Eve Online's CSM

Getting up early is painful for me. Doing it on the third day in a row after saying up late on the second day is almost impossible, but I would *not* miss Eve Online's talk about the CSM. No way.

If, hypothetically, I had worked on an MMO game design, then that design would have a constitutional government surrounding the administration of the game, including a House of Representatives. The CSM (Council of Stelar Management) is Eve Online's House of Representatives.

Eyjolfur Gudmundsson and one of his researchers Petur Oskarsson came all the way from Iceland to explain the thinking behind the CSM. Gudmundsson has a Ph.D in economics and helped architect the system. Incidentally, first revealed the plan for the CSM at an Eve Online convention where they "got hammered" on the idea. They submitted the plan to many industry colleagues and also to academia and were "hammered" by pretty much everyone. I think it's strange that so many people from so many backgrounds could not understand how this would work, while I was (hypothetically) designing the exact same system because, well, it's really obviously a good idea. It has not only "worked out" in Eve, but it really defines the game.

The CSM is a group of 9 players, democratically elected by the playerbase.