The Drone Bay: Episode 4 - Bacardi Related Shenanigans in Space

The Drone Bay #4 (Click to Download/Play)


The Drones have gone rogue in Episode 4! This week the team is back together, and Al puts his sobriety in danger by drinking every time Crovan screws up a segment intro. Will his liver survive? Find out in this week's Drone Bay Podcast!

Bring on the Drones:

In the weekly recap, the team discusses the forum threads on the CSM, the fake RA titan deathmail, the state of the Great War, and more.

In DON’T PANIC, Al gets walked through missions and mission rewards by the grizzled old vets. Crovan recommends The Kill Mission Survival Guide (works in game) for all budding (or experienced) mission runners out there.

In the listener feedback section, Crovan answers a couple of ship setup questions, and each of the guys chooses one listener mail to discuss on air. Did yours make it? Listen to find out!

This week’s out of game discussion is replaced with a community focus, where the guys promote Morphisat's Blog, Shut Up, We're Talking, and Massively".

Please, please keep giving us feedback. We can’t get to everything every week, but we do appreciate the input and questions. If you’re interested in voice mailing us, please try the mp3 or wav file in an e-mail method for now while I try to get Skype sorted again.

Contact Info:

GAX Online Group:
The Drone Bay

E-Mail:
dronebay|at|gmail.com (comments/questions for everyone)
crovan|at|eve-mail.net
crazykinux|at|gmail.com
alsedrech|at|gmail.com

Skype:
Dronebay

Blogs:
Bitter Old Noob (Crovan)
CrazyKinux’s Musing
The Littlest Drone (Alsedrech)

EVE's Council of Stellar Management: Making E-Democracy Work

Recently, the EVE Online official forums have been awash with thread after thread about the CSM, and how this or that single detail needs serious review. Some of those concerns are valid, in my view, but many are based on faulty premises when translating the real world ideas of representation to the online community. CCP's undertaking means they are now charged with the unique challenge of predicting the outcome of something nobody has seen before. The following entry will be cross-posted onto the EVE Forums, but I put it here in order to have it all in one place (character limits on the forums and whatnot. Be warned, this is not a short entry, but the big bullet points will be bolded, so you can dodge parts of the incoming wall-o-text. My current concerns and suggestions are as follows:


1. Give Non-Forum, Non-EVE-Mail Means to Contact Representatives: This is a practical point for the preservation of the sanity of those elected. Be it a separate Councilman (or woman) character, or a dedicated out of game e-mail, something as an alternative to in-game conversation and EVE-Mail spam will be critical to allow the CSM members to actually continue to enjoy playing the game.

2. Support and Facilitation of Pre-Election Discussion Make the candidate's chosen character names public. There are many player media outlets out there that would love to have a chance at setting up some interviews/discussions/debates, but we need the info in order to set it up. Also, since I understand that CCP may want to stay out of the campaigning and interviews with their own volunteers, make some other means on the official website to publish articles, link podcasts, and schedule debates. A sub-forum would be ideal.

3. Campaign Rules, or Lack Thereof: It really matters little to me whether CCP does or does not regulate campaign tactics and financing, but what rules are present need to be firmly laid down and strictly followed. Any leeway in the first election will mean an ever-increasing number in the future. Two months is not long to campaign, as-is, and candidates should have their rules (or statement that there are no rules) ASAP.


4. Constituency: While there are advantages to the universal representation scheme currently offered, constituency is something worth discussing. Constituencies are sub-divisions of the whole that would choose their own representatives. Most elected legislative bodies work this way. I generally like the idea of making sure that voices from various areas and walks of EVE life are heard, but I think this idea runs into a few problems. The biggest issue I see is the division of the constituencies themselves. There is no single way to divide EVE players into neat groups. Do you divide industrialists, miners, and pvpers? Many players are some combination of the above, and even those who are reasonably dedicated will often branch out into other fields. These are not hard and fast distinctions, as they depend solely on self-identity. Territorial and Empire vs. Alliance space distinctions bring up similar concerns. In short, this might be something to consider in the future, but I think CCP is wise to keep clear of it for now.

5. Improved Referendum: While the system in the CSM for suggestions from the outside is not a true referendum, I think the term still works for what we have here. Basically, if five percent of the accounts in EVE vote that Issue X should be brought forth to the CSM and CCP, it simply happens. No approval of a CSM member is required. In an ideal situation, the CSM will be diverse enough that most worthy topics will make it through without recourse to referendum, but the best course is usually to expect the best and prepare for the worst. In this case, I am not sure a percentage is the right answer. It may work in the real world for this sort of thing, but EVE's populace is so small and ever-changing that five percent could vary by hundreds of votes from month to month. For the sake of the sanity of those monitoring the referendums at CCP, as well as simplicity's sake, I recommend a flat number that is reasonably achievable, say 7,500 as a ballpark.

6. Term Limits: Incumbency, combined with a lack of term limits, leads to stagnation of political innovation in the real world, as well as a significant boost to the grip that lobbyists have over representatives. With CCP being so keen on progress and new ideas, I believe a hard term limit of somewhere between two and four terms is ideal.

7. Realistic Expectations: The Virgin Worlds interview with Pétur Óskarsson demonstrated to me that CCP has a realistic outlook, namely that the CSM will be an immense undertaking to organize and implement, and may well not be considered a "success" by the community within the first year. This is a good thing. I tend to agree that it is unlikely we'll see anything earth-shattering (at least in a good way) from the CSM for a year or so. Patience is key here.

Making Factional Warfare Work In EVE: Realistic Politics

Factional warfare is, without a doubt, my most anticipated feature for EVE. Ambulation looks great, and I'm sure it will be a great addition to the game, but at the end of the day it is going to be a cosmetic change, at least initially. The premise for factional warfare, as far as I can tell at this stage, is to have a resurgence and creation of various wars and skirmishes between the major NPC empires of EVE that allow for player involvement. Whether this means traditional EVE PvP, or PvE content, or even an introduction of RvR is yet to be seen. No matter the final form, the concept of factional conflict grants CCP the opportunity to really open up the universe to give it a more interactive feel. This is a real challenge to build into the game as it stands now, since a mis-step could really break things and send us down the SWG path. I have more faith in CCP than that, though.

As it stands now, the universe, while interesting and well-designed, is really little more than a backdrop for the interactions of players. While this model has proven sufficient for the enjoyment of their subscriber base thus far, the fact that they are developing a factional warfare system speaks to the fact that CCP is interested in making the NPC world more approachable.

I know I've mentioned factional warfare in the past, but what I'd like to do here is to describe some of what I think would be critical features for a successful implementation of the system. Mechanics and whatnot aside, the first thing I would like to cover is the handling of different political structures and interactions within EVE. I choose politics first for two reasons. First, it is where my educational background is. Second, in order for this project to be a success, CCP needs to create a system of complex interactions that are at least competitive with the look and feel of the interactions between player groups.

The first step to realistic interactions between the NPC factions is the proper establishment of what each of those factions is, politically and structurally. We have the broad strokes: Amarrians are a monarchical theocracy somewhat reminiscent of medieval Europe, the Gallente are absolute freedom classical liberals and laissez-faire advocates of 18th and 19th century France, the Caldari are a supercapitalist state bordering on fascism, and the Minmatar are the burgeoning republic of freed slaves. That's enough background for player to player roleplay interaction, but incorporating the NPCs means that they will need backstories as detailed and diverse as those of the players. That isn't to say that each NPC needs pages of personal history, but the major ones certainly do, and each faction and sub-faction should have some detail put into their own philosophies, governmental systems, and relationships with other factions/sub-factions. This leads to the opportunity for a new depth of intra-faction roleplay as well. For example, the Gallente and Intaki bloodlines of the Gallente Federation have vast differences in their general disposition, so expanding that and allowing players to align themselves more closely with their own chosen ideology will give a richer roleplay experience.

On the subject of ideologies, I think factional warfare gives CCP and the EVE player base the chance to break away from the racially-defined philosophical paradigms. Right now, the major RP groups out there, with the exception of Star Fraction (anarchists of the Heinlein vein), are all tied to one faction or another. With the way the game is now, that means they are tied to one race. Factional warfare gives the chance for groups to rise and flourish with any consideration of player or NPC base being extrinsic to the cause of the organization.

It is a lot of work to put in, and maybe this is exactly what CCP is doing, but the radio silence and continued delays make me wonder if my most anticipated feature is coming any time in the near future.

The Drone Bay Podcast: Episode 2 - Now With More Seismic Events!

The Drone Bay #2 (Click to Download/Play)

The Drone Bay returns for Episode 2! Yes, it’s the third episode, and I definitely had to re-record the intro 2 or 3 times to stop saying “Episode Three,” but meh. This week brings you more of the discussion, guides, and listener mail that you’ve been asking for. As always, please contact us with any suggestions or feedback.

Bring on the Drones:

First off is the weekly recap, where the guys discuss the end of the tourney (congrats Ev0ke!), the stalling out of the Delve offensive (for now), and the Council of Stellar Management. Also, the guys got a bit more media attention this week, which is good, because our egos need inflating. Check out Crovan’s CSM blog entry which got a bit of press from Massively and Ten Ton Hammer this week. CK’s economic segment notes also made Massively’s front page, so we are all feeling smugly superior for a bit.

In DON’T PANIC, thanks to popular demand, the crew discusses corporations and how to look for employment in EVE. One site we are plugging this week is EVE-Careers, a very slick looking database and classifieds site for both employers and prospective employees.

In the listener feedback section, the guys tackle a few questions about starting out in PvP, as well as explaining just what on earth skill hardwirings are for.

The discussion this week centers on suicide ganking, particularly the recent all out war on high sec miners on behalf of Goons and their alts. Tune in for their sage and wise suggestions, all in a continuing theme of telling CCP how to run their game.

Please, please keep giving us feedback. We can’t get to everything every week, but we do appreciate the input and questions. Also, please drop us a Skype voicemail or e-mail us an mp3 if you want to hear your own voice on the show (provided you sound decent and don’t talk nonsense).

Contact Info:

GAX Online Group:
The Drone Bay

E-Mail:
dronebay|at|gmail.com (comments/questions for everyone)
crovan|at|eve-mail.net
crazykinux|at|gmail.com
alsedrech|at|gmail.com

Skype:
Dronebay

Blogs:
Bitter Old Noob (Crovan)
CrazyKinux’s Musing
The Littlest Drone (Alsedrech)

Non-EVE MMO Experiment Part 2: Tabula Rasa

Well, I've given WoW just under a month, and it's still WoW. It didn't magically turn into God's gift to MMOs in my absence, despite what hordes of fanboys will tell you. It is still a solid game, with massive improvements over when I played originally (back when subscribers were counted with six digits), but it's still just...meh. I paid for 3 months, and will play them out, but I don't see it captivating me.

That said, Alsedrech and I looked at alternatives for our secondary MMO, given that we're both pretty committed to EVE. As you might have heard on the podcast, we downloaded and played the trial for Dungeons and Dragons online. After ten minutes, we both decided we would rather set fire to all our polyhedronal dice than spend another second in that game. It's not a bad game, it's just....ok, it's a bad game. In fact, I blame Gary Gygax's death on the crappiness of that game's UI and gameplay.

Al then gave the LotRO trial a spin, perhaps after feeling guilty for the thrashing we gave Turbine's other MMO over Skype. According to him, it's a great deal better than DDO, but just feels a bit slow. He and I often share game opinions, so I'm willing to let this stand instead of downloading the 7GB client over my very bad broadband pipe.

That brings us to Tabula Rasa. I played this game in open beta and found it to be resoundingly "meh." It was cool, but the innovations still didn't get rid of the feel that I was playing WoW in space with guns. Now that they've added considerable content, and after a few recommendations, I decided to reactivate my account. Al activated an account at the same time.
Thus far our views are...surprisingly good. The game is a lot of fun, and the pacing of the random dropship baddies has made the tempo of the game feel more urgent. I've always been a big fan of the instance cut scenes, and any PUG members who begrudge me watching them every time are taking Lord British in space as a bit more serious business than it really is. Additionally some good game balancing has been done, and they are finally going to give proper re-specs (first one to mention cloning gets a polarity gun to the fifth vertebra). There are still some glaring issues, specifically that having their pinky toe behind a passing ladybug grants a nine foot tall Thrax Officer total cover, whilst standing behind a boulder the size of a small post office seems to do nothing for my situation...and there are dance emotes.

Thus concludes one of the first entries that befits the name of the blog. More to come on our adventures on the Cassiopeia server. If you play on Cass, shoot me an e-mail and we'll go run instances or something.

EVE's Player-Elected Council, and What it Means to You

EVE Online's Council of Stellar Management (video link) has been a long time coming. The first official mentions of it came after the infamous T20 incident, where a CCP dev was found to have illicitly aided the alliance he played the game with through spawned equipment and ship blueprints. CCP took a sound PR beating on every venue imaginable, partially due to the incident itself, and partially due to the banning of the French hacker who uncovered the secret, who happens to be wanted in at least two major western countries.

Motivation aside, the Council represents the chance for a game company to do something truly revolutionary. Many MMO players claim to have devs who listen to their input, but, to the best of my knowledge, none have established a player council chosen by the players themselves to represent the concerns of the customers to the company. It shouldn't be terribly surprising that CCP is leading the way with EVE Online. CCP does not merely think outside the box. Instead, thinking inside the box causes some sort of cognitive dissonance in Iceland, it seems, so CCP has set up a small village outside the box for their devs to live in.

According to a fresh announcement, voting for the CSM will begin in May. While I am excited about the prospects that this council holds for the future of EVE and the MMO genre as a whole, I can't help but be a bit nervous about the process. Like any person sufficiently educated in politics and history, I am very apprehensive about democracy, even in its more representative forms, and when you combine the unique issues of the internet into the mix, we could see a council elected that is largely useless to the community, unless CCP can drive voter turnout and voter education.

Unlike real elections where any buffoon can be elected, so long as they have enough sense to choose a good staff, in this case it is those elected who are expected to dispense the expertise. Nobody is under any illusions that most elections are anything but a popularity contest, especially in the age of mass media. Anyone wishing to dispute that point should read up on the 1960 race between Kennedy and Nixon. Perhaps it is my own inherent cynicism toward government, but I don't think nine players elected for having the best forum campaign will necessarily represent us the best. That said, with nine seats, the chances of getting at least one or two players on who talk sense is rather high. When I find the candidates who do, count on seeing them promoted in this blog.

Cynicism aside, CCP clearly sees the limitations of an elected body in this instance as well, especially an elected body made up of amateurs who just happen to be really into internet spaceships, but know little about the realities of running an MMO. Thus, the council will be limited to a largely advisory and liason role, which is probably the best choice for now. That said, I also fear that what we may end up with is CCP tuning in on the views of the CSM to the exclusion of the concerns of the rest of their players who might disagree. Only time will tell on that score. CCP does generally well with listening to the requests of their players (even the bad ones, unfortunately), so I am hopeful, but my gamer cynicism only allows me to approach this council with extreme caution.

Also, I may sell campaign ads on the podcast for the nominal fee of 1 billion ISK...or maybe a Moros.

Drone Bay Podcast - Episode 1: All Official and Stuff

EVE Official Forums Link
Virgin Worlds Link

This week's episode is released. The show notes can be found at either of the links above. Please continue to give feedback via whatever means is most convenient for you, and we'll continue to listen. I haven't answered many e-mails yet, but I plan to get on that here in the near future.

Also, I'd consider it a great kindness if we could keep that thread bumped to the top. A lot of people helped us out with that last week, and they have my sincere thanks. Getting exposure is one of the hardest things for a new show.

Of EVE, RL, and Tabula Rasa

This week saw me explode in spectacular fashion in the alliance tourney match against Pandemic Legion (I was the second Dominix to go down for MC on Day 3), and not too much else for me in EVE. BoB's attempt to re-take QY6 is going only marginally worse than their propaganda campaign, and Tyrrax Thorrk is making a general moron of himself on the forums. Me dying, check. BoB losing, check. TT being an attention-seeking drama queen, check. Yup, looks like EVE is much the same as it was four months ago.

In other news, The Drone Bay, Episode 1 (yes, it is the second show, but the first was technically Episode 0 or 0.1 or something as it was the pilot) is edited, converted, and the link is sent to Brent. Hopefully it will be up in the next day or so. As always, give us loads of feedback. Feel free to flame us, too, but know that if you do, we'll mock you on air. Also, The Drone Bay has a new GAX Group, so be sure to check that out. If you're not on GAX, you should be. Think MySpace with more gamers and fewer emo high schoolers and crappy bands.

I've been playing a bit of Tabula Rasa again,lately, and it is dangerously close to supplanting WoW as my non-EVE MMO of choice. They've done a lot to the game since the weeks after release when I played, most of it good.

On a semi-related note, I'll be likely moving back to the States from Japan in the next couple months, so there will be a stint where there may be no podcast or blog updates for a few weeks. I'll give warning when this is getting closer. On a note related to the semi-related note, I'm looking for a job stateside, so if you want to throw buckets of cash at me to prognosticate and give opinions born of an inflated ego, please send me an e-mail, or simply make out checks to cash and send them to me.

Stop Whining About Suicide Ganking!

High security space suicide ganks have been a part of the game since its inception. Why is it suddenly such a game breaking problem now in the eyes of the forum rabblers? Barely a day goes by where there's not another page of posts complaining about suicide gankers. This week it's the Goons' targetting of exhumers mining in high sec. Six months ago, it was Outbreak ganking freighters, something now considered a common threat. Since when did EVE become about anything but surviving in an extremely hostile universe?

CONCORD has never provided protection, only consequences, kindof like...you know...real police.

More to come.