Politicians "could learn from" EVE Council

By Oli Welsh Published 2 July, 2008

Expert says it's more professional than EU.

A professional moderator hired to preside over the first summit of EVE Online's democratically-elected player council has praised the professionalism and responsibility of the delegates.

Agust H. Ingthorsson, who has worked as a moderator in European Union meetings in Brussels, told the New York Times that the candidates seemed more capable than their counterparts in real-world politics.

"I have to tell you that I have been involved in EU meetings where the participants were not as prepared and professional as what we've seen here," Ingthorsson said. "These players have approached this meeting with what seems like real understanding of their roles.

"They are not just fighting for their particular interests but seem to be very socially responsible in wanting to represent all the players of EVE. Perhaps some real-world politicians could learn from them," he concluded.

The Council's first summit in Reykjavik went smoothly, according to the Times' report, after some initial friction between American and European players on how open its deliberations should be. The article makes for very interesting reading for anyone interested in the future of virtual worlds, so do check it out.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • kangarootoo #1 4 years ago

    Well I'm glad you think so. Not sure anyone else agrees with you though, including the guy in the article.

  • rudedudejude #2 4 years ago

    Woulnd't be hard to be more organised and professional than most politicians these days tbh...

  • Lovemoose #3 4 years ago

    I don't see it that way Gremmi; I think his point was that online gaming isn't exactly like real life, but you can bring things you've learned online to bear in the real world.
    Edited by 1 at 02/07/08 @ 10:03

  • MrXBob #4 4 years ago

    @Gremmi:

    When did he say that? When did anybody say that?

    What he said was they were a lot more organised and professional than 'real' politicians.

  • Dr.Mott #5 4 years ago

    I'm pretty sure Gremmi was being sarcastic.

  • LHH #6 4 years ago

    Doesn't it take time for power to corrupt?

  • gingerlink #7 4 years ago

    To be honest, I think this article says more about how rubbish our real-life politicians are.

    But we already knew that.

  • bad09 #8 4 years ago

    It's not hard to be more organized and professional than most politicians. Here in the UK our government has become one big embarrassment and people cannot wait for an election (mind you the tories are just as useless!)

    I've always said, Guy Fawkes had the right idea, so lets blow it up and give it all to the EVE council :)

  • Azazel #9 4 years ago

    You know your government has gone to shit whenever the Tories start to look like an attractive option.

  • anomagnus #10 4 years ago

    @Nick_JC1

    The irony being you're posting in a games website, for said pasty faced nerds.

    anyway, i much prefer a model of government based on WoW AV. Pure, blissful anarchy.

  • kangarootoo #11 4 years ago

    "Because running a make-belive world for geeks is exactly the same as running a continent."

    FFS, will people read the bloody words of the article before commenting. If only to avoid looking stupid.

  • Hardin #12 4 years ago

    I am one of those geeky nerds on the CSM council (and a regular Eurogame reader) - thankfully they didn't use my photo...

    http://hardinfaq.blogs pot.com/

    I had a very enjoyable time in Iceland.

    We had approximately 12 hours of face to face meeting with the developers. Which really gave me a wonderful insight into the game development processs (as someone outside the industry).

    I posted my initial impressions on this EVE related community site:

    [link url=http://www.scrapheap-challenge.com/viewtopic.php ?t=17707&start=0
    ]http://ww w.scrapheap-challenge.com/viewt...[/link]

    Prior to the meeting we spent over 20 hours in ingame/online meetings prioritising issues to take to Iceland (we submitted over 40 issues for discussion) and each member also developed 'paper' on each issue which were submitted to CCP in advance. We developed a template in advance stating the issue, why it needed to be fixed, pro's and cons and linking in various resources. This allowed CCP to investigate our proposals and prepare responses - thus focusing everyone's time on the useful stuff.



    Edited by 1 at 02/07/08 @ 11:31

  • kangarootoo #13 4 years ago

    @Aspic

    "FFS will people stop bleating on about readint he words as though thats sort of mantra"

    Hehe. That is kind of funny. 'Cos you would think when it came to reading articles and then commenting on the content of said article, READING THE WORDS should be a kind of mantra. Maybe its just me, but that part seems pretty important. Otherwise we might as well just let a cat run about on our keyboards for all the sense it would make.


    Nobody said it was like running a real world. But people keep on harping on about how it ISN'T like running a real world, as if ANYONE disagrees.

    And where did the whole "He didn't make any decisions and had no responsibility." part become relevant? This guy attended meetings, as you point out, observed what took place, and gave his opinion based on previously attending EU council meetings. That is all. How does that make him "full of shit"?

  • Drone #14 4 years ago

    Basically what this guy is saying is, based on his experiences with EU politicians the EVE council is focused on what's best for the EVE community and EU types could learn from that. Lets be honest, we all know that some politicians aren't in it for the "love of the people".

    Some people here seem to have missed the point he was making

  • HolyJebus #15 4 years ago

    I came into this tread thinking there might be some smart, insightful discussion on world politics. Should of known better.

    Back to 360 v PS3

  • sharky_ob #16 4 years ago

    That was far too optimistic. I hope you've learned your lesson.

  • kangarootoo #17 4 years ago

    @Aspic

    What on earth are you on about? Are you suggesting this guy has no more experience than any of us?

    "Yup. I've been to The Strangers Gallary in Parliament - doesn't mean I know how to run the country"

    I quite agree, but yet again the relevance is absent. First off, this guy never said anything about his own ability to run the country. Secondly, what rooms you have stood in when on holiday is neither here not there.

    All all the people who could claim that reading the article is not important, you are way down the list. I'm not sure you are actually even discussing the same thing as everyone else. Is your dad an mep or something, 'cos your anger at this guy seems to be blinding you somewhat.

    "Some people here seem to have missed the point he was making"

    Amen.
    Edited by 1 at 02/07/08 @ 13:56

  • groovychainsaw #18 4 years ago

    Well, from what hardin said, it sounds like they did take a measured, well-researched, sensible approach to bringing issues before the council. Sounds professional to me. I'm sure the facilitator will be used to many meetings where politicians turn up having done no research and are just interested in getting one thing.

    Listening to Keith Vaz's terrible questions in a parliament/closed session yesterday you could tell he knew nothing about the subject he was trying to argue about, only the most vague generalisations, which seems to be common in politics.

    Now, admittedly, EVE is a much smaller world than most countries, but the facilitator didn't say they were BETTER than a real government, just that they had a more professional approach. Maybe its another aspect of MMOs we should be trying to adopt in the real world eh? God knows most of us do enough grinding in the real world as it is.... ;-)
    Edited by 2 at 02/07/08 @ 15:53

  • Dynamize #19 4 years ago

    Agust H. Ingthorsson, who has worked as a moderator in European Union meetings in Brussels...

    I think the bolded part is important for the gainsayers. All he's saying is he's moderated EU political meetings in the past, and the EVE community appeared better prepared and more willing to compromise for the betterment of all parties, compared to EU officials.

    Kudos to the EVE community for their professional attitude.