As you probably know, voting opened today for the fifteenth iteration of the CSM, an assembly of players who advise CCP on the pulse of the playerbase and on upcoming changes. Over the next couple of days, EN24 is going to spotlight as many CSM candidates as possible in order to help you — the player & voter — make up your mind about who to trust with the future of the game.
Today, I sat down with Pandora Singularity, also known as Ivy, the founder of EVE North, to talk about her candidacy and her positions on various issues in New Eden.
Twilight Winter: So, let’s get the obvious question out of the way first – what made you decide to run for CSM 15?
Pandora Singularity: That’s an easy question! My love for the Eve community. I want to help however I can, whether it be running an event like EVE North or helping on the CSM if I’m elected.
TW: What areas of EVE do you feel you have the most experience in, and how would they benefit the CSM?
PS: In Eve I’ve always been a diplo — I deal with all aspects of the community. I have connections to people in highsec, lowsec, wormholes and nullsec. I’ve found a role in the past in conflict resolution among other things, and I feel that these skills with my proven track record of running successful events show the community the passion and commitment which I bring to the table.
I also love industry, I like to make all the big toys in the game and have a very heavy indy background which I feel can also help in my role on the CSM.
TW: Definitely an area of the game that’s feeling some pain right now. What do you think of the resource distribution changes, and where would you like to see CCP go next with them?
PS: I love and hate them, haha. At first I was like “Oh my?!?!” and really upset with them as they made capital building really hard, but then after considering the potential outcomes of what CCP has planned I’m excited to see what’s coming down the pipe. The constant changing & evolving of gameplay keeps things refreshing.
TW: Agree there, the last thing we need is more stagnation. On that note, what changes do you think could be made to ‘un-stagnate’ the major blocs in nullsec?
PS: I think a good ole fashioned war would be a great idea. Honestly, I think there are a lot of underlying background deals which are going on which is probably the main reason [nullsec is stagnant] at the moment. I think a nullsec shakeup (and what that may entail, I have no idea) by CCP would potentially help, or a roaming nullsec nomadic tribe which just goes into enemy territory, kicks people out, then moves on perhaps.
TW: Kinda like the PL or MC of old? Do you think there’s a way to bring back old playstyles like that, or encourage new ones?
PS: I think we just need new content drivers, and fresh faces bringing fresh ideas. Another reason I’m running for CSM: new face, new ideas, and hoping for positive changes for the future of EVE.
TW: Tell me about EVE North, what prompted you to organize and run it, and how has it grown?
PS: Oh, I love talking about EVE North — it’s my baby! So, I didn’t realize there was a Toronto meetup until one day when I was walking through downtown Toronto and there was someone trying to peddle tickets to a Toronto Raptors game.
I yelled out “scams are real in Jita today”, and a guy walking past me spewed out his coffee and laughed. He informed me that he was an EVE player on his way to a meet.
Fast forward and I started going to the meets. I’m always one to get involved so I mentioned at one meet that I was interested in potentially helping out. When we were in Iceland, the current person running the Toronto meets asked me to help him pitch Toronto to CCP Guard. I jumped at the opportunity to help and from there, I started working with the current organizer and felt that with tweaks and changes we could make this really grow.
I went into this full force — I never half-ass anything I do — and used my background as a nurse to help organize and delegate to other like-minded individuals. With my core team in place we managed to take something small and make it grow.
Originally our meets were approximately 4-7 people coming out each month, at our most recent Christmas dinner we had 47 people show up! It was a huge accomplishment, and our growth prompted CCP to ask us to be included on the EVE World Tour. It was a privilege and an honor to represent and work closely with CCP on knocking our event out of the park. I wanted to give back to the community in a way I felt it had always supported me.
TW: That’s a heartwarming story, getting all the way to the World Tour from such humble origins. I guess it also gives you an opportunity to talk to players from all areas of the game?
PS: Exactly, that’s why I feel I’d be a good CSM candidate. I literally talk to everyone. I have friends in all walks of EVE life and anyone who has spoken to me knows I’m always available to talk if they need help or a friendly ear. I wake up some mornings to over 400 Discord messages because I make myself available to people. Sometimes it’s like a 2nd full time job, but I love what I do!
TW: Which playstyles do you feel are the least represented on the CSM, and how would you give them a voice?
PS: I think lowsec and highsec playstyles aren’t well represented. I feel like they need a little love and if elected as a CSM member I would do as I promised: listen to the community, understand their concerns and present them to CCP in a way that hopefully will garnish them the attention they need.
TW: What’s top of your list for client features to make diplomacy easier to manage?
PS: I honestly don’t really have a wishlist for that — I would like to see cloaky camping made more difficult for the campers, i.e. cloaking needing fuel or a solar flare which uncloaks them, so if they go AFK they can be un-cloaked and pewable.
TW: What about the Observatory structure CCP keeps teasing?
PS: Perhaps! That would be super awesome to see as a feature also.
TW: You’re also involved in the RP side of the game, tell me about that.
PS: I am Pandora Singularity, Queen of Safizon, niece to his holiness Max Singularity, first of his name and most benevolent to the true believers!
I enjoy the roleplay side of the community as it’s a different outlet for EVE. It’s not just log on, make things, log out. It’s a storyline, which sometimes takes months of planning before we go into random systems (example: Dodixie) and start our storyline arc in local. It’s exciting to see the confusion and contribution that other players add, and it’s heartwarming to get messages afterwards of “Wow! That was awesome!”
TW: That sounds really fun, do you get involved in exploring the lore at all?
PS: I haven’t as of yet, but that’s not to say it wont happen down the road. There is so much still to learn about EVE, it’s exciting to learn about something new that I haven’t had much experience in.
TW: It’s always impressive to me that when I think I know a lot about EVE, I realize there’s yet another rabbit hole I haven’t even taken a peek down yet. What do you think CCP could do to improve new player retention?
PS: I, honestly, have been preaching this for a while. I think CCP needs to implement more of a social component to the [early] game to get these new players to stay. You’ll notice new players stay when they have people to talk to — get these people an outlet where they can have voice comms with vets or other people willing to help them out and you’ll get retention.
We have so many avenues now — Discord, TeamSpeak, Mumble — utilize one of those and when people realize there is someone they can talk to to help them through the beginning weeks I think we’d keep more people.
TW: Would that be something CCP does or something players do?
PS: I’d hope the comms would be run by CCP with the assistance of vetted players to ensure there was some semblance of order.
TW: What do you think are some other areas of low-hanging fruit which could easily be improved?
PS: Hmm… probably lowsec and faction warfare, and reverting incursions back to what they were before things were changed and made them horrible. Needing command ships to run them is gross.
TW: Okay, that’s about all the time we have, finally I’d like to give you a chance to summarize why EN24 readers should vote for you.
PS: I am not your run-of-the-mill candidate. I’ve proven that I can work well with the community, and I’ve proven that I can work well with CCP. I actively listen and those who know me know that when I put my heart and soul into something I’m there 110%. I do this for the EVE community, for the little fish in the vast sea, and I have an open door policy — shoot me a mail, send me a Discord message, call me — if I can help, I will. Pandora Singularity: A fantastic CSM choice!
TW: Thanks for your time, and best of luck with the campaign.
If you’re interested in learning more about Pandora Singularity’s CSM campaign, you can read her forum thread, and keep up to date with her on Twitter.
