I was going to make this a two part thought — but really the conversation doesn’t need that right now. The difference between armor and shields, and various weapon profiles is simply not on my mind as of late.
I’m more caught up in the CPM election bru-haha like a lot of the other players. I say bru-haha not only because it is fun to say, but also because it is an actual bru-haha.
What strikes me the most is the different atmosphere this time around. Looking at the forums and talking to people over squad chat while playing a match or two has yielded two things; people care more and are less negative. This says a lot about CPM1. However, how much of that IS because of CPM1? CPM0 had pretty horrible circumstances so it’s unfair to say that CPM1 is better than CPM0. CPM1 does appear to have gotten more accomplished, but I wonder how much of that is CPM1 and how much is CCP as of late.
I am not trying to diminish the accomplishments of CPM1. They are good folks by and large so I have no doubt that they are largely responsible for the success of their term. Of course CCP using them as the resource is a huge part of it, but had we had different CPM1 members the whole endeavor might have been a waste.
Which brings me to my thought this week. I am actually going to vote! I didn’t in the past CPM election, but this time I feel motivated to do so! So what kind of person do we want on CPM. A lot of people might say go with people like the people we have now. They did a great job so if I vote for people who are the same type of person (or in fact vote for the exact same members we have now) then I can rest assured that CPM2 will be helpful.
So screw that, I like progress. So I want CPM2 to be even better than CPM1 and that’s a tall order.
Everyone has different voting priorities; some people like passion for the game; some people like intelligence; some people like vast stores of knowledge or experience; some people like candidates that make sure to comment in EVERY thread on every topic; some people like ice cream. (I am not one of these people. Ice cream can go die in a fire.)
My 3 voting priorities in order of importance are impartiality, open mindedness, and humility.
Humility is important because it helps preclude negative shifts in impartiality and open mindedness. Humans are human; we change and sometimes we act against our own values due to our emotions. The biggest cause of this is pride. Humble people don’t let their impartiality or open mindedness become obscured as often because they aren’t prideful. It also helps foster smooth and genial communication among both the player base and the devs.
Open mindedness is not the same as impartiality even though they share many of the same traits. Specifically speaking, an open minded individual has the ability to understand contending topics from multiple ways of thinking. This is super important in mitigating personal prejudices and is a lot less common than one might think. Often times impartiality is confused with open mindedness and while a person may not favor one way of thinking over another, they don’t necessarily understand competing ways of thinking. As representatives of the player base, a member of the CPM has to be able to argue for any given way of thinking (within the realm of reason) even if they don’t agree with it. The only way to do that is be able to actually understand, and on some level agree with, the concept behind ways of thinking even if other, more attractive options are available or circumstances don’t allow it.
Impartiality is the obvious one, but the application of it might not be as obvious. It is important to pay attention and understand the fact that CCP has the final say in all decisions, and while the CPM can offer up player feedback and advice, their authority ends there. Their main job is to summarize forum ideas, bring useful threads to the attention of the devs, and be a sounding board. The first and last of which are super important for impartiality. A biased CPM could summarize discussion they don’t agree with in an unfavorable way. When being a sounding board, bias completely alters the conversation and we cannot have that.
So I’ll be voting for someone that simply takes all things as they are and objectively discusses their strengths and merits. Someone that considers context as equal to specifics. In other words — not someone who is smart, but someone who is wise. There are some very intelligent players running — but they lack 1 or more of those 3 things I am looking for. Don’t be fooled by brains — wisdom and intelligence are not the same and are not interchangeable.