Biomassed: Who are you? Who do you play DUST 514 with, and what style of play do you enjoy?
Galm Fae: I’ve always been a wannabe pilot through and through. I joined the game with the intention of someday becoming my friend’s wingman in a dedicated air squadron, but once plans for fixed wing aircraft fell through I learned to pick the assault dropship. I’m also a massive roleplay dork and diehard Caldari fanboy.
Biomassed: Tell us a bit about the “real you”. Who is the man (or woman) behind the merc?
Galm Fae: Away from DUST and EVE, I’m a college student studying materials science and 3D replication while I train as a cadet in the US Air Force. I’ve hopped around between different gaming communities, and even acted as a community manager for one website before shifting my attention to DUST 514. At the time, DUST showed a lot of promise in the way of immersion and making a name for myself in New Eden.
Biomassed: Why did you decide to run for the CPM this year?
Galm Fae: It seems like everyone has been throwing their hat in lately and I thought I might as well join in on the competition. CPM elections are an excellent opportunity to serve the online community, and if I can help reduce the strain on CCP by acting as a liaison between them and our community then I have a responsibility to offer my time and commitment.
Biomassed: What are the strengths you think you can bring to the CPM? What is your biggest weakness you’ll need to contend with?
Galm Fae: As I previously mentioned, I’ve acted as community manager to a widely used web forum up until the point that my moderators staged a coup d’etat and stripped me of my power. It’s worth noting that wasn’t my fault by the way, the little rascals insisted on making a grab for power by holding the site hostage until they were made little demi-admins. Those were dark times though, and I’ve learned a lot from that genuinely awful experience. Since then I have learned to operate as an even-handed autocrat that uses to power invested in me to ensure that the needs of the community are met. In terms of weaknesses, my biggest disadvantage lately has been managing the time commitment. I swap between many hats in a given day and finding time to manage being a CPM seems like I’d need to sit down and get serious about balancing my priorities.
Biomassed: What do you feel is the role of the CPM?
Galm Fae: The role of the CPM should always be to act as the liaison between CCP and the community. It is their job to fully understand and communicate what the community expects and demands to help improve this project that we are all invested in. Likewise, an effective CPM should fully understand the vision and direction that CCP chooses to take and find a way of relaying this accurately to fellow players without breaking their NDA.
Biomassed: How do you feel about the previous CPM? What was done well, and what could have been done better?
Galm Fae: Comparing past CPM to the current needs placed on CPM candidates is problematic. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting several current CPM, and everyone one of them is devoted to making sure the community is represented in the absolute best capacity. [Read: Making sure AV players don’t get the shaft in the next hotfix.] Now however, CCP Shanghai is only a fraction of the force that it used to be and it relies much more on community input than ever before. The current CPM is about to have a lot more responsibility placed on them in the coming years, and they need to be ready for that.
Biomassed: What are your thoughts on communication between the players and CCP? The CPM and CCP? The CPM and the players?
Galm Fae: CCP Shanghai is stretched thin right now, and Rattati’s team won’t always have time to ensure that all questions and suggestions are properly addressed and relayed to the respective development team. The development of power cores proves that player input isn’t just a suggestion right now, it’s fast becoming mandatory if we want to continue to polish and refine this wonderful game. As I stated, CPMs will need to be this crucial middleman between community input and game development.
Biomassed: Where do you hope to see the game by the end of your term?
Galm Fae: Jets. Seriously though, the first thing I’d like to see is solving the immediate issue of balancing shields and armor in both infantry and vehicle combat. One of the best ways to do this is to revive logistics vehicles and modules to provide a critical X-factor that they have been robbed of for well over a year. More importantly however, I want to see Planetary Conquest moved into areas of nullsec that encourage greater interaction between EVE pilots and mercenaries. I know that there are a lot of people out there on the forums with some really outstanding ideas of how to make it work, and it would be an honor as CPM to ensure that they get the recognition and attention they deserve.
Biomassed: If DUST is able to be ported to another platform, which platform would you prefer, and why?
Galm Fae: That decision ought to be decided by a community poll, not some oligarchical vote behind closed doors. As things stand though, it seems the community is leaning in favor of the PS4.
Biomassed: How can players reach out to you if they have further questions for you?
Galm Fae: If you wish to contact me, shoot me a message at JevusGaming (at) gmail.com. Or post in the IGS… I’ll probably be there.
