Seems it’s that time of year again to get political…
As per usual, there are many good candidates, and some not so good. There are already many involved in what ultimately degenerates into a popularity contest, with fans and detractors misquoting and twisting words to suit their agenda.
Some things never change. Continue reading
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: There are many good candidates out there, some to be endorsed thoroughly. One to actively stand against is Roc Wieler. All he wants to do is take advantage of his role in CSM to monetize Capsuleer and profit in real life.
I’ve said this will not be part of my campaign, but it just keeps rearing up its ugly head, so let’s put this to rest once and for all.
I was half of the team that brought Capsuleer to the players of EVE Online. My development partner, PyjamaSam, did all the coding. I did the design, user interface, marketing, promotions and was the public face of Capsuleer. I was also the one to deal in business negotiations with CCP and MMM.
Having said that, let’s be concise:
It has been pointed out to me by some of my supporters, and some of the naysayers, that my two posts on Third Party Apps and EVE API could be misconstrued as contrary opinions.
So let’s clear that up.
Do not let others make your decisions for you. Do not listen to hearsay. Be responsible enough to make informed decisions either by talking directly to the candidates, or by following their Jita Park threads, or their blogs. Nobody likes second hand information. It cannot be relied upon.
So there you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth so to speak. I have no interest in profiting from CSM. In fact, I stand against such activity and I doubt CCP would even allow it to happen were someone to attempt such a thing.
Here’s hoping you learned something new about me today, if you were a doubter.
I’ve been having many conversations since voting opened, and let me tell you, it’s tiring repeating yourself ad nauseum. It’s like nobody can be bothered to read your campaign posts; they’d rather just have you spoon feed them directly. Sigh.
To try to make things easier for both the voters and myself, I’ve started an ingame chat channel ‘Roc the Vote’. I will be posting times where I will be there to answer any campaign related questions to the best of my ability, whether through EVE Voice or typing.
I hope this will give players an opportunity to learn more about me, and my opinions of Eve Online.
CSM 6 Voting is now open. I want to wish the best of luck to all the candidates in this election.
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: I still believe in you, Roc, and great job on the LostInEve debate, but some of your campaign posts make you look stupid. Maybe you should stick with what you know?
Thanks for taking the time to contact me and express your praise and concerns, all in one breath! I’m not superhuman, despite the chronicles surrounding my past. I’m a regular guy, doing what he can to make a difference. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail, sometime I look like an idiot. I accept that.
I think if any candidate were to tell you they have all the answers, you should really wonder if they actually understand the questions.
CSM is a group of elected individuals, with diverse experience and knowledge, working together for the betterment of the game we all enjoy. Every individual will have different ideas on how to get there, but we all want the same thing in the end, a better EVE.
If elected to CSM, I guarantee you I won’t always be right. I promise I won’t always be the authority on every subject, but what I do know is this: I will be consistently dedicated to listening to the views of everyone, players, CSM, and CCP alike. Working towards a common goal is what CSM should be about.
So let’s reinforce my mandate. I am all about community; always have been. I blog. Many read my blog. Many comment on my blog and engage in conversations on my blog. I tweet. Many talk with me through tweets. I write EON Magazine articles. I provide EVE inspired music to the community. I do artwork, free to download from my blog. I was the face of the Capsuleer iPhone application. I do podcast interviews. I attend Fanfest. I sign autographs. I give away small promotional items. I do what I can to stay an active and recognizable part of every player’s Eve Online experience. Of course, it’s pure arrogance that lets me think everyone has heard of Roc Wieler, but perhaps someday they will.
I do all of these things on my own time, and I’ve been consistent in doing them. It’s that consistency that shows my heart for this community.
There is strength in community. Players understand this. CCP needs to understand this. I’ve said it before: a game is only as good as its player base.
CCP, as a game producer, needs to start listening to its community or risk losing them. It’s as simple as that, and been proven in this particular industry time and again.
If we listen to community, the single biggest thing we’ll hear is a concern over lack of direction by CCP for the future of EVE Online. Mynxee and CSM 5 posted about it recently, and it’s not the first time we’ve had this concern as players. The general perception from the player base, and not really rebutted adequately by CCP, is the notion that CCP goes from one shiny to the next. Factional Warfare, Planetary Interaction, Incarna, Trinity, etc, etc… they were all very exciting opportunities that became one-offs, never to be heard of again.
I’ve heard from the CSM that CCP lacks clear direction. I’ve heard from other sources closer to CCP that they lack direction. I believe they lack direction. CCP needs to stop with the shinies. It can no longer be a matter of “What can we do next?”, it needs to be a series of long, hard looks at “Why should we do this?” and make decisions accordingly.
Even if I don’t get elected to CSM, I hope someone from CCP is reading this now. Please, mandate your future! Get it down on paper. Start with pie in the sky then work it down to the details as to how you can achieve these goals as an equitable company.
You need to do this, CCP. It is not optional.
My part? There is nothing I would enjoy more as part of the CSM than to have CCP engage us and ask us for opinions on future directions they’ve been entertaining. Open those lines of communication. Prove me wrong. Prove us wrong. Show us what’s up your sleeve for the next few years. We’re under NDA. We can’t say a bloody word.
Just work with us to re-instill the level of confidence we once had when CCP was a small, passionate shop with a single product they hoped would change the way things would be done in the gaming industry.
I still believe in that company. I still believe in that game. I still believe in this community.
Do what you believe is right. Vote Roc.
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: As a player who makes the majority of their income from limited edition T2 BPOs, I’m curious to know your views on them. Should they be changed? If so, how?
There are some that view limited edition T2 BPOs as “CCP Loyalty Points”, namely in the sense that if you haven’t been around the game long enough, chances are you don’t have access to limited edition T2 BPOs.
I believe in a company rewarding customer loyalty. In real life, nothing bothers me more than when a service I subscribe to offers very enticing deals to new customers only, completing neglecting the fact that I’m an existing and loyal customer.
In a game like EVE Online, the question for me is “Should this loyalty be rewarded giving long time player certain advantages?” As I have mentioned in my views on Microtransactions, the answer is no.
If CCP wanted to reward my five years of play by offering me limited edition clothing or room decorations in Incarna, items not available to younger players, so be it. I’d even be willing to go so far as to say that perhaps in the case of real life loyalty, maybe small advantages are ok (not being hypocritical, just being open minded), like a module with special bonuses, linked to my ship, not tradeable, not sellable. I don’t know, and that’s another discussion.
So do I think limited edition T2 BPOs should be removed? No. Do I think they should be changed? Yes.
I think sweeping changes can be dangerous. Removing limited edition T2 BPOs completely and suddenly accomplishes nothing but alienating and frustrating your long time player base. We all become accustomed to how things are, and are more apt to accept incremental changes than grand ones.
To that end, I think limited edition T2 BPOs should be converted to high run BPCs. The icon would remain the same. The functionality would remain the same. The only difference would be that eventually the money printing machine that is limited edition T2 BPOs will run out.
An example would be to give high run BPCs an initial max run value of 100. Each of these BPCs would have a diminished max run value of 50. Each of those children would have a dimished max run value of 25. Each of those children would have a diminished max run value of 10 until they are in line with regular BPCs.
These are arbitrary numbers for illustrative purposes.
What we can see clearly is this: limited edition T2 BPOs would not be limitless, and therefore existing limited edition T2 BPO holders would need to carefully consider their pricing structure. The more rare high run BPCs become, the higher market prices will go for rare ship types. At the same time, limited edition T2 BPO holders are not unexpectedly cut off from their current means of income, but rather have the opportunity to adjust their business strategies to accommodate this change over time.
I also believe that if limited edition T2 BPOs are converted to high run BPCs which will eventually become no more valuable than regular BPCs, there needs to be seeding of fresh high run BPCs. Is this accomplished by extending my Factional Warfare dynamic landscape idea to all areas of space, where only Tier 5 officers have a random chance of dropping a high run BPC? Maybe. Will invention offer a small chance of creating a high run BPC? Perhaps. I’m sure there are many great ideas for how to accomplish this.
With any purposed change, there is always the need for game balance, requiring any idea to be examined from multiple angles, to determine what the trickle down impact would be across game play as a whole. How can it be abused? Does the benefit outweigh negative impact? Is it worth the time and resources, or are there more important and pressing issues to deal with?
Are high end BPCs the right solution to address the issue? They may be a good starting point, or they may not be. My point on every campaign issue is to offer an additional venue for discussion, even though there are many threads on the subjects already.
By exposing the issues on my blog, it is an opportunity for some who may not be aware of the issues to form their own opinion, do their own research. For others it is an opportunity to specifically see my point of view on a given issue and engage in intelligent debate as to why they agree, disagree, or wish to improve upon my opinion.
The CSM is not a group of amateur game developers. I qualify every one of these campaign posts stating they are merely opinions and conjecture, and that none of my ideas may ever see the light of day. To be blunt, some of my ideas may never even make to the CSM should I be elected, or if they do make it that far, the CSM as a whole may engage in debate and demonstrate why certain ideas are not the best solution for a given issue.
Ultimately, I just want players to know that I am willing to hear the issues, take input on the issues, give my opinions on the issues, communicate the issues, see how far they go, and return to the player base with valid communication and information regarding the issues that are important to them as a whole.
Truth is, as has been made evident, I don’t know much about this particular process and taking shots in the dark. In such a situation on the CSM, I would defer to those with more knowledge on the given subject, questioning where I thought appropriate.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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:
And I 100% agree.
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.
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.
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.
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: Hot topic – Jump Bridges. Keep them or remove them?
Ok, we’re finally getting to the meaty topics. I like that.
Skill Training Time = Real Life Time
This is one of the things about the structure of EVE Online I enjoy most. I’ve played games where you have to grind incessantly to level your character. Most of your time spent in game is trying to get to the next level. A lot of the time once you’ve reached the maximum level, you really don’t know what to do, as you just spent the last x months of your life grinding.
EVE Online engages you right from the very beginning. CCP understands that you want to spend your time playing with content, not grinding skills. I applaud that thinking.
At the same time, however, there are many other grinds (by that I mean unnecessary repetitive actions) within our universe: mining/missioning for ISK, having to repackage items in order to sell them every damn time, clicking & dragging to optimize your Harvester Control Units, the list goes on.
Some of these may be necessary. Others might not. I’m not debating that right now. I’m trying to get to my point, albeit slowly.
To me, static unchanging content is a grind. There are what, 5000 solar systems in EVE now?
The point is that when travelling around New Eden, it feels very much the same. Oh look, red space background. Green space background. Blue space background. Lovely.
Oh look, gate camp. Warp bubble. War target blob. I’m in a pod. WTF.
Courier mission? I’m a capsuleer. How many times do I have to save this damn damsel? I’m going to have a long nap while my mining drones do their thing. Ok, I’ve got all agro, you guys go kill them.
Ok, ok, Roc, I get it; get to your point already.
TL;DR
Eve needs to feel alive.
Jump Bridges. If you don’t have a good Jump Bridge Network (JBN), you want bridges nerfed/removed. If you do have them, you don’t want them touched. It’s really the same point of view when you think about it.
One party says “We don’t have that advantage; take it away.” The other party says “We have that advantage; don’t take it away.” What both are really saying is “We want to have the advantage.”
Fine, let’s create a solution together.
As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m not an expert at life in nullsec, but I do know what it feels like to be stuck in a grind. Jump Bridges fall into that category for me. I didn’t know the intricacies of this particular topic. So what did I do? I asked, and I researched.
I asked my own alliance, Ushra’Khan, to explain it to me. We spoke about logistical advantages for fleet activity, how easy JBN make it to trap an enemy fleet, or escape from one. Low upkeep costs, they don’t appear on the overview, etc, etc. There are a lot of reasons why nullsec alliances love jump bridges, that’s for sure.
I also spoke with three other alliances. I received pretty much the same information, leading me to believe that the information my own alliance provided was relatively unbiased. That’s the key for me, really. There are always two sides to a story, and in the middle is the truth. I want to work with the CSM to provide a solution that is best for everyone.
I researched at eve-search, reading numerous posts and opinions on the subject matter. Everyone has an opinion. That made me happy. Opinionated players are caring players.
Imagine if you would, a dynamic landscape in nullsec. Imagine jump bridges being anchored to rare planet types, types only found in nullsec. These planets have a random distribution, meaning some systems may have a few, some may have one, most will have none. There would need to be rules around having at least one per constellation.
Now imagine jump bridges appearing on overviews at all times. Nothing hidden. Imagine them more vulnerable and more expensive to maintain. Imagine them tied into Planetary Interaction, where one of the rare planet resources is actually routed directly to the jump bridge. That would mean it only has so much use before that resource is depleted, or the controlling alliance needs to buy from the market in order to increase the mass capacity of the bridge. Wormhole physics anyone?
Imagine tying that into DUST 514, where Dusters could actually disrupt JBN simply by virtue of destroying the connecting offplanet routes.
We’ve now created a new market for PI and for DUST, as well as new challenges for nullsec alliances. That’s a good thing, right?
I would like to say all of these are original ideas. Some of them are. Some of them aren’t. I think the point here is that players are thinking. Thinking of themselves mostly, and what works best for them, but like I said, at the end of the day, it’s the same point of view.
My point of view is to create a system that makes nullsec more engaging. Each system feeling more unique. Main corridors changing as the larger alliances fight for sovereignty, but at the same time, smaller alliances are still able to setup and maintain their own JBN. You would know the hot spots to avoid, much like most of avoid Jita at all costs.
I think nullsec needs to cater to change. It shouldn’t be easy to control a vast amount of space. It should be very, very hard in my opinion.
Tie this in with my Factional Warfare idea for dynamic landscapes, extending that same AI idea across nullsec, and you now have a very dangerous, very dynamic environment in which to play.
Food for thought. Now I’m hungry.
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: What expertise do you have ingame, Roc? Why should I vote for you? I know you’re big on community and do a lot outside of the game, but do you even actually play?
I’ve been in EVE Online since Nov 2007. What have I done in that time ingame is as follows:
I’ve run solo missions in high/low/null sec. I’ve done lvl 4 corp missions for grinding out profit. It sucks. I’ve not done a lvl 5 mission to date, though I want to. I’ve done rogue drone hives. I’ve done storyline. I’ve done epic mission arcs.
I’ve enjoyed exploration. I’ve enjoyed wormholes and the challenges that exist in w-space.
I’ve salvaged wrecks. I ninja looted nullsec alliance wars early on.
I’ve plexed. I’ve done small gang roams through low sec. I’ve ganked. I’ve gate camped. I’ve helped disrupt constellations. I’ve defended. I’ve offended. I’ve led sub-capital fleets of over 100 ships through Amarr and Caldari space. I’ve led small gang fleets extensively. I’ve blobbed. I’ve been blobbed. I’ve used EVE Voice for war fleet coordination.
I’ve solo PVPed. I’ve lead corporate fleets. I’ve participated in nullsec alliance fleets. I’ve fought against the Sansha Nation. I’ve killed. I’ve died. I’ve foolishly flown with +4 implants in my head. I’ve never been caught without an up to date clone.
I have a super secret alt. She makes billions selling only 5 items. I spend less than 20 minutes per day on her. I understand how to profit.
That same alt has 6 self-sustaining P3 setups running. More profit.
I’ve worked extensively with the EVE API, though technically that isn’t an ingame activity.
I’ve suffered at the hands of macros, and been a victim to fraudulent ISK.
I’ve only recently found a data research agent for my alt. It’s quite the trip to make, as she normally doesn’t leave her station, so I’m not certain if this will be beneficial yet to me.
My alt has limited experience in invention and production, but not enough for me to say with confidence that I have mastered this field.
I’ve never been a Director in a corporation, though I have played with that interface.
I’ve never mined. I never will. I just lost Chribba’s vote.
While the first ship I trained to was a Rapier, I’ve never gone further than cloaking. I’ve never used a cyno bridge. I do understand the logistics of them.
There are some of you that may at look at this and think “Geez, there is a lot he hasn’t done, especially some of the higher level game stuff. Why would I vote for him?”
The answer is simple really:
Do I play EVE Online? Yes, I do, though like many of us, not nearly as often as I would like. I also play EVE Offline, as many of you know, and truly believe that the social media aspect of community should not be underestimated.
In the end, you should vote for the representative you most believe will best represent your views. There are some things I have strong views about: EVE API, Faction Warfare, making EVE a more dynamic experience from high sec to null sec, Incarna, Microtransactions, and more.
Want to know my views? Look at my Campaign Trail posts and stay tuned.
ROC'S RAMBLINGS 