The Cap Stable crew has just about finished their coverage of the CSM X election, and I participated in the final two analysis shows recorded last night. As part of the preparation for the shows, I listened to the Cap Stable interview of Thoric Frosthammer. Ugh. Fortunately, he's an endorsed CFC candidate, so if elected he hopefully will have the good sense to follow along with Sion Kumitomo and Endie. Even so, ugh!
While enduring the circular logic that says that Endie's vision for null sec is wrong1, Thoric was asked about the issue that has risen to the top of the election meta, transparency. Listening to Thoric, I soon became convinced that he was just mouthing the words given to him my Sion. He clearly didn't understand Sion's position, because during the interview he began preparing his retreat behind the NDA, and the voting hasn't even begun.
Now, I'm from Chicago, and transparency is a word that goo-goos (good government types) use. In my experience, goo-goos are either naive or trying to hide something. Not that I object to the naive types trying to do good, because I enjoy watching a politician taking a good perp walk as much as the next guy. In fact, when I was in Bulgaria, I was told that's what makes America great; our crooked politicians have a good chance of winding up in prison. And during my 50 years on this planet, 5 of the 8 elected governors of Illinois have visited the jail house.
I do have to wonder, though. Do I really want transparency? I'm reminded back to 2011, when a lot of EVE Online players wanted what was eventually dubbed "Walking in Stations". CCP basically spent 18 months developing WiS gameplay while relegating the spaceship game to the sidelines. If WiS had come out fully functional with compelling gameplay, then I believe that we'd have a much healthier EVE today. Instead, we got a broom closet in a Minmatar station. Even if your current location was a Gallente station.
Having gone through that experience once with EVE, do I want to see the CSM divert resources, namely the time of the unpaid volunteers who advise CCP, to activities not related to improving the internet spaceship game? We don't even really know what transparency would look like in the CSM setting, especially with CCP, rightly in my opinion, worried about protecting proprietary business information. Whatever transparency means, someone is going to have to work on the process of giving information to players. I'm betting that means someone on the CSM will have to divert time away from looking at internet spaceships.
Perhaps if I believed that transparency would result in members of the CSM doing a better job I might jump on the goo-goo bandwagon. But I don't. Transparency is only good at election time, and if a CSM member doesn't run for re-election, then really, who cares? For now, I think the process works fairly well in governing what, in effect, are 14 volunteer positions. If we get 7 active members, we're doing good. What I don't want to see, however, is the CSM getting shoved into a Minmatar broom closet.
NOTES
1. For the record, I liked Endie's Cap Stable interview.
