Massively's EVE Online CSM candidate roundup
This week is voting week for EVE Online players as the fifth edition of the democratically elected Council of Stellar Management (CSM) gets underway. 49 approved candidates are in the running for just nine seats on the council, with an extra five alternate candidates agreeing to step in should any members of the council be forced to leave during their term. The council's job is to act as a go-between to help EVE players communicate major gameplay issues to the development team. In the two years the council has operated, they've become an essential part of CCP's development methodology.
The CSM plays a vital role in EVE's development and it's important that the right people for the job are elected. For those that don't normally vote in the elections, figuring out what each candidate brings to the table can be a difficult and daunting task. In this absolutely massive three-page feature, we give a run-down of all 49 candidates entered in the current election, from previous CSM members to new active campaigners and the relatively unknown pilots with little to no campaign.
When you're ready to vote, follow this link to the voting page and click the vote button to the right of your chosen candidate. Remember to get your vote in before May 19th when polls close! The results will be published on May 28th, when we see who will be representing the EVE player-base to CCP for the coming year.
Why should I vote?
While not everyone is convinced of the council's usefulness, long-time EVE player Seleene is adamant that "the CSM can, and has been, invaluable in elevating certain issues to a point where they cannot be ignored." If anyone has a useful perspective on the CSM, it would be Seleene. He was employed by CCP for a time under the name "CCP Abathur", where he did work on the sovereignty mechanic changes that came with the Dominion expansion. This was when the developers really started to use the CSM to help refine their expansion ideas and game designs. On a third-party forum, Seleene discussed the event and how the role of the CSM has become integral to CCPs development process:
"I was there when I watched the initial concept be proposed and saw how the CSM delegates affected the game first hand. There simply is nothing like devs being FORCED to sit in a room and see a big Serb fellow like Vuk Lau literally pounding on the table about sov warfare (was funny as hell), or Diedra Val from EVE Uni giving a passionate argument about new player incentives [...] These people can make a difference so, as others have said, it's pretty important who does and does not get a seat on the internet spaceship council."
With four CSM terms complete, there's no shortage of applicants that have been part of a previous council session. As the CSM's meeting minutes are a matter of public record, council members must perform well to stand a chance of being re-elected in a future term. Many popular CSM members have been re-elected for a second term based on their good performance in their first.
The rules previously only allowed them to stay for two six-month terms, meaning players were unable to support the same public figures every time. This may be part of the reason for the dropping voter turnout, something CCP hopes to tackle in this and future council sessions. With the new rules in place, term limits have been dropped and some of those experienced council members are back for another slice of the action. Below is a list of candidates up for election right now, in no particular order, who have been a member of a previous CSM session.
If you spot any errors in the list or have a useful link to contribute, please leave it in the comments on this page.
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Name: Stephan Pirson EVE character: Meissa Anunthiel Corporation: Redshift Industrial(RS-I) Alliance: Rooks and Kings(HARK) Useful links: Campaign website, forum thread, interview Meissa Anunthiel was an active member of CSM 3, and an alternate in CSM 2 and 4. He's running for CSM on a platform of convincing CCP to dedicate more resources to improving existing features rather than developing new ones. |
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Name: Rene de Vrind EVE character: Extreme Corporation: Eye of God(EOG) Alliance: Systematic-Chaos(SYS-K) Useful links: Campaign forum thread Extreme is running for CSM on a platform of pushing for fixes to EVE's chronic lag issues and additional perks for pirates. He was in the second CSM as an alternate and later became a full member of the same council. |
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Name: Paul Oosterman EVE character: T'Amber Corporation: www.shipsofeve.com(SOEIT) Alliance: None Useful links: Campaign forum thread, lottery Known for his massive Ships of EVE lotteries, T'Amber was an alternate member of the fourth CSM. He's running for election on a platform of user interface, tool and mechanics improvements. He has taken the unorthadox strategy of running an almost free lottery whose prize pool depends on the number of votes he recieves in the hope that players will vote to drive up the winnings. |
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Name: Allison Nixon EVE character: mazzilliu Corporation: Sniggerdly(SNIGG) Alliance: Pandemic Legion(-10.0) Useful links: Campaign thread, video, facebook Mazzilliu was a member of the third CSM and has applied with hopes of making it into the fifth council. Her campaign website is unfortunately blank. Mazzilliu's campaign thread lists her objectives as boosts to small gang warfare, UI improvements, nerfing logoff tactics and more. |
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Name: Valentijn Geirnaert EVE character: Dierdra Vaal Corporation: Eve University(E-UNI) Alliance: Ivy League(IVY) Useful links: Campaign website, forum thread, interview Dierdra Vaal was one of the founding members of the first CSM cycle and helped establish the rules and processes that are now used by the team. He skipped second term but returned to take the chairman position in the third round of the CSM by securing more votes than any other applicant. With the term limits removed, he's running for this term on a neutral platform and plans to represent every play style equally. |
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Name: Eva Jobse EVE character: Ankhesentapemkah Corporation: Ammatar Free Corps(AFC I) Alliance: Curatores Veritatis Alliance(CVA) Useful links: Campaign website, forum thread, video, interview Ankhesentapemkah was a founding member of the first CSM. She made a name for herself as someone to represent the interests of the average player and small corporations with no political voice. She ran for two consecutive terms, during which she made a big push for faction warfare reforms among other issues. With the term limits now relaxed, she's back in the running for this fifth round of the CSM. She plans to continue encouraging the average player to get involved with the CSM. |
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Name: Brian Haines EVE character: Avalloc Corporation: GoonWaffe(GEWNS) Alliance: SOLODRAKBANSOLODRAKBANSO(LODRA) Useful links: Campaign website, forum thread, interview Avalloc was a full member of the third CSM and is running this term on a promise of representing every player equally. To get more players voting, he's even running a competition where you can win PLEX by asking the new candidates questions on the official EVE forum. As a GoonWaffe entrant, he's sure to get plenty of votes from his numerous corpmates and stands a good chance of obtaining a seat on the council. |
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Name: Jaime Tiampo EVE character: Song Li Corporation: MinmaTire Corporation LTD(MTIRE) Alliance: None Useful links: Campaign website Song Li was a member of the fourth CSM and is planning to return for another term. Rather than updating thier campaign, Song Li is running using the same pitch as last time. |
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Name: Michele Boland EVE character: Issler Dainze Corporation: Tadakastu-Obata Corporation(TDAO) Alliance: The Honda Accord(BEEP) Useful links: Campaign website, forum thread, video Issler Dainze was a full member of the second CSM and an alternate character for the third CSM. Among other issues, Issler Dainze plans to push for the revival of low security space, improvements to invention and boosts to solo avenues of gameplay. |
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Name: Andrey Antonov EVE character: Korvin Corporation: Shadow Kingdom(SHK) Alliance: Ultima Rati0(U-RA) Useful links: Campaign website, forum thread Korvin was an active member of the fourth CSM and hopes to return for a second term. He's running on a platform of giving each race their own play style, removing useless items and other changes. |
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Name: Jason Renouf EVE character: TeaDaze Corporation: Agony Unleashed(AGONY) Alliance: Agony Empire(AGONY) Useful links: Campaign website, forum thread TeaDaze was one of the members of CSM 4 and is running for re-election in the fifth round. He plans to push for reforms on low security space, small gang PvP and wormholes. |
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Name: Jeremy Jankie EVE character: Omber Zombie Corporation: Frontier Technologies(FTEK) Alliance: None Useful links: Campaign website, forum thread, interview As an alternate character for the first CSM, Omber Zombie watched the process evolve. He was elected to office in the second and third CSMs, pushing many important issues to CCP. With the term limits reset, he's running for re-election and hoping his vast experience with the CSM will inspire players to vote in his favour. |
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Name: Vuk Lau EVE character: Vuk Lau Corporation: 4S Corporation(4S) Alliance: Morsus Mihi(RAWR) Useful links: Campaign website, forum thread Vuk Lau received just over two thousand votes in both the second and third CSMs. This made him chairman for the second council term and the second most voted-for member of the third. With the term restrictions removed, he hopes that his experience with the CSM will be valued once again. |
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Name: Tomas Ljumovic EVE character: ElvenLord Corporation: 4S Corporation(4S) Alliance: Morsus Mihi(RAWR) Useful links: Campaign website, forum thread After his corpmate Vuk Lau had served both his terms, ElvenLord took his place and became chairman of the fourth CSM. He's currenty running for re-election alongside Vuk Lau on a platform of improving EVE's usability. He hopes to address issues with the user interface and consistency in game design. |
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Name: Andy Smith EVE character: Chip Mintago Corporation: ANZAC ALLIANCE(ANZA) Alliance: IT Alliance(-IT-) Useful links: Campaign website Having served as alternate in the third CSM, Chip Mintago is running again on a platform of providing more opportunities for solo and small gang PvP. |
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Name: Tim Heusschen EVE character: Sokratesz Corporation: Rionnag Alba(R A) Alliance: Against ALL Authorities(.-A-.) Useful links: Campaign thread, interview 1, interview 2 Sokratesz was an active member of the fourth CSM and hopes to be re-elected for a second term. His efforts focus on preserving the sandbox nature of EVE and its emergent gameplay. |
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Name: Iain Compton EVE character: Helen Highwater Corporation: GoonWaffe(GEWNS) Alliance: SOLODRAKBANSOLODRAKBANSO(LODRA) Useful links: Campaign website, forum thread, interview Helen Highwater was an alternate character in the fourth CSM and hopes to become a full member this term. He plans to use his experience in the fourth CSM to be an effective member of the fifth council. He wishes to be an integral part of delivering player the feedback on the upcoming Tyrannis expansion. As one of the GoonWaffe entries, he's sure to gain plenty of votes from his large corporate backing. |
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