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 Sapporo Jones.
 
1. 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 Sapporo Jones and I am currently the executor of Test Alliance Please Ignore. I have been playing EVE since 2005 and have seen many highs and lows as the game has been developed since then. Prior to my time in TEST I was in many lowsec pirate corps and one Faction Warfare corp from the first iteration of Faction Warfare. I have been in TEST since 2010 and have no plans to go anywhere but TEST. TEST is love, TEST is life. TEST is the Subaru of alliances. It has a low carbon footprint just like the construction of Subaru vehicles in zero landfill facilities. TEST has a low center of gravity like that of the horizontally opposed boxer engines found in Subaru vehicles. TEST is also symmetrical like the all-wheel drive mechanics in the rugged Subaru vehicles. Truly, I am a dependable, reliable, sturdy candidate at the best price/performance ratio of any other candidate running. Truly I am the Subaru of candidates. If you are interested in joining TEST with your corp please contact a TEST diplomat, if you would like to join as a member Dreddit is recruiting.
 
2. Who would you consider to be your key constituents? Who you would best represent within the playerbase?
I would consider nullsec players to be my primary constituents, and are the demographic I feel at the present time needs the most representation. Obviously I am from a nullsec bloc so most of my experience is going to come from my experiences and observations during my time in that bloc. But that doesn't mean that I seek to represent TEST, I seek to represent all of us in this game from highsec to lowsec, from Jita to 6VDT. This universe is a linked ecosystem and changes cannot be made in one area and not affect people in another area. Because of that we need to be mindful of the changes we propose and consider so as not to adversely impact the experiences of others.
 
3. Please summarise your platform. (Preferably using key bullet points)
I will happily use bullet points to break up my goals, but I would like to take a moment to respectfully remind the reader of a few key concepts. Many campaigns for CSM make very specific statements about the changes a candidate would like to implement or directly effect. Please keep in mind that CCP is a business with a global reach, and while it's often all too easy for us to fall in to the "ccp is dumb" meme we only make that joke because we often don't get to see the reasoning behind a particular decision. As such, what my platform points are will be presented as suggestions or tweaks to the game I would like to make because I believe CSM has a responsibility to work with CCP to achieve goals rather than to try to convince you I am going to presumptively tell CCP what they are going to do as though I am some kind of expert in their business.
-I want to try to make changes to the Phoebe era capital mobility changes. I like the idea of limiting force projection, I like the concept that CCP "The Absolute Madman" Greyscale had with Phoebe. I think that failing to take into account range when calculating fatigue accrual, or leaving fatigue accrual in its current state is a mistake. While an argument can be made that this will make large blocs too powerful, it will really just make smaller alliances more capable.
-We need to find a way to make sov null habitable again. It's not so much sov null is dead, it's not so much that sov null is stagnant, it's that there's really no longer an incentive to live in sov null with your name on the map beyond a few trivial rewards. Vanity, supercapital building, discount on fuel consumption for player owned starbases, and control of system upgrades are really all you have to look forward too. There needs to be a way to incent groups to live in sov null, the current Aegis system is good but makes it too easy for even a 1 person alliance to control and hold sov. This really marginalizes what sov null is meant to be. We need a sense of grandeur and spectacle in sov null and we just don't have that anymore.
-Dreddit is recruiting members.
-Subaru is greater than Honda.
-World Rally Blue is the best color ever made for anything ever
-TEST Alliance is recruiting corps.
 
4. Why have you decided to run for CSM this year?
I feel strongly that we in the sov null space need solid representation. Every year I feel a great amount of respect for those who run and try to support them as best I can in their campaign and even after. Rather than try to communicate what I feel is important through CSM, this year I decided I would just run for CSM. I care a great deal about our community, I care a great deal about this game and our experiences in it. I care too much to leave the short term future to chance. I'm running for CSM to help secure the brightest future possible for this playerbase.
 
5. Have you run for or been a member of CSM in the past? If so please list each year and if you were elected.
Ě have never before run for CSM.
 
6. What makes you a unique representative when you compare yourself to other candidates?
I bring a semi-unique perspective in that I come from an alliance that once was mighty and numerous, then lost it all and has been rebuilding itself from the ground up for the better part of three years. In being a part of that rebuilding I have worked through multiple iterations of sov mechanics and in game mechanics to manage various functional areas of a nullsec alliance. I believe I can synergize the communities in way others may not be able to. Though I am also comfortable saying this may be the best line up of CSM candidates I've ever seen run at the same time. Even if I don't get your vote there are so many solid candidates running that I believe the future will be bright for us all.
 
7. Do you have any out of game experience and skills that make you a good candidate?
I have worked as a project manager before, as well as having worked as a division manager for a staffing company. I have experience working with people and working in a corporate environment for large companies and small companies. I am comfortable with bureaucracy.
 
8. What areas of EVE are you weakest at knowledge wise?
Highsec. I haven't spent enough time in the last half decade or more to really understand the mechanics behind it.
 
9. If you were offered unlimited development time - what's the biggest change you would lobby for in EVE?
Sov null structure user interface elements and corp/alliance user interface elements. The station management interface is needlessly confusing and I don't believe it's been updated since the start of Dominion sov mechanics. The corp and alliance user interface is also needlessly complicated and leads to issues with roles that are exploitable. Megacorp corp management is awful. Obviously my two stated points above in my platform are of highest priority for me but are medium to long term goals. If I could helm a team or work with a team that could work on one thing only and had limitless resources to implement something short term, UI stuff would be it.
 
10. If you could wind back the clock - what feature or change would you remove from EVE?
Fozzie sov. It's got a ton of potential and could be really excellent for the game, but I strongly feel it needed more time and development before implementation and as a result of the changes the motivation to hold sov for many players has vanished.
 
11. If you could pick one candidate to be elected with you who would they be and why?
Without question, Lucia Denniard. She's whip smart, great at information analysis, is excellent at working with one of the most difficult communities to work with, is excellent at looking for ways to work around difficult situations in game through tools development and so much more. If you decide not to vote for me (and that's fine, you should vote your conscience) you should absolutely vote for Lucia. If I am the Subaru of candidates, she is easily the Toyota of candidates.
 
12. What is your favourite memory in EVE and why?
The battle of 6VDT-H. We knew we were going to lose, we knew it was the end of our time in Fountain, we knew even with our list of allies we were pushing uphill, and Boodabooda made the call to give our home the best send off we could. And we did. That fight was a tidi slugfest for many hours. There were more people involved in that single fight than have been involved in a single strategic event since in this game. In that one day we presented to the world, not just the EVE community, the spectacle of this game when we as a playerbase commit to something. It was beautiful and terrible, it was destructive and awe inspiring, and it was all player driven and executed. That day we, the EVE community, proved to the world that we will not be a Honda. We are great, we are powerful, we are a community, we are Subarus.
 
13. 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.)
I am in tweetfleet Slack, you can reach me on Skype by looking for sapporojones, I am on Twitter as @sapporojones, and you can email me at sapporojones@gmail.com. I keep an open door policy in my alliance, anyone with questions can contact me whenever I am around and I never mind answering their questions or discussing issues with them. In running for CSM I would like to extend that to you all. Feel free to email/tweet/skype/slack/etc should you want to contact me.
 
14. If people wanted to find out more about your platform - where is the best place to do so? (Include blogs, forums posts and podcasts)
Just contact me using any of the above methods. I am around way too much to make you hunt for information about myself or my platform. If you want to just hop on TEST mumble and talk to me there I will also happily throw you a temp link to talk to me there as well. Don't feel as though you need to refer to websites or blogs or reddit posts or whatever. I am running for a body of players that represent this community. I would rather continue to be a part of this community than refer you to ~words~.
 
15. In short - what is your closing statement (no more than 500 words please!)
My name is Sapporo Jones and I am running for CSM. I care. I want to represent you as best as I am able. Together we can make the future of this game bright again. Vote early, vote often, vote Sapporo Jones.