CSM Campaigns

Capsuleers,

My name is Xander Phoena and I would like to confirm my candidacy for the 9th Council of Stellar Management.

I have been playing Eve Online for five years now and it has become an intrinsic part of who I am as a person. I love this game deeply, in particular the community who make it so special. I have attempted to contribute to this community in my own way through the Crossing Zebras website, hosting a podcast on there for almost two years and pulling together a pool of writers in recent months to discuss all aspects of the game. I have stood in Reykjavik with my fellow players during Fanfest 2013 and the experience was something that I will never forget.

I've also been a keen observer, commentator and promoter of the CSM process for a long time now. I have spent quite literally hundreds of hours over the past 12 months attempting to bring the CSM as a body to the player base whether it be the CSM8 Election Interviews or the monthly CSM8 variants I have carried out since then. The CSM8 Election Interview project took around 120 hours of my time in what was effectively a three week period but it is something I am exceptionally proud of and something the community seemed to appreciate. Unfortunately, the conflict of interest is such that I won't be able to carry out those interviews this year but I will do all I can to support anyone else who wishes to tackle the undertaking.

Of course, what you want to know is why you should consider voting for me come April. I am standing on two basic platforms:

Communication

The CSM is a player-advocacy group and as such, it is vitally important that CSM9 communicates clearly and frequently with the player base. CSM8 has done a better job than any previous CSM in keeping up regular communication with players, particularly through Ripard Teg and Ali Aras. Unfortunately, Ripard is not standing as an incumbent for CSM9 and I believe I have proven myself to be someone who will do his upmost to inform the player base of what CSM9 is doing throughout the year.

How I will achieve this in practical terms is in two ways. Firstly, I will continue with the monthly interviews that I have been carrying out throughout CSM8's tenure (for what it's worth, these will be continuing whether I am elected or not). Secondly, I intend on continuing Ripard's weekly CSM blog post series into CSM9 on Crossing Zebras.

The CSM as a body fails if it does not adequately communicate the wishes and thoughts of the player base to CCP, CCP's intentions and plans to the player base (within NDA obviously) and it's own work to both. I hope I can be a key part to ensuring all three happen.

Nullsec

I make no apologies for the fact that I have spent the vast majority of my Eve career in 0.0 and it is where I am the most experienced and knowledgable. And as it stands, 0.0 is in a pretty bad way. There are many issues here that must be addressed for the future health of the game – sovereignty, nullsec industry, player owned stations and power projection all need to be looked at with some urgency. It may be that CCP is already working on these things or has them on the development schedule for CSM9′s tenure but either way, we need some clarification on these matters.

The current grinding involved in taking sovereignty in 0.0 is does not lead to exciting and engaging gameplay. Fleets can move around all too quickly and easily and this is only amplified with the ever increasing need for tidi in large PvP engagements. The option of dividing fleets over multiple systems as happened during B-R is something that could be implemented intrinsically into sovereignty mechanics.

To be 100% clear, I am not suggesting that 0.0 is more worthy or important that other areas of space in New Eden, simply that the issues that are present in 0.0 are more apparent to me personally due to how I spend my time in Eve Online.

Now, I feel capable to discuss other areas of the game which aren't nullsec with some degree of confidence despite admitting I may not be an expert. I am however very fortunate to count many of the prominent players of Eve as friends, including former and current CSM members, alliance leaders and indeed the writing staff on Crossing Zebras. If you come to me with thoughts or questions and I can't answer them immediately, I am more than happy to speak to those in the know and to put in the research to improve my personal breadth of knowledge.

I think it only fair in the interests of full disclosure that I also discuss my own work arrangements here. I am employed in the North Sea oil industry and work on what is roughly a 'two weeks on, two weeks off' schedule. When I am offshore, I have access to Skype text channels, twitter, email and forums however generally the internet far out at sea is not fast enough for voice or video communications. Also, whilst offshore I may not be available with immediate notice. The flip side of this particular coin is that I am ostensibly on holiday six months of the year and able to devote huge amounts of time to the CSM process. A perfect example of this would be the aforementioned CSM8 Election Interviews carried out over a period of six weeks in 2013 but were effectively carried out in a three week period while I was actually at home.

I have discussed with several prominent members of CSM8 whether or not they believe my work schedule is likely to cause an issue with me standing for CSM9 and they have all stated that based on how the CSM interacts with CCP in a practical nature and due to my own personal and proven work ethic, they do not see it as an issue in the slightest. I do not feel it reasonable to ask for your vote without making you fully aware of my situation however.

[cont.]

Endorsements:

Two Step (CSM6 Alternate Delegate, CSM7 Secretary) - I've been talking to Xander about the CSM for a couple of years now, and I think he would make an excellent candidate. Too often people are judged by their own personal ideas for what CCP should be doing and not nearly often enough by how well they talk and listen, and Xander does both very very well. He knows the game, he is a very hard worker, and he would be great for the game. He is absolutely near the very top of my own ballot, and I hope (and expect) that get gets a well earned seat this year.

Trebor Daehdoow (CSM5, 6, 7, 8 Chairman) - Your commitment to the community and work-ethic -- two of the basic requirements for a successful CSM -- have been repeatedly demonstrated.

Ripard Teg (CSM8 Vice Chairman) - Xander is smart, thoughtful, dedicated to the game, and not afraid of hard work. These are all qualities that will serve him well. I will be endorsing Xander for CSM9!

Hans Jaegerblitzen (CPM0 Delegate, CSM7 Vice Secretary) - I am super excited to give an early endorsement to Xander Phoena for CSM 9. Xander has one of the most outstanding work ethics of any EVE player, on or off the CSM, and this to me is one of the greatest requirements for any candidate. He is also objective, unafraid of criticism (both giving and receiving) and has a love for the game that shines through his work on the Crossing Zebras podcast. He always has his thumb on the issues that players care about the most, and I have no doubt he will make an outstanding representative. He will be near the top of my ballot when cast, and should be at the top of yours as well. Please vote Xander Phoena for CSM9!

Alekseyev Karrde (CSM7 Delegate) - Xander is tremendously passionate about EVE and the CSM with years of experience as a podcaster and interviewer. He'll be a great asset to CSM9 in both player facing communications and getting the job done with CCP.

Mangala Solaris (CSM8 Delgate) - Xander will be a passionate advocate for the wider eve community in his interactions with CCP, as anyone who has been a listener of his little podcast will know. I fully support Xanders candidacy for CSM 9 and trust that you all will too.

Malcanis (CSM8 Delegate) - I unreservedly endorse Xander for CSM9. The candidate that CCP deserve to have to deal with.

Seleene (CSM6 Delegate, CSM7 Chairman) - Qualities of Xander:

Extreme passion about the EVE community.
Sets the bar for interviewing skills and dedication.
This man will wear a kilt to a Winter CSM summit.
Scottish = no fucks given.

Xander is the kind of person you want to send to Iceland. He will ask the hard questions and demand answers. I've no doubt that he will also work hard to keep us all informed about what is going on during his term. The NDA stuff will drive him insane, which will also be funny to listen to. Lol

If you have any doubts, just listen to one of his podcasts then imagine him at the table in Iceland demanding straight talk from the devs. I will certainly be voting for Xander and so should anyone that wants to see the CSM continue to evolve and improve.

Chitsa Jason (CSM8 Delegate) - Xander already did a lot of CSM work by not even being on CSM. I have been talking to him throughout my CSM term and he has great ability to understand the process.

Xander will definitely have a place in my ballot and you should definitely consider him.

ProGodLegend (CSM8 Delegate) - Xander will be a great CSM member as he's been a big part of the community for the past few years. There are so many various aspects to EVE and Xander probably has as broad an understanding as anyone thanks to all the work he does with his website and the crossing zebra podcast. The best CSM members have a general understanding of all EVE mechanics, with a long list of very skilled friends that they can reach out to for more information on any one topic. Xander will fit that mold perfectly, he'll be fine.

He has a spot on the N3 ballot that's for sure.

Having been a part of my own inspiration to run for CSM9, I'll be the first to support Xander for the CSM position. The work done with candidate interviews last year was invaluable and I'll be sad to see conflict of interest take them from us this year.

Good Luck!

Wasn't surprised by this announcement at all and I was glad to hear it. Xanders' work for CSM8 was massively appreciated and if he is half as dedicated to the cause whilst actually in the CSM, he'll be an invaluable asset.

Also he told me to post here. Didn't even ask nicely.

this is asome i realy think he will be a good bridge between csm and the memberbace. GO GO xander !!!

your effort for csm8 was asome. i deff think you will be a good candidate

you got my vote

Xander is a stand up guy who deserves his chance to make an impact on this meta-life-game of CSM for eve online.

I think he would bring a new dimension to the counsil and he has my votes.

Awesome news!! Great guy and would be one hell of a representative. He knows this game forward and backward and would be a great liaison. Good Luck Xander!!

I don't really know what to say about Xander. Or I don't know how to express how good Xander will be in CSM. He is a vital part of this community and he KNOWS this game so he can help pressing issues all ppl in game have and many believe that "hey, CCP will not listen to our problem".

And we have to agree with him. Vote for CSM,don't avoid it cause who we put there is in our hand fellow players and we can help make this game better. And yes, vote Xander cause he is the right man for the job.

I am not a game designer and it is all too easy for someone such as myself to say what is wrong as opposed to how to fix it.

Regarding the issues above though, if I was to take a first stab, I would drop Titan jump ranges and make jump bridge networks more restrictive through the number that can be deployed in space, their ranges, the fuel needed or some combination of the above. As to dividing fleets, well as I say, this is also something that was done in B-R to great (and winning) effect. Award this sort of gameplay through in game mechanics. Perhaps having multiple fleets over a certain size in multiple systems in the same region all fighting at the same time (the definition of 'fighting' would need to be clarified) confers some form of bonus to all fleets?

Perhaps instead do the opposite - the more allied fleets in one system at any one time ends up carrying out the kind of negative % bonuses we see in Incursion systems, scaling with the number of fleets?

I am spitballing here and I'm sure people will pick holes in these ideas. I'm sure CCP can come up with (and perhaps are even working on) better ideas but the current mechanics favour 'throw as many people in a system as possible' and the server architecture clearly does not support this.