EVE Evolved: CSM 7 candidate roundup

- Columnist

Updated Sun, Mar 11, 2012, 6:00 PM·11 min read

EVE Online is unique among MMOs, and nowhere is this more evident than in the political struggles that take place every day in New Eden. Just this weekend, I spent long hours negotiating the surrender of a friend's wormhole starbase with an Elysian Empire diplomat, only to have his CEO overrule the decision because he wanted to get the killmail for blowing the starbase up. For EVE's more ambitious political machinists, perhaps the greatest challenge of all is to be part of the democratically elected Council of Stellar Management (CSM).

The council functions as an advisory board to CCP and a mechanism through which players can get their views and ideas across to developers. Last year's CSM was instrumental in forcing CCP's hand and making the company refocus development on EVE Online. With this year's ambitious plans to revamp all ships and forms of PvP, and DUST 514 due for a summer release, the stakes for this year's council are even higher. Voting is now underway to select the team of players who will represent the EVE playerbase to CCP for the coming year.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I round up all of this year's candidates to help you choose whom to vote for.

Voting stats

A total of 40 players submitted their candidacy for this year's CSM elections, of which 14 are returning players from previous council terms. A record 19,519 votes were cast on the first day of the election, and by day two more people had voted than CSM 6 had in a full week. Within five days, the vote tally reached over 36,000 players. Voter turnout is now over 10% of the playerbase, making EVE Online's elections more popular than many real-world primaries.

Voting officially closes on March 21st, and campaigning is still well underway. When you're ready to vote, follow this link to the voting page, log in, and click the vote button to the right of your chosen candidate. Remember to get your vote in before March 21st when polls close! The results will be published later in the month, when we'll find out who will be representing the EVE playerbase to CCP for the coming year.

In this three-page candidate roundup, I have split the 57 applicants up into two groups: returning members and new campaigners. Next to each campaigner, I've included a brief synopsis of his or her campaign information and links to any relevant campaign materials that might help you make your decision. If you find any additional information or links, please leave it in the comments

This year, 14 members of previous councils have entered the running. While previous experience is no guarantee of a seat on the council, history has shown that each council retains at least a few members from its previous iteration. This is beneficial as the new council can begin working immediately and newcomers will pick up the procedures as they go along. Returning members are the ones we know the most about, as everything they said in meetings is a matter of public record.

If you spot any errors in the list or have a useful link to contribute, please leave it in the comments at the end of this article.

Name: Rob Weatherly EVE character: Draco Llasa Corporation: Thundercats(HOO) Alliance: Initiative Mercenaries(IM) Useful links: Campaign thread Rob was a full member of the sixth CSM and hopes to secure a second term to continue CSM6's good work. He's running on a platform of evolving nullsec by revitalising nullsec industry and war, iterating on existing features, and supporting the incursion community. He aims to hold CCP accountable to the player community, just as CSM 6 did in his previous term.
Name: Peter Farrell EVE character: Elise Randolph Corporation: Habitual Euthanasia(HABIT) Alliance: Pandemic Legion(-10.0) Useful links: Campaign thread Peter was first alternate in the sixth CSM, narrowly missing a full seat by under 250 votes. Even though he didn't get a full seat on the council last year, Peter attended every single meeting, participated in every summit, and was heavily involved with the player community. He aims to continue this level of dedication in CSM 7 and is running on a PvP-based platform.
Name: Mark Heard EVE character: Seleene Corporation: Body Count Inc.(BDCI) Alliance: Pandemic Legion(-10.0) Useful links: Campaign webpage Mark was a full council member of the sixth CSM, securing more votes than any other council member. He was a game designer at CCP for over three years and watched the CSM become one of the most powerful tools for changing the direction of the game. He is running on a platform of encouraging CCP to iterate on old features and continuing the good work that began with Crucible. Mark joined CSM 6 to help guide the team based on his knowledge of how CCP works internally and hopes to be re-elected for a second year. In his previous term, he attended all scheduled CSM meetings and summits and was heavily involved with the player community.
Name: Alexander Gianturco EVE character: The Mittani Corporation: GoonWaffe(GEWNS) Alliance: Goonswarm Federation(CONDI) Useful links: Campaign webpage Alexander was chairman of CSM 6 and believes that it's due to his guidance that this CSM had such a massive impact on EVE. On the back of CSM 6's success, he wants to be re-elected to the chair for a second year to continue his work. Alexander's campaign for chair centres on the idea that the chairman role requires a certain type of person who is able to punish CCP if required to get the desired outcome: a better game. He believes that the only thing that matters is the results and that he has proven he can get those results.
Name: Adrian Mugnieco EVE character: Prometheus Exenthal Corporation: mnemonic.(MNE.) Useful links: Campaign webpage Adrian was an alternate in CSM 6 and hopes to secure a full seat this year. He is running on a platform of revisiting weak ships and poor mechanics that have gone without attention for years before expanding the universe with new features. Though he secured the second alternate position in CSM 6, Adrian did not regularly attend meetings and was not an active participant in council activities.
Name: Paul Alexander Oosterman EVE character: T'amber Anomandari Demaleon Corporation: www.shipsofeve.com(SOEIT) Useful links: Campaign webpage, Campaign thread Known for his massive Ships of EVE lotteries, Paul was an alternate member of the fourth and fifth CSM terms. He hopes to secure a full council seat this time and is running on a wide platform of changes that have gained support in the community. Paul wants to give players the ability to customise the appearance of their ships through limited paint modifications and the inclusion of corp and alliance logos on ships. He also proposes a new event system that lets players organise corp or public events and advertise them.
Name: Robert Woodhead EVE character: Trebor Daehdoow Corporation: Dirt Nap Squad(D-N-S) Alliance: Dirt Nap Squad.(-DNS-) Useful links: Campaign webpage, Campaign thread Robert has been one of the most essential council members of recent years, acting as vice-secretary on CSM 5 and secretary on CSM 6. He was the community's most effective interface with the council for both terms, publicly writing and editing almost all CSM blogs and summit reports. Robert also created and managed the Prioritization Crowdsourcing system that lets players vote on the relative importance of the issues discussed at the summit. This initiative was the cornerstone of the Crucible expansion, giving CCP a clear list of features and fixes that players wanted and how important those features were to the playerbase. Robert seeks re-election to continue to pressure CCP to deliver improvements based on player suggestions and feedback. He also wants a reform of the CSM voting process. In CSM 5 and 6, Robert attended every meeting and was present at every summit.
Name: Andrey Antonov EVE character: Korvin Corporation: Shadow Kingdom(SHK) Alliance: Best Alliance(BEST) Useful links: Campaign webpage, Campaign thread Andrey was an active member of the fourth and fifth CSM terms but didn't submit his candidacy for last year's elections. He's entered the running this year on a neutral platform with no goals and aims to avoid secrecy or favouring any particular group.
Name: Mikhail Romanchenko EVE character: UAxDEATH Corporation: The xDEATHx Squadron(XDSQX) Alliance: Legion of xXDEATHXx(X.I.X) Useful links: Campaign thread Mikhail is the official Legion of xXDEATHXx candidate and the main candidate for the Russian community. He was an active and integral part of CSM 6, where he represented the Russian playerbase and the interests of nullsec alliances. While he came to CSM 6 with a personal agenda fileld with specific issues he wanted addressed, Mikhail learned that he could accomplish more by tackling broader issues and lobbying CCP on a personal level. Noting that CSM 6 made more progress with developers during drinking sessions than meetings, Mikhail promises to drink as much liquor as is necessary to keep developers on the right track. He wants another term on the CSM to follow up on CSM 6's progress with CCP that ultimately led to Crucible.
Name: Joshua Goldshlag EVE character: Two step Corporation: Aperture Harmonics(AHARM) Alliance: K162(K162) Useful links: Campaign webpage Although he secured only an alternate seat on CSM 6, Joshua was a highly active participant in the council process. He regualrly attended meetings, voted on issues, and attended the summits. He is running for CSM 7 as the candidate for wormhole corporations and hopes to secure a full seat on the council this year.
Name: Gregory Russo EVE character: Alekseyev Karrde Corporation: Noir.(NOIR.) Alliance: Noir. Mercenary Group(NMG.) Useful links: Campaign webpage Gregory was a full member of the fourth council but didn't submit his candidacy in the fifth or sixth terms. He has submitted his candidacy this year based on how effective CSM 6 was in the previous term. Now that CCP has refocused on developing EVE Online, he believes experienced representatives are required and that he can fill that requirement. Gregory is running on a platform of revamping sovereignty warfare, the risk and reward of nullsec, and the relationship between empire and nullsec. He hopes to also secure the votes of those interested in small gang PvP and corporate war. As the CEO of one of EVE's top mercenary corps, he feels that his playstyle is not being represented in the CSM and that it needs to be represented if CCP is going to revamp the wardec system in Inferno.
Name: Michele Boland EVE character: Issler Dainze Corporation: Tadakastu-Obata Corporation(TDAO) Alliance: The Honda Accord(BEEP) Useful links: Campaign webpage, Campaign thread Michele was a full member of the second CSM and an alternate for third but failed to be re-elected in further councils. She believes that CSM 7 could be the most important council to date and that large power blocks could dominate the agenda for the entire year. Michele is running on a platform of supporting players in high security space, in particular the miners of EVE.
Name: Joseph W Morris EVE character: Darius III Corporation: Interstellar eXodus(IE-EX) Alliance: BricK sQuAD.(BR1CK) Useful links: Campaign webpage, Campaign thread Joseph is a notorious forum troll who ran for CSM last year. Despite his campaign's being a two-line blog post and a forum thread featuring a video of animal abuse, Joseph secured enough votes to narrowly claim an alternate seat in CSM 6. This year he's back in the running with another two-line campaign blog post and a less offensive campaign thread. In his previous term, Joseph was suspected of leaking confidential information to his corpmate riverini, who then published it on EVE News 24. This time around, he's been implicated in a scam promising players PLEX in exchange for their votes.
Name: Stephan Pirson EVE character: Meissa Anunthiel Corporation: Redshift Industrial(RS-I) Alliance: Rooks and Kings(HARK) Useful links: Campaign webpage, Campaign thread Stephan has been the most prolific council member of all time, having secured a seat in CSM 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. He has helped forge the procedures now used by the council and has more experience in dealing with CCP than anyone else. Stephan has been an active participant in council meetings and summits. Stephan believes that his presence on the council has helped new candidates keep track of the bigger picture rather than delving into their own personal viewpoints. He has experience in all areas of EVE, from lowsec and nullsec PvP to wormholes, mission-running, and all forms of manufacturing.