As head of EVE news at TMC, and a member of DICE corporation from NC. (and former BoB), I’m walking a razor’s edge between factions of the political forever war. Both the Mittani and Vince or Lady Scarlet would kick me out without hesitation if they felt crossed. On the other hand, I could walk away from both and improve my quality of life. That situation creates a certain freedom to be loyal to two of the heavy hitters in EVE. These are reports from that perspective. If you are new to these writings, there is an introduction to the Razor’s Edge column.
A quick review: When I first started at TMC as a writer, I put together some thoughts on the kickstarter, and how the goons were getting what they deserved, while the anti-kickstarter folk were following the same bad example. Later, I talked about how Mittani was rallying his Imperium people with Goon memories, but the groups were not the same. Mittani, the inheritor of the Goonswarm legacy, was building something new and different. Finally, I investigated and wrote on the IWI vs SMA war, an article that was supposed to be a slam dunk hit-piece on IWI, but turned out differently. SMA deserved scrutiny too, and defending a gambling site from RMT, the most unpopular rumor mongering, was risky business, especially while Reddit was feverishly calling for heads to roll.
CSM Elections
Now it’s on to the big pageant, the CSM elections. It’s a sad time as candidates scurry around to podcasts to get their message out. I’m on record criticizing CSM Watch interviews for “king making” when critiquing their own interviewees. There were comical moments, like outright begging people to vote for their candidate, and that reddit mod Jayne solidly endorsing (fellow mod) Gorski, effectively shutting down criticism from other panelists. Finally, there was also some cocktail napkin detective work done attributing the leak to the Imperium. The most explosive story of this CSM, pretty much ignored. The suspected messenger faced more scrutiny. More on that in a moment.
Lanctharus Onzo effectively changed my mind when we talked at his Los Angeles area meet-up. Clearly the interviews are helpful, not for what the candidates say, but for what can be read between the lines. It is like a psychological test that doesn’t really measure what you see, but how you see it. I decided on my top three candidates after reading between the lines during the interviews.
Leak Fatigue
The leak actually took Sion’s criticism on CCP off-message, and was terrible timing for his view of CSM. As he announced his boycott of CCP’s Summit, and took days to write a long piece on why CCP uses leaks to shut out CSM, out pops leaks that validate CCP’s view. It is undeniable that those logs are leaks—the material in there is restricted. What is in question is who leaked, but to dismiss that it was Gorski because it wasn’t a screenshot is a weak dismissal counterpoint. Gorski doesn’t deny those are things he said; he only denies he didn’t own an RMT’d account. That is a very selective denial.
I can only assume people are tired of leaks and want to move on. It is not a principled stance, but a convenient one.
Reading these logs, they look true, after all who takes the time to make up filler like this:
[9/13/2015 4:50:48 PM] Gorski: Sugar kyle cant take a joke everything is serious [9/13/2015 4:50:58 PM] Gorski: Sort is cool so is corbex [9/13/2015 4:51:39 PM] Gorski: Actually they all decent irl [9/13/2015 4:53:11 PM] Gorski: I dunno some are less then others [9/13/2015 4:53:24 PM] Gorski: But yeah cagali is pretty charismatic [9/13/2015 4:53:41 PM] Gorski: Corbexx still rocking horrible hawaii shirtsI’m not out to crucify anyone for leaks, because these, although NDA violations, are not major advantages to a favored group, but they point to something troubling about the CSM. The names were changed to initials except for Gorski. Of the edited identities, one stood out – KP, Kadesh Princess, the captain of the disgraced winning team for the Alliance Tournament. The dates of the logs end at the same time the AT scandal broke, so these conversations could have stopped in a new climate of logs being turned over to CCP.
Taken as a whole, it is plausible that guys that know each other on that level talk, despite NDA filters. Why? Because EVE is competitive, and tournament prizes are ridiculously out of step with EVE as a whole. CCP doesn’t appear to be investigating, and Gorski has been cleared to run. These logs were unloaded on the public, not submitted to CCP. So really all we have left is leak fatigue.
Personal Endorsement
I’m in NC, so the Imperium candidate list doesn’t apply to me. NC doesn’t care about CSM—in fact, they don’t care about the meta, sending only five players to fanfest. There might be one CSM candidate from NC, but I don’t know who it is. Compare that to PL, who have nearly ten candidates, and Imperium with eleven. So this short list is not coming from either side.
Criteria 1: Rule out anyone space famous. I’d like to see a CSM without e-celebs. If you want to know who knows what, check EVE forums, where players talk to devs, not try to leverage others through third-party uncensored forums.
Criteria 2: EVE is more than PVP. Fozzie, Rise, Larrikin, and other CCP devs are PVP veterans with tons of experience. With Ytterbium leaving (lead dev on incursions, structures, progression system, industry, PI, Sleepers AI and more), that puts a hole in the larger aspects of gameplay. To protect those areas, the CSM needs members do more than PVP. CCP has that covered.
RF Gnaeus Crassus (Red Frog Pilot)
I don’t know who he is—I have never met him—but in 30 minutes I was blown away by his thinking about EVE. His perspectives on pvp, trade, contracts, war decs, and freighters were illuminating. He seems to have a grasp that PVP isn’t just ships blowing up, and that building things collectively is crucial. These are the key to the “group dynamic” that EVE needs to move forward.
There was a time when the celebrations were reserved for heists that were set up. Famed pirate Verone (aka CCP Falcon), podded one of his own pirates after stripping him of all his wealth, and booting him from Veto Corp, because the pirate was a dishonorable one, and killed a capsuleer after a ransom had been paid. Verone issues no warnings, no “try better next time.” It was crime and swift punishment.
The Mittani has done the same, sometimes in error, but to hold together a large block of people there have to be consequences for acting against the group. In some ways, Mittani’s power over players is like the Pope, with the right to excommunication and expel misbehaving players from the only stable bloc left.
EVE as a game does not have the same leverage over players because it is just a game, and once you turn it off, you are done with it. Burn a character, create a new one. Now we even have skill injectors to help restore you into your old shape.
Conclusion
If EVE were real, a lot of people would be in jail. Trust is not valued by players because it makes no difference. You can just shrug it off. Last year a PL member, Mandfred, broke trust. This year, ten more from PL are running. Sion on the other hand speaks out against breaking trust and is shoved aside.
CCP and CSM voters would do well to wipe the slate clean and vote against the names they have heard to elect new people who aren’t interested in anything but fixing the game. Those people who have contributed constructively to discussions in a CCP-created environment, a place where most EVE players get informed.
Elections are telling, and we generally get the clowns we deserve. Hopefully this year will be different, because your vote will be different.
This article originally appeared on TheMittani.com, written by Matterall.
