NOTE: This posting was also copied to Jita Park on Eve-O. It can be found here.
Last year was a bad year for FW and lowsec in the CSM elections. I almost threw my hat in when Hans Jagerblitzen announced he wouldn't be running, but Marc Scarus, heavily involved as a blogger in his own right as well as at TMC, plus a member of fellow FW/Pirate organization QCATS announced he was running and I felt confident our voice would be heard in the coming CSM election.
When Marc abruptly withdrew from the election, that confidence was shattered, and at that point there wasn't time to mount a campaign, so our voice was silenced for the coming year. This year, I was at least going to wait until CCPs announcement for the CSM9 elections before throwing my hat in, but with so many candidates jumping in, it seems unwise to wait so long before getting the ball rolling, so here we are.
For those who know me from Twitter, FaceBook, my Blog, Eve-Radio, my work at TMC, or have been flying with me for any of my last 10 years in Eve, you likely already know more about me and where I stand than I can fully explain in a single posting. For those reading my words for the first time, I'll briefly lay out where I come from, and where I stand. I will of course be happy to clarify or answer any questions from those in the player base.
First, a little about myself:
I'm presently known by 2 characters in Eve. DJ FunkyBacon is the more widely known, public face that I have. Mirana Niranne is my SP main, and executor of a 300 man lowsec alliance with a robust newbie division that gives veteran player mentorship to new players looking to get into PVP.
I first picked up Eve off the shelf at a local game store in the summer of 2003, back when Eve's PCU was measured in the 4000-6000 range. I carebeared it up for about a year, got bored, sold my character and hit the road only to come back and start over 6 months later. Since then, I have been involved in most major game play aspects of Eve, from highsec, to NPC Null, Sov Null, a little time in a wormhole, lowsec piracy, and Factional Warfare. I have 1st hand experience of the pain it is to run a POS (not sure how you guys running several do it, a pair of them drove me mad) I have built many things from tech 1 to tech 3, and I've blown up possibly more than my share in return. For the last 1.5 years, FW and lowsec PVP has been my main fare, along with doing my part teaching the newbros in our training corp how to fight.
Starting in 2006 I joined up with the intrepid folk at Eve Radio, and 7 1/2 years later I still haven't looked back. I've had the privilege of experiencing some of Eve's highest and lowest moments since then from a front row seat, talking with the devs and players at the heart of many memorable events.
And Now, my platform:
As I mentioned before, lowsec and FW had virtually no representation in CSM8. It is my goal to get that voice back for us. In the last year, the biggest addition to lowsec was tags4sec, which likely was being worked on during CSM7's run. FW got a reiteration on Orbital Bombardments for DUST FW players, but poor implementation has left Eve and Dust players mostly unable to find each other, and the feature is just about broken as a result.
I would like to see more consistent attention given to both lowsec and FW. More specifically, lowsec is not null lite, nor is it necessarily a stepping stone for people to get out into nul sec. Pirates living out here by and large have no plans to ever head out and "take sov" same for many FW corps and alliances. The goals are different, the mechanics are different, the way we all play the game is quite a bit different. As CCP continues to change the game, and the CSM is dominated by representatives from the various nul blocs, it is going to be increasingly important to have someone (or more than one person) to look at changes from the perspective of the effects they will have on Eve's lowsec population.
As for specific issues that I see need addressing at the moment:
I think that warp core stabilizers are in need of a long hard look at what sort of "game play" they are enabling. I think similar, if not more effective levels of evasion can be attained with nanos and other mods that will simply require the pilots in question to pay a little more attention rather than wait for their minimized client to buzz before swapping windows to warp away.
Another issue on the minds of many FW leaders, is the issue of income for FW corps and alliances. Such entities usually have to rely on donations from leaders or members just to have a corporate office rented, nevermind the complete inability to help replace ships lost in fleet operations or provide other services that entities with at least a tax income take for granted.
Finally, while B-R has done a good job at reducing Eve's Supercapital population, lowsec needs more in it's toolbox to combat and pin down supers in our area of space. While I am in full agreement that "bubbles" as used in nulsec need to be kept out of lowsec, specific tools targeted to jump drive disruption outside of HICs are sorely needed to make supercap escalation in lowsec both more risky and more meaningful.
As stated before, any questions on my thoughts or stances on any eve issue can be directed to me through whatever social medium you wish, whether Twitter, FaceBook, in game eve-mails, forums, etc.
