Xander Phoena

CSM 9 Campaign Post

Capsuleers,

My name is Xander Phoena and I would like to confirm my candidacy for the 9th Council of Stellar Management.

I have been playing Eve Online for five years now and it has become an intrinsic part of who I am as a person. I love this game deeply, in particular the community who make it so special. I have attempted to contribute to this community in my own way through the Crossing Zebras website, hosting a podcast on there for almost two years and pulling together a pool of writers in recent months to discuss all aspects of the game. I have stood in Reykjavik with my fellow players during Fanfest 2013 and the experience was something that I will never forget.

I've also been a keen observer, commentator and promoter of the CSM process for a long time now. I have spent quite literally hundreds of hours over the past 12 months attempting to bring the CSM as a body to the player base whether it be the CSM8 Election Interviews or the monthly CSM8 variants I have carried out since then. The CSM8 Election Interview project took around 120 hours of my time in what was effectively a three week period but it is something I am exceptionally proud of and something the community seemed to appreciate. Unfortunately, the conflict of interest is such that I won't be able to carry out those interviews this year but I will do all I can to support anyone else who wishes to tackle the undertaking.

Of course, what you want to know is why you should consider voting for me come April. I am standing on two basic platforms:

Communication

The CSM is a player-advocacy group and as such, it is vitally important that CSM9 communicates clearly and frequently with the player base. CSM8 has done a better job than any previous CSM in keeping up regular communication with players, particularly through Ripard Teg and Ali Aras. Unfortunately, Ripard is not standing as an incumbent for CSM9 and I believe I have proven myself to be someone who will do his upmost to inform the player base of what CSM9 is doing throughout the year.

How I will achieve this in practical terms is in two ways. Firstly, I will continue with the monthly interviews that I have been carrying out throughout CSM8's tenure (for what it's worth, these will be continuing whether I am elected or not). Secondly, I intend on continuing Ripard's weekly CSM blog post series into CSM9 on Crossing Zebras.

The CSM as a body fails if it does not adequately communicate the wishes and thoughts of the player base to CCP, CCP's intentions and plans to the player base (within NDA obviously) and it's own work to both. I hope I can be a key part to ensuring all three happen.

Nullsec

I make no apologies for the fact that I have spent the vast majority of my Eve career in 0.0 and it is where I am the most experienced and knowledgable. And as it stands, 0.0 is in a pretty bad way. There are many issues here that must be addressed for the future health of the game – sovereignty, nullsec industry, player owned stations and power projection all need to be looked at with some urgency. It may be that CCP is already working on these things or has them on the development schedule for CSM9′s tenure but either way, we need some clarification on these matters.

The current grinding involved in taking sovereignty in 0.0 is does not lead to exciting and engaging gameplay. Fleets can move around all too quickly and easily and this is only amplified with the ever increasing need for tidi in large PvP engagements. The option of dividing fleets over multiple systems as happened during B-R is something that could be implemented intrinsically into sovereignty mechanics.

To be 100% clear, I am not suggesting that 0.0 is more worthy or important that other areas of space in New Eden, simply that the issues that are present in 0.0 are more apparent to me personally due to how I spend my time in Eve Online.

Now, I feel capable to discuss other areas of the game which aren't nullsec with some degree of confidence despite admitting I may not be an expert. I am however very fortunate to count many of the prominent players of Eve as friends, including former and current CSM members, alliance leaders and indeed the writing staff on Crossing Zebras. If you come to me with thoughts or questions and I can't answer them immediately, I am more than happy to speak to those in the know and to put in the research to improve my personal breadth of knowledge.

I think it only fair in the interests of full disclosure that I also discuss my own work arrangements here. I am employed in the North Sea oil industry and work on what is roughly a 'two weeks on, two weeks off' schedule. When I am offshore, I have access to Skype text channels, twitter, email and forums however generally the internet far out at sea is not fast enough for voice or video communications. Also, whilst offshore I may not be available with immediate notice. The flip side of this particular coin is that I am ostensibly on holiday six months of the year and able to devote huge amounts of time to the CSM process. A perfect example of this would be the aforementioned CSM8 Election Interviews carried out over a period of six weeks in 2013 but were effectively carried out in a three week period while I was actually at home.

I have discussed with several prominent members of CSM8 whether or not they believe my work schedule is likely to cause an issue with me standing for CSM9 and they have all stated that based on how the CSM interacts with CCP in a practical nature and due to my own personal and proven work ethic, they do not see it as an issue in the slightest. I do not feel it reasonable to ask for your vote without making you fully aware of my situation however.

Other than the above I have two more things to say. The first is to vote. I hope you put me on the top of your ballot in the number one slot. Failing that, I hope I make your ballot somewhere. But even if you feel I am not worthy of a slot on your own voting sheet, please take the time to vote. The CSM is only as influential as the players let it be and the more people who vote, the more influence CSM has.

And secondly, please take this opportunity to ask me any questions you may have. I sincerely look forward to answering them. I will also be doing my best to get out there and speak to voters in local channels and corp and alliance voice comms. Ask questions in this thread or if you would rather, drop me an in-game mail or email me directly – xander at crossingzebras.com.

I believe have demonstrably proven over the past year that I care about Eve Online, I support the CSM as a body, I have a strong work ethic and I am someone who can communicate with the capsuleers of New Eden. Give me your sword and I will do everything I can to make Eve Online better than it is now.

Fly safe,

Xander