[Jester's Trek] Winter Summit Day Four
Winter Summit Day Four
Winter summit bonus day! Originally, the seven CSM members in Iceland were asked to stay an extra day in country so that CCP's video crew could film a humorous advertisement for the CSM process. We had been brain-storming ideas for this amongst ourselves and what we came up with was a sort of goofy bit where CSM members intrude on the daily lives of CCP devs with game development questions...
SCENE ONE, FADE IN TO CCP RISE IN THE SHOWER. CAMERA ANGLE IS FROM HIS SHOULDERS UP. HE'S GETTING READY TO WASH HIS HAIR.Et cetera. You get the idea. It was pretty funny in our heads. A few of those scenes, then CCP Dolan talking about the CSM and how the process works and the impact they can have on the development of the game, stuff like that. I chatted with CCP Guard about it at Nora's at one point (he being probably the most filmed CCP employee ever, hee!) and he thought it was something that was feasible. Sadly, this didn't come off... maybe in a future CSM. ;-) But an alternative to this plan did happen so you'll be hearing about that before the election.
POV TO BACKGROUND, WHERE JESTER APPEARS OVER HIS SHOULDER, RISING UP FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE FRAME, WEARING A SHOWER CAP AND A RAIN SLICKER.JESTER: Hey Rise, what are we doing about Recon rebalancing? The Pilgrim really needs some help!RISE REACTS, SCREAMS! CAMERA PANS AWAY. CLATTERING NOISES. CUT TO...
SCENE TWO, CAR INTERIOR, CCP FOZZIE IS DRIVING TO WORK, SCENES FROM REYKJAVIK IN THE BACKGROUND. FOZZIE HONKS THE HORN A COUPLE OF TIMES.
POV TO BACKGROUND, WHERE MYNNNA POPS UP IN THE BACK SEAT, LEANS FORWARD BETWEEN THE TWO FRONT SEATS.MYNNNA: Fozzie, we really need to talk about this sentry drone thing...FOZZIE LOOKS OVER HIS SHOULDER, SHOCKED, SCENE STARTS TO FADE OUT BUT NOT BEFORE WE HEAR THE SOUND OF A CAR ACCIDENT, THEN FADE IN TO...
SCENE THREE, CCP MASTERPLAN IS...
Anyway, that's why the extra day was planned, though in the end what was done on this front ended up getting done throughout the week. That still left us with an extra day in Iceland and since we were here anyway, CCP Falcon asked for an extra bonus session with the CSM to talk about a couple of projects. I'm not going to reveal what happened in this secret bonus session but I will say that the CSM was really happy and excited about what we heard and are looking forward to the day very soon when players will be made aware of it. Our role was mostly to look over the deployment plan, seek out any obvious holes and give our thoughts. We did indeed find a couple of holes and I'm quite sure they'll get patched in short order. That's the benefit of having extra eyes on a big project!
Prior to this meeting, I took the opportunity to visit the Hallgrímskirkja, something I hadn't had time to do in the rush of either Fanfest or the Summer Summit. It was well worth the trip! It really is a magnificent structure. For 700Kr, you can take an elevator to the top of the spire and get a panoramic view of Reykjavik. It was worth the money, I thought. Of course, being the spaceship nerd that I am, I couldn't contemplate the sky view of Reyk without thinking of something EVE-related. So watch for that in a day or two. ;-) Out in front of the church is a lovely statue and monument to Leif Eriksson, a gift to the people of Iceland from the people of the United States in 1930. I was proud of my country to stand in its presence: our own version of the Statue of Liberty for another country.
Oh! One more thing I forgot to mention. At the dinner at the end of Day Three, I ended up seated next to CCP Greyscale. Yes, he's still alive.(1) His time on the DUST 514 team seems to have mellowed him. For the record, he's quite aware of his reputation within the player base and seems to have had time to think about it. This may or may not change how he approaches EVE. We'll have to see; he didn't say anything during the summit that made me want to throw him in the harbor too much. Anyway, he was telling an amusing story about an alternative form of e-war that he was working on in 2007 or so. And I have to admit, the idea that he had was really intriguing! I was listening to the idea and thinking through the implications (and, I must admit, expressing approval) when he was about to change gears into another subject. So to troll him, I held up my hands in a "time out" fashion and said, "Wait... time out... you had a good idea once?" "Shut up," he said, grinned, and moved on to his next story.
There isn't much else to say about Saturday. After the meeting, several of the CSM had a meal (and talked spaceships), then several more of us met at Nora's that evening (and talked spaceships). If you care, from the Marina hotel to the Hallgrímskirkja (and around it once) back down to CCP back to half-way up the Bankstraeti back down to the marina back up to Nora's and back down to the hotel is 10683 steps. If you come to Iceland, whether as a CSM member or for Fanfest, bring good shoes. ;-)
And that's all from Iceland! Once I get back, I'll have a final retrospective post and then it will be time to get down to some serious work.
(1) Or he was when I left the restaurant. You can't prove anything.
Source: Winter Summit Day Four