What is the CSM

Since the opening of Tranquility, EVE players have had an indirect say in how their virtual society is run. While player feedback has been central to the game’s evolution, this enabler relied upon the discretion of CCP to derive generalizations about society issues and player concerns. With the population of EVE exceeding 220.000 individuals, the time has come to empower players with a formal communications channel to directly impact the development of their society. The means of accomplishing this goal will be through the implementation of a modified version of “deliberative representative democracy” in EVE.

The Scope of the CSM

The purpose of the CSM is to represent society interests to CCP. This requires active engagement with the player community to master EVE issue awareness, understanding, and evaluation in the context of the “greatest good for the greater player base”. The scope of issues is restricted only to EVE, its ongoing development, and limited meta (out-of-game) issues which have direct relevance to the EVE universe. It is important to keep in mind that the CSM will not have formal powers within CCP, they will have a voice inside CCP.

Community Elections for Player Representatives

A council of nine player Representatives will be democratically elected by EVE players. Five alternates will also be elected to provide absentee coverage for Representatives. The CSM will be headed by a Chairman and supported by a Vice- Chairman, Secretary, and Vice-Secretary. This group is responsible for managing the operations of the council.

Selecting a Chairman will be straightforward matter; the Representative with the highest vote tally will automatically become the Chairman and is responsible for the internal council vote of a Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Vice-Secretary. Should the positions not be filled within three days an appointment authority is granted to the Chairman to fill the positions. Should the Chairman step down as such or as a Representative, a vote is to be held to appoint a new Chairman.

Summary of Representative Responsibilities

Chairman and Vice-Chairman

• Organize meetings of the CSM
• Moderate meetings
• Delegate assignments where necessary
• Summon Alternates when primary Representatives are unavailable

Secretary and Vice-Secretary

• Record minutes of all CSM meetings
• Record all CSM votes and results
• Publish an agenda for each CSM meeting
• Publish meeting minutes within three days of the meeting

All Representatives

• Attend meetings called by the Chair or Vice-Chair
• Assist the Secretary and Vice-Secretary with managerial tasks
• Engage the populace on all issue debates and discussions
• Represent the public views on issues to the CCP Council

Candidate Eligibility

To be considered for eligibility, a candidate must submit a photocopy of a valid passport to CCP. Once CCP has verified the player’s identity and confirmed his or her account status, the candidate’s real name and character selection of choice will be officially announced to the community.

Candidates are expected to be active on the CSM forums and participate in the discussion of topics. They are also expected to adhere to the EULA/TOS and carry themselves in a manner that sets an example for other players to follow. In addition, they must be willing and able to travel to Iceland once during their term for a direct meeting with the CCP Council. Should a Representative be unable to attend this meeting, an Alternate will attend in his or her place. Transportation to and from Iceland, plus lodging, lunch, and dinner will be provided by CCP. Candidates are responsible for all other expenses incurred during the trip. Elected Representatives and Alternates are required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) before commencing their term.

If a candidate is unable to fulfill these requirements, the candidate with the next highest vote tally will be given their position. This process will continue until there are a total of nine Representatives and five Alternates.

The Election Process

When an election is officially announced, candidates have two full weeks to campaign for player votes using any means at their disposal, provided that they comply with the EULA and TOS.

A player may cast one vote for each personal account with a current “active” status and having been active at least thirty consecutive days in the past. This includes reactivated accounts. All votes are strictly anonymous.

After the polls have closed, an automated system will count the votes and provide a list of the fourteen candidates with the greatest total number of votes received. The nine highest tallies of this group will be elected as Representatives, while the next five highest tallies will be elected as Alternates. Candidate tally placement does not grant any special privileges, as all Representatives — and Alternates when serving in the place of Representatives — have equal power on the CSM.

Term Length and Duration of the CSM

Each player council of Representatives and Alternates lasts for six months, beginning one week after the declaration of election winners. Campaigning and open voting for the next Council will begin four weeks prior to the expiration of the current CSM’s term. Election winners will be determined before the sitting Council’s term expires. No Representative or Alternate can serve more than two terms on the CSM, consecutive or otherwise. An Alternate has been considered serving a term the instant he or she attends a Council meeting in the absence of a Representative; an Alternate can be elected more than two times if that Alternate does not participates in any Council meetings.

Topic Presentation and Management by the CSM

Anyone with the right to vote can start a topic on the Assembly Hall, which is a forum on the official EVE-O website, and comment on any number of existing topics. Moderation rules for posting in the CSM section of the forums are the same as all other boards in MyEVE. In addition, voters are also provided with the technical means to indicate their support of a topic. Players may support any number of separate topics, but may only support each topic once.

A topic can be anything that a player considers important. The goal is to either gain the support of a Representative, or gain a 5% public support level on the issue from the total voter population. If either of these conditions is met, the topic must be addressed by the CSM. Regardless of the support method, topics cannot be adopted by the CSM unless they have been open for community discussion for at least seven days. This includes the act of a Representative putting forth a topic, as he or she must present the topic to the voters and cannot bring it forth to the Council unless it has been up for seven days or more.

Upon reaching the CSM, all topics must be discussed by Representatives and voted on to determine if escalation to the CCP Council is necessary. A simple majority vote is required for passage. Topics which do not pass this vote must be accompanied with a summary explaining why. Time is the only constraint to the number of topics that can be voted on.

The Role of the CCP Council

The CCP Council is comprised of CCP employees selected by the CCP CEO. Their role is to resolve all topics marked for resolution by the CSM. They will attend the meeting in Iceland between the two councils and will attempt to accommodate all reasonable requests by player Representatives. All topics marked for resolution by the CSM must be presented in writing to the CCP Council at least two weeks prior to the Iceland meeting. The CCP Council will do everything in its power to resolve the topics presented, and short of accomplishing that, state in clear terms why a resolution is not possible; it is however necessary for the CSM to prioritize its topics should the CCP Council not be able to accommodate a reply to all topics. The CCP Council will only deny topics if they are deemed inappropriate or beyond the immediate scope of EVE. The CSM will not have an appeal option if a denial is issued, but can expect an explanation why the denial was necessary.

Because of time constraints for both councils, the CCP Council will make itself available for communication outside of the direct meeting only twice per term. These communications, while open for any subject, are intended for groups of specific Representative questions about ongoing issues. They will be answered in “batch” by the CCP Council within two weeks of receipt. All such correspondences will be posted on the CSM forum.