Hi, my name is Luke Anninan. After two previous terms (CSM17 and 18) I am applying for my third and final term on CSM19. If successful upon completion of CSM19 I will be “term-locked” and have no intention of running when that expires.
Below I have summarised my EVE experience, thoughts on the current state of the game as well as the skills and knowledge I can bring if I was re-elected to the CSM. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to comment on the post, find me in discord (I am in most of the EVE community discords) or mail me in game.
My EVE Story:
I committed to EVE in 2018 (I had tried it on and off before but it had never really stuck). Spending the first couple of weeks in HighSec then later on moving to scanning Wormholes for exploration sites. After about a month of this I decided to take the plunge into NullSec and joined an ill-fated alliance called Deus Vult. At about the time Skillu evicted them from Wicked Creek, so it was time to find another home.
My corporation moved to Fraternity in December 2018 months before the second war with TEST kicked off. It was the most fun I have had in my entire EVE career, yes TiDi was awful but there is nothing like the fights that you are invested in. I became an FC (albeit not a very good one, but found a knack for the planning side of things.) flying with all the friends that I had made. For six months we fought tooth and nail to hold Detorid. The end was always inevitable though but I like to think we put up a good fight and didn’t just give up. During this time, When I wasn’t in fleets I spent most of my free time running and learning about incursions and other methods of generating income while our home was camped.
As is always the case with the loser of any war we started the migration to our new home towards Oasa and Perrigen falls. Those corps that had stayed for the war, burnt out and most went to find new pastures outside of Fraternity. Being too stubborn to quit (and maybe a glutton for punishment) I took on the role of director in Fraternity looking after the non-Chinese speaking corporations (even if there were only a few of us left at the time).
Slowly rebuilding after the war, one by one recruiting new corporations and FC’s, it taught me about a lot of the sides of the game that you don’t always get to see. How to manage large organisations of players, ensuring there’s always something for them to log in for, understanding how sovereignty and income generation works as well as the complex industrial chains required to have the big fights people log in for.
It was about this time I created my own corporation, Into Oblivion and started recruiting both veteran players and new players alike. It was a great insight into the new player experience and how they found the NPE, how to foster new players and support their journey in Eve. Also, along the way, pointing players at other areas of the game that they may find more enjoyable when/if they decide the NullSec life may not have been for them. Most of all though creating a place where people can just hang out, chill and play the common game that brought us together as a community.
Back when the now resolve BRM changes hit there was a clear need to diversify gameplay from just NullSec activities and expand into LowSec mission running, Pochven, Incursions as well other things like NPC burner missions and exporting to markets etc. which led my alliance and me to Vale of the Silent, an area steeped in constant small gang fleets, and LowSec shenanigans.
Now most my time is spent on leadership of my alliance and corporation ensuring that pilots have everything they need to prosper in Eve Online.
Between the lines, a lot has been missed in this story through the retelling but it has given me the chance to experience a wide range of the game from HighSec mission running and exploration through to LowSec warfare, small scale skirmishing and the larger activities of Sovereignty, Infrastructure, strategy and the unique politics of NullSec all while building a community of players and ensuring they have a reason and the desire to login.
Areas of Expertise:
As you would imagine a lot of my areas of expertise are centred around NullSec, I am highly experienced in large scale PVP, and the execution of wider campaigns and the pros and cons of how the current sovereignty system operates.
The wider NullSec ecosystem and things like how Upwell structures allow for a level of force projection that creates challenges outside the large groups, and the activity planning that would be nearly impossible without third party tools in a growing player community.
I have also played around in Wormhole space on the odd eviction and how they are used for fast travel.
From being a director of an alliance and a CEO of my own Corporation I have seen firsthand the challenges in bringing new players into the game and making them want to stay around, whether this is introducing them to content they don’t know about or taking them through some of the elements that make EVE feel challenging at first (the old default overview was a good example of this).
I have a strong knowledge of the various tooling provided by CCP through things like the ESI, SDK etc and how they can create and enable powerful tools for players but also where this creates barriers for entry for smaller groups due to the lack of potential internal skills.
Beyond all of the above a little insight into my life outside of EVE. I spend my days designing and developing technical strategies for many large organisations and planning how changes affect their wider eco-systems. I think this gives me considerable strength that could be used when discussing things with CCP’s Designers and Developers alike.
Why am I applying for CSM:
Over the past two years, a lot of good things have been achieved
-
While there is still a lot to be done the return of minerals to NullSec grants the ability space to be largely sustainable, although 100% sustainability should not be the goal either.
-
Reintroduction of passive income with the Metanox drills, driving immediate value when you capture a moon, especially when you do not have mining orientated players.
-
Equinox “Improvements”: While equinox as a whole is not in a great place it has at least been iterated on a number of times, whether that be the adjustments to the initial mining anoms, introduction of minor mining anoms, or the reworking for sites per true sec bands. As well various tweaks and changes to power/workforce requirements.
-
Zarazakh, not the only cause of projection issues (see my list of things I’d like to get done), but definitely something I am glad is now resolved.
-
New Ships.
-
Better ways to express yourself through stations skins, ship emblems etc.
-
DBM getting fixed, not the most earth-shaking changes but as something I campaigned on, I am very happy to see get resolved.
-
Chinese Localisation, as a member of Fraternity this is something I pushed hard to see, the Chinese speaking player base of EVE is quite considerable and anything allowing greater access to a game that already has a steep learning curve is a good thing in my book.
-
Various rebalances to ships that either were starting too (Marauders) or had already (HAC’s) caused the game to become stale when it comes to groups shooting each other or large fleets been too oppressive.
-
Various gameplay and QoL changes, changing Pochven timers, while not quite the approach I would have take its better then an entire gameplay style dying. PI size changes to reduce the tedium. Usable default overview, again reducing the learning curve, etc.
Even after a year seeing behind the curtain, I still love Eve Online just as much as when I entered the CSM, I want to see it not only retain existing players but attract new ones and grow. There are always things that need to be changed and improved. I believe I am positioned in a place where I can collect, focus and impart player feedback as well as my own experience to CCP.
It would be remiss without saying I also have an ear to the Chinese speaking community that makes up a significant portion of the player base on TQ but for obvious reasons are not always represented and feel all parts of the community should have a voice.
What Can Players Expect from me:
I will never profess to know everything about everything as such I promise to engage with all parts of the EVE community and listen to their concerns about whichever part of the game they want to discuss. I am approachable and am always willing to be contacted whether in game or on discord to discuss people’s subjects, interests or frustrations and pull them together in a form where I can best represent them to CCP.
One of the biggest challenges and skills I have had to develop in my current role in Fraternity is that of communication both in terms of communication with players whose English may not be their native language but also relationships between alliances and coalitions. I believe this skill is something players can expect to see put to good use in the CSM.
Whilst I am a member of a null alliance, I tend to take an unbiased view when it comes to things that need changing, trying to focus on the whole health of the game.
List of things that I personally think need changing (not exhaustive):
-
Sovereignty and Force Projection: A year from my original campaign I believe this is still one of the more pressing issues the game faces, the ability to move across the map in less than a dozen or so gates (and jump bridges). The current ADM system (and the attached entosis mechanics makes it far too easy for larger groups to hold swathes of space with a vice-like grip. While I do think larger groups are always going to have an advantage to a degree, I think there are a number of things that could reduce their dominance, or ability to hold distant or unused space. For example, the removal of ACLs on Upwell Navigation structures, fatigue etc or a penalty to ADMs the further a system is from an alliance’s capital system etc.
-
Equinox: I think most people generally agree that the equinox expansion is not quite where it needs to be yet. Anoms for example have been improved but are still reasonably lacklustre if the intent is to rejuvenate NullSec. Skyhooks had problems, but the pendulum has now swung too far to the advantage or the defender, in my opinion and needs to be thought through and adjusted.
-
PVE: While the last years have seen lots of new content older PVE content is too systematic; it’s the same thing every time, not ignoring the issues that creates with things like scripting/botting due to the repeatable nature. PVE needs to be more dynamic, new players come into the game experiencing the revamped NPE, then maybe jump into a couple of story arcs, but from there it becomes a relatively rinse and repeat exercise which begins the process of the game becoming the same and boring.
-
Love it or hate it the ESI (more specifically the access to data) has made Eve the game it is today. It has enabled an entire Eco-system of tools to help players, be them new players first trying to find their way around J space, or season veterans running industrial empires. When new features are added (for example LP Tax Wallets) the information should be added to the ESI rather than be considered and afterthought.
-
Quality of Life: there are a whole slew of minor things that would just improve the QoL of the game, some examples include:
- The PI system is still tedious to setup and maintain, PI templates already exist on serenity, why can’t they be back ported to TQ?
- Alliance projects: corporation projects are great but narrow in scope. The ability to run alliance level projects provides smaller groups some of the automation larger groups currently manage through external systems.
- ACL based hangers, perhaps not such a small thing to count as QoL but something that would be nice to see.
- Richer Universe: A special mention of something brought to my attention recently. After many years there are still lots of narrative missing from in game descriptions etc, filling some of these in l (while not the most important thing at all) leads to a less jarring entrance for newer players.
- ACL Contracts
- Too many more to list.
Thank you for taking the time to read my forum post and if you have any questions I will answer here or alternately contact me on discord (muffinman628) or eve mail me.
