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.
Today's candidate is The Judge.
 
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.
Hi, I am The Judge. I have been playing EVE since 2003. I have been involved with many corporations and alliances over the years, the most enjoyable being Circle-Of-Two. I am proud to be living in Tribute with my alliance in the position of Senior Diplomat and Fleet Commander. I am also a member of the Circle-Of-Two Alliance Tournament team (even though I always seem to be the first primary for the enemy!).
 
Who would you consider to be your key constituents, who you would best represent within the playerbase?
As a pilot living in nullsec, by definition I consider myself a nullsec candidate. With the amount of interest I have, as well as the time I have spent and still spend in and around lowsec, I guess I could be also considered a lowsec candidate by proxy.
 
Please summarize your platform.
While I advocate for a wide variety of issues, I wouldn't exactly call that a platform. What I hope to achieve is the repairing of relationships between CCP and the CSM while providing valid and meaningful feedback. We as a community need, and deserve, CSM representatives that are willing to engage with the community and bring their voices back to the boardroom at CCP.
 
Why have you decided to run for CSM this year?
I feel like the relationship between the CSM and by extension the player base has been incredibly damaged by what can only be explained by a ham fisted approach by a select few of former, and possibly current CSMX representatives. As someone who strongly believes in what the CSM stands for I find this incredibly frustrating. As Cagali Cagali mentioned in his presentation at EVE Downunder 2015, after the leaks of CSMX a number of CCP devs do not trust the CSM anymore and some refuse to communicate with the CSM at all (rightfully so in my opinion). While this is damaging to both sides, I do not feel that we are at the point of this being irreversible. We need people in the CSM who are not only knowledgeable and good representatives for their constituents, but who are also willing to work on repairing the damage that has been done to the CSM's reputation and effectiveness. I feel that my experience, dedication and love for EVE, its players and devs, is a good basis for my CSM campaign. I decided to run because I think I am the right person for the job. Its that simple.
 
Have you run for or been a member of CSM in the past? If so please list each year and if you were elected.
This is my first candidacy, but I am confident.
 
What makes you a unique representative when you compare yourself to other candidates?
As a Senior Diplomat for Circle-Of-Two, I have had the opportunity to see a completely new side to EVE that I previously only ever heard whispers about. The ability to not only reach out to any alliance in the north, but anywhere around EVE, is something I am incredibly proud of. On a more personal level, I am highly self-motivated, positive and have an enthusiastic attitude. I possess the social skills needed to establish and maintain internal and external relationships, which I feel are all traits CSM candidates need.
 
Do you have any out of game experience and skills that make you a good candidate?
I talk for a living, which not only helps me be an effective diplomat for my alliance, but I feel makes me better situated than most to understand and relay information between the player base and CCP. After all, an effective CSM member is one who has no issues communicating.
 
What areas of EVE are you weakest at knowledge wise?
I am not ashamed to admit my weakness in EVE is W-space. At one point I lived in a C2 wormhole with a corporation for 9 months, but I still consider myself quite noob at wormholes as a whole. I understand the mechanics, but I am lacking in depth knowledge.
 
If you was offered one year of unlimited development time - what's the biggest change you would lobby for in EVE?
Just one? You guys sure do ask the hard questions! Rather than a change, I will answer this with an addition. The biggest addition to EVE I would like to see would be a working and comprehensive station environment. I was one of those people that saw the "walking in station" demo all those years ago and went "WOW - THAT is cool!". I feel like it would be a huge draw to bring in new players while also giving older players something new to explore. Can you imagine having the option to dock in a station, climb out of your ship, walk to the shady back room of a bar to talk to an agent and collect a mission? I am all for new and interesting options for player to player and player to NPC interaction. Who knows, maybe with the shake up of structures (starting with citadels) there would be room for such a project.
 
If you could wind back the clock - what feature or change would you remove from EVE?
I honestly don't think I would remove anything because overall I am happy with the direction EVE is moving into the future. The meta is forever changing which in my opinion evolves the gameplay of EVE, leading to a more interesting and diverse universe.
 
If you could pick one candidate to be elected with you, who would they be and why?
Choosing only one candidate would do a disservice to so many worthy candidates, so I will mention a few.
Kyle Aparthos - Kyle how shown himself to be a very knowledgeable and lateral thinker. He is a pleasure to work with. I hope to see him with a seat on CSM XI.
Noobman - Definitely one of the few people running this year that I consider to have their finger on the pulse regarding wormholes. I don't know him personally, but I only hear good things? that's enough for me.
Joffy Aulx-Gao - Joffy definitely has a unique perspective on EVE and the right attitude to be an effective CSM member.
 
What is your favourite memory in EVE and why?
The battle of B-R5RB has to be right up there. I arrived on grid 2 hours after the battle first started, and stayed active until the end. When people ask me in real life what I do with my time and I say "I play EVE", the first question is always "Were you in that fight that cost $330,000?!". I can remember being woken up by my phone blowing up with skype messages to get online. Definitely a real thrill, and something I am proud to have been a part of.
 
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.)
Ingame conversations or evemails are always good for longer messages or questions. People can also contact me @_TheJudge on twitter or TheJudgeEVE on skype.
 
If people wanted to find out more about your platform - where is the best place to do so? (Include blogs, forums posts and podcasts)
If you are interested in what I have to say, what I stand for or who the hell I am, head over to my CSM XI candidacy thread for more information.
https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=462610&find=unread
 
In short - what is your closing statement (no more than 500 words please!)
There are plenty of people promising to implement changes that will make your ingame life better... I want you, the voter, to understand that these people fall under the same umbrella of "snake oil salesmen". The CSM is a player representative body to help guide EVE to the best future possible, not decide what is developed. I urge you to vote when the time comes, but vote for the right reasons. There are many dedicated and worthy candidates hoping to make it onto CSM XI and I believe that ultimately the community will vote for the right people to represent the playerbase as a whole.  I hope you find me worthy of your vote and to be one of the 14 chosen to represent our amazing and unique community. Thank you.