Max Torps's blog

Thankfully a new forum has been specifically created for CSM campaigns and information.

You can find that forum here:
http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=channel&channelID=759778

There is also a link to various candidate campaign links here:
http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=759882  read the rest of this post»

+++PLEASE NOTE THIS PAGE IS DATED 2008 AND THE CAMPAIGN BELOW REFERS TO THE FIRST CSM TERM+++

It seems that lately the noisy forum celebrities are courting the forums even more so than usual.

We're even getting to the point where candidates are making TV appearances!

I include myself in the list of the guilty but IMHO have retained enough common sense to practice at least some restraint I think...

Frighteningly, agendas are being masked as "discussion", opinions and chest beating are reaching almost epic proportions and it seems that the forum readers are lapping it up with promises of votes being made for whoever screams the loudest and offering the closest "solution" to whatever someone wants.

I've personally noted cliques forming where some candidates are favouring long standing friends as candidates too. This is to be expected but saddens me a little.

The politics trail is all about offering promises but as an eventual CSM member, there is actually very little that member will be able to personally follow through on.

I only thank the foresight that CCP have displayed where a candidate can only ever be a CSM member twice.

Give it a year and I think we may be seeing a different style of campaign and annoyingly, perhaps many who have had their terms arguing for another term.

It is still my opinion that the CSM is for the entire playerbase and not just the loudest. If you share that opinion, vote for me.

Recently on Eve-O, a thread was started in order to discuss ideas for local shown in the related links section below.

There was no real response or reaction to my post on that thread so to maintain a record of my postings this blog entry was made.

This is the post:

---------------------  read the rest of this post»

CCP have come through with a promise to get bacon taken off the menu!

Announced here by Lead GM Grimmi, CCP are now looking at ways of preventing log parsers from using the information provided by the LogServer.exe file.

As previously mentioned Bacon has hit the headlines recently and literally divided the Eve community.

A knee-jerk reaction to prevent Bacon from working was to change the way local works. But if you look into this evil little application further a whole host of nastiness is lurking there.

1: It reads output from the logserver.exe that comes with every Eve client.  read the rest of this post»

Now, in your site profile, Activity Stream builds a lifestream for you by aggregating your social activities all in one place. Whether it's bookmarks on Del.icio.us, pictures on Flickr, music on Last.fm, or posts on your blog, anything you create can be gathered into one easy to read stream.  read the rest of this post»

Bacon is an open source application that plays an audible alert when other players enter local according to standings.

If not every player has this then it's an unfair realtime advantage to those that have. If this is a poker match, you can say that this application can be considered as a card that can help you increase your earnings. The root of the issue as far as I see is local anyway. CCP don't like it being used as an intelligence tool.

However the cat is out of the bag now. The program is in circulation and you can bet there'll be a few who have it running and consequently some who don't. So how do we make it ineffective and level the board again?

CCP have stated they want to get rid of local. I would tend to agree, this would mean probably constellation chat would be used. I would want players to have other tools though to be aware of their surroundings. Such as better scanners/UI to match and non-ship based tools such as spy satellites or perimeter beacons as I mentioned in this blog:
http://www.starfleetcomms.com/content/new_new_eden

Hey all
We've got a chat client working on the site now. It is only available to registered members at present.

Why have a chat client at all I hear you ask? Well, you can access IRC chat via this site now. Sometimes you can't access IRC at work or you may not want to install a chat client. This site will suit that purpose.  read the rest of this post»

After one hell of a hectic day at work today it was with a certain amount of relief that I saw an email from CCP Xhagen arrive.

There's always a degree of trepidation when you apply for things like this. Is it really fair? Will they mysteriously lose my application? Will I complete the form correctly?

Luckily, yes, no and yes are the answers here!  read the rest of this post»

An alternate reality maybe?

This is a little tongue in cheek response to an allegation that certain CSM candidates (including me) lack any vision.

If you want more please let me know, it was fun. BUT, my stance is not that important. I would rather know YOUR stance.  read the rest of this post»