The Oz for CSM19

Council Of Stellar Management CSM Campaigns
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Link to my official CCP CSM Interview: Twitch

TLDR / Summary

Current member of CSM18 — Proven and respected EVE markets and economy expert — Independent candidate without any alliance influence or committments — Purely focused on making the game better — Years of experience discussing issues with CCP, CSM members, and expert players on the CSM, my Twitch show, and podcast — Trusted leader of one of the largest Discord communities in the game — Designed the EVE Online themed final case at the Microsoft Excel World Championships in Las Vegas.

If you would rather watch something than read this, this FanFest presentation shows exactly what i am about.

Because I know you will ask: What are my largest contributions this year as CSM?

  1. Getting hulls removed from LP stores
  2. Preventing proposed changes to the game that I feel would have been terrible, but that I cannot talk about because of the NDA.

Quick intro about me outside of the game:

  • I am 43, married with children, currently living in Germany
  • I have been fortunate to get the chance to live in the US for 10 years, South America for 8 years, Australia for three years and the rest in Europe
  • Professionally, I have spent fifteen years in financial analysis and management consulting and now manage a market data analysis business

My EVE Online story:

I started playing EVE in 2004 and was immediately fascinated by the largely player run game economy and market. Since day one, I have been analyzing the markets, devising strategies - and yes, also creating lots of spreadsheets - to gain an advantage over others and make that ISK. While trading has always been my focal point, I have dabbled in most parts of EVE at some point. Like most of us, I took some longer breaks from the game but was always drawn back in.

In 2020, I started streaming markets and trading content on Twitch, which over the past three years has turned into:

  • A markets and trading focused Discord server with 6,000 EVE players (one of the largest in the game)
  • Development of a public trading spreadsheet, which has helped thousands of new traders learn the ropes
  • Presenting on the FanFest main stage about the EVE economy and my trading tools
  • My trading guides being used in the EVE academy
  • Regular interviews with CCP developers and EVE players from all corners of New Eden as well as frequently guest hosting the official CCP Twitch channel
  • A weekly EVE market insights report and podcast (“The Oz Report”), a series explaining to people how to use the Excel Add-on (”Spreadsheets in Space”), and a “Shark Tank” like game show where I invest all of my ISK back into projects that benefit the EVE community in some way (“The Oz Tank”)
  • Running EVE’s largest public investment fund valued at over 3 trillion ISK
  • And being elected to CSM 18

My main mission is to turn this beloved game into the best verison of itself to attract and retain new players and vets alike and thereby securing its future.

My areas of expertise:

  1. I have a very clear grasp of the EVE economy and the drivers that impact it. I have publicly proven this on countless occasions (e.g. watch my FanFest presentation or various analyses on YouTube) and am already one of the experts CCP goes to when it comes to market changes and impacts.
  2. I already discuss and debate the EVE economy with CCP, CSM members, and other EVE players on my show and within my Discord community daily. I understand the expectations, goals, and fears of the various subgroups within EVE and still learn something new from them every day.
  3. I have built some of the most effective and complex market spreadsheets in EVE by using various parts of the API. These sheets have been analyzed by CCP with my permission in the past to better understand the trading playstyle. Many of them are being used by thousands of players across EVE.
  4. I work together with third-party developers (e.g. Adam4Eve, Mokaam.DK) to improve the available tools and liase with CCP around their challenges, which affords me valuable insights into that part of EVE.

What qualities set me apart from other candidates?

  1. I am an independent candidate and my complete focus is the health of the game. Through my stream and guides I help new players understand and be successful in the game. I invest a lot of personal time into this as I think it is crucial for the overall health of the game. I am also too rich to be able to be influenced since I have more ISK than I would ever need.
  2. I am a hardcore realist because I understand what it means to run a profitable business in the real world. And in the end, that’s what EVE online is to CCP and Pearl Abyss. So I will not waste my and subsequently your time chasing unrealistic measures or campaigns. I will focus on action items that make sense for both sides.
  3. Having lived on four continents for at least three years each, my extremely international background will allow me to seamlessly connect with players around the world to pool their feedback and effectively serve on the multi cultural institution that is the CSM.

Why am I applying for the CSM?

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. Being part of the CSM this past year was amazing but also big learning experience. While I was able to get the ball rolling on my main issues, I do not feel like I am done yet. A second term would allow me to finish what I have started, especially when it comes to markets and trading specific changes. Additional focus areas for term 2:

  1. Equinox has still not been balanced correctly. It needs more tweaking regarding Skyhook mechanics, mining sites, and more. In my opinion, CCP has been way too careful when introducing minerals back into the game after “scarcity” and super capital prices need to come down more. This is me explaining how I feel.
  2. EVE desperately needs more meaningful encounters. Players resorting to “kill mail hunting” in absence of actual meaningful, strategic targets and/or real economic gain is absurd to me. I wish there was a consistent economic incentivation that rewards PVP and PVE somewhat equally. PVP being essentially always a net loss makes no sense at all.

What can players expect from me?

  • Expect me to to listen to the player base and consider all sides of an issue before making up my mind and arguing for a position.
  • Expect me to be humble towards the player base in light of the big task that you will have given me while confidently stepping up to CCP to effectively communicate our opinions at eye level.
  • Expect me to always come prepared with arguments and a presentation because I will treat this appointment as professionally as I would treat any other important job.

Thank you for taking the time to read through this and for considering me as your candidate for CSM 19. If you would like to reach out you can find me here or in game:

Twitch: OZ_Eve

All my social links: Oz — Bio Site

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I was glad to meet you at fanfest, I enjoy watching your content, and I hope you make it another year.

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#1 vote right here.

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Thanks a lot for the shout out and, unrelated to that, Oz is my #1 vote, just like last year

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  • Actually independent: He has shown that he cares about the game and the players, not specific alliances, parts of space, or playstyles,
  • distinct knowledge about ingame as well as real-life economics,
  • confident enough to tell CCP when their ideas are sh*t, as well as players when theirs are,
  • a drama-free community around him that can provide ideas and feedback informally.

I fully trust Oz to make this game better than it would be without him in the CSM, so I am absolutely voting for him as #1 again.

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Whole heartedly endorse this guy

m

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Would you support CCP putting NPC stations in every region of null space? Why or why not?

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Hello Oz, hope you’re doing well.

You say that Equinox isn’t balanced, can you explain a bit more on why and what steps you’d take or ask to fix it and the reasoning behind it?

In addition, how would you make PvP ‘profitable’ considering you’re losing your investment sometimes?

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Throwing in my 2 ISK. :+1: :+1:

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  1. EVE desperately needs more meaningful encounters. Players resorting to “kill mail hunting” in absence of actual meaningful, strategic targets and/or real economic gain is absurd to me. I wish there was a consistent economic incentivation that rewards PVP and PVE somewhat equally. PVP being essentially always a net loss makes no sense at all.
    I have been saying this for years. i like pvp but it make no sence to me that i have to go grind pve to fund the pvp losses, a concord bounty system for players would be one option to make killing pirates and low rep or security players worth it, factions can put bounty on you if you have a low reputation for a timer for exemple?
    An other idea would be leaderboards with rewards based on ranking ? PVP objectives with rewards like the air program but with real rewards not that 100k isk nonsense.
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100% getting my vote!

Thank you for all the content and information you provide to the community!

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not playing the game should be eliminatory for csm

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Care to elaborate on what you mean by this?

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For starters: I think the mining sites are not attractive enough to qualify as an “invigoration”. I also think that CCP overdid it with the recent Skyhook “safety” patch. IMO we need less time zone tanking, not more.

Could you explain what you mean by “losing your investment sometimes”? To clarify: I wasn’t saying that PVP should be profitable for all, I think it should be profitable if successful, which today isn’t the case. Today most often the only reason to engage in PvP is the fight itself, which to me does not make much sense. I think it would be more rewarding and lore wise logical if there was a REASON to fight.

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When I meant investment, I mean the ship you’re flying and such. Perhaps I may have misunderstood the intent behind that or may not have been clear so that’s my apologies.

Maybe the better question was, how would you make PvP profitable?

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I hope you make it onto the CSM again as your expertise is a great addition for it.

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@The_Oz Do you support hiring (EVE Vanguard) Warclone Mercenaries as an attack/defense vector in Capsuleer conflicts? Like attacking/defending Planetary Infrastructure, Skyhooks/POCOs and Upwell Structures?

As a CSM would you try and pitch for CCP to make stack multi-split (splitting a stack of items into multiple stacks of same size in one go instead of just on split at a time) happen?

Will we ever know what beef you guys had with CCP recently. The thing Mike mentioned in his Update and CCP Swift briefly explained on reddit as a new ISK sink?

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O7 The Oz

Last year I asked eight questions and then compiled the answers into a huge mega-thread. It was massive. With the exception of MILINT_ARC_Trooper, no one had a thread bigger than mine, to be fair MILINT_ARC_Troopers’ thread was so weighty and knowledgable it teetered on the edge of collapsing into its’ own core.

That catalogue of replies is now a time-capsule and encapsulated within are the hopes and disappointments that CSM 18 candidates considered worth speaking about during the year of EVE’s 20th anniversary.

The responses gave voters en masse an opportunity to test and compare each hopeful CSM 18 candidates commitment to their claims of being community oriented, knowledgable, responsive and representative of player values. Given that the CSM does not directly control any aspect of EVE’s development and that the successful candidates are those that can identify existing and future consequences, co-operate with other CSM members, and communicate issues -from a player perspective- to CCP staff one-to-one, I’ve formulated a set of questions designed to seperate the compressed ORE from the Long-Limb Roes in this years election race.

Year-on-year the Independent Representatives, Solo players with single accounts, Worm Holers, Triangle People, Semi-nomadic Role-Playing Sandbox Explorers, and Salvagers, have been organising and gaining traction against the self-secure Null-Bloc Empire Candidates and their vast hordes of leather-skinned, evil, flying-monkeys. More-and-more players are choosing to vote in members they believe can positively impact CCP’s approach to the game regardless of their in-game affiliations.

Exposure matters, who are you, what is your clue?
As was the process last year I will post each candidates reply in a super thread, first-in first-served.

This years questions:

  1. What ONE identifiable consequence requires CCP’s attention?

  2. What PROVABLE evidence can you supply to support your belief in this situation?

  3. What practical, and balanced change can be made to support a solution if any?

  4. What support do your observations have from other CSM candidates?

  5. How will you present your findings to CCP?

If you have already identified and spoken about a problem in your CSM candidacy bio at the top of this thread feel free to copy pasta that response where applicable. I’ll copy paste directly from your response to this post. Choose your goblet…. wisely.

Let the games begin, and may the odds ever be in your favour.

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I would certainly consider it. At this point though, I feel like that is so far off for CCP that it will definitely not be happening in the next two years. I would see other priorities here.

I have already discussed various QoL improvements in the inventory / trading space. Stacking was among them.

I can’t say what they pitched as a new ISK sink. It’s nothing crazy, it just all depends on how you implement it.

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  1. Certain minerals are bottlenecked so much that their price is comparatively way too high (e.g. Isogen)
  2. (Super) capitals are too expensive because of this. Mining is not economically viable compared to other activities in EVE outside of massive multiboxing.
  3. More and larger rocks of certain types in space.
  4. Literally everyone is in favor of this. I am the voice of reason on the CSM.
  5. I bring this up constantly when I speak to CCP.
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