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 edeity.
 
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.
Hi! I am edeity, Have been playing eve since 2008 - so nearly 8 years. I intentionally play one character only, never use an alt. I am 42 years old, father of 2 teenagers, run a corp called ?Holy Amarrian Battlemonk? which is an Amarr Militia corp modelled on the Monks of Zul Matah. A monastery you may have run into if you do low sec combat sites in Blood Raider space...
My formative eve experiences were solo pvp in what is now the Amarr / Minmatar faction war zone, and then on to 0.0 in Providence before a short time in Noir, then back to Providence then some null sec alliance activity in Fountain, then as part of what was then called the CFC. Yes I have heard the dulcet tones of the eve famous Better Call Saul lawyer on mumble (and managed to get him to Linkedin with me for a while irl?. hehehe) before heading back to Faction War and becoming the Fweddit then Dirt n Glitter Amarr Militia Poster Boy you see before you.
If you've been in Amarr or even Minmatar militia in the last 5 years, you will probably have interacted with me, in one form or another.
 
2. Who would you consider to be your key constituents? Who you would best represent within the playerbase?
I represent players who like eve hard mode. Specifically, small gang and even more so solo. Eve is great because it is hard, but with it being hard it supports creativity, planning and hard work to balance odds. Consequence is king in eve. Players that love this about the game, they are who I am here for.
In particular I represent solo pvp, faction war, and small corporations (having run one with varying degrees of success for nearly 7 years).
 
3. Please summarise your platform. (Preferably using key bullet points)
Balancing the game is not just balancing ship modules. Social, politics, analytics - these need a boost to enable players make informed real time decisions of consequence management.
Faction War is great, but needs more love and needs more consequence. A medal is only a tokenistic reward. It should be more meaningful to the game rather than seen as a training ground for the real game of 0.0 or where null sec alliances go to die after losing sov. Real impact, real influence for faction war.
Eliminate arbitrary metrics for influence and control of systems. Change should be directly affected by player action. Metrics should be used to predict and observe, not direct change. Its lazy game programming and a disengaging player experience. Players want an ?I did that? moment for pinnacle events. Specific things should need to be achieved, not any random number of things. This means fozzie wands, sovereignty indicator metrics, and of course faction war system captures should be specific objectives - i.e. This Complex and this complex, not X number of complexes.
True Solo is the greatest thing in eve. It should be viable and not able to be defeated by mechanics that subsidise the N+1 tactic. I am VERY strong on this. N+1 is a valid tactic, but it should not be a subsidised tactic by every single fitting and module option in the game, including links. Extreme skill, planning and raw balls should have a chance.
 
4. Why have you decided to run for CSM this year?
Eve is great and getting better. Hats off to CCP. I believe I genuinely have unique perspectives to help eve move forward for the next decade because of my focus on the social and analytics aspects and how that translates directly into the experience as a pilot faced with a gang in local and what to do about them, right now. I want to broaden the real time pvp and social / diplomatic options beyond ?how many in local??
 
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.
Never.
 
6. What makes you a unique representative when you compare yourself to other candidates?
As mentioned, I bring a focus on social and analytics. This affects how corporations work, how your interactions with players in real time work, how others see you, how you influence the game. It can seem removed from the tactical stresses of ?zomg my LRLMs are reloading hurry up? of in the moment, but it is what led you to that point.
Ultimately it's about more informational awareness of other players motivation and more awareness of others about you. Tactically and strategically.
Also, I think I have been referred to as one of the very few, and amongst best known legit Sani Sabik roleplayers in the game. So theres that?. but this is not my platform?..like as if a Sabik masquerading as an Amarrian Loyalist would be seeking power in the highest position?.silly idea.
I also do an insane amount of solo and small gang pvp, so there is that too, but that would hardly be unique in a CSM rep.
 
7. Do you have any out of game experience and skills that make you a good candidate?
Professionally I am what is called an ?Enterprise Architect? which I often explain means I drink a lot of coffee and do powerpoint. I am typically the person who makes decisions or advises CEOs or boards on large systems or changes across an entire multinational business. Basically world changing, transformation of massive complex things that affects how thousands of people work day to day and their careers is what I do. I also used to run the global analytics team for a bank, so like talking about that a lot too, and am a big fan of analytics, graph databases, and collaboration metrics.
Separately (or perhaps a directly related skill) I throw amazing parties, mix a mean martini (gin of course) and can spend an hour easily talking the virtues of aged dark rums. These are skills that matter for a CSM you can believe in.
 
8. What areas of EVE are you weakest at knowledge wise?
Despite spending about 2 years off and on in null sec, I must confess it is not my strength. I have died and fought many many bubble camps, cap fights, MASSIVE fights with the CFC but it is not my absolute passion. It is important, it is what makes eve, but other candidates will be far stronger in this area than me.
 
9. If you were offered unlimited development time - what's the biggest change you would lobby for in EVE?
Real Time Social Analytics. Ranking in real time who has killed me, who is friends with people who have killed me, who is friends of my friends in local right now. This is called a FOF (friend of friend) query and would really transform how you negotiate local.
 
10. If you could wind back the clock - what feature or change would you remove from EVE?
ECM as it is, is bad. A 1.5m isk griffin locking down a 1 bn isk battleship is just cancerous and why you only see them in welp fleets in low sec. The mechanic just pushes the N+1 meta and detracts from the intelligence of the game. The announced changes for Sensor Boosters go some way to addressing this.
 
11. If you could pick one candidate to be elected with you who would they be and why?
Nikolai Agnon. He is from Dirt n Glitter and is very passionate about the game. He was a team mate of mine in the Amarr Championships (which we lost to being permajammed to ECM? grrr ECM...).
 
12. What is your favorite memory in EVE and why?
I sort of invented the mission runner hunting profession for Amarr militia. Got it to a point of killing around 30-40 stealth bombers a day, soloing caracals, and even soloing 3 caracals at once all in my malediction. I am told by spies (not mine, i never ever use them) Minmatar used to announce in militia channel when I logged in. Favourite was arriving in system and:
?> edeity is in local RRRRUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNN?
one guy didn't of course, gotta love them farmers. Same minmatar in local after basically said
?> i did everything i could to warn him, some people you just can't help?
It's actually really hard to catch skilled mission runners and takes patience, a lot of practice and some evil ship fits, but it's nice when all that work pays off and is recognised.
 
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 post on reddit a lot. You will undoubtedly have seen some of my terrible propoganda. I have twitter, but i like long rambling convos to really tease ideas around, and twitter as a general rule is just terrible at that. I also have my epic blog which I mix eve and real life on, often within the same paragraph. My blog has, I dunno over 10,000 people read it. I don't blog for hits or popularity, I just use it as a platform to project my thoughts.
Contact:
email - lhousego@gmail.com
ctrlv slack - edeity
twitter: @RobotSocialClub
 
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)
My blog. http://edeity.blogspot.com.au/
You will also learn WAAAAAY too much about me there. The blog is an exercise in radical transparency, so be warned, I do come across as a bit of an asshole? because well I am.
 
15. In short - what is your closing statement (no more than 500 words please!)
Eve is fantastic. Best Game in existence. Can't see another coming close for a looooong time. Its great because it is smart, but more importantly is a platform for the players to be smart in.
I am offering myself for the CSM to help set Eve up for the decade ahead. Whilst it is very important, I am not just here for tactical discussions (except grrr ECM) about this module or that ship. I want to elevate the focus of the CSM to real impact for the real game ahead.
I have the eve experience and also IRL professional experience to make a difference beyond a new ship module, to really make the CSM meaningful.
And last, I would like to offer advice for the new players. Don't listen to the advice you're given ?only undock what you can afford to lose?. It is rubbish advice. I never insure and am regularly down to my last isk, and always fly bling. You will never become great by playing it safe. Desperation is the source of true leaps in unexpected greatness.
Pax Amarr.