The Oz for CSM 18

[Rhett_Schouten]

@The_Oz I’ve asked all the other candidates that have posted that they’re running these set of questions. You are lucky last.

1. What has CCP gotten right?
2. What has CCP gotten wrong?
3. What do you wish existed in-game that doesn’t?
4. What exists in-game that you wish didn’t?
5. What exists in-game that you think ought to continue to exist?
6. What doesn’t exist in-game that you hope never comes into existence?
7. How would you improve PI?
8. How would you improve the entire corporation UI?

[Geo_Eclipse_Oksaras]

You missed mike. And several others it seems

[Rhett_Schouten]

On it thanks

[The_Oz]

@Rhett_Schouten

• What has CCP gotten right?
• What has CCP gotten wrong?
• What do you wish existed in-game that doesn’t?
• What exists in-game that you wish didn’t?
• What exists in-game that you think ought to continue to exist?
• What doesn’t exist in-game that you hope never comes into existence?
• How would you improve PI?
• How would you improve the entire corporation UI?

So these questions are incredibly broad and I don’t think they add a lot of value because it is difficult effectively compare answers across the board. Questions 3-6 are wild because you could name 2000 things depending on your daily mood. So forgive me for answering these in a quickfire style. I guess that is how you meant them to be answered…

1. They recognize that player driven events, politics, and content are what makes EVE stand out and they leverage it accordingly in their marketing.
2. Frequent reckless marketing / monetization campaigns are threatening the in-game economy and testing and crossing player loyalty limits.
3. Meaningful wars for strategic objectives such as access to resources.
4. The Hypernet
5. A vibrant market.
6. Any pay-to-win items or systems beyond where we are at (which is already way too far for my taste).
7. Planet management in EVE app.
8. I don’t know whether it can be saved. I think it needs to be re-done entirely.

[Rhett_Schouten]

@The_Oz

The Hypernet

You wish the Hypernet didn’t exist, wow, that was not an answer that I was expecting.

@The_Oz

I don’t know whether it can be saved. I think it needs to be re-done entirely.

I wonder the same thing.

I’ll say the same thing to you that I said to @Angry_Mustache

The question 3-6 are a special type of question that force you to reconsider your perspective on a topic. They’re essentially asking for an example of a
3. A false positive
4. A false negative
5. A true positive
6. A true negative

or in other terms

3. There was a problem and CCP did not identify that problem
4. There was not a problem and CCP identified there was a problem
5. There was a problem and CCP identified that problem
6. There was not a problem and CCP did not identify a problem

You might find questions like that easier to identify in context. For example how is this true of capital ship balance. Or how is this true of Market Fees and Taxes.

I basically wasn’t planning on asking you, or Angry or Mike, or Mark since I already pretty much know the character of these candidates however someone pointed out to me that I had missed asking some players and that that might be perceived as unfair.

You correctly identified that the questions are broad, they elicit values more so than specific solutions. In my defence, my objective was to get to know as many of the candidates as possible and being as general as possible in my asking offers them the opportunity to be as specific as they want in there answers. In my business that’s called a transderivational search for meaning. You can experience this by going and reading the responses given in other replies. My final objective was to draw some attention to and get some activity going on the lesser known candidates threads. Some of these plants just needed some watering and a bit of sunshine their way to get going. I almost felt bad adding to your page, but you’re a grown up, so I figured you’d be fine.

[The_Oz]

Thanks for the explanation. No worries at all.

Yes, I detest the Hypernet. On the one hand, it is a tax on the mathematically challenged, which I typically don‘t mind, but it is also state(CCP)-run gambling aimed at real-life monetization via taking advantage of less educated players and those with a gambling addiction. Real money and gambling mixed are just predatory behavior and it therefore shouldn’t be in the game.

[Rhett_Schouten]

@The_Oz

it is a tax on the mathematically challenged

LOL how soon can I get this crocheted and framed on my wall.

@The_Oz

Real money and gambling mixed are just predatory behavior and it therefore shouldn’t be in the game.

Point taken, you’ve a real-life ethical exception to this system. Salute.

[The_Oz]

Exactly!

[Marvin_Oolong]

You got my vote!

[Yendor_Kashada2 (Yendor Kashada)]

Will you stop RMT and Gambling operations being run off TOR and other means, Oz?

[The_Oz]

Everyone would like to stop things like RMT and botting. Players and developers alike. Unfortunately that is way beyond any realistic CSM influence or power. It‘s not like CCP wants these things to exist.

[darkfriar]

Oz has my vote. All round sound guy who does a lot to support the community. He is one of the most chill, informative players I have had the pleasure to listen to and engage with.

[podmeinstead]

I appreciate the fact that you don’t propose a list of ideas, because you correctly understand that the role of the CSM isn’t do be unpaid game designers, and in your shows I think you demonstrate a level of preparation and analytical thinking that would make you suitable for the CSM. I have two questions for you though.

In your post you state that people need to fight over resources again, and I’m wondering how much thought you’ve given to this. I think that historically major conflicts in EVE have not been fought over resources, and from a design perspective seeding important resources to be fought over can easily lead to a feedback loop where the dominant power can no longer be challenged. In the technetium era the regional distribution of tech moons did lead to conflict, but I think many viewed this as troublesome. However, it is worth remarking that R64 moon POSes were much better content drivers than anything currently in the game.

My second question is about blue loot, which you single out in many of your public appearances. Since you argue that the current distribution of ISK faucets is bad for the economy, I was wondering if you could motivate this using observed secondary effects (if it’s bad then how is that manifesting?). I would argue that the mechanics of wormholes are inherently more self-regulating than most other areas of space, and a similar ISK faucet in null would be much more concerning because it would have the potential to balloon to an extent no possible in WHs.

[The_Oz]

@podmeinstead

In your post you state that people need to fight over resources again, and I’m wondering how much thought you’ve given to this. I think that historically major conflicts in EVE have not been fought over resources, and from a design perspective seeding important resources to be fought over can easily lead to a feedback loop where the dominant power can no longer be challenged. In the technetium era the regional distribution of tech moons did lead to conflict, but I think many viewed this as troublesome. However, it is worth remarking that R64 moon POSes were much better content drivers than anything currently in the game.

Thanks for the question. I would take a very broad definition of “resources” here. It doesn’t have to be minerals or materials. I really don’t care what it is specifically that makes people go to war for fight over things, as long as there are objectives, resources, or other “real” reasons being fought over. I simply find it sad that we have to resort to things like NPSI to create content out of thin air.

And no, I do not have the silver bullet here. It would also be unrealistic for me to come up with something that has not been discussed among the devs and/or the CSM. I state this point in my post, so that people who are thinking about voting for me can see which way I would lean in a discussion about strategic objectives in EVE. I don’t hink the status quo is “fine”.

[The_Oz]

@podmeinstead

My second question is about blue loot, which you single out in many of your public appearances. Since you argue that the current distribution of ISK faucets is bad for the economy, I was wondering if you could motivate this using observed secondary effects (if it’s bad then how is that manifesting?). I would argue that the mechanics of wormholes are inherently more self-regulating than most other areas of space, and a similar ISK faucet in null would be much more concerning because it would have the potential to balloon to an extent no possible in WHs.

I don’t think that the current state of “blue loot” has an active dangerous impact on the economy today. What I have been saying about blue loot is that it is risky to have such a large portion of the overall ISK generation via faucets be this concentrated. Currently, over 20 trillion ISK are “printed” in C5/C6 wormholes every month, representing about 20% of all ISK generation. From what I gather, this ISK is fairly concetrated to a few larger WH corporations and null corp “farm” holes. The latter addresses your second point. I think you are right that it may not “balloon” as much, but it is still significant.

You have to remember that this sort of ISK printing is fine as long as there are enough ISK sinks and the ISK velocity stays as low as it has been. If one of those things changes or becomes unbalanced, we could see significant inflation in the game economy.

In simple terms the main risk is this: If you give everyone more ISK (via faucets) evenly without adjusting anything else, then prices go up but everyone can afford them. If massive amounts of ISK are printed by a small group of people (with everything else unchanged), then prices are driven up and everyone else can afford less. People seem to not always consider that second part.

[The_Oz]

I was a guest on Pando’s FC Chat show and podcast today. Here is me answering the question of what it takes to be on the CSM.

[Melicien_Tetro]

I especially liked the comments on your history
You’re a 20 year vet with a clear niche

[oRosHKin]

You are a market tycoon, lots of isk generated over lots of speculation on materials and pretty much anything (i’m on you discord).

What kind of sugestions (preferable non PLEX related) you have in mind when you said :

@The_Oz

I love this game and want to play it for many more years. So I want to do my part to ensure that will be possible. While CCP has taken some steps in the right direction lately, I still think there is quite a long way to go and part of that is rebalancing the economy and larger ecosystem, something I have very deep expertise in.

?

What are you thoughts about how resources are currently distributed around new eden (highsec, lowsec, nullsec, wh and pochven)?

Do you think nullsec should also get some kind of ISK generation revamp?

Also, conflicts and wars are both good for economy, what are you current thoughts about citadels mechanics that can affect both sides of the conflict (timezone tanking, armor/hull timers, etc)?