During a livestream broadcast on June 14, CCP Guard announced the successful candidates elected to the 13th Council of Stellar Management (CSM). For those of you who may not be aware, the CSM is an elected group of player representatives within EVE, typically comprised of well-known and experienced players. Their role is to provide a conduit for player feedback to CCP, and also provide early feedback to CCP on new features and proposed changes to the game.
This years’ successful candidates and their alliances are as follows, listed in no particular order:
- Aryth, Goonswarm Federation
- Sort Dragon, Darkness.
- Innominate, Goonswarm Federation
- The Judge, Goonswarm Federation
- Jin’taan, Red Noise
- Suitonia, The Felines of the Egg of The Lisa
- Steve Ronuuken, Vote Steve Ronuken for CSM
- Killah Bee, Northern Coalition.
- Merkelchen, Goonswarm Federation
- Brisc Rubal, The Initiative
The elections this year have been interesting to watch for those inclined to the EVE Online metagame, and according to Guard, this election has had some 1800 votes less this year. The changes to the election cycle itself have appeared to affect overall turnout and engagement – announcing candidacies rather than victors at Fanfest prevented more CSM hype being generated in the run-up to and during the player meet. This was compounded by a lack of typical nullsec activity, and INN is only aware of one nullsec bloc creating a traditional ballot for members to vote for. As well, controversy surrounding candidates from both TEST and Pandemic Horde has generated significant resentment among those alliances, especially within Horde, where line members were told to vote for GOTG leader Sort Dragon after their candidate was disqualified.
Regardless of the muted election season, though, we do have a full council to continue the good work. These ten players will represent the players’ interests and work to guide CCP through the minefields of ongoing development in EVE Online. INN would like to extend our thanks to the members of CSM 12, and offer congratulations to the members of the incoming CSM 13. We look forward to ‘not hearing’ from you about all of the things covered by the NDA you’re about to sign.
