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 February the 29th in the order that they have been received. You can find out more about the CSM elections here.
Today's candidate is Joffy Aulx-Gao
 
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.
I?m Joffy Aulx-Gao, notorious pirate and a diplomat for Stay Frosty. I began playing EVE 1st July 2012 and I've never regretted it. I started out in a corp named Reverberation Inc for new players in highsec doing mining and missioning, but i wanted more from EVE. I was tired of the grind for ISK so I started solo pvping in my battlecruisers, and i knew immediately that it was my calling. I simply loved it.
After a year it got a bit boring being the only pvper in my corp, so i ended up joining Stay Frosty and our crazy CEO Rixx Javix.
I've Helped Stay Frosty in many ways over the last 2 and a half years, helping to organize events, recruit, working to sort out tense situations, serving as team captain for our AT team (we?ll do better this year) and of course padding our killboard.
 
Who would you consider to be your key constituents, who you would best represent within the playerbase?
I think the group that would feel they had most in common with me would be players who would like to see lowsec revitalised and improved, whether they be traders, pirates, factional warfare enthusiasts, explorers or industrialists, and disabled players who would like their voice to be heard on the CSM.
 
Please summarise your platform. (Preferably using key bullet points)

• Lowsec


• Accessibility


• PvP


• Solo

 
Why have you decided to run for CSM this year?
Two main reasons, firstly, I know disabled players can encounter difficulties in EVE that able-bodied players do not, and I want to make EVE more accessible for everyone.  Secondly, Sugar Kyle is not running this year unfortunately, and lowsec is an area I feel is underrepresented in the CSM, so I would like to give players of all kinds from lowsec a voice on the CSM.
 
Have you run for or been a member of CSM in the past? If so please list each year and if you were elected.
CSM XI will hopefully be my first time.
 
What makes you a unique representative when you compare yourself to other candidates?
I am very approachable, if I am online (which is most of the time in AU and early EUTZ, due to being on a pension), people are always welcome to contact me in-game, and I will be happy to spend time with them discussing their concerns.
My disability means that I have an insight into some of the challenges faced by disabled players in Eve, which can be otherwise overlooked, for example: Enable so you can adjust size of icons, overview and text in various places, as an example make the orbit button bigger so it's easier to hit and/or read.
 
Do you have any out of game experience and skills that make you a good candidate?
Being a member of the CSM requires the ability to be able to take in others viewpoints, when they may be vastly different from your own, I feel that my patience, and ability to listen to others will be very useful when dealing with hot topics of discussion.
 
What areas of EVE are you weakest at knowledge wise?
I've tried almost everything from gas mining to T2 industry and even hauling for Red Frog but i've never tried PI or serious trading but i?m always willing to learn.
 
If you was offered one year of unlimited development time - what's the biggest change you would lobby for in EVE?
If I had a year of unlimited dev time,  I would like to see improved accessibility for blind/partially sighted players, for example, by adding screen reader support to parts of the eve UI, to allow players with sight impairments to take part in our space adventures, this might be limited to areas such as industry, trading, salvaging, hauling initially, where interactions are not as time critical, but, even this would be a great step forward for Eve.
 
If you could wind back the clock - what feature or change would you remove from EVE?
All changes take time to adjust to, especially major changes, but, when we look back at them, most of them have been beneficial for the game.
 
If you could pick one candidate to be elected with you, who would they be and why?
It would be impossible for me to select only one candidate I would most like to work with, the two people I most hope to see alongside me on the CSM are Erika Mizune and The Judge;
Erika because she is also running on a platform for addressing accessibility in Eve, and our combined efforts could hopefully bring about some change, she is also someone who is involved in B4R, which is a cause I am passionate about, and is someone who I consider a friend.
The Judge is someone I have the utmost respect for, he works hard in his role as diplomat for CO2, and is knowledgeable about almost every aspect of Eve, in all my dealings with him I have found him easy to approach for discussions.  In terms of the CSM, I believe he would work hard to get results, and take into account the differing views we would all bring.
 
What is your favorite memory in EVE and why?
Back in 2013, when I was still a relatively new player (around 9 months or so), I was on my way to null to have some fun with residents there, and about halfway through my trek down there, I noticed a Tengu following me jump to jump.
I decided to wait on a gate in Saphthar and see if he would engage.  He jumped in and engaged me, most likely he thought I was PvE fit.
The gate guns activated and I started shooting him, I had dual webs on my brutix, so I applied them and burned in, desperately trying to stay close enough, slowly he started going down, I could barely believe that I was doing it......I was shaking, and the adrenaline was flowing like crazy (I am sure everyone remembers their early fights similarly).   Bit by bit he went lower and lower into shield, then armor, then structure, before exploding.  I looted around 150m, and rushed to the station, asking a friend to come out and collect my loot to sell in Amarr, because now I was more excited than ever to get down to null and start shooting people.
While it wasn't my first solo kill, it is the one I remember the most, and it is still solo I prefer doing to this day!
Killmail here btw:  https://zkillboard.com/kill/28838895/
 
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.)
You can contact me via twitter and in-game, but if I prefer Slack. It pops up even when I am doing other things.
In game: Joffy Aulx-Gao
In game CSM channel: Beyond Boundaries
Twitter: @JoffyAulxGao
Tweetfleet slack: joffyaulxgao
 
If people wanted to find out more about your platform - where is the best place to do so? (Include blogs, forums posts and podcasts)
About me: http://eveoganda.blogspot.dk/2015/02/beyond-screen-joffy-aulx-gao.html
My campaign post: https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=448664&find=unread
 
In short - what is your closing statement?
Readers should select candidates for their ballot based on their ability to express their ideas and their knowledge of the game, rather than any grand campaign promises.  I would advise all voters to read through the platforms, once the candidacies are finalised, to better familiarise themselves with each individual.  Hopefully after doing this, there is a place for me on each of your ballots.
Good luck to all the candidates, and may the force be with you.
Vote Joffy 2016!