EVE Online at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

Council for Stellar Management starting to get some structure.

In a recent interview with 1up.com's Kyle Stallock, Andrew Cruse (aka Jade Constantine the Chairman of the CSM in EVE Online) discusses how the CSM evolved into the current version of company and customer open channel and how CCP has given the Council power and autonomy. Apparently the CSM is able to schedule a meeting every two months with CCP and bring forth an agenda for discussion. Since the whole endeavor is relatively new, the CSM hasn't had a major "crisis" like the original CCP developer misconduct issues, but at least the CSM is in place should something else arise. Apparently CCP is really treating the CSM like EVE itself and playing a very hands-off approach. The election process and the administrative issues are left up to the CSM to resolve themselves. As for other game developers creating something similar, Andrew says:

"So the answer really is going to depend on whether we see more successful CCP style companies or whether the mainstream industry stays with the safe, faceless U.S. corporate model with clear demarcation between developer/consumer. I'm hoping for the former obviously, because this is a tremendously exciting experiment in virtual democracy and I'm very happy that the crazy Icelandic visionaries at CCP had the guts to do this thing."

I've said many times before that the CCP goes above and beyond when it comes to community building, so this information coming from the head of the CSM doesn't surprise me in regards to the respect he has for the game developer. Read the rest of the interview at 1up.com.