Why You Should Run for the CSM

Council Of Stellar Management Assembly Hall
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This post likely technically belongs in “My EVE”, but I thought it relevant enough to this forum that I should share it here.

I wrote a piece on Crossing Zebras about why YOU (yes, you) should run for the CSM in 2018, and why it doesn’t even matter if you aren’t likely get elected, as you can still have some portion of the impacts you want.

It’s a fairly short article, but I wanted to make sure that people read the whole thing, as I genuinely think it’s something that’s important to the game as a whole, especially as we bump up against the ‘end’ of the Seagull Roadmap that was presented in 2014(?). The next CSM and the one after that are going to help guide CCP’s development an inordinate amount (much like CSM 9/10) and it’s important that the right people get on - and the right conversations are had in the public sphere to reinforce the points people are passionate about.

I hope you enjoy reading it, and seriously consider the possibillity of running for CSM 13!

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While I appreciate your positive message and attempt to rally the troops, I don’t think you are going to see much of a real effort by anyone to present any niche candidates this year. The move to only 10 members, coupled with the significant decrease in highsec activity (and modest increase in nullsec activity) pretty much means it is probably mathematically impossible to get a highsec candidate, and maybe even a lowsec or wormhole candidate elected without the support of a larger nullsec “in-game” group, or some gimmick like leveraging a popular YouTube channel. I fully expect for us to go 10/10 nullsec bloc candidates this year, with the likely exception of Steve if he runs again. Sure, you can possibly shape the discussion if you spend enough energy and get yourself enough exposure, but there are just not nearly enough votes, highsec voting bloc or no, to get someone elected.

Yes, you can point to some examples from yesteryear where some more niche candidates made it through persistence and creating a public profile, but Eve of 2017 is not the Eve of 2012. The number of highsec players (well, highsec activity) has dropped by 40% in the last few years, and some of those have moved to nullsec where CCP has managed to increase activity potentiating the demographic change. And with only 10 seats, any niche campaigner who is seeking to be on the council really has to be content with just “influencing the conversation” as there is no realistic chance of being elected without support from outside.

The only real hope for niche communities to participate in the CSM is to be adopted by an open-minded CSM member like yourself who wants the council to represent all players, and reaches outside their in-game group once elected. Indeed, several of you do this, but not all and with varying degrees of commitment and effectiveness. That is where I will be spending the limited energy I have left to give to considering the CSM - to try to identify the second-tier nullsec candidates that may or may not get a seat, and that are the most likely to engage on issues, and with players, outside of nullsec. Not easy given how easy it is to say things during a campaign you have no intention to do, but I will try.

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So maybe the solution is to elect appropriate “regional” specialists, such as perhaps reps from Wormhole, Lowsec, Highsec and Nullsec categories? After all, real life elections are run that way - representation for City, for County, State and Country. This is done for good reason - regions have unique and individual needs which are often best addressed by someone most familiar with that region.

Wormhole activity may be up or it may be down, for instance, but regardless, the fact still remains that Wormhole represents a large percentage of overall players who might potentially be without a specific voice at the table. At the end of the day, CSM is all about making sure everyone’s voice is heard, so why not?

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It’s pretty easy to game such a system, but perhaps it could be tried. I am not sure how it could be done simply and effectively, but I agree that all voices are not represented on the council proportionally which is sub-optimal for what is suppose to be a representative body of the players.

I think balanced representation would be better as it allows better identification of problems when the CSM is acting as a sounding board for NDA things that may affect players in more niche areas, but I don’t think the over-representation of nullsec is fatal, as long as the CSM acts responsibly and tries to represent all the players in the game. You don’t have to live in lowsec to listen to and present the issues affecting lowsec players.

The only problem is that there is no mechanism to force the CSM to do so. I guess there is some legitimacy provided by appearing to be representative of all players, but if no one on the CSM is willing to play the role of communicator and champion of the under-represented, then those from less organized and populated areas of the game really are disenfranchised from the CSM and will have to rely on the alternative communication channels to try to get their concerns heard by CCP.

Maybe the solution is for the CSM to divvy up various areas of the game amongst themselves after they are elected and declare two or three members as the go-to people for specific concerns and willing to act as an advocate? This still is all voluntary and there is no enforcement mechanism if a CSM member doesn’t want to participate or participates badly, but there could be a list that says these 2 CSM are responsible for highsec-specific concerns, and these 3 for faction warfare, and that guy for market issues. Obviously, players could communicate with any members about anything they want, but if there was a formal list that said CSM member X or Y were the ones to talk to if I had a wormhole concern, it might make those communities and groups frozen out of the CSM feel more part of the process and represented.

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Another reason for implementing regional specialization would be the need for a greater general interest in the voting process itself. Is there presently another consistent voting bloc in the game other than Goonswarm?

Highsec players, for instance, might well be galvanized to participate in the process if they feel that their vote might lead to a real difference in their chosen regional home. Highsec perhaps serves as a pretty good example, in that there may be two emergent candidates - the Ganking contingent and the Anti-Ganking contingent - both competing for the representation of Highsec. Not only would many players be highly incentivized to vote, but real issues would be on the ballot, and both of these two circumstances are hallmarks of a healthy and democratic system.

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Provibloc (Ali Aras, Corebloodbrothers, myself), PanFam (Elise, Fafer, Vince) & Reddit (Mr Hyde, Suitonia, Rhiload) have consistently been able to put people onto the council for multiple consecutive terms. We also have had a consistent HS focused presence, though it has slipped from 2 candidates to 1 (previously Mike Azariah & Steve were dead certs, now only Steve is active).

Goons might have the “biggest” bloc, but even that is only enough to put two people consistently on the CSM, as one can see with Sullen Decimus failing to reach the council this year, and even that can be put under pressure (another strong outsider candidate like Rhiload or Suitonia could easily push out Innominate).

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I’m really not sure if you’re being ironic or simply hopelessly naive? I see no evidence for that being remotely likely, here, other forums or from the activities of the more recent prior CSM’s.

Just saying :grin:

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Yup totally didn’t;

  • Get a dedicated balance team for EVE
  • Push and get T1 Ship changes
  • Work w/ CCP on Alpha clone changes
  • Citadel fixes
  • AF/HAC Buffs
  • Changes to jump ranges
  • Changes to jump fatigue
  • Community fittings
  • Logstics UI improvements
  • New NPE (and Bug fixes)
  • New PvE (and bringing community feedback to CCP on it)
  • Exploration of what’s wrong with Sov with CCP agreeing (see minutes)
  • Exploration of why Lowsec is in a bad state with CCP agreeing (see minutes)
  • New Nullsec-specific content (BR/Guristas Soitoyos)
  • Gallente SKINS that aren’t some shade of Green or Brown
  • Bring up PLEX speculation and harm it causes
  • Work to ensure that the tournament community remains supported (WIP)
  • Bring the concerns the playerbase had around Alpha Skill Injectors directly to the people in charge
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How does one run for CSM?

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You can post a thread up whenever you wish. Official sign ups will be along with the official announcement (likely post 2nd summit).

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I am active still, just not running this year.

sheesh, make it sound like I am dead.

m

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Yup, you totally didn’t what?
half of those were just CCP working anyway, other half they just nod (yep we have a problem with that but we’ll deal with it other time).
I don’t want to diminish CSM work (citadels!) but you bragging here a bit.

Where do you fail for example? RW?

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Me? :thinking:

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I can guarantee that the first 4, and the changes to Logistics UI, Community fittings & jumping mechanics would not have happened without the CSM being involved, as they were not considered major problems without us pushing them as such.

Resource Wars wasn’t a failure IMO. It’s just not a feature CCP balanced the rewards well for, because it’s intended to be an extension of the NPE experience but requires actual effort. The content itself is apparently quite fun (relative to other hisec pve), but why do it when you can mission and make way more ISK.

The Alpha Strike event and the just-add-water ships is more of a failure on our part, as we didn’t know about it. But that is fundamentally is a step in the wrong direction IMO.

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not a failure if you didn’t know. The ball is always on CCP side. First you bragging, now being too harsh :wink:

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Hey Pedro,

Whilst I agree with most of your points, there’s a defeatist attitude there - If you start out thinking “I can’t possibly win” as a niche candidate and don’t run, you’ve fulfilled your own prophecy.

I’m personally throwing my hat into the ring, but am going in with my eyes open and am seeing this as an opportunity to get some LS player thoughts into the open, rather than assuming that I’ll get enough votes to squeak in past the NS block candidates.

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If you go into with that positive attitude and your eyes open I wish you all the best.

May your message be heard far and wide.

o7

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OI! I am still active, I ain’t dead yet. Just not running this year.

I am still a noisy hisec and new player rep who just happens to not be elected. And I am ok with that.

But me, aside? Yes, run. If you think you have something to say? People to represent? Run. I did for a lot of elections an lost more than I won but it did not stop me, By running and campaigning you get to change the tone of the election, challenge the status quo.

You will be told you have no chance and that may be true but it is ALSO what those running against you WANT you to believe. Last thing they want is to have to work for their win. Make them work.

Hell, yes, the null sec blocks will have their sure thing wins as they negotiate their voting lists. But there is always a chance, there is always a spot that you might take.

When playing a game you play by the rules a set. I do not demand ‘better rules’ so I might win. I do not demand the hisec seat at the council because there is no such thing. Run, talk to people in local, in communities, to diplos of groups you think should vote for you. If you just put you name out and a single sentence on the campaign page then you do not deserve votes. work for it.

run

m

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Work w/ CCP on Alpha clone changes

And it took how long for Ghost Training to get addressed, let alone patched?

Citadel fixes

They’re still worse than a POS because you can be bumped off while costing quite a bit more to store the bigger toys. Also the vuln timers are complete cancer.

Community fittings

Band-aid over a missing arm at best.

New PvE

Yeah, instanced missions! That’ll help EVE!

Exploration of what’s wrong with Sov with CCP agreeing (see minutes)

Yet nothing has been done about it. Unless you’ve forgotten, people have attempted to get CCP to see what’s wrong with the SOV system since it was re-released, but they stuck their heads in the sands and screamed “I CANT HEAR YOU” until people gave up.

New Nullsec-specific content (BR/Guristas Soitoyos)

Which everybody and their mother agrees are annoying, and that the faction capitals are stupidly overpriced at best for marginal bonuses over regular caps. They should have been added to the LP stores from the beginning for a rather large amount of LP, and had their mineral prices and stupid microprocessor amounts slash by at minimum 50%.

Gallente SKINS that aren’t some shade of Green or Brown

Still not fixing what’s actually wrong with the SKIN system, or acknowledging what players want in regards to the SKIN system.

Bring up PLEX speculation and harm it causes

CCP doesn’t care, never has, and never will. People pointed out that breaking PLEX to 500 units a pop would cause even more market fuckery and speculation inflating the price, but they clucked their tongues and spoke to us as if we were children and said “We know best”. They just want numbers on their account sheets because Hilmar keeps throwing away money like it was a competition.

Work to ensure that the tournament community remains supported (WIP)

Last I heard, this was torpedoed.

So, why should we care about running for CSM when CCP clearly doesn’t care about them?

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Innominate is a great guy