Any chance of giving the CPM a bit more leaniency on the NDAs?

I would like to know at what point the community will be able to elect new CPM members?

CCP will now focus on talking to the CPM when setting goals and designs for features far in advance of them actually being worked on. This will allow their feedback to be concentrated on the finer details once development has begun.

Hopefully we will get the elected CPM soon. Not saying anything against the current CPM, just that it will be nice to see them elected by DUST players.

These are good words from CCP Dolan/CCP DUST, and much appreciated. It is encouraging to see the new EP recognizing the potential in the relationship and engaging CPM0. It is also encouraging to hear that more resources, namely CCP SaberWing, are being assigned to the CPM project. The resources are well-spent, imo, and likely to deliver a healthy ROI.

As far as mistakes, missteps, and suchlike are concerned, that's the price of doing business on the frontier. CCP, together with the CSM and CPM, are effectively writing the systems manual for including Democratic player representation in the Scrum process. Not a small achievement, imo.

In the end, the mistakes don't matter, the results do. And for this reason i strongly support what CPM Kain Spero has already posted in this thread. The same sentiment has been expressed by other members of the council, and this is meet and just based on what has gone before.

Am i encouraged? Yes. Optimistic? Yes. But also cautious and justifiably so, and definitely paying attention to what CCP does next.

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Crazy-talk Postscipt

It is a testament to all of us: CCP DUST, CPM, and the players(especially the forum warriors) that this process continues to move ahead. If one accepts that what we're actually engaged in here is building a virtual universe, and that this has never been done before, it becomes fairly clear that something like the CCP/CSPMs/Players symbiote will be required to nurture New Eden to adulthood.

With complex issues such as these, and with incomplete information, it is virtually always true that the smartest person in the room is everybody. The trick is that the chips have to come off the shoulders and real conversation needs to take place.

It looks to me like we are starting to make that happen.

"high level knowledgeable players"? PLEASE.
kain speros the only decent player in CPM, as well as being the only active player, probably the only one to play PC battles and probably the only one with a proto suit, oddly enough hes the only one with a decent head around his shoulders and a REAL understanding of this game as well as its players.
But the rest of the CPM is garbage in different ways like inactivity, bias, outright aholes, or just plain dumb. I could give multiple examples of each of these.

Just over 6 months ago, CCP formed the first iteration of the Council of Planetary Management (CPM) for DUST 514. The CPM was a selected, diverse group of high level, knowledgeable players aimed to represent DUST 514 players to the development team. You can read more about their original purpose here, but IGÇÖd like to take some time to talk about their growth, current and past integration into the DUST development process, and opportunities to improve their effectiveness for both players and CCP.

The CPM was inspired by EVE OnlineGÇÖs Council of Stellar Management (CSM), a democratically elected player counsel that acts as a representative body for the player-base. The CSM serves a year-long term and, along with regular digital meetings with EVE development teams, meets directly with CCP development teams several times at intensive, in-person summits. You can read more about the CSM here.

Among the primary functions of the CSM, now in its 8th seated counsel, has been to act as a GÇ£focus groupGÇ¥ for the EVE development teams by getting early access to information and providing feedback on upcoming features in order to help shape the ongoing development of the game. The CPM was formed in the similar hope that they would provide a representative voice for players and be equally as helpful in the development of DUST 514. However, changes in key personnel within the DUST 514 development team has made it difficult to continuously engage the CPM in open dialogue regarding the development of DUST 514, and this lack of dialogue sometimes resulted in dropped balls, or topics being lost in the accelerated pace of development. However, we think that by understanding the difficulties and mistakes of the past, we can turn the CPM into the effective council that both CCP and the CPM have always hoped it would be.

From the beginning, CCP Xhagen and I, CCP Dolan, were the primary points of contact for all CSM and CPM matters. However, with CCP Xhagen transitioning into his role as a producer for EVE Online, I have realized that I need to enlist additional help so that we can turn the CPM into the success it deserves to be. The recent arrival and support of CCP Rouge (Executive Producer) has been immensely helpful in involving the CPM deeply in to the development process in our Shanghai office. The CPM has already held several meetings with him over the last couple of weeks and will continue to do so in the coming future. Additionally, CCP Saberwing (DUST 514 Community Manager) will be working with the CPM to organize and oversee the CPMGÇÖs direct connection with all of the relevant DUST 514 Development teams. With this new team in place, we anticipate a more active and fluid level of communication between CCP and the CPM.

Similarly, the monthly release schedule necessitated by DUST 514GÇÖs rapid development has provided its own set of unique challenges and opportunities. It has required a reassessment of our communication pathways, as we have found that the structure derived from our relationship with the CSM simply isnGÇÖt applicable. To address this issue, CCP will now focus on talking to the CPM when setting goals and designs for features far in advance of them actually being worked on. This will allow their feedback to be concentrated on the finer details once development has begun.

While there have been difficulties over the past 6 months, the CPM has demonstrated a continued commitment to working with CCP, and I must commend them for their dedicated time and effort. Their institution is invaluable in a game as new and rapidly growing as DUST 514, especially given the single shared universe it inhabits with EVE Online. CCP is fully committed to strengthening their relationship with the CPM and growing DUST 514 through the help of their collective expertise.

--CCP Dolan, on behalf of the DUST development team

"high level knowledgeable players"? PLEASE.
kain speros the only decent player in CPM, as well as being the only active player, probably the only one to play PC battles and probably the only one with a proto suit, oddly enough hes the only one with a decent head around his shoulders and a REAL understanding of this game as well as its players.
But the rest of the CPM is garbage in different ways like inactivity, bias, outright aholes, or just plain dumb. I could give multiple examples of each of these.

TL;DR: We're back at square one

As long as CCP continues to be capable of actually taking feedback (including negative) and adjusting their game as a result, then hopefully we'll see substantial improvement in the future.

On the other hand, if we keep seeing changes like the recent marketing changes (the alleged "healthy" decision of removing BPOs) there will be essentially no reason for non-hardcore vets to put money into this game. It's been stated plenty of times, but the current "vets" numbers are slowly dying off, and even though "new" vets are coming into play I really can't see how it's a good idea to shut out one group of your players in the HOPES that a new future will bring what you need.

If majority don't want to put money into this game then all of this progress is irrelevant. Players need permanent solutions so they don't feel like they're punished for spending their real life money. The only people that will see major benefits (as usual) from Aurum consumables is vets, since the places they play actually make a substantial return in the form of ISK, officer items & SP. Any other player is essentially wasting their money for short-term instant gratification. If you guys get to keep our hard earned money AND Aurum we buy, then why shouldn't we be allowed to keep the things we purchase?

That is the fundamental flaw with offering countless Aurum consumables to people that believe Aurum item value is higher than it actually is, even though Aurum itself is sold at a "premium" pricetag. Purchases under $20 won't really get you anything substantial. If you guys refuse to make BPOs permanent again, then please give us permanent cosmetics (at or under $20) that we can apply to any number of fittings without them "binding" to items. Make them non-tradeable to compensate. I can somewhat understand restricting/removing permanent items that impact gameplay, but cosmetics won't make you better at the game (unless you add "good" camo, but even then models/textures are dropped at distance) so there is no good reason to not have them permanent.

Fact of the matter is, players that play free to play games need to have permanent options so they have continued motivation to fire up the game, even if it's just to enjoy (and flaunt) their purchases. Free players are CONTENT for paying players. Less players means less fun, which means even less players which results in the death of a game. A slow painful death that nobody wants to see. Aurum prices are outrageously high, and none of the stuff is permanent anymore. Nobody in their right mind should be expected to pay $40+ for something that could be gone in a week. Please, give us permanent solutions, and find a way to work around the "damage" to the game. If you guys can't manage that then you essentially kicked a hole in your own failboat and decided not to patch it up because it would take too long.

And before someone makes a counter-argument "Aurum items will be sellable on the player market!" Okay, sure. But do you REALLY think someone is going to buy $20 of Aurum, buy Proto-tiered stuff and list it at a decent price? Even if they did, someone with mass quantitied of ISK would buy them out and relist them at market value (a higher price). Believing otherwise is naive. That's how businessmen make money: buy low, sell high. They don't care about the item, they care about the profit. The "HTFU NOOB" attitude of the general populace will obviously translate into the market as well. Don't even try to tell me otherwise. Prices don't go down either. As the game goes on, ISK will be valued less and less (due to the amount of it floating around), and as a result prices will go up to reflect that. Aurum items value will go up as well, which also means that eventually you'll have to spend even MORE real money in order to get the same kind of net profit that you did in the past.

Permanent solutions. Cosmetics at the very least. Non-tradeable to encourage people to give money to CCP, rather than players. CCP needs the money to keep the game running. Until I personally see permanent cosmetics CCP will continue to not see a single penny from me. All there is to it.