At your request, here is a post that lists some of the issues that are important to me personally, as well as my stance on them.

These are only the issues that came immediately to mind, and my current stance on them from a general perspective. I want to point out before you read on, that while my stance is one thing, I will always put the needs of the community above my own motives. If the community asks me to relay information to the council, it will be relayed. If the community has one view which contradicts my own, I will represent the community. As that is the job of a council member.

Now onto the issues:

• Balance:
  By balance, I mean many things... Let me break this down into a few "sub-issues":
  
  
  
  • Balanced Space Regions: Here I am referring to balance between High Sec, Low Sec, and 0.0 space. I am sure everyone is aware that lowsec space is quite unbalanced compared to highsec, and 0.0 right now. Something needs to be done to restore that balance and to re-establish an actual purpose for all regions in space.
    
  
  
  • Balanced Gameplay Styles: By this I mean "No one career in Eve is inherently better than another" There needs to be balance between ALL careers in Eve. Yes I know each career has it's advantages and disadvantages. But at the end of the day, there should be no reason that being a Miner is generally "better" than being a pirate. Or being a mission runner is naturally more profitable than being a trader (I am not saying those are the case, I am simply stating examples to my reasoning). Right now there are cases of either slightly unbalanced careers, to downright broken careers (bounty hunting).
    
  
  
  • Balanced Risk/Reward: We need to take a close look at many things in Eve. And ensure that the risk and reward is balanced in all cases. This concept is heavily interwoven with the other issues I bring up, as it is a fundamental principal of the Eve universe (and existence as we know it, in either a virtual or real world lol). When a certain task becomes more rewarding than the risk involved (in comparison to the other available tasks) it opens the door for both exploiotation, and unbalance which affects the rest of the game universe as a whole. Mining in highsec shsould be safe, but minimally rewarding, mining in 0.0 should be MUCH more dangerous to offset the reward. Mining in lowsec should be the balance of the two. Pirating should be equally rewarding, and offer equal risk depending on the degree of reward. Hunting pirates should offer balanced rewards to compensate for the risk, and so on. All these things need to be equally balanced with no favor towards "Carebears" or towards "PVPers".
    
  
  
  • Balanced Economy: In all the above issues, everything falls back onto the economy. Without a stable economy, the Eve universe will spiral into oblivion. And a virtual economy really is something that is very hard to master. Eve has a MUCH more complicated economy than any other virtual universe out there, and with that means it is that much harder to manage (and the consequences of it becoming unstable are that much more dire). Every change to the game made, every adjustment, or fix, or minor tweak. Needs to be thought through from the perspective of the economy. A proposed fix to one problem by offering more loot more money, must be offset by balancing with money sinks to adjust for the additional influx of currency to the economy. All these things must be very carefully balanced.
    
  
  
  
  My take on all of the above issues is that there should be no lean to one side or the other. Striving for near-perfect balance in all these cases is of the utmost importance to Eve as a virtual world. When balance in these areas is not maintained, we loose player base, and the delicate player driven economy which makes this world so rich begins to crumble very rapidly. I think many of these tie together very closely, that is why I uncluded them under a single heading. For example: We cannot have a balanced economy, if our levels of risk and reward are not balanced. With too much or too little reward, the positive pressure on the economy is either too great, or too little. If we do not have balanced risk/reward it will also affect the balance of the various space regions. Right now lowsec space is unbalanced, this causes both miners, and pirates to go through a sort of cycle back and forth with that space never becoming useful for a specific purpose (on any large scale). Without balanced gameplay styles, certain career paths fall by the wayside, and key parts of the complete circle made up by players, is lost. For example, with bounty hunting broken right now, pirates benefit from lower risk, with lower risk to pirates, there are more of them, and they are more agressive. This affects miners, which drives the price of ore, and affects the remaining portions of the economy accordingly.
  
  Overall balance of every aspect together is key.
  
  I don't propose to know the answer to all of these issues. If there was a simple push-button solution, CCP would have implemented it already (they are not stupid). What I do propose, is that I will work very hard to the best of my ability to find a solution to these problems, and I will poll for feedback, in community forums, for solutions to these problems. I will do my best to guide these discussions in a productive way so that we can produce workable solutions, and most importantly, I will bring these solutions to the council, and ensure that they are presented to CCP so that collectively, as a community, we can improve the Eve universe.
  


• New Player Experience:
  The new player experience is something that is important to me. I like to help people. I like to make sure they are getting the most out of their experience. That is why my corp is designed to help new players get into the game. Something Eve still needs some work on is the new player experience. Eve is an overwhelming game, and getting new players into the universe, and familiar and comfortable, so that they can make a sane choice of career and move forward in their advancement is something that is very challenging. I will do what I can to improve the new player experience. With the feedback of the community, your suggestions, and experiences. We can improve this experience for newcomers to our universe. In doing so we can increase player retention, which means a bigger universe, and over time it will increase the flow of new players. (which means more profit for CCP, and so possibly more money spent improving the game).
  


• Community Growth:
  Community Growth is very important in a game as detailed as Eve. In other MMO games where worlds are instanced and only a few thousand players ever share the same world, bringing together the entire player base is not as important... In Eve we all share the same universe. And we all work together to make it what it is. When I say "Growth" I am not talking about numbers. I don't mean "more people" (although that is important as well). I mean growth "as a community". Working together to solve our own problems. Improving the universe we live in for everyone (And by this I don't just mean "make it all a happy land for all the carebears" I am talking about improving across the board... Make things better for miners, and better for pirates. Make things better for traders, and couriers. Improve life for large corps, and small ones.) It's that general improvement across the board that is important to each and every player in Eve. We all just want to enjoy the game in our own way, doing our own thing, playing it like we want to. But unfortunately eve is not a solitary game, and so if we want to improve it in that way for everyone, we need to work together as a community to achieve those goals.
  


• Stability:
  Stability. This one is pretty self explanatory. Lag is a problem (especially in large scale fleet ops, or heavy usage areas). Server stability can always be improved. I work in IT for a living. I know about this kind of thing from a first hand perspective. I will do what I can to ensure that your feedback as a community is passed on to CCP. And that we push as hard as we can for constant improvement. When it comes to stability of a virtual world housing tens or hundreds of thousands of real people. There is no such thing as "Good enough". Improvement is always possible, and we need to make sure that pressure is constantly felt. I am here to convey that.
  


• Smooth Advancement:
  This is an issue that I am not sure everyone else sees every day. But I have noticed it on many occasions. (with myself in the past, and friends who have played). Eve seems to have various "hanging points" in many of the available careers. Where there are large gaps in the advancement process. There is always "someplace to go" higher than you are. But getting there is sometimes straightforward, or sometimes requires a huge leap.
  
  I think that advancement in the game is important. Players need goals to work toward, and need accomplishment to drive them forward. This is one of the points I have seen players leave the game for. They get "stalled". They reach a point where they have advanced very far, but there is no more "intermediate" goals. They have to make a HUGE push into the next phase of their career in Eve. There should always be "baby steps". Many intermediate goals that outline a clear path for people to take. These small goals provide the constant positive reinforcement to keep driving advancement. The end goal is nice, and it is always there, but without enough steps in the middle, the goal is seen as un-attainable, and some players just Give up.
  
  This is an issue that exists in almost every MMO I have ever touched. I see players quit games because of it on a regular basis. I think working to improve this, will not only make the game more enjoyable no matter what path you choose. But it will increase player retention, keeping players in for the long haul means a larger community, a stronger community, and a better universe for all of us.
  

I hope this has given you all some insight into my views and ideals when it comes to Eve.

I am looking forward to the opportunity to serve you as council member. So that I can work to make Eve a better universe, and more enjoyable to everyone in it.

Your comments and questions are welcome. I will do my best to respond in as short a time as possible.

Thanks for reading! (and dare I say, thanks for your support when the voting opens!) ;)

Hello fellow capsuleers! I decided to put up this site to let you know a little bit more about myself, my values, and why I think I would represent you well on the Council. This will only be a brief introduction, covering my ingame as well as real life, but the site is open to comments from the public, and I will closely monitor these discussions and do my absolute best to provide timely and honest answers to your questions. I firmly believe in keeping the channels of communication open and smooth, so that is the purpose of this site; not just to say my piece and talk about myself, but for you to talk back, and discuss your needs from your potential council members.

Now a bit about me so you know who you are talking about. Lets start with ingame:

Ingame I am known as Arduron, that is my main character. I am a self driven and motivated Gallente, Not focusing on PVP much, but capable. I have split my 2+ years experience in the game between combat and industrial experience. I mostly enjoy the PVE portions of the game, but I definately see the draw to large scale capital level combat. I do have experience in fleet level combat as well.

Arduron is the CEO of a small corp, designed to be friendly to new players, and help them get a positive first experience in the eve universe. We are slowling building up, and genuinely there to help new players.

While some may feel this is a "carebear" approach to the game, and object to it, I say "to each his own". (and I am by no means objectionable to vaporizing someone ship if I feel the need). I am capable in both arenas, and I plan on keeping my corp the same way. I understand both halves of the coin, I simply choose to follow one path somewhere down the middle :)

As for my real life:

My name is Paul Mumby. I live in Ottawa, the national capital of Canada. I am the IT manager for a large web development firm, and have years of experience in management, and IT. I have a strong pull to community, and feel the need to serve said community when I am able to do so. Some examples of community endeavors I have been part of:

• Envoy, and regional head envoy for Wizkids LLC. (representing their tabletop strategy games). Supporting the community, handling rules arbitration, organizing community events, and tournaments, and functioning as a communication conduit between Wizkids and the community.


• Owner/Operator HeroscapeHQ.com (which was for a long time the #1 community fansite and community support site for the hasbro tabletop strategy game Heroscape) Once again, handling communication and arbitration with Hasbro on some levels, as well as managing a community of tens of thousands of players. Eventually the server costs became financially impossible for me to maintain so I passed on the torch.


• Organizer of large scale lan events in my region for a couple years straight.


• Beta tester for numerous MMO games, participating actively in testing, feature growth, and community support.


• Currently strongly involved in the canadian traditional japanese martial arts community, and supporting it through my business ProSwords.com (where I am offering discounts to students of the arts)


• Trying to build up my corp to support the eve community by aiding and helping to develop new players, so that the community grows.

Both my wife of 5 years and myself are involved in eve, and have been for some time. (myself for many years). I am not a member of any of the huge mega corps or alliances, so you may not know of me ingame, but I have the drive, and commitment to community values to serve you well on the council.

Here is a point form summary of some aspects of my personality that I think will benefit you greatly if I am elected to council:

• Firmly believe in the value of Honor.


• Communication is Key, I will always keep multiple channels free and clear, and open to all.


• Excellent Management Skills


• Lots of experience working with community, both as a supporting member, and as a community representitive


• Ability to understand many points of view


• Strong sense of commitment

If you have any questions for me, please ask. I will be happy to answer them!