With the Council of Stellar Management (CSM) Elections coming up soon we at EVE NT have contacted all the running candidates who have announced their intentions to run and provided them with a standardised interview template. The goal of this is to give each candidate a set of standard questions for them to respond to with the aim of helping you, the voter, to choose a candidate who best represents you and your play style to CCP. The same questions have been asked of every candidate as to allow easier comparison. The responses posted are unedited and will be published in the run up to the opening of the voting period on Febuary the 29th in the order that they have been received. You can find out more about the CSM elections here.
Today's candidate is Aiwha.
Please start by giving us a short introduction to who you are and your history within EVE Online. Include how long you have been playing and the groups you have been involved with.
My name is Aiwha, and I've played EVE online for the past six years.  While most of that time was spent in the alliance Nulli Secunda, I've had a chance to play the game in many different ways during my EVE career including WH's and FW(pre-rework, I have not tried the new stuff as of yet).    However, most of my experience has been in nullsec with S2N and now NARM.
 
Who would you consider to be your key constituents? Who you would best represent within the playerbase?
Primarily, I would say that nullsec line members are my primary constituents.  The dudes that have to login to rat and join fleets on the day to day.  I also really like WH's, through nulli's WH farming division, I got a chance to live in and occasionally pvp in high end WH space.  Loved every second of it.  The stability of nullsec and other corp responsibilities unfortunately cut that short.  While I won't call myself an expert on WH's, I think I understand the basics of what they want in the game in addition to how null dudes want to play the game.
 
Please summarise your platform. (Preferably using key bullet points)

• BLOPS buffs.  While blops pilots have done very well adjusting to pheobe, I want to see the restrictions on their jump timers lifted a little more to let them strike further faster.


• Structure/capital balance.  We?re getting new structures and a massive capital rebalance, and I think that feedback on their deployment/balance is going to be the primary concern of nullsec CSM reps this year.


• WH health.  I want to see more focus on WH's in the new player experience, and for CCP to look at new ways to increase the unpredictability of WH space in general.

 
Why have you decided to run for CSM this year?
I ran for CSM last year on nearly the same platform, but was overshadowed by S2N's Gorga.  Bringing up Nulli's last representative isn't exactly summoning pleasant memories for people who follow the CSM, but I feel that both this year, and last year, I can serve a full term with proper attendance.
 
Have you run for or been a member of CSM in the past? If so please list each year and if you were elected.
I ran last year.  Did not win, didn't lose horribly either, so that was nice.
 
What makes you a unique representative when you compare yourself to other candidates?
Two things.  One, I?m not really space famous.  I?m one of the peons who carry out the day to day shit.  I?m also creepily in love with Blops, even though I don't get to do it a lot. Love those things to death.
 
Do you have any out of game experience and skills that make you a good candidate?
I don't have a lot going on out of the game.  So I guess that just means more time to be in the slack bouncing ideas back and forth?
 
What areas of EVE are you weakest at knowledge wise?
At the moment, faction warfare for sure.  I read about the back and forth between groups from time to time, but I haven't really played it for awhile.  Supposedly it's gotten better in recent years, but I can't really comment on it.
 
If you were offered unlimited development time - what's the biggest change you would lobby for in EVE?
That's a REALLY big question.  Overall, I think resource diversity in nullsec would be my primary overhaul goal.  Moving moongoo and mineral resources around so that different areas of space would become valuable at different times, also would promote exploring to find where the moongoo/minerals/rats are building up.
 
If you could wind back the clock - what feature or change would you remove from EVE?
The Orthus.  I hate the Orthus.  Bhargs are expensive and a neat BS concept, garmurs are terrifying but they?re still just a frig, but Orthuses punch WAY above their level.
 
If you could pick one candidate to be elected with you who would they be and why?
I would have to pick Mr.Hyde I think.  He's not one of the established big name candidates, and he knows his shit.
 
What is your favorite memory in EVE and why?
Probably CVA's opening offensive WAAAAAY back in 2009-2010 when they tried to invade catch.  It was the first big campaign I'd ever been a part of, and I got to fly a ferox in the dreaded proviblob.  Since Dominion sov had just been deployed, we were all pretty excited to drop SBU's and shoot things, and since I was still just a little nugget, it was even more exciting.  Anyways, I spent eight hours warping from gate to gate with the blob shooting things while our stuff onlined.  It was fun.
 
What platform(s) do you use currently to engage with the wider player base? If someone wanted to contact you what is the best way to do this? (Include Twitter/Emails/Skype/Slack etc.)
EVE mailing Aiwha.  Unless I?m sleeping, I've always got an eveonline.com page open and see mails pretty quick.  Then respond once I figure out how to type out my thoughts.
 
If people wanted to find out more about your platform - where is the best place to do so? (Include blogs, forums posts and podcasts)
https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=461388&find=unread
Or just EVE mail me and ask.  I prefer answering questions.
 
In short - what is your closing statement (no more than 500 words please!)
I?m Aiwha, and I generally know what I?m sort of maybe doing sometimes.