Mike Azariah for CSM 20 (yes, I am at it again)

Council Of Stellar Management CSM Campaigns
1

Here comes the orator, with his
flood of words, and his drop of reason.

I am Mike Azariah, like it says somewhere to the upper left. I am running for CSM 20. We are given specific things we are supposed to cover in out candidate thread and I quote

Your EVE Online story.
Your areas of expertise. In which areas of the game do you feel you are the most knowledgeable? What qualities set you apart from other candidates?
Why are you applying for the CSM?
What can players expect from you?

So, my story? I started playing Eve in 2008. I ran for CSM 4 in 2009, lost. Yeah, I lost badly so I ran again, and again, and again. See, that is the first thing you should know. IF you elect me you are electing a stubborn old man. I don’t let defeat stop me, I lick my wounds, learn from my mistakes and head right back into the fight.

In that time I did the usual new player stuff, mined, missions, lived in Null in one of the Great Wars (on the losing side), Lived in a wormhole for 6 months and made a decent nest egg so that isk was not an issue for me for a while. I would fly with folks who invited me, be it pirates on roams, hunts, exploration . . . whatever. I love this game and the fact that there are so many choices for what to do. I wrote a blog of Eve fiction, cohosted a podcast, showed up on other folks podcasts. I did lessons for Eve University and kept running for the CSM. I finally served on the CSM 8, CSM 9, and CSM 10.

Around that time I became a regular in the Rookie Help Chat and then formed Operation Magic School Bus giving fitted ships to Rookie to help them get a decent start. That project will celebrate its 11th year, this November, and I am very proud and kind of shocked that it is still going. Just another proof that I keep fighting, keep going.

So far I have served on six Councils, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 18. I am a kind of an archive for the History of the CSM and what has been tried before, worked or not worked. I have seen players come and go and the same with developers. CSM has a tendency to be one of the ‘end of play’ things in the game, a lot of players burn out doing it. Somehow that has not happened with me. I LIKE working on this game, helping where I can and one of those ways is being on the CSM. If you want a representative who remembers where we’ve been and works to secure the game’s future, vote for Mike Azariah.

Words may show a man’s wit, but actions his meaning.

Area of expertise? Communications. While serving on CSMs I have made a strong effort to keep the players in the loop. In CSM 18 I did regular updates as a short video on YouTube and linked it in the forums and on reddit to try to reach as many people as possible. I speak well and take a calm and measured approach to working with CCP. I know how to listen as well as speak and take my role as a representative seriously. Any player, Alpha or Omega, Hisec Carebear or Nullbloc F1 monkey is welcome to bend my ear on topics they would like to brought before CCP. If I can get behind the idea I will and push it for all that it is worth. In 2025 I have done a weekly vid called Eve News Weather and Sports where I try to catch folks up on what is going on in the game. Like I said, If you want someone who will represent you? Vote for Mike Azariah.

Fools need advice most, but wise men only are the better for it.

Why am I applying? Because I think I can help and am willing to work at it. I am a retired teacher on the West Coast of Canada, I have the time and the skills to do the job right. Currently my health is good (in remission from cancer for the second time) and my family is willing to put up with my Eve time as part of my daily routine.

We may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.

What can players expect from me? Same as they have gotten in the past. A representative who will listen and take the good ideas up the ladder. Who will try to keep you in the loop as to what is going on (as much as the NDA will allow). Working on the CSM CAN be frustrating at times. CCP always gets the final say on matters and they have (at times) ignored our Cassandraic warnings and plowed on ahead. Other times good ideas that we brought forward lay untouched and unacted upon. I know this and am willing to keep trying.

Look, if you are asking what my BIG project that I want to see Eve Devs on is, this year? There isn’t one. I still have a list of little things, here and there but mainly I want to hear from you, the voters. If I am elected eve-mail me, let me know what you would like brought up.

Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.

So, ask me some questions or at least give me a thumbs up and an attaboy.

m

Oh and the quote all come from Poor Richards Almanac, Ben Franklin

7 Likes
2

I’m sure Aiko is supporting you with all his underlings (both other players and alts) and just too shy to admit it publicly. :thinking:

:ccpguard:

2 Likes
3

Another year of Mike trying to waste a CSM seat. Absolutely nothing about the game in his post other than “I was on the csm before” and “I’ll listen to other people’s ideas”. It really helps if you know anything about the mechanics or state of the game.

It speaks volumes about your time on the CSM that CCP didn’t select you from the pool last year.

3 Likes
4

Wtf, you do realize mike has done a lot as a csm especially new players. What is your problem with him?

1 Like
5

Well maybe he can highlight some of those things because his posts like always are completely lacking on any material related to the game. Other candidates put effort into their posts highlighting stuff they thing needs addressing in the game and their areas of expertise, mike just says he has been on csm before.

1 Like
6

While on the CSM, he does communicate with the players. He goes into the CSM meetings with a notebook full of ideas that players give him. He quite literally acts as a representative does who represents a body of people. He takes feedback from the players and presents it to CCP. He then regularly does videos after the meetings and responds to us with what isn’t covered via NDA. Unlike most other CSM members or candidates, he has no agenda of his own. He is often the only CSM member that High sec players can get elected.

3 Likes
7

Ah there you are. I was worried that you might have left and that I would have nobody around to yell at the clouds.

The nice thing about having served on so many terms is that some are beyond the NDA limits. The down side is that is long ago and so they are dusty memories.

A sample? The Bowhead. That was a forum idea that I championed and pushed through to completion.

But a lot of what I do is little things, here and there. The Marketing folks may pull me aside for questions or aI will make a detailed analysis of the NPE from a new players perspective.

Recently I have been trying to find a way to make a PvP aspect to the tutorial.

But thank you. You always help to make my thread an active one and I appreciate it.

m

5 Likes
9

Probably the only person, once again, for whom I will vote, as probably the only candidate who gives a monkey’s about new players, and probably the only candidate who can be arsed to post on here post-election.

2 Likes
10

Well as swift mentioned you can find them other places discord being the best place to actually converse

11

I refuse to touch Discord or similar. :unamused_face:

1 Like
12

Well that’s on you then. Ccp cant dictate where they choose to interact

13

Rubbish, I deleted the CCP discord because it was dead, hardly anyone ever posted.

Same as the EVE discord, and Facebook etc. 1 post yesterday, 1 post today in general chat.

It’s why I got rid of them all, they have plenty of members but nobody hardly ever communicates, especially anyone from CCP.

1 Like
14

Well that is no longer the case. Just now, there have been 50+ messages in the general chat from 10 minutes ago. CCP Okami regularly provides updates in his own section. Facebook was never popular among EVE players.

1 Like
15

For the record? I post the news liink here and on reddit as well as on Twitter. Discord is noisy for me but if elected again I will be there as well.

When I say I am available I try to keep to my word. I draw the line at Facebook, though.

m

3 Likes
16

You’ve got my vote.

17

Rather missing the point. This is the CCP-owned Eve forum. Anything else is generic social media, and there are plenty of very good reasons for people to avoid them. If one cannot be arsed to post on the official forum, you do not get my vote.

18

And yet there are maybe 50 who use the forums vs 41k on EVE’s Discord and 84k on the EVE subreddit. (anyways this should be discussed here instead of distracting from Mike’s campaign. Visibility

2 Likes