“The funny thing is,” Mike explained to Scotty, “That a LOT more people said they were going to run and then did not show up on the final approved list. Some of them even did interviews and everything.”
“Any idea why? I mean why run and then stop before the race even starts?”
Mike chuckled. “Maybe some of them talked to former CSM folks and realized what they might be getting into. Others? Life changes, cold feet, bad initial press? Lots of possible reasons. But at least I do not have to analyze them and can focus on the ones who are, as of this moment, running. For some that term is questionable.”
“How so?”
“About 20% (11/53) chose not to do interviews to present their platforms. They will be evaluated on what they have put in writing but it really lacks something . . . commitment? Willingness to make an effort? As far as I am concerned it is a downtick right off the bat.” Mike dragged a comm over and pout up the image so they could both see it. First one, Alner Greyl is an example of that. PL pilot who posted a couple of times and that is it. Half of the things mentioned in the campaign thread already exist.” Mike made a gesture and the file was deposited in the Nope file.
“That was kind of a snap judgement.” Scotty protested.
“53 names.” Mike replied grimly. “Make an effort or make room for someone who will. Next is Annexe, null, small gang, has done some interviews but not the CSM Watch. Represents the an underrepped time slot. Main downcheck for me is that Annexe already has a lot on the plate as co-CEO of a corp.”
“Wouldn’t experience running things be a plus?”
“Yes and no. Yes the experience is good but still doing it means that you are going to be trying to juggle a lot of duties at the same time and still stay on the right side of the NDA. Do-able but damn hard and another reason some folks burn out.” A quick gesture consigned Annexe to the Maybe folder. “Apothne. Him I like given what I have seen already. He has been an active member of the community and worked with the powers that be in Tournament announcing gig. He is a yup, from me.” A third file opened up and a sweep sent Apothne into the Yeah.
“Three down, 50 to go.”
“Yeah but I am in snap mode, this will take a while but not as long as you expect.” Mike rubbed his hands together and looked at the next name. “Aryth.” A gesture and the Nope gained another member.
“No evaluation? No rationalization?” Scotty looked shocked.
“This is who I will vote for or not. He publicly has said he will not represent ‘pubbies’ and really does not care if we vote for him as his own Goon supporters will do just fine. He is also suffering from the too many responsibilities burden I mentioned earlier. If he gets in, fine, another Sion. But he will not get in with support from me. He is a Nope.”
Scotty shook his head then looked at the next name. “Bobmon, where do I know that name from?”
“News organization, hopefully, though he has had controversy surround him a few times in other issues. Mainly I think he is still becoming seasoned and finding out that WHO you associate with will leave a mark on you and may come back to bite you someday. The burden of responsibility also rears its ugly head with him. On the plus side he is very connected to the game and passionate about it.” Mike paused. “I will give the benefit of a doubt and Maybe him but I honestly think a few more years and experience dealing with all of the Meta will help make him more viable.” Mike nodded. “A low Maybe”
“Borat Guereen is next”
“Yeeeah. This one I was really conflicted about. I listened to his interview and he had me nodding my head and then shaking it in disgust. The guy is all over the map. He represents a demographic I would LOVE to see covered but too many of the things he said set my teeth grinding.” A gesture and Nope gained another member.
“Brodit. Who is he?”
“Yeah, I wondered the same thing. Kinda like he just popped up but then wormhole guys are like that. But a wormhole miner? Rare and I am not sure he is gonna have a large contingent to represent. Didn’t do an interview or vote match as of yet. He is a Nope mainly due to lack of effort beyond the one of throwing his hat in the ring and hoping for the best.”
“Well that was easy. You do know that so far the Yeah box is kinda thin?”
“As it might be. I would be outrageously tickled to see a field of good candidates, one and all. I would be similarly happy if suddenly all the women found me irresistible (as opposed to just most of them). We always toss a fair amount to the wayside. More often than not, a lot of them toss them selves and we just acknowledge the act. Next?” Mike squinted at the display.
“Capri Sun KraftFoods, What kind of name is that?”
Mike chuckled. “I did some reading. He is a headhunter. Buys and sells the contracts of other pilots (ooc: Character Bazarre) Probably one of his main sources of income, at one time. I wonder how he adapted to the skill point injections?”
“I been meaning to ask you abo . . . ”
“Later, later. I listened to his interview and while I disagree with a few things here and there there were more clues about him that stood out. He is willing to admit when he is wrong or change his mind. He wants to hear from other viewpoints and other walks of life in the game. If I were running I would be willing to work with this guy. He did drop my name a few times in the interview but I will not hold that against him. He is a Yeah.”
“Chiimera is next.”
Mike smiled. “Like Cagali Cagali, another one of those guys who talks funny. But he is also one of the people who goes out and DOES things, organizes things, gets stuff done. People I respect seem to respect him and for me, word of mouth is a strong plus. Yup, he is a Yeah.”
“Christy Cloud?”
“Hardly any effort made, not much of a platform . . .easy call, Nope” And a wave of a hand consigned Christy to her place. “Next is Commander Aze. He and I have crossed paths, now and again. he ran in the last couple of elections and lost both times. In spite of that (or because of it) I put him in my Yeah. He is getting better running which in turn means he is listening to the advice and listening is an Excellent skill. So . . ” A sweep of the hand brought the Yeah up to 4.
“OK, then. Now we are seeing some movement but you cannot toss everybody that way or else you won’t be able to vote properly.”
Mike shrugged. “First pass and I can always go back and choose the best of the best if I have to. I would be very happy to have too many in the Yeah pile. Next?”
Scotty pointed to the display “Diana Olympos?”
“Oh sure, that one after you are nagging me about filling the Yeah too quickly. Part of my decision making process includes looking at filling the odd holes in skill sets. Looking for people who will see things in a different way rather than have a single chorus singing from the hymnbook together. Diana is an ISK expert. Does a lot of work in the following of the market metas. The answers that have been given in various interviews makes me think that this is a person that could work well with the CSM council and the powers that be.”
Scotty waved the hand before Mike could and grinned. “Ok, so next is DoToo Foo. Are you going to make it three in a row?”
“Yup, I am. He has been a long time follower of the CSM so he has a clue of what he is getting into. He is an industry and PI guy. Works in wormholes . . . he fills a lot of missing bits for a council. Talks funny, though. Yeah box for him.” Wave and done.
“Ed Bever?”
“Easy, No. No effort, no vote, no support. So Nope.” The hand waved dismissively.
“Erika Mizune?”
Mike sighed. “This is one of the toughest ones for me. I really wanted to like her but the interview did not bring what I expected. I found it disjointed and poor for communication and dammit, that is what the CSM is supposed to do the MOST. I have her set in as a high maybe but a maybe just the same.” Slowly he made the file move and sighed again. “Dammit.”
“Want to take a break?” Scotty suggested.
“Hell yeah.” The comm display closed and they left the work station in search of something easier to digest . . . like alcohol and pub food.
***********************************************************
Lessons
Just like you, I am allowed an opinion and sometimes I even argue with myself. This is not an expression of who I think will win but of who I wish would win. I sort the candidates by a lot more than what I may say in these very short bursts but 53 names is a big challenge.
I REALLY want to try to get this done by Monday, but no promises.
Oh, and alphabetical is just how the list came to me, I am not saving Xenuria for last for any other reason than he is last in the list.
fly it like you won it
m
A Missioneer in Eve 
The whole list reads as “who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, ah yeah, who who, who, who, who, who, who, oh really?, who, who, who, who, who, who…”
The whole CSM election process looks like mastercrafted to disinvest players. Who is going to read about 50+ strangers? People don’t do that not even to elect a President!
CCP takes itself and the CSM way too seriously… 😉
Oh absolutely. Which is why I often write in character. I take the results seriously but I have fun with the process.
m
So far, you and I are on the same page. Thanks for the effort
Man, 53 IS a freaking Marathon.
m
Yeah, maybe you should have ignored the names for the ones who aren’t even trying
Heya Mike! Great article 🙂
I’m writing this comment again since I’m not sure if my other went through (didn’t get a message that it needed to be approved first or anything, so, just in case)
I do agree on my interview that it wasn’t good, and if anything it was pretty horrible; and if not worst than last year. There were indeed communication issues not to mention that I had high levels of anxiety. But interview aside, I am a loyal and hard worker; and I can assure that I am good at getting thoughts and ideas out there; the interview is just the hurdle I have to get over – I have plenty of people that can vouch for me there.
The communication issues stemmed from technical issues. It’s known that I am hearing impared and I was supposed to be getting questions via text as well; which didn’t happen; at least on my end in Mumble. So there was that – that happened.
I do appreciate you taking the time to go over the candidates and look forward to your posts about the others 🙂
Thanks again!
I thought that was kind of what happened but I had to go with what the impressions were. I get the nerves, been there, had those, though my wife will tell you when I get nervous I tend to take over the conversation as a defensive mechanism.
Good luck in the election and remember, I lost more often than I won.
I am not an expert by any extent of the imagination.
m
Indeed, I just also like to get my piece out there. I don’t give up easily, so I’m always going to give it my best despite what happens.
Thanks again, I really do appreciate it 🙂
~Erika
As the recorder, the person who pasted questions in to mumble, and Editor for Erika’s CSM11 interview, I would like to make a clarifying statement in regards to questions via Text, for her interview.
I pasted every question asked during the interview into Mumble’s chat/messaging window. Early on during the interview, Mumble’s Text-To-Speech was speaking the question while Erika was answering, this is understandably distracting. As such, we paused the interview and I instructed her how to disable Text-To-Speech via Mumble’s settings. The interview then continued on and I continued pasting questions into mumble as Lanctharus asked them.
Later on in the interview Erika asked Lanctharus to repeat a question, Lanctharus repeated the question and also mentioned the question was in the Mumble chat, and she said no it was not showing up for her.
We paused the interview again. Unfortunately, what appears to have happened is Erika unchecked Mumble’s messaging completely instead of disabling the Text-To-Speech notification during the previous exchange. I helped her through enabling the Mumble messages, and then disabling Text-To-Speech notification. We verified she could see both my and Lanctharus’ typing and continued with the interview with me pasting the rest of the questions into mumble chat and her being able to see it.
So while questions were provided via Text for the duration of the interview, Erika was only able to see a few at the beginning and a handful at the end due to an unfortunate setting mis-configuration.
Thanks Stu. As someone who also has tech issues when it comes to comms I totally sympathize.
m
Aryth. I like his message, his professional attitude, and that he helped get the pricing of Skill Extractors to a reasonable level. However, there seems to be an undercurrent of arrogance with him. According to his CSM Watch interview, he waited until they changed the white paper to not make revealing your real name mandatory. According to him, he has a well-paying, stay-at-home career, and that he doesn’t want those in his circle to know he plays video games (I believe he calls it shameful). In this day and age, I really don’t think that matters. Look at Charles White, aka Max Singularity. He has a career with NASA and it doesn’t seem to affect his career at all. I would think that being successful in a notoriously difficult and nuanced game such Eve would be a pretty nice feather in one’s resume cap. Also, it seems to me that he considers the devs to be beneath him. I have a bit of a problem when someone goes in looking at those he wants to help as underlings. Yes, I would say if you’re going to be on the CSM, you need to have somewhat of a strong personality, but there is a line between confidence and arrogance.
Agreed. He summed up his attitude with the term ‘pubbies’. If he holds such low regard for the rest of New Eden why in hells name should I vote for him?
m
He don’t need the likes o’ Us to vote fur him.
*spits*
He got his own posse roun’ here.
(Doff’s the cowboy hat).
I think he’s gonna be loud and proud and combative. It might be good, but I’m leery of him. He’ll get in, but I think he’ll be a bullhorn candidate, not a productive one.
He’s on my list to be kicked for non-participation or non-attendance of the summits.
Ayup
I guess I decided not to do an interview for several reasons… not least… that my opinions and so on have really not changed from the interview I did last year.
I actually did go back and look at your last years stuff.
m
FYI – There were 2 CSM Watch interviews that were posted this morning. Annexe’s was one of them. Thought you’d like to know.
CapriSun CraftFoods is a TISHU/ex-BL FC and alliance leader, if you didn’t know. He’s not a bad candidate, but in the deluge of terrible no-names, he doesn’t stand out enough.
I have to echo the “Who?” comments here. Too many nobodies with nothing to ‘be’ and no-one to vote for them.
If anything, the lack of talent and hostility from ‘guaranteed’ candidates will surely sink the CSM.