CCP Dopamine, Senior Community Developer: EVE Online is a vast and interconnected universe that can be near impossible to grasp for a single human being. Having a group of experts with extensive knowledge across various areas with years of experience behind their belts helps us better understand all the different aspects of the game along with the needs of a broad segment of our players.
To my mind, the knowledge sharing during this summit was particularly beneficial. We had four presentations delivered by CSM members that provided insight into the areas of expertise of individual members. I consider this to be one of the biggest impacts we get from the council. These information-packed sessions serve as a great way for anyone at CCP to learn more about a specific topic, which then prove useful when working on upcoming plans.
I also feel that both parties left with an excellent understanding of each other’s reasons, requirements, and motivations. While we might not always agree on everything, having a candid discussion where everyone can professionally share their thoughts is critical for the CSM program and the future of EVE Online.
CCP Burger, Creative Director: New Eden is massive, both in scale and depth. There are endless ways to interact with the universe, and there is no one right way to achieve the goal at hand. There is no way one single person can grasp the whole and my game is very different from your game. Similar to player events, CSM summits are one of my favorite times of the year, it’s when I get to peek in front of the curtains and see my day-to-day from the eyes of EVE’s players on a way higher level then myself. The main difference between meeting people at events and at the summit is the summit’s structure and professionalism. The sessions are civil - naturally, there is healthy debate, disagreement and hard-hitting questions, but over the years we’ve managed to find a good balance in our conversations to make sure we all get the most out of the eight-hours-a-day-for-fourdays-in-a-row stuck in a room together (and, of course during the afterhours). The CSM has reached a level of professionalism that made the March session one of the most productive summits to date.
We are doing some really important work right now and having a panel of expert capsuleers to vet and validate helps us set up EVE for the forever. The success of the NPE has a lot to do with input from CSM members that interact with new players every day, the set-up of frequent releases and many of the changes we’ve seen in the last 6 months would probably not have happened if it wasn’t for the all the input from the CSM. Moreover, the changes to New Eden’s economy that we are going through right now have sparked very healthy debates resulting in a better EVE Online for the future.
The poetry of EVE Online is unmatched. Every day we work towards understanding this living organism better and making sure it has the ingredients to live (somewhat) healthily. There is no EVE in medium gray, EVE needs conflict; conflict driven from people and emotions. The market, ships, modules, resources, CCP and CSM are the ingredients to allow you to set your adventure, claim your stake and write your story.
CCP Rise, Senior Game Designer: The CSM is a critical resource for us on Team Talos. This session, they worked hard to help us shape changes to wormholes, gather feedback from the front lines in low sec, establish an updated plan for capitals, and above all explore options for the future of structures big and small. Without the CSM, it would been very difficult to roll-out so many veteran-oriented changes at such a fast pace, as we have been doing over the past few months.
I would specifically highlight the recent transition to a more proactive CSM we’ve seen over the last two summits. Exooki set a fantastic precedent with his wormhole presentation during summer and Gobbins, Vily, and Olmeca all stepped up in winter with equally thoughtful and well-researched contributions. These presentations have driven important conversations forward in development and given us a look into the world and motivations surrounding some of EVE’s most important leaders.
The CSM is not our only source of feedback, of course, but having an expert group under NDA and on-call allows for precise conversations on almost any topic at any time of day. I’ve come to rely on them quite a lot and greatly appreciate their hard work.
CCP Goodfella, Brand Director: Overall, the second CSM 14 summit was great and I really enjoy having the opportunity to work closely with the CSM. The main discussions of this summit can be broken into three segments:
- The great strides that have been made with the focus on new players that resulted in an increased number of players joining the game and sticking around in EVE for a longer time.
- The continuation of balance updates, events, system changes, etc. that the CSM has both greatly advocated for and helped us shape, frame, and iterate on. I know that having them give us feedback on these things that we are frequently working on enables us to keep up the fast pace.
- The challenging but vital changes to the economy that have begun and will continue throughout 2020. The EVE ecosystem is incredibly complex, and having discussions (and debates!) on how to set up EVE to outlive us all is an incredibly important topic, and being able to discuss this with the CSM is crucial.
The discussions we had were professional, fun, and fruitful. One new element that I think has been really positive is the presentations that CSM members have started giving on specific topics. These presentations give great insight into specific professions, features, and more in EVE. They are the spark for fantastic discussions and give CCP a lot of ideas to consider. Another topic that we discussed with CSM was communication, and we had good feedback about the opportunities available there that can have a greater impact on EVE.
I thank CSM 14, it has been fantastic working with them and I am already excited for the upcoming CSM 15!
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