The minutes are out so this blog post will talk about the process itself rather than specific details.
I have only been to Iceland once before, which was for the 7th Alliance Tournament (when I also stayed for fanfest a week later). I wasn’t sure what to expect this time, other than lower temperature and possibly snow. In the end there was no snow, but it did get down to -8 at one point so was at least a bit nippy out.
After a rather long trip involving car, plane, bus, plane, bus sprinkled with hours of waiting around I arrived at the hotel just after 2:30am (having started at 1pm). We stayed at the Plaza Hotel which is very comfortable though the internet connection was terribly slow (priorities showing I guess ;)). I found a note from Song Li suggesting meeting for breakfast at 7:30am which I nearly managed to make on time. Thankfully he had a missions collide mug which he was waving at my sleep deprived staring around the breakfast room.
Sokratesz had also arrived and the three of us decided to hire a car and take the “circle tour” to get out of Reykjavik and see some of the countryside. I had previously done this with Veto in the pimped purple star bus (a story in itself) but the colder weather made for a stunning landscape. Iceland can look pretty bleak out of the towns and I can see why this landscape contributes to a game like eve 😉
Later that day all but two people had arrived and so we went out for a meal with a couple of CCP people and pondered what would happen over the next few days of meetings.
This is where the story gets a bit tricky, because whilst I would like to talk about how the meetings went I have to be careful with the level of detail. Suffice to say CCP provided many key developers for us to talk to and we were briefed on some of the stuff they have been working on. They were interested in our feedback on a number of topics and I attempted to represent my supporters.
There were a few disappointing moments as it seems certain features cut from previous expansions are still lurking in the backlog but we did manage to get agreement on a number of player raised proposals (which will also end up in the backlog).
A little non-technical background. The EVE backlog is a mythical beast where many interesting features end up. Some have had no more than time estimates, some have had development done to them before being shelved and returned to the backlog. From time to time CCP re-prioritise things and when items reach the top of the backlog a team (or more) will work on them. Many previous CSM requested features which were accepted by CCP are hiding in this backlog.
A slight simplification but you can hopefully see the process involves a) a list of changes/features in a strict priority, b) development time estimates and c) they are worked on in order.
During the discussions the CSM suggested we should have a development budget (developer time being the currency) each release cycle to work on CSM raised issues. CCP were not too keen on this stating that not many departments in CCP have a guaranteed development budget for a release and there are big planning meetings that decide where the effort should be spent. During these meetings the EVE “stakeholder” departments pitch their ideas and requirements and some will succeed.
Then they dropped a huge idea on the table. What about the CSM becoming a “stakeholder” at the same level as internal CCP departments and having a say in the prioritisation of the backlog? We didn’t take much persuading that this was a fairly big commitment to the CSM and whilst there is the possibility of CSM changes still not making it into game it was at least a step in the right direction.
The hope is that with the CSM as a “stakeholder” it might spark more interest in the CSM process which would increase the amount of support from the players. The more player support the more likely the CSM will have a chance to get player requested changes into game.
Of course there is criticism that the CSM are simply attempting a power grab and that we don’t really represent the players properly due to the really low voter turnout. That coupled with the change to a 1 year CSM term and removal of term limits (both suggested by CCP) seems to have rubbed people up the wrong way.
I cannot be seen as an unbiased observer but I think the CSM is working and the changes CCP made to the meeting structure this time are good. For instance after I requested permission to record the meetings to assist with producing the minutes, CCP instead offered to have a member of staff dedicated to this task. This resulted in the minutes coming out in under 7 days which is an astonishing improvement over the previous summit. Also rather than debate each change again, we submitted a minor issues list (which need no further debate) and spent just one day pitching the major issues list. A few topics were big enough that they had dedicated sessions (such as account security) but the rest of the time was spent with the lead designers and other key devs/GMs discussing more general issues.
All in all I am pleased that my attempts to improve communication have been working and that I was able to represent my playstyle and that of my supporters. I am a bit disappointed that we didn’t get any commitment on a few key things, but there is still time as we have some online meetings with CCP during the rest of our term.
The day after the CSM summit a few of us spent some time in and around Reykjavik seeing the sights and then it was over. A bus, plane, bus, plane, car with a few more hours of waiting about and I was home again.
Please feel free to ask questions in the comments but please be aware that some discussions are still covered by NDA and thus I can’t answer some things.