CSM9: HVAC’s Slate

Eight days ago, CCP Games officially started the election process for the ninth iteration of the Council of Stellar Management. Just as the voting site went live, the news spread around the EVE community at lightning speed. Not long after, entities across all of EVE began releasing endorsements and suggested ballots for people to follow. Ranging from large coalitions to bloggers, there was no shortage of ballots being released publicly. Like last year, the many diverse ballots should bring together a well represented council.

In my column last week, I went into detail on the qualities I look for in an individual to vote for in the CSM. The ability to work well with others and knowledge of a particular area at the game are the two biggest things I look for in a candidate. I also mentioned that I wasn’t going to release my ballot until after the election, as I had friends running and didn’t want to sway other peoples votes based on my own choices. I’ve had a week to think it over and decided to release it now, largely in part because everyone and their mother has already released theirs. After careful consideration, this is how I decided to vote on my accounts:

1a. Mynnna

1b. Xander Phoena

3. Sion Kumitomo

4. Ali Aras

5. Mangala Solaris

6. progodlegend

7. DJ FunkyBacon

8. Psychotic Monk

9. Psianh Auvyander

10. Steve Ronuken

11. Major JSilva

12. James Arget

13. Mike Azariah

14. Awoxing Pizza-Spymaster McBlushooter

When selecting the final 14, I had three specific goals in mind. First, I wanted to make sure all the candidates running from CSM8 were on it. I felt that most of CSM8 pulled their weight and the returning people deserved a spot on my list. My second goal was to make sure that every candidate that followed me on twitter got a spot somewhere. Lastly, I wanted to make sure that I had no more than six nullsec candidates on my list, to give the list some diversity.

My toughest decision in the entire thing was the #1 slot. Ultimately I couldn’t decide between Mynnna and Xander so I chose to alternate them as top choice on my accounts. The official CFC ballot lists Mynnna as #2 and Xander as #4, so I put them higher on mine. Mynnna is extremely knowledgeable of many different areas of the game, works well with others, and can present his ideas with facts and spreadsheets. Xander can’t do any of that, but he follows me on twitter and he’s the boss so I have to throw him a bone every so often.

Sion, Ali, and Mangala all follow me on twitter so they also got spots. Sion is Goonswarm’s Chief of Staff and head diplo; his knowledge of the EVE meta is unparalleled and would be a great asset to CCP. Everyone who has worked with Ali, be it on CSM8, DoW or TMDC, always speaks highly of her so she also got a spot. Mangala also was on CSM8 and a friend, so of course he’d get a spot.

Despite him being constantly on the opposite sides of a conflict, I’ve always like Progodlegend. Him returning from CSM8 definitely made it easy to justify having him on the list. If picking between Xander and Mynnna as my number one was difficult, trying to choose between Sugar Kyle and DJFunkyBacon was nearly as hard. Ultimately I chose FunkyBacon because I admire his ability to write. His pieces on both the Erotica1 incident and SOMER Blink were some of the best EVE writing I have ever seen.

The rest of the people are a mixture of those voted for last year (Monk), were on CSM8 (James Arget and Mike Azariah), follow me on twitter (Steve Ronuken), or Forlorn won’t shutup about (Major JSilva). Like the CFC ballot, I had to include Awoxing Pizza-Spymaster McBlushooter because that’s the most hilarious EVE name I have ever seen.

Regardless of how close CSM9 resembles my ballot, I hope we get a hard working and diverse group. CSM8 was one of the hardest working to date, and nearly everyone from top to bottom worked hard. No matter who gets elected, CSM9 will have a tough time following up what CSM8 accomplished.