CSM Election Interview Series: Jonathan Dawnchaser

Hallan Turrek > My name is Hallan Turrek from A Merry Life and a Short One. Today, I'm interviewing Jonathan Dawnchaser.
Hallan Turrek > How are you doing Jonathan?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Great
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Only a little nervous entering the wider stage of New Eden
Hallan Turrek > Heh, it can be daunting.
Hallan Turrek > Lets get right to it, what out of game experience do you have that you think qualifies you for the position of CSM?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > One moment, I am trying to think of how to best answer that
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I am a graduate student pursuing a degree in computer science, and while my focus isn't on MMO design I am familiar with the scalability issues MMOs have to address. This gives me insight into how new features effect existing products.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > My focus is on Network Security (Data Integrity, Confidentiality, and Authentication).
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Aside from my academic career, I also have experience in mediation, something I think would be useful when trying to bring disparate groups together to accomplish something.
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > And ingame?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I have spent the last nine months in the School of Applied Knowledge, learning the game and then fostering other new players that I have seen first hand how ill prepared many new players are for the barrage of information presented to them.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Today alone, I have helped five new players (some that spent less than an hour in their school corp before being scooped into a player corp that doesn't teach them anything) through some of the hardest "starter" content.
Hallan Turrek > Alright. It seems from your answer and your platform that new content and the new game experiance would be the focus of your time on the CSM, would that be a correct assumption?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > It would be part of it
Jonathan Dawnchaser > We all have heard about the new 11% tax that is going to be placed on the rookie corporations. I think it is only fair that some measure of aggression sharing also be included (obviously not immediately, but eventually).
Hallan Turrek > It seems from your platform so far that would be the only focus, am I missing something?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > If you do a word find for "Aggro sharing across fleets" you will find this
Hallan Turrek > I understand that, but that seems to be a much bigger issue for rookie corps than the normal corps.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Yes, I'm sorry, were you including "rookie corps" under "new game experience"?
Hallan Turrek > I do, generally.
Hallan Turrek > Most would, who weren't in a rookie corp really.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I think the new game experience is very important to the life of Eve Online
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > There's nothing wrong with that, but I'm just asking if that is to be your primary focus.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > MMOs live and die by how new players take to a game. And for Eve, the first few days (if not moments) seem to be the most important. A player that has readily available advice is less frustrated and enjoys the game more.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Yes, my primary focus is on the new player experience
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > So what's the most important thing you think needs changed?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I think a "primer" would help.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > the tutorials are nice and all, if you figure out which part you need to read
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I don't remember reading anywhere when I first started that "Right Click" was one of the three "easy" buttons of Eve.
Hallan Turrek > So then, you'd include a basic tutorial on that?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I am not sure it has to go that far
Hallan Turrek > What would you do then?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > maybe just a page that can be loaded in the forth coming improved in game browser that has a bullet point list of tips
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Sometimes simple is better
Jonathan Dawnchaser > a list allows a user to go through text instead of tabbing through a tutorial hoping they are in the right one
Hallan Turrek > For arguments sake, couldn't you make that page and try to spread it around?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I did
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I used it have my bio dedicated to that, but current needs have forced me to repurpose it.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > But I am in the process of coding a page to have those tips
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > It comes down to visibility. Most people that know of these lists, don't need them.
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Moving on to your mining ideas.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > The one thing I want for mining is more interactivity.
Hallan Turrek > You support locking bigger ships out of newbie systems? Or are you for creating new systems for newbies only?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I think that cruisers, mining barges, exhumers, etc have no place in a Tutorial System's belts
Hallan Turrek > Wouldn't that be meta-gaming for a game that does everything by RP rules?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > It would be metagaming, but there are ways to justify it in game. Shrink the gates going into the stations.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > sorry shrink the gates going into the systems.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > There are so many systems in eve that using those systems is like a slap in the face to new players
Jonathan Dawnchaser > but that is just a small part of mining
Jonathan Dawnchaser > The main thing I think mining as a whole needs is more interactivity.
Hallan Turrek > You'd like normal space to be more like wormhole space?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Partially
Jonathan Dawnchaser > And not necessarily
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Right now a miner: Undocks, warps to a belt (or bookmark), gets into range, cycles the lasers, docks to unload, and repeats
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Or some variation
Jonathan Dawnchaser > But mainly that is it, it isn't fun
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > But in your system he would...
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I think including explorations, which admitably take longer to perform, would mix things up a bit
Jonathan Dawnchaser > For example, let's say a current miner takes 10 units of time to mine 100 units of minerals
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I see no problem with a new system that required 5 units of time to find ore that yielded the same 100 units of minerals given 5 units of mining (essentially this ore yields twice as much).
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Perhaps the exploration method yields a slight advantage (110 to 100) to make it worthwhile.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > But overall the current method of going to known belt beacons suspends my belief in the Eve World.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > These sources of great potential wealth are known but aren't controlled?
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Alright, so moving on to the rookie corp extensions then. What were your plans?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Eve is a very social game
Jonathan Dawnchaser > and I know that in real life I made some of my best friends in college
Hallan Turrek > So you'd like to expand that social aspect?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > A character's School Corporation (their first rookie corp) is sort of like their college
Jonathan Dawnchaser > and joining a player corporation means leaving that behind
Jonathan Dawnchaser > yes you can make a public or private chat channel, but then it has to get spread around
Jonathan Dawnchaser > and as veterans leave a school corp it means they can't share their experience with new players
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I believe in CCP's vision for 0.0 and player corporations, but I think that if there isn't a way for people to pass on what they learn, Eve could never evolve into CCP's "Emergent" Vision.
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > So you said you'd like to see aggro shared across fleets. Did something specific make you decide that was important?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Yes
Jonathan Dawnchaser > There are many ways to "wage" PvP in this game, and the one seen most in high sec is commonly referred to as "baiting."
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > The big problem I have with baiting is the inequity of the situation. The baiter has a disparate amount of control of the situation.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > The baiter can decide to only target rookie corp members (and often do so) because they guarantee an isolated target.
Hallan Turrek > Do you mean can flipping?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I am talking about "can flipping" or looting someone else's wreck
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Baiting with the aggression timer.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > the target can engage or not, but whatever they choose they are alone if they are in a rookie corp
Jonathan Dawnchaser > but if the baiter is in a player corp, it could be a situation of a gang verse 1.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > That doesn't seem fair to me.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > If a baiter can have a gang waiting just at warp distance, I feel the target should be able to share the aggression timer with their fleet.
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > This would also address other issues in Eve
Hallan Turrek > Like what?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > such as:- Suicide Ganking- Transitioning players into pvp
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Right now the typical suicide ganking strategy is:1. Wave tries to kill the target before concord gets them.2. An alt warps in to loot/salvage
Jonathan Dawnchaser > That alt is normally in the fleet with the gank squad, if the gank squad hit a small fleet, maybe the hauler is dead, but the others could intervene to stop the looting of the hauler.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > That seems much more in line with the conventions Concord espouses in the context of Eve's story
Hallan Turrek > Then they leave the alt out of the fleet.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Alt still gives aggro when looting the hauler
Hallan Turrek > That happens now, you want concord to stop them?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Right now, the aggression window is given to the person that is looted
Jonathan Dawnchaser > That person is usually in a pod at that point
Jonathan Dawnchaser > If the pilot is in a player corporation their corp mates get a window
Jonathan Dawnchaser > This change would also make outsourcing escort duty a possibility in high sec
Jonathan Dawnchaser > as those fleeted with the hauler would get aggression windows
Jonathan Dawnchaser > This change wouldn't stop the alt from looting the dead gank ships or salvaging anything, but it would help protect the cargo of the victimized party
Jonathan Dawnchaser > in fact it doesn't stop the alt from looting anything
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > it just allows the attacked party (in this case the escorts) the option to fight back.
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Alright, what's the most important thing you want to see changed in Eve?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > I think Aggression Timer sharing is the top of the list
Hallan Turrek nods
Hallan Turrek > Any links you'd like published in this interview?
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Just my JPSC announcement thread.
Hallan Turrek > It was nice talking to you Jonathan. Good luck in your bid.
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Thank you Hallan, I appreciate the time you spent listening
Hallan Turrek nods
Jonathan Dawnchaser > Fly safe. o/