CSM Campaigns

Hi, I'm Gorga. I'm running for CSM X.

I had a really long post written out for this, talking about how and what the CSM does, and why running on some enormous platform pushing on lots of changes isn't the way to be honest about what you do -- I decided to shorten everything up for you. I will give you some background on myself as some of my RL and EVE experiences and how they may relate to my CSM term. I will also answer any reasonable question, basically an AMA.

I've been playing EVE at a very large scale for a long time now. I am the CEO of S2N and a major leadership figure in N3 (we don't really subscribe to the leader/follower mantra, coalition of willing/friends). I have a lot of experience with EVE at a large scale, as well as how player interaction, player groups, and many other out of game and in game mechanisms work. I have a hand in many different elements both in and out of the game, as many major decision makers do. I've also been involved pretty heavily with PVP theory crafting, fleet composition design, power projection, manufacturing, POS management, SOV management, money management, and a slew of other things.

I think my experience in all of these fields doesn't make me an expert in any of them. I know my limitations and where to draw the line on my expertise. That's where my RL and it's intersection with EVE comes into play, I have a lot of RL experience leading and contributing to teams both large and small from my work. I additionally now am employed in a Network/Systems Engineering position where I must be able to utilize my skill set to assist in the configuration/design/management of large and small networks I also rely on others to supplement my known weaknesses to ensure that our customer's needs are met. All of this will help me to contribute to the team in any meaningful way possible.

I also will make every effort (read: as my RL schedule allows) to be as open and transparent about the CSM process as the NDA will allow. I am not some major blogger nor do I have my own news source, but I think it's important that the players have some insight towards the CSM and as such I can say that I have an agenda item to run on that's directly game related. I would work with the CSM towards some sort of disclosure schedule where we would open up about whatever we can on a regular, frequent basis.

I also tend to be quite responsive towards direct personal communication. You can tweet me at @GorgaEVE or send me an EVEMail if you would like to discuss something in private or have some sort of feedback. I will also monitor and respond to everything I can in this thread up to and through the CSM elections.

Hopefully that's not too long winded and I didn't lose your attention. Also, sorry about the late notice :).

Proceed with the AMA.

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I will update this post with any additional important questions that have been answered.

First: he makes progod look dumb :)

there gorga started you off.

also with the entire corp named after him, give him a chance at minimum

Maybe it should be mentioned that Gorga was not at the meeting where the corp name was chosen.. so it is not arrogance, but more of a tribute to him, which should say something.

I have no questions. The original post is too vague and full of placating language.

Thanks for missing the point. The CSM doesn't get a platform to effect direct innovation. That's not what the job entails, you point out balance issues, or discuss changes CCP is making but you don't sit there and come up with your own platform of details that you want to 'change' or 'make happen'. I'm not going to make some pandering waste of time post talking about all the grand things I would change in EVE or try to change as a CSM because that's not what the CSM is doing.

What I would do is end up being a voice and a sanity check for the changes that CCP proposes. I wouldn't be the guy that goes "I would change it this way", but instead I can use my experience in the game to represent the position of players in general and help CCP correct changes that would negatively disrupt many types of gameplay.

Maybe now you understand why it's pointless to have a "platform" in a situation like this, because that's just petty political theater. You don't get a platform when you're in the CSM, you don't have the option to just radically stand on specific positions. You must relate changes to the current game, your understanding of mechanics and player interaction and come up with adjustments -- or outright kill some changes in the planning stage to be replaced with other ideas.

The reason why I think that I would do a good job are laid out, I'm good at working in a team environment, taking and adjusting to feedback, working at a high pace, and I enjoy the kind of things that are laid out as CSM tasks. I don't mind making and reporting items to the community. I enjoy thinking about high level problems and working as a group to overcome them.

I don't have a laundry list of crap that "OMG PVPEEEE IN LOWSEC IS BROKEN LETS FIX THIS THING GUYS BACK ME AND I'LL FORCE CCP TO FIX THIS" guys do. My list of things I would like to see is extensive, but I'm not running because I want to see a lot of changes, I'm running because I think I can help CCP make the best decisions as to how they would relate to a large portion of the player base.

I am.

Good question. Not an easy answer.

The best way to put it is that you have to divorce yourself from the situation as a player between the CSM and what you know and can act upon in EVE. Much of the information there is not actionable, and will clearly impact my ability to be the best decision maker for our alliance and coalition. We absolutely benefit much more from my impact on the shape of changes to come. The chances for things to overlap are absolutely there, which is when I must know to not allow my responsibility for S2N/N3 to come before my responsibility for the game. There are some explicit legalities at play... and I am credentialed IRL in a related industry that would absolutely be ruined by me sharing this sort of information and the revelation of this disregard of the NDA.

The best way to put it is that I could absolutely not be capable of acting on things directly and may need to delegate some decision making if the topic may result in an NDA'd item being disclosed inadvertently or acted upon.

The SOV changes will be out in a devblog I'm sure at some point in the near future.

if he can herd nulli cats, CSM is nothing +1

The main failure with regards to the CSM is the perception that they can actually make changes to the game. They all campaign about how they're going to fix this or that, when in actuality they have neither the option nor the power to 'fix' anything in the game. The CSM are a group of consultants, a sounding board for CCP to speak with about upcoming changes and get an opinion from people who aren't employees of CCP.

Gorga understands this role, and isn't going to feed you all a bunch of horse-**** to get votes. I can't think of a better person to be giving reality checks to CCP.

vouch