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 Xavier Azabu.
 
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.
Hey! I'm Xavier Azabu. I've been playing since 2010 or so. I currently fly with Paisti Syndicate. I've been a member of the Confederation of xXPizzaXx, Nulli Secunda, Tribal Band, and some wormhole groups. I'm a performance artist.
 
2. Who would you consider to be your key constituents? Who you would best represent within the playerbase?
I intend to be as independent as possible. I've flown in systems of every security level. I will try to consider the needs of all capsuleers and will look for your opinions wherever I can in-game and on Eve-related sites. That said, I do want to specifically represent the timezones of Australia, Japan, Mongolia, the US West, South Korea, Eastern Russia, New Zealand, the Phillipines, Oceania, and Western Canada.
 
3. Please summarise your platform. (Preferably using key bullet points)
- Meaningful and constructive feedback on Citadels and other new structures.
- Feedback to groups like Team Astro Sparkle. I like PVE with a risk of PVP.
- Increased opportunities to interact with the NPC pirate groups of Eve. Taking sides is fun.
- Better reasons for both casual and hardcore players to move around and use space.
- Suggestions to CCP for marketing and pricing ideas.
- Representing a variety of players when discussing the capital changes with the CSM.
- As an active small-gang pvper, I will offer my view on any tweaks to balance subcapitals.
- A better experience for rookies without watering Eve down.
- More choices in PVE! I would like to see more than one way to complete a mission.
- Continued tweaks to sov and null-sec. Sov should be worth taking. Atrophy is bad.
- Continued creation or redesign of systems or complexes. I loved Thera.
- Suggesting the addition of a Minmatar/Caldari skill-based pirate faction of ships.
 
4. Why have you decided to run for CSM this year?
Three things really led to me running for CSM. The first reason was actually those Crimson Harvest and Operation Frostline events. I loved them but imagined myself wanting to talk directly to CCP about them. The second reason was the loss or atrophy of many independent nullsec entities following some of the changes in Aegis and Phoebe. Leaders of many corps or alliances that I knew had a burnout. We have seen some burgeoning small groups in certain areas after Aegis tweaks but a lot of nullsec space feels too quiet. The third reason was news about CSM summits and participation that I will not repeat. I simply felt that the CSM could use me. I would participate as much as possible if elected and stay clear of representing only a specific power bloc.
 
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.
This is my first campaign for the CSM.
 
6. What makes you a unique representative when you compare yourself to other candidates?
I stand out as a candidate due to my independence and general desire to be unknown within the game up to this point. I would have loved to have been a "Pizza" candidate. I'm not a streamer and I don't FC huge fleets. I have FC'd some roams and minor fights. Usually the people on my fleets can fly their own ships. I log in, play, and talk about the game with much enthusiasm. I love the international feel of Eve. I've played with people from every continent. I've just decided to go full master.
 
7. Do you have any out of game experience and skills that make you a good candidate?
I am well-educated and have led others at various workplaces.
 
8. What areas of EVE are you weakest at knowledge wise?
Ore and ice mining specifics. Incursion fleets.
 
9. If you were offered unlimited development time - what's the biggest change you would lobby for in EVE?
I'd have to say changes to anomalies, sites, and missions. I hope that we could have multiple choice outcomes for missions or different ways to do anomalies with multiple types of NPCs to deal with. My specific ideas revolve around NPC pirate or Empire factions attacking each other. We've seen an increase in these sorts of storylines recently. I'd rather that the mission structure allowed you to help one of the factions or even betray both of them for your own profit - possibly using dialogue options. I also like connecting this to PVP by giving people things like faction standing boosts for ganking ratters. What if you (or your lowsec or nullsec group) could join the Blood Raiders - and then you didn't get aggression from their rats? PVPers already have many patterns and statistics to look at when roaming or ganking. It's nice to go into a system and feel like you've got the wrong door. We need things to draw people outside of their single ratting constellation or faction warfare area. NPC nullsec and lowsec could become even more intertwined with null proper.
 
10. If you could wind back the clock - what feature or change would you remove from EVE?
The Tech II BPO lottery doesn't sound fun. I wasn't even around then though. I wish that T2 modules would have been invention-based in the first place.
 
11. If you could pick one candidate to be elected with you who would they be and why?
Steve Ronuken. Our platforms are similar. I enjoy his site, his attitude in his forum posts, and his support for NPSI. Gorski Car comes second because I often agree with his statements regarding ship balancing.
 
12. What is your favourite memory in EVE and why?
My favourite memory of Eve is when I started a cruiser roam that ended with us stealing a Moros that someone abandoned after warping it into a bubble that we'd set up from a jump bridge to a station. Everyone was laughing hysterically and arranging for cynos to get the Moros out. Confederation of xXPizzaXx was great.
 
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.)
@XavierAzabu on twitter or just look for me on Reddit.
 
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)
I posted a Reddit post and a forum thread. And a lot of good discussions took place on Reddit.
 
15. In short - what is your closing statement (no more than 500 words please!)
Thanks for reading and I'm hoping to get your vote. Whether a ganker or a person who wants to become a crab - your feedback matters to me. You are not distorted. Let's have a meaningful discussion.