This is being sent to all accepted applicants, so my apologies for the lack of a personal touch. Your application to run as a candidate in the election for the sixth Council of Stellar Management has been accepted, congratulations!

It’s what I’ve been waiting to hear. I am officially a candidate for CSM 6. Go me.

We love you Roc!

Thanks for deciding to support me in the race for CSM 6. I truly appreciate the support of each and every individual whom has taken the time to email me, give a shout in local, post on the EVE Online forums, encourage on Twitter, or comment here.

What can you do to help spread the madness?

• If you’re on Twitter, #eveonline #tweetfleet #RocTheVote – Chat me up on Twitter @rocwieler. Chat others up on Twitter. Let’s shake the universe.
• Got Facebook? I have a Campaign Page there too! http://www.facebook.com/pages/RocTheVote/185976791442725
• In a corporation or alliance? – Infect your corporation mates and alliance leaders. Link them to my campaign page at https://rocwieler.com/2011/02/14/csm-6-roc-the-vote/
• Sitting in station, tired of spinning your ship? – spam local, spam your address book, spam EVEGate.com! (don’t really spam, but rather engage people in meaningful conversations as to why they they should #RocTheVote)
• Need something to Troll? Head over to Jita Park Speakers Corner and bump my visibility. Ask me questions! Challenge all the candidates!

Meh, Roc, whatever

Hey, casting your vote for the CSM is a very important decision and should not be taken lightly. I respect and applaud your hesitancy! Please, look at the links in the section above and feel free to hit me up with questions about the matters that are important to you. I’m doing my very best to educate myself on all the important matters, but at the very least I will acknowledge your question and try to blog a reply.

While I welcome your vote, I want to encourage you to make sure you spend the time to make sure you support the candidate that most represents your wants and needs in New Eden.

Oh screw you Roc

That’s what she said! But seriously, I know not everybody likes me. I’m a big boy. I can handle that. I am going to turn it around on you and ask you to wonder why? Is it a preconceived misconception about my arrogance? Is it jealousy that I get all the ladies, and even more of the men, than you do?

All kidding aside. If you don’t like my views, I respect that. I would ask that you take the time to elaborate as to why. Maybe some of my views are naive. Maybe they’re uneducated or lacking experience. If people don’t take the time to engage in intelligent debate, how am I going to be best equipped to represent all players should I successfully earn a seat on CSM 6?

Take a look at my campaign page if you haven’t already. https://rocwieler.com/2011/02/14/csm-6-roc-the-vote/

Think about it. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for your interest in my campaign to be part of CSM 6. It is my intention to work diligently, effectively, and tirelessly to bring the concerns of the player base to the CSM, to CCP, and back to the players.

The following is a user submitted request for my stand on a topic important to them. I have given thought to the topic and formulated my opinion, but it’s just that; my opinion. Nothing more. There is no guarantee the opinion expressed herein will ever see the light of day.

My platform isn’t one of issues, but rather one of integrity, tenacity, and the willingness to hold the CSM and CCP accountable to the players that support everything we do. I will not push my own agenda, unless it coincides with what the majority of the player base wants for a given topic.

Never start a fight you can win. #RocTheVote

QUESTION from Mynxee: We both know that communications from CCP can sometimes be unclear or less than timely. What do you foresee as CSM6’s key challenges in that regard, and what ideas have occurred to you for tackling those challenges?

This is a very good question, and one I have had to deal with, time and again, throughout my professional career.

Education

Most of the world’s population doesn’t know how to be effective when communicating negatively. Many personal relationships end because people don’t know how to work together to reinforce their relationship through adversity, finding it easier to simply ignore the issues, or lash out, or any number of other and equally ineffectual responses.

This also spills over into our business relationships. After all, who we are is who we are, whether we’re at home, at work, or in a game, right?

In the workplace, most people are terrifed of being fired, being embarassed, looking foolish in front of coworkers, etc. It’s very challenging to get someone to take responsibility for their actions, learn from it, and move forward creating better solutions for the company. The quick gut reaction is to blame someone else, ignore the situation and hope you get away with it, or any number of other and equally ineffectual responses.

This is where education comes into play. When I was in high school, I was part of the debate team. Sure, it’s dorky, nerdy, geeky, whatever you want to say, but it taught me some very valuable life skills, primarily these:

• Conflict resolution is the ability to understand someone else’s point of view and work towards a mutually agreeable and realistic solution
• Arguments end debate. An argument is one party’s inability to see any viewpoint but their own. There is absolutely no point in continuing a discussion once this has been realized.

And I 100% agree.

Consistency

By now, I hope you all know I’m a fitness afficianado. I workout regularly, maintain a healthy lifestyle, starting running marathons, even spent the time and money to acquire professional knowledge sufficient enough to help me earn industry certifications.

None of those things happened over night. All of those things took consistency.

There are times we all succeed. There are times we all fail. How we should measure ourselves is by how many times we keep coming back for more.

In our relevant situation, here’s the skinny:

CCP needs to educate themselves on consistent and effective communication. The CSM, and by extension, all players, simply want to have an accurate and honest appraisal of the state of the game at any given time. It’s alright to say “Our game isn’t perfect” or “We screwed up there”. We welcome statements of “Yeah, we really wanted to do that but then looked at the logistics behind what was a seemingly easy change and realized it had a trickle down affect across multiple essential systems so we decided to scrap it.” Or how about this? “Yes, we’re behind schedule. Here’s why.”

There appears to be an inherent fear in being consistent with communication to players. This needs to stop.

Busting Heads

Sure, I’d love to go stampeding through CCP HQ for a week, strong arming my way through this educational process, but that is short term thinking, although it would be fun!

I’ve already outlined the solution: consistency. CCP creating the CSM was a good step towards consistency in communication. There is continued responsibility, however, with all involved parties: CCP, CSM, players.

• CCP needs to mandate consistent communication as a daily goal. It’s the only way to make it a habit.
• CSM needs to work with CCP towards consistent communication. This could be through terrorist like activities, a parent nurturing a child, or any other number of approaches. The trick is finding the one that works.
• Players need to encourage CCP’s consistent communication with appreciation, realizing that ultimately this is CCP’s game and they’re going to build what they want, not what every individual player wants. Thank God for that!

So how would I do it Mynxee? By continuing the work that became very evident with CSM 5. By working tirelessly with CCP through frustration after frustration until their education sticks and they come to realize that good business requires good communication.

Work with your players; plain and simple.