CSM Candidate Summaries: Part 1 of Many

CSM Election time is here again, and Cap Stable has taken on the incredible task of interviewing all of the candidates.  I'll go so far as to say if that a candidate hasn't appeared on Cap Stable by the time elections come, they aren't serious and don't deserve your vote.  Cap Stable has been keeping these interviews down to 30m or less, but if you want the even shorter version here is my opinionated summary.  I'll do them in batches as they roll through.  Edit: ... and by the time I've finished this one I'm already behind again!

Top Notch Candidates, put them on your ballot now

Sugar Kyle.  (Lowsec, Communication, New Players, Quality of Life, Small Group)
I put Sugar at the top of my ballot last year and I was not disappointed.  She has clearly been a stand-out star of CSM 9 for her work in providing transparency and communication from the CSM to the players, representing low-sec (my home), gathering player feedback for CSM, driving more minutes than many of her colleagues put together.  As a PVPer and an industrialist she has hands-on knowledge to improve many areas I care about. She's showing no sign of slowing down and that shows in the interview.  Even in this early stage of the campaign I can tell you she'll be on top of my ballot for CSM 10. I recommend that you listen to her interview and decide for yourself.  (Forum Thread)(Podcast)

June Ting. (Nullsec, New Players, Small Group)
Crisp.  Business-like.  Focused.  Damn well knows her shit.  That's my take-away from the interview with June Ting.  I was definitely impressed.  If you read her candidate thread you'll get the same focused feel.  Her candidacy is tied to Ali Aras and her decision not to run for CSM, and I think she's explained that well.  In the interview, notice how she repeats the question back to the interviewer before giving her answer.  You can just tell that she's taking notes as she goes, a professional quality that should work very well dialing in to conference calls with CCP.  When we players don't know a lot about a candidate it is these kinds of qualities that I think will hold up.  Her accomplishments with Of Sound Mind   (Forum Thread)(Podcast)

Solid Candidates, worthy of consideration

Borat Guereen.  (Small Group, French) His key driver is that solo and small group players should be able to own part of Eve.  The idea of a nomadic lifestyle play style is appealing.  His desire to move away from Eve as "a game of alts" resonates for me as a single-account player, but making all alts visibly linked to their mains doesn't seem like a great idea.  The idea of reducing the reach of the APIs seems like it would entire push us back to cache-scraping and/or cause us all to spend more time bopping between regions just to check on prices.  That doesn't seem like a great amount of fun.  As an American who is a French speaker and has spent much of his life in France he may also represent a good connection to an underrepresented player base - with a new localization pack no less.  I'm not terribly convinced by his position on CSM term limits - honestly they seem to burn out fast enough that it isn't a problem. (Forum thread) (Podcast)

Vic Jefferson. (Small Group, New Player, New Ideas) In terms of the general appeal for small gang and new players he is comparable to June Ting, but he suffers in that comparison in terms of focus and confidence. When asked about what he brings with his out of game sense he gives a nervous laugh - not a great selling point and reminds me of my "things not to do as a CSM candidate" from last year.  His appear for bottom-up income is great, but that's hardly an unusual position nowadays.  The idea of making the Pirate missions/LP more valuable I find appealing from a gameplay and lore point of view.  I'd recommend that if you find him interesting, do check out his forum thread for other interesting ideas such as the "HighSec Pirate ESS".  I expect his chances aren't that great given he's a GSF member who doesn't sound like he'll be on their ballot, and will be avoided by others because of that ticker.  (Forum thread)(Podcast)

Not worth your time, move along capsuleer

Xenuria.  (CSM Reform, grrrGoons) Look, he may be a sharp guy and all that, but he's buried under his tinfoil hat.  I'm no fan of GSF, but I honestly don't care about his Goon Agenda message.  Vote buying and people spinning up account just to vote?  Sure, I'm not a big fan but he offered zero in a way of how that should be countered by CCP.  It just sounds like this agenda would derail what I see as the real work of the CSM, which is making the game better. (Forum thread)(Podcast)

Jenshae Chiroptera.  (CSM Reform, Mining-v-Ganking) Key platforms are around CSM/voting reform and "fair fights." He describes positioning himself as a rival to Mittens - and that's a hard way to start convincing me you have a good grip of reality.  Carrying that to an idea of a "negative vote" really sounds like someone who hasn't thought things through - I'm not sure why he thinks that this would add anything, even after skimming over his comments on the forum thread. The call for a way for non-combat ships to defend themselves against combat ships doesn't really seem to make much balance sense, though the Rorqual as mobile POS could be an interesting launching point. (Forum thread)(Podcast)