE’s economy and the operation of the many game mechanics upon which it is built – multiple types of industry, different vectors of carebearing, the distribution of resources, the flow of the supply chain across markets, and so on. I have personally built multiple 3rd-party applications for helping to manage the flow of EVE data, including the original internal application which superseded my role as alliance auditor. All of this, plus a general facility with spreadsheets and direct access to Goonswarm’s other experts, has given me a pretty sound grasp on the fundamental mechanics of this game.
I hope to bring a unique perspective as a player who experienced the absolute heights of the Dominion-era game and metagame, but returned after missing the majority of the Lifeblood era and most of the changes known as “scarcity”. I’ve had the opportunity to consider all of these changes – essentially every mechanical change to EVE that postdates jump fatigue – as a whole and separately, and hope to bring some useful and credible insight to the table on that basis.
What you can expect from me on the CSM is that I will do my level best at this job, while keeping in mind that “my best” in this game has previously included replacing over 100 titans in less than three days. You can expect that even if I don’t share your favored way of playing EVE Online, that I’m probably interested in preserving it – or if it has been lost, finding a way to restore it. You can expect that I am absolutely committed to the idea of EVE as a sandbox, and believe that all of this game’s best stories come from when we are fighting each other, working with each other, or some combination of both.
Finally, what you can expect from me is that I will try to improve our shared understanding of the meta of this spaceship game. We’ve been failing to do that for some time now, and it is pretty much what is holding us back.
