Fanfest from a Distance: Build Your Dreams, Wreck Their Dreams

Fanfest may be a long way away from here, but I'm plugged in to watch some of the key presentations.  So this is my Fanfest at a distance, somewhat live-blogger style, with lots of links from videos and stills that are being posted...

While waiting for the stream my characters are making the pilgrimage to Amarr to register for the YC118 Amarr Championships Community Draw.  This is a bit trickier for some of my characters (*cough* Gallente factional warfare *cough*) so all of them might not make it.

Opening Ceremonies - Connections

Nice touch listing Upwell Consortium as a "sponsor", that's a fun little teaser.  The light and smoke for the Amarr Championship seemed a bit out of place as Hilmar dropped right back into his calm, paced presentation.  I don't know about other folks, but for me the React website wasn't loading the scripts needed to actually have buttons to press.

Rooks and Kings: I love their videos, but honestly "Message in a Bottle" isn't their greatest.  What I really wish is that we'd see them breaking out with the next great thing - Pantheon, Pipebombing, ... do they still have the skills and creativity to make it a trifecta?

I get the grand vision Hilmar is looking for, but I'm not sure if joining Tranquility and Serenity is a good idea.  Both have grown into their own communities, their own balance of economics, their own reality.  There were some cool ideas tossed around on reddit for limited connections via wormholes that certainly would be a nice way to slowly bring the two together.  In the end the barrier to making this happen is more of a political thing than a gameplay thing of course.

I had to chuckle at the Eve Valkyrie "Carrier Assault" video.  When will ship designers stop putting their main reactors right near open bays where people can blow them up?  I'm sure the lore experts will jump in and the idea of the "recovering tech" that is referenced in this scenario.

Project Arena: the overlay of the video footage and the VR rendering really helps sell that concept.  Obviously very Tron-like here.  I really like this as the next-level after the Wii first came in and got so many people up and "bowling" into their television across the room.

Project Nova: the successor to Dust 514 on the PC using a free-to-play model.  I'll be curious to see what the Fanfest goers report on this.  I'm not a FPS player really, but since Nova would be on the PC I could see giving it a try.  My son might actually be more interested in this than I am, which could be very cool.  "Dad, I need an orbital strike, now!"  However, the o7-segment between the two sessions mentioned that Nova would focus on space locations more than just planetary settings, which is a nice nod towards the potential teaser with videos for some time.  How long until we can deliver a troop carrier full of space marines to take on an opponent's Citadel, perhaps to be able to shut down modules or otherwise affect the ongoing space battle.

Eve Keynote

Overall I like how they slipped a bit of an RP feel into the Keynote segment, with the pirate broadcasts interrupting things and the references to Upwell and ORE as groups who are present and active in a real sense.  There's a lot of "great stuff coming, but you'll have to wait" that points to things whose delivery date is out past the next Fanfest, but that's balanced by more immediate deliveries as well.  But on to the subtopics...

CCP Quant.  It's all about pi in the chart porn.  I'm looking forward to bloggers and podcasters like Eve-Prosper, Nosy Gamer, Eve-Fail, and marketsForISK tear into this.  I love the teaser that the Palantine Citadel would require liquidation of 1/15th of all of the active assets in Eve today.

CSM Elections.  Low turnout isn't a surprise, but it is disappointing to see.  I'm sad that Apothne's real-life troubles kept him out, as I'm sure he would have been in.  Given that Hyde got a permanent spot, chances are good that this would have been Apothne's to win.  Will the Imperium folks be able to put their drama behind them enough to contribute constructively to the CSM?  We'll see.

Frigates of Eve book.  I gotta says that I was a bit disappointed at the end that the book is only frigates, but on the other hand that means they are going to be more comprehensive and in depth on just that class.  Of course, it's a teaser of moving up through the ship hulls should the book be successful.  Summer 2017 is a pretty long way away though.

Official Eve App for iPhone and Android.  The big question is of course where this puts third-party apps like Neocom.  I'm glad to hear that they do not expect this to be the only Eve app on your phone.

Industrial Arrays: That teaser video was hilariously good.  Getting into it though, I love the idea of the owner of the industrial array can allow usage for a fee.  This is something that I'm itching to be able to do right now, as I don't have quite enough time and toons to run a POS on my own.  First blueprints not until this Fall though, so that means the actual release is Winter or so.  I'm not so thrilled at how far out this is though.  Drilling Arrays in Winter is the next step, but not as sexy for me.  The promise of beginning the full replacement of POS with Citadels by next Fanfest is a big one.  Mining changes aren't quite my thing, but I'm glad to see that the Rorqual owners finally the rework, though I see there are already people whining on reddit that it will be unworkable.

Faction Titans and "Shadow of the Serpent".  You know that Larriken was just waiting to be able to say "mere run of the mill Erebus."  I'm curious about how this event will work, along with the whole idea of rat caps and supers.

CCP Ghost and new player retention.  This is very much a promise of direction rather than anything big, other than some nice phrases like "suffering from the weight of its own awesomeness."  I agree that Empire space is a logical starting point with a lot of material already in place, but I do still wish they were ready to add the idea of the pirate factions as a starting point.


And the Eve Fanfest Trailer for 2016.  This really should be titled "Build Your Dreams / Wreck Their Dreams."  I can't imagine that  you're reading this blog and you haven't seen it, but there's the link to watch it gain.

The Fizzle's not in the Sov

"This is the way the world ends /  Not with a bang but a whimper." -T.S. Eliot, "The Hollow Men"

Perhaps the poet wasn't thinking of The Imperium when he wrote this in the wake of World War I, but I wonder if some disillusioned Imperial subject will end up writing "The Hollow Goon" after World War Bee.  The Mittani has taken to making ever more fantastical postings on TMC, and they are being echoed by some that are presenting a stalwart front with their master, but honestly the increasingly desperate and fatalistic tones sound like they are about to break into whimpers.  It seems the inner circle of the Imperium is ready to lash out at just about anyone right now, from their turncoat allies in CO2, to their opponents such as Mercenary Coalition, to personal attacks at members of CCP.

I mentioned last time that I found the idea of joining the Allied forces very appealing.  I figured I'd take a look around, so I found a potential event on the World War Bee filter of Timerboard, got into a newly refitted stealth bomber, and headed out.  I made perches on the way and was particularly careful making the transition from lowsec into null Pure Blind at Mantenault.  Nothing but empty systems greeted me.  There were no camps on the entrance, no bubbles to slowly burn out of.  Two systems in I saw a TEST pilot enter local, so I opened up a convo to ask how things were going.  "Nothing happening" was the answer.  Another couple systems in I met another TEST pilot and figured I'd try again and got the same answer.  I got to my target system and set up some bookmarks around the IHub that was going to come out in less than an hour, but the single other occupant of the system (a Goon, even) wasn't anywhere on d-scan.  I've never actually fired a bomb launcher before, so I warped over to a belt and tried tagging some rats but at least according to the combat logs didn't do any damage so I clearly have something I need to figure out.  Perhaps just as well then that the only fleet I saw the entire time was a small goon interceptor fleet that raced through the system, spamming in local about how MOA couldn't catch them.

I would have envisioned Mittani not railing with this effective admission that it will take them "years" of "long, cold and brutal" conflict to reclaim their place.  There is no sign of these "Ancient Great Warriors" returning to Goonswarm ranks - instead it seems all of their great warriors, the ones with the adaptable and creative minds capable of fighting under the new Sov, well ... they've all gone over to other Alliances it seems.  I would have expected some kind of call of "rise and get in fleets or be purged" with the Imperial Bureaucracy keeping track of slackers via the infamous PAP links.  I would have expected a "fierce and hot" conflict for VFK or YA0 rather than "long and cold" - honestly the former would sound a lot more fun if I was a lapsed Imperium pilot.  The expectation (myth?) was that the Imperium had an amazingly huge treasury from all those deep 0.0 riches, so even if they were outnumbered 3:5 then could be fighting in a home system, die, reship, undock, and be right back into the fight - unlike their MBC foes who would have a much longer reship supply line.  The "Goonhammer" I expected was the power of the purse, combined with the Mittani's infamous political power, and the wily commanders who made the name for the CFC from being able to overwhelm bigger opponents with nothing but Rifters.  Instead it seems that many of the big names are on the other side.  Now the game's largest capital and supercapital fleet stays logged off or hidden for risk of being lost if it is used.  The big take-away from the Close Quarter's interview with Vily (jump to the end if you don't want Vily's long early history bit) is that he and others wanted to fight, but that pugnacious heart of the CFC is gone.

What has fizzled is that the Imperium no longer has no confident swagger, no fearsome reputation, and no strong right arm to back it all up.

A hot war that carried through spring and into summer would have been incredible for the game, though even as it is it has been good for the game.  About two weeks ago I posted a Eve-Offline PCU count image.  Here's the latest:

Those two spikes over 40k since my last blog are great to see.  There is a clear change in levels since the start of World War Bee.  I'm curious about the future.  It seems pretty clear that the Imperium will be wiped from the Sov map.  This is accepted by the Imperium leadership and they're already setting up their pilots (those that remain anyway) for the war that will happen after that.  If there is enough of a low-sec lull then the MBC will doubtless break apart.

That could begin a new age of sov that might also be appealing to players like myself.  We'd be looking at a sov-null that is shattered into many smaller nascent empires much like the dreams of sov we heard in the player meta a year or two ago.  The Imperium, shrunk into a hardened core could be a villain of a whole new cast - perhaps they could be the marauding barbarians then, rather than the calcified structure they are now.  Perhaps they would be feared again, like they once were, and maybe they can even start to live up to what Mittani is putting out right now.  It would be a lot smaller, a lot less dominating, but a lot more fun.

And it'd be a lot better than ending with a whimper.

War For Our Time

I've been a lowsec dweller for most of my Eve life, after moving on from the usual highsec start.  The tales of nullsec have been interesting in terms of politics and history, but the cap/super-cap driven nature of nullsec war was something that kept it firmly in the "not for me" category.  The nullsec world seemed static, with all of the knowlegable opinions seeming to come together to say that the CFC had effectively won and that we would see no great battles like B-R again.

"To have a large war, you need two large adversaries.  To have a large battle, you need two sides willing to commit large numbers of expensive assets." - Ripard Teg, "The Last War", 30 Jan 2014.

Aegis Sov started to change this opinion.  It used to be that the cry was that you needed a fleet of supers to take sov.  Now suddenly the weight of the game mechanic shifted, and the cry was that anyone in a troll-ceptor could threaten sov.  Player inventiveness responded of course and we've hit somewhere inbetween as best I can tell from my station down here in lowsec.  Stuff was definitely starting to happen and then suddenly...

Where did that come from?  I recommend Nosy Gamer's blog as a neutral starting point for what he termed The Casino War.  There's a summary today by EN24 (not neutral) of the Allied Forces.  The breaking news this afternoon was that LAWN and Bastion are evacuating Vale of the Silent, straight from none other than Mittani on his own Metashow,  surrendering that region to the anti-Imperium forces.  The propaganda on reddit has been voluminous and often quite good.  I hear that this is what TEST does best. :)

It's enticing.  The possibility of joining on of the "Allied" combatants and battling the hated CFC certainly stirs the imagination,  We here in RDRAW have gotten in a few ops via our connection to Snuffed Out, and from what I hear it sounds like our northern GalMil cousins have taken some fleets up in search of CO2 assets as well.  But being third-parties or allies-of-an-ally is a bit different from shifting home and living that war.

There is one measure that I think all Eve players are looking to right now.  There are plenty of "that's it, I'm resubbing" comments in the propaganda threads.  Will that really come through?  Here's the one slope that we'll all want to watch:

War for our Time, pilots, let there be War for our Time.

Grab Bag and CSM Autocorrect Answers

Some miscellany today before they slip out of my mind.  If you haven't read the CSM Autocorrect Quiz at the bottom of the CSM Ballot post, now is your chance to do so before you see the answers.

Dual Tanking Newbies

If you've taken a new character through the career missions (as I've done recently) then you know why new players dual-tank: it's what they are taught to do.  In both the Gallente and Caldari career missions you'll be given a shield hardener for your frigate and then a bit later you'll be given a small armor repper.  I think you also get a blaster and then are given rails, just to get that mixed-gun thing going to.  I assume that's because they wanted to reuse the same mission for all races with as little parameterization as possible, but I haven't spun up Minmatar or Amarr alts recently enough to know.

Station Trading

I've been relatively successful at station trading on my alt over the past months, though I did get caught out paying too much for items that tumbled in price.  On an active day I can log in twice: once in the morning and once in the evening, so I can't quite do the 0.01isk every 5 minutes thing.  Finding new stuff has been a bit of a challenge.  I tried the Evernus website that some people were speaking well of on reddit, but it looked like a decent chunk of the time the data was just wrong, so I'm guessing that's because its source information is being gamed somehow.  I need to put in the time to find more items with a decent margin, activity on both the buy and sell sides, and which isn't being so actively traded that I'll be left behind 15 minutes after I log off.

Gureaster Goodies

I haven't run one of these yet, but I'm looking forward to trying.  There was a site in my home system, but apparently some of the guys were leaving it open as a trap so I headed off to fight in some FW plexes.  I've heard of people scoring skill injectors, which would be very nice indeed.

Skill Injectors and Alt Training

I have an alt that was trained to be an off-grid booster, which isn't that long a train.  I haven't made a huge use of him, but with the coming changes (soon, I hope) I've been training him towards on-grid combat capability.  Ah, quite the reminder of all of those core skills that you need if you're going to actually survive and do anything useful on grid.  It's a good reminder of what new players have to do too - and of course my alt dates from before the new character skill boost, so he needs to do things like train Science IV so he can get to Thermodynamics.  Doing sequences like that make those injectors so, so tempting.

CSM Autocorrect Quiz

Okay, so here are the answers.  Joffy Aulx-Gao got all of these right except the first:

Were Ducking  -> Wardeccing
Torah but she don't  -> Tora Bushido
Laura expert -> Lore Expert
Game McKennas  -> Game Mechanics

Good Hunting out there, and don't forget to vote!

CSM XI Ballot

CSM Election ballot - I know that posting it this late means that only the stragglers will see it, but real life has been kicking my butt lately during the day and happily I've had plenty to do in Eve at night that leads me to undock rather than blog.  Check out the end of this blog post for a special bonus CSM Autocorrect Quiz!

CSM X has gotten knocked about for the drama of some members and the removal/resignation of others.  Some of this is an unfair comparison, as those of you who familiar with the history of CSM will know - or those who listen to Declarations of War.  Previous CSMs have commented how by the end of a year they only had 4-5 active members, and now we're complaining that we had to kick a few.  It's the classic problem of thinking a problem is worse because you have more transparency on it.

Nonetheless, CSM XI will be defined by people's current expectations.  The goal should be a productive, engaged, and low-drama CSM.  Some of that cannot be avoided given that we have Imperium candidates who are both guaranteed to be elected and who are going in with the pretty explicitly stated goal of causing drama.  The question is what CSMs will be elected by the rest of us in the game.  So let's get to it.

Top of the Ballot

1 - Apothne:  You could argue for him foremost as a PVP mechanics expert, but the reason he's on the top of my ballot is attitude.  He has strong opinions but he's also clearly willing to reason with other people and keep open the possibility of his mind being changed.  He also already has a strong relationship with CCPers which can help him be a bridge with the CSM and the rest of the community.

2 - Steve Ronuken: Steve is one of the rare incumbents this time around, and he has a history of being level headed, productive, and a representative for those players who don't play the game for the pew.  If anything I expect his vote count may be even higher after Sion's clumsy attempt to throw mud at him.

3 - DoToo Foo: Another non-pvper, what is Eve coming to?  Here we have another consistent, competent, level-headed communicator. We're about to have the industry and market of Eve turned upside down (particularly with these recent posts about making NPC stations unattractive to use).  We could use someone with this kind of sharp mind that isn't paired with an unnecessarily sharp tongue.

4 - Mr. Hyde: Okay, back to the PVP.  I think Mr. Hyde would be higher on my list but for the inevitable comparison to Apothne, who edges him out by having additional skills and existing contacts.  I hope that there is room for both of them on CSM XI, and I'm not overly worried that he will instigate changes that would eliminate the frigate menace.

5 - Joffy Auix-Gao: I've been impressed by his campaign and his approach to the game and to CSM.  I'm sure he is going to face a lot of challenges to community given his physical limitations, but I'm willing to put my vote of confidence in that he'll figure it out.

Good Candidates

Jin'taan: I think Providence deserves a CSM and unlike the Goons I don't know if they are guaranteed one without outside help.  The real tough choice for me was between him and Utari Onzo.  If I want to help make sure Provi gets a CSM, I should vote Jin'taan higher, but...

Utari Onzo: There are shades here of Ashterothi's run last year.  Lore cannot be the main driver of a CSM candidate - that's just not what they do - but it does show a particular love of the game for its creative universe that I think is valuable.  Throw in Utari's other skills and experience and he gets a spot on the ballot.

Diana Olympos: Here is someone who just seems to love absorbing data and analyzing it.  I've seen this in our CZ writes slack channels, and he spoke of it in his interview.  The problem I'm worried about with Diana is coming out of that analysis mode and communicating clearly.

Kyle Aparthos: I wasn't amazed at his interview, but I've been very impressed with him all through the campaign.  Given the terrible time that SMA has been having I've been impressed with how clear and composed he has been in the midst of Reddit, and that's a great sign of maturity and professionalism that is lacking in other candidates.


CapriSunKraftFoods: Part of me can't believe I'd vote for someone who would choose a name like that for their character.  As I said in my review, I came away impressed from his interview.  I just worry that away from the election process he might revert to a troll.

Nash Kadavr: Similar to Utari, player events are just not something that the CSM is lined up to work on.  Voting for Nash is voting for something he didn't run his candidacy on: that he knows what it take to create and run a successful lowsec PVP organization.  With all the other things he does, the question is: has he been aware from that so long that his information is stale and misleading?

Notably Missing - No Drama, Thank You

Bobmon: With all of the accusations and drama around Bobmon and EN24, it just isn't worth the risk to put a vote down next to his name.  Between that and how CCP is a bit shy of the "gaming media" right now I'd have to put strong odds on him being kicked out of the CSM somewhere during the year.

Gorski Car: He's a self-declared candidate for drama, if tongue in cheek.  Even though he's done good work by all reports, that's just not what we need right now.  I think his PVP experience will be covered by the likes of Apothne and Mr. Hyde.  I hope we'll see a lot from him during the year, just from the role of a player rather than a CSM.

Bonus: CSM Autocorrect Quiz:

Can you decypher autocorrected Eve?  I used my commutes and other random times to listen to interviews, which has meant taking notes on my iPhone using voice transcription.  This has led to some amusing autocorrection of Eve terms.  See if you can guess these four phrases from their autocorrected spellings:


Were Ducking

Torah but she don't

Laura expert

Game Mckennas

CSM XI Candidates, Part 5 (Final)

We come to the last of these wrap-ups of CSM candidates - delayed more than I'd like because RL has been kicking my butt.  Anyway, I think it's reasonable to have a slight bias against candidates who are just showing up now.  While there are are possible reasons to be this late to the interview game, it does make it sound either like you didn't really care but decided to do it at the last minute or you were disorganized enough that you only just got around to the interview.  And if the candidates are like me and have RL slowing them down so much they can't do an interview, then maybe they should reconsider how much time they'll have to be a CSM.  So I went in not expecting much from this final batch.  In at least one case, I was happily surprised to be wrong.

(Note: the links for previous posts have been updated to point to the analysis shows that have now come out)

Top Notch Candidate

CapriSunKraftFoods (forum) (interview) (analysis show)
Not just a reddit shitposter - that's pretty much all I was looking for in this interview.  Instead I found someone thoughtful and realistic about the role of the CSM.  One quote I particularly liked: "If you have an idea you should write it down, read it over, and have other people read it." This is the heart of a design review process used by people who want to get something right.  Not off the cuff "hey I'll tell you what I think", but considered thought.  He has a realistic view of the CSM as a persistent and broad-reaching focus group.  I don't know if I'm thrilled about his stated opinions on how nullsov should work (leaning away from small gangs and back to massive fleets), but I don't play in nullsov and he has a straightforward on the ground experience that sounds very realistic and not driven by a meta-agenda.  I also like his bias for CSMs being people who actually log into the game and play (the unspoken comparison being those who only metagame).

Interesting Candidates

Xavier Azabu (forum) (interview) (analysis show)
Xavier is stepping in as a small gang pvp-focused player stretching from null to low sec.  Unfortunately that's a crowded space this time around, with people from Gorski Car, Apothne, and Mr. Hyde in the running.  So does he have the ability to stand out compared to them and communicate strongly amongst the kind of people who are going to be in the CSM next term?  Being a representative from the Far East timezone is is nice touch, and for that constituency I could see them wanting a home-time representative.  I liked hearing his tale of what it was like to be in Pizza when AegisSov rolled out, but it didn't come across as telling me what he'd contribute.  I don't quite seem him rising to the top this time, but he also sounds like the kind of reasonable voice I'd love to hear build a presence towards future elections.

RF Gnaeus Crassus  (forum) (interview) (analysis show)
We're used to seeing candidates from many different alliances, but I must say I wasn't expecting somone from Red Frog.  As someone who has done some contracting and trading I certainly can see the need for improvement there.  It's just hard to see a CSM with such a tight specialization.  I had passed on some feedback when Sugar Kyle had asked about the topic, and if any active CSM picked up her book full of player feedback they could probably push it along (Steve, please?).  He had a great quote arguing for why space trucking AFK and non-AFK is much the same: "If I'm at the keyboard, I just get to see how my ship gets shot."  If CCP was to start a focus group on industry and trading then I'd love to see this guy at the top of the list - I just am having trouble seeing him as a CSM with a inherently more general portfolio.

Not Worth Your Time

Chiimera (forum) (interview) (analysis show)
His work as a Aussie TZ community organizer (Oceanic Assault) was interesting, and it's kind of a shame (but predictable) that he then had to spend of a lot of time distancing himself (gently) from Sion and the drama that his fellow GSF had stirred up recently. In the end, perhaps because he's trying to balance so neatly, he doesn’t seem to have a lot solid to push forward.  He had a lot of disclaimers about “can’t say more without the information that’s under NDA.”, though the things he did put forward were generally a list of F&I items: more bottom-up income for nullsec, ECM rebalance geared for small-gang warfare, killmails for logi ships. This is all a "mom and apple pie" list as we might say here in the US.  So it's hard to see him as a particularly interesting candidate.

Niko Lorenzio (forum) (interview) (no analysis show yet)
So he's an old-school candidate who wants to put things back the way they were? I don't know how much backing he's going to get to want to put the clone grade system back in.  Do we need a CSM who's going to constantly just tell CCP to stop doing new things and put the Eve roadmap into reverse?  I'm not sure he's convincing me from his interview.  No be fair, he does like the split of the carrier into range-damage and fax-machine under his slogan of increasing and honoring specialization.  I think the real killer for me though is that his attitude suggests someone who is going to rage and then fade away as a CSM.  If you want to back an advocate for conservatism in game design, you probably can find another who is more engaging and persuasive.

Annexe (forum) (interview) (no analysis show yet)
Annexe is a nullsec (Imperium / TNT) PVPer and director.  Looking at his forum thread I see considers his CSM run as a #YOLO why not.  That pretty much knocks him immediately to the bottom of my list as not being serious.  If he's still around and wants to run next year and looks like he's taking it seriously then he may be worth taking a new look at.

Aryth (forum) (interview) (analysis show) (DoW panel)
Let's face it: if you are a good little Imperium member then you're voting for Aryth, and if you aren't an Imperium member then Aryth doesn't need or want your vote.  He has been very clear on this latter point in his interview with Declarations of War.  He was pretty clear again in his CSM Watch that he isn't there to represent "pubbies."  His competence and value as a CSM candidate is pretty irrelevant for the purpose of this review

CSM XI Candidates, Part 4

Voting is open!  Time to try to sprint through the remaining candidates I suppose, though we have until March 25th to cast those votes.  So don't be in a rush quite yet!

Top Notch Candidates

Am I being pickier this year, or are the candidates not as strong?  Another round with no candidates solidly in this category.

Interesting Candidates

Utari Onzo (forum) (interview) (analysis show)
I found him an interesting combination:  a former Amarr FW player who is now in Providence (but not an official Providence candidate, which appears to be Jin'taan if anyone), who also claims wormhole experience, logi FC as his favorite role, and is a lore-focused part-time roleplayer as well.  This is a stronger position for a lore expert than we saw with Uriel (see part 3).  When he discussed some of the problems the RP community has had in the Intergalatic Summit forum it gave me a glimmer of why such a representative might be valuable as well.  His real push is for increasing interactivity between the players and the Eve universe, which isn't strictly just about lore, but included an example of players getting excited that their in-game activities showed up in a Scope video.  With more talk about increasing rat behavioral capabilities it seems this could be a good time to have someone with such an area of interest in the CSM.

Nash Kadavr (forum) (interview) (analysis show)
As the head organizer of #Eve_nt perhaps it's not surprising the Nash is running as a community and live event candidate.  He's passionate about this but ... what exactly does that have to do with the usual CSM duties again?  How does that inform being a sounding board for new sov mechanics, FW changes, or ship balancing?  The frustrating thing is that Nash's experience as a leader of  Kadavr Black Guards / The Bastards is a great statement on that which he didn't get to at all in his interview.  Fortunately he isn't as shy about it in his forum thread, so at least people who read that might have more reason to vote for him.  He might have been Top Notch in my opinion except for the way he responded to the whole mess with IWantIsk.  I'm not as worried about what IWI said about him, and I buy his version of the events (which also doesn't speak well of Bobmon) but it made me wonder how he would handle strong disagreements with another CSM.  "Never doing business with them again" isn't an option I want CSMs to be exercising in this particular case, though it might work well for Eve_NT.  I think the Analysis Show concerns about his time availability are pretty solid here, given all that he does.  It all adds up to not quite being Top Notch, though I expect he may well end up on my personal ballot.


Sogor (forum) (interview) (analysis show)
So he's got a lot of ideas, seems he can communicate them, and has a lot of things he is interested in, and I appreciate that he's trying to present himself as an unbiased "scientific" candidate.  However, that same approach makes him very much of the "Features and Ideas" candidate who seems to want to present a lot of things for CCP to do.  We can look at his ideas as an indicator of the way he thinks, though, and that's better than some of the candidates who were so bland in their avoidance of any position that they don't provide any clue of what's going on inside their head.  On the other hand, it seems like he hasn't thought deeply about the CSM work side (see the "how to build rep with CSM" and "how to communicate" parts of the interview).  In the end, his positive attitude bumped him up into this "Interesting" category though I think what this really means is that I hope he works harder on this and we see him again next year.  ProTip: don't start your CSM interview by saying that you're running because "why not, I can say I tried it." 

Don't Waste Your Time

Erika Mizumi (forum) (interview) (analysis show)
One of those folks I hate to put in this category, but it's for the best.  If you're unsure about her, read her forum post and don't listen to her interview.  Having an industrial representative could be a good thing for the CSM, but her more interesting (if niche) element is for high usability for the disabled.  As with Joffy, I think this also argues well for being high usability for all players.  For instance, her argument for better visual indicators of fleet commands could help with cross-language fleets as well as the hard of hearing.  But the bottom line is that the interview made me think that she could not communicate consistent and persuasively, which is a key attribute for the CSM.  That may be nerves, it may have been a bad run of things, but if so I hope we'll see her again in future CSM runs.

Borat Gureen (forum) (interview) (analysis show)
With a focus on solo and "microcorp" he certainly catches my attention.  The idea of someone focused on the assymmetrical "guerrilla warfare" in Eve is a good one to have around.  This could definitely be seen as a slightly different niche than the solo or small-gang play that would be covered by Apothne, Gorksi, or Mr Hyde.  However, the farther he goes in the interview the more I scratch my head.  His comments about the role of the CSM in the design of the ESS makes me think he hasn't listened to the multiple DoW episodes where Ali Aras talked about the topic.  His comment that he would only work for his constituency (instead of the whole of Eve) is a big knock.  Then we get into his ideas about players having a right of privacy for their lossmails, but he wants CCP to provide him a list of who voted for him so he can better communicate with them, and he has some big ideas about disclosing who is the alt of whom (as if CCP even has that info, as they've commented before).  So some interesting ideas, but it seems generally if you're interested in him you might find better candidates elsewhere.

Bait'er De'Outlier (forum) (interview)
He is a highsec wardec candidate who definitely comes across as passionate.  His cry to "undo the nerfs on Eve" reads as a bit of touch, though at least he clarifies that he doesn't mean the ship-balancing nerfs ... just the anti-ganking ones?  His attitude really seems to convey that he's not in the more modern Eve, but still represents the "everyone should play my way" mindset that was more common a couple years back but which you don't generally see in CSM candidates anymore.  He's also another candidate who seems to feel that a it's a valid communication strategy to just have people eve-mail him if they want to communicate with him.  I do have to give him a nod as a fellow Star Fleet Battles player from back in the day.
Edit: Sheesh, now I see he's not even on the official candidate list.  He really is "that guy" - what a waste of my time.

Billbert Lashlily - apparently another person who bothered to do an interview, but not get on the official candidate list.