EVE Online's sixth Council of Stellar Management (CSM) has officially taken office and has already begun their work to open better lines of communication with players, each other and the CCP developers. But it probably comes as no surprise that some people are unclear as to what exactly the CSM can and can't do. So one of the first actions the new CSM has taken is to release a "Letter From the CSM" to the EVE community and explain its function and how they plan to move forward and work to help improve the game for everyone.

There is a tremendous amount of misunderstanding about what the CSM is able to do. This is no surprise; the playerbase sees the Assembly Hall - where ‘legislation' is proposed and supported - and the CSM formal meetings, where that legislation is given a formal vote - and expects results and implementation on that legislation in the same way one would in a modern democracy. Indeed, the whole process of Campaign, Elect, Legislate, Vote, Pass resembles the narrative framing of government.

Despite the appearance of government, the CSM is just an elective representative of the players and can only bring ideas to CCP, but they have no power to implement them. But the CSM is committed to addressing concerns and opening a clear dialogue with players and the devs, including Fireside chats, the first of which is set to take place this Saturday.

The letter also discusses a new feature that CCP has been working on to address lag called Time Dilation. If successful, the feature will slow the game down during large-scale laggy wars to ensure that each player can function without lag, hang ups and non-responsiveness, all be it at a slightly slower pace. I guess that means no more blaming the lag for losing.

Source: Letter From the CSM