Thank you very much everyone for placing me on CSM 6 and now on CSM 7 where I am currently serving as the Chairman! If you would like to contact me directly, do not hesitate to just send me an eve mail in game. Keep your eyes here and watch for new posts.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

CSM 7 Update #3


New week, new updates. Not a lot of big news so I'll just hit the basics.

~News~

First CSM 7 'Dev Blog'

We've turned in the draft for our first 'official' dev blog and it should hopefully be published by this weekend or soon after. There are a few new bits of info in the blog but it is mainly intended as an introduction of CSM 7 to a much larger audience that probably doesn't follow these updates regularly.

May Summit Planning

The past few days have seen scheduling for the May summit start to take shape. We have submitted our requests for summit sessions and are now waiting for CCP to get back with us. Typically a certain number of the session slots are taken by ~normal~ things that CCP updates the CSM about. The rest are open to requests by both the CSM and teams within CCP that wish to meet with us.  We should know early next week the rough shape of the summit and once we get a finalized schedule we will publish it.

EVE LEGO Ships hit 10k Supporters

While it might not be CSM specific, every one of us has been pushing this initiative for a few weeks now. I made a blog post that helped spread the word and I'm very happy to have woken up this morning and see that the goal has been achieved! Apparently we hit 10k in 51 days which has impressed the LEGO folks.

Three Big Questions

1.) Why aren't you covering [insert issue] in these updates?!
These updates are intended to be just that - a brief overview of the 'little things' going on week to week. I might answer a particular issue from time to time, but not all the issues all the time. Also, not every issue may be in a state where I am allowed to comment on it substantively. One of CSM 7's major commitments was to improve our visibility and transparency to the community. We are working on developing a more detailed overview of our activities involving specific issues in the future. For now, I am focused on at least letting people know some of the basic work we are getting done and linking the community to interviews and blog / forum posts that put a face on our work.

2.) So, how's the Dust 514 beta coming along? Do you guys all have special access? Are you getting to play it already??
Nope, we're still waiting for the beta to kick in just the same as you.  Those of us that were at FanFest have keys but the server goes up when it goes up. Regardless of the fact that this is a completely seperate game and platform, many of us on the CSM will be following the Dust 514 development as close as we can and playing the hell out of the beta the minute CCP allows us in.
Two Step and Hans won't shut up about it on Skype; they are diligently bugging the devs about it every day and asking for as much detail as they can get their hands on but it will be a challenge for the CSM this year as Dust 514 is being developed by a completely different team of CCP staff that we aren't in any direct contact with (yet). We can get some word of mouth news here and there if a dev talks to a dev that maybe knows something, but just as the EVE-Dust 514 link has yet to be established, so does the involvement of the CSM.
We do know one thing for sure: we very much want to be a meaningful part of the feedback process and serve as a voice for the players during the coming year. Your representatives are looking forward to shooting you all in the face!

3.) Did the CSM read through those recent proposals by CCP Ytterbium in Features & Ideas, they were CRAZY!!  Do the developers even play this game?  Why aren't you all freaking about more about this kinda stuff?
Actually, I think this stuff is great and I hope to see more of it from the developers in the future. CSM members love hearing about ideas as early as possible, and Ytterbium goes a step further to toss new ideas to the players directly even if they have some major flaws to work out. This is so much better than hearing about a set of changes so late in the development process that asking for feedback seems more like a token gesture. 
The important thing here is just for the communication to labeled a little more specifically so players know what to expect. Seriously, there needs to be a 'Mad Science' sub-section of Features & Ideas where CCP asks questions like Ytterbium did. I think a lot of the flaming comes from the fact that, historically, requests for 'feedback' tend to be about things that are already in the pipeline or in some stage of actual development. Players aren't used to seeing devs just ask, "Yo, we were eating fishballs at lunch and had this idea; what do you think about it??"
On the Web

Pod Goo is back on the air with a new podcast after a long break and they have done an interview with Two Step!

Tactical Entertainment Network (TEN) continues to track down and interview the individual members of CSM 7. This updates sees three new shows added to the list:

Past Interviews:


5 comments:

  1. The Mad Science area sounds like a good idea. Might be something to have just for developers to post as I think trying to handle all the mad science ideas from the entire forum community might be a bit much.

    And on the DUST 514 issue, it would be nice to see you guys push them on that front to get the DUST 514 guys talking. It's early days still for them and you should always build good habits early, right?

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  2. Mad Science Forum - Yes, exactly. Only Devs could START topics. :)

    DUST 514 - A few of us got to speak and hang out with the Executive and Senior Producer of DUST at FanFest. I'm hoping that we will see more from them in the next weeks as DUST gets closer to release. Both guys were very cool and seemed genuinely interested in establishing a good relationship with the CSM. I'll keep everyone updated much as I can on this.

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  3. Hey Seleene, thanks for keeping up with the CSM Updates thus far. Really appreciate it.

    The Mad Science Forum is an awesome idea as long as Devs are willing to sift through the garbage along with the good. No idea will get unanimous support, but if CCP uses it to get a general pulse on proposals, it could be a great tool for feedback.

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  4. I think poor Ytterbium needs to preface his posts with big, red, blinking "THIS IS JUST AN IDEA!!!" text. Even then I'm not sure it will work 100% of the time.

    You're right with your analysis though: In the past, CCP would ask for input on features that were 95% complete and going out live in a few days anyway.

    CCP needs to make it very clear when they're discussing just tossing ideas around. I LOVE that Ytterbium is willing to do this, it's absolutely fantastic (please hug him for me). I don't want him to clam up because some people are jerks on the forums.

    A special forum for these kinds of discussions may have some merit, but I would request that they are Very Heavily Moderated, with rules that go above and beyond normal forum rules. Basically, people who are posting "omg y r u dum do u play eve zomg ur dum" instead of giving constructive feedback should just get kicked out.

    If I was insulted when I decided to be nice and try to get really early feedback I probably wouldn't bother doing that again.

    Also, the ReChaptcha or something is freaking the heck out right now. Sorry if I spammed you, Seleene. : <

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  5. CSM has been fantastic with interviews, and I'd like to personally thank Seleene for helping out with getting me in touch with some folks. He's doing a fantastic job, and so is the rest of the CSM team!

    Just an update, we'll have Trebor on the show tomorrow (apr 27th), xxdeathxx on the 30th, and Kelduum the following Thursday-ish (hopefully).

    Spence
    TEN EVEning News
    www.tacticalentertainment.tv

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