Recently I put out the question via Twitter: Why should your voice matter to the CSM? Here are some of the replies that quickly came forward.

@ROW_Skyreth They’re meant to speak for we players. No point in them otherwise.

@TheDranchsause Because the CSM is there to give a face to the voice of those who, for whatever reason, aren’t CSM.

@AzamiNevinyrall Because they relay my concerns and suggestions to CCP …

These answers, and more like them, all repeat the same theme … the CSM are meant to express the voice of the people. Yet when reading the campaign promises of many candidates, I don’t see any mention of speaking for players in any of their false promises.

Is it an inherent assumption then? That would make sense. I mean, why would someone run for a seat on the CSM if they didn’t want to be the voice of the players? I can think of several reasons:

• A misguided belief that the CSM are developers – “I promise you changes to nullsec.” “We’ll fix POSes.” “High sec will no longer be a safe haven!” You can spend an entire day in Jita Park reading all deluded rants. The simple fact is this – the CSM are not game developers and have no direct authority to alter the development course of the game.
• Alliance agendas – “Who will stand up for highsec?” “We’ll make sure nullsec sees the love it deserves.” “Lowsec and factional warfare should be the focus of the CSM!” Again, see the first point. Secondly, as has been proven historically, if your views don’t agree with the big alliance CSM representatives then your voice is left unheard.
• Gits and shiggles – “Free trip to Iceland? I’m in!” “I get to be virtually famous? I’m in!” “The CSM is a joke. Vote for me to prove you agree!” There could be any number of reasons these people declare their candidacy. They are a waste of votes.

There are those that truly want to make the game better. There are those that truly possess the intelligence, experience, passion and drive to ensure that the voice of every player is heard, regardless of whether opinions are in alignment or not. CSM 7 saw some of these wonderful individuals, as have CSMs in the past. They are few and far between.

I am one of those people.

Yet people misconstrue my platform. They believe that because I refuse to voice my opinion on various subjects that I must not have an opinion worth offering. That is hardly the case. I’ve always had strong opinions and have never backed down from expressing myself.

The simple truth is this – your voice matters. More than mine. More than theirs. The only difference between my campaign promises and theirs is that I can actually deliver on them simply. All that has to be done is listen to the players.

It just sounds so simple when you put it in perspective.

Roc the vote.