I don't think anyone here is stupid enough to not acknowledge that incredibly obvious factoid.
You'd be surprised how much common sense is actually glanced over and ignored.
Fair warning I'm gonna ramble a bit from here on til the end since most of what I address is speculation on my part.
I think what psychup2034 was referring to (and this is quite obviously my interpretation) was that PTOs DO get another avenue to communicate with the higher ups. This makes complete sense; in order to run events smoothly, you need to be able to be able to ask questions.
The question then becomes why the players themselves don't get their own "communication highway." It could take a week to get an answer but SOMETHING is better than nothing (as akin to the whole "some information" is better than "no information" argument).
(I by no means am saying the following is my own opinion, the position of TPCi or P!P, but is one that I feel may be a possible explanation, and is meant as food for thought)
Players as many consumers are, aren't always qualified to fully talk on a subject. A player can be anywhere from a casual newbie who has little understanding for the rules to well seasoned, devoted, and knowledgeable fans. Additionally and many ideas that players generate are mostly bad ideas in practice or ignore otherwise important aspects (ie. Worlds at Hawaii), and many complaints and questions that may be addressed in an incoming update.
PTOs, TOs, and Judges however have separated themselves from the pack, taking on additional responsibilities that force them to see another side of the game and proven themselves trustworthy enough to get information early and respond to it in a decent way.
From my personal observations I think that because of this TPCi, P!P, or whoever determines the flow of information may have intended to have players give input to their local event providers (PTOs, TOs, and Judges), and then have them act as a filter and pass important issues up the ladder where more serious diagnosis can occur, and the important decisions be made.
TLDR: The higher ups/creator of the system, may have intended for event staff to act as a moderator and pass the issues up the ladder.
May seem backwards, but that's what it looks like to me,
Yes, this is a jab at Pokemon's Customer Support. This, honestly, is the biggest problem with the entire issue. We wouldn't necessarily need this messenger medium if the support system actually existed in any sense of the word. While it is certainly highly disappointing that this season's information was not released earlier, it honestly seems like the majority of the concern lies with the lack of response to the situation. Sure, there are plenty of people concerned over the CP situation, but a majority of the posts (and a majority of the posts that are receiving a lot of flack for some reason) are those that are trying to examine WHY it is that customer support is essentially nonexistent.
My best guess is that this is somewhat inherited from Nintendo. They're rather notorious for being sluggish on information regarding games, and unreliable at times, in part because of their process to insure a quality product. The processing of information becomes rather slow, and may become public much later as a result.
Ultimately what I've been trying to bring up is that there's more to what goes on, and there are legitimate reasons why we don't know the inner workings. While raising questions and concerns is certainly nothing to frown upon doing so without attempting to understand why it's there in the first place doesn't help solve problem, and can in fact inhibit it.
The community has made it's complaint and those most likely to do something about it have noticed, making a bigger stink about it will only make it a bitter thought for them. All that can we can do now is hope that positive change is on the way.
---------- Post added 08/31/2012 at 04:57 AM ----------
There seems to be a lot of talking over one another here. Let's try to bring it back to the center of the table. This isn't national politics, people.
Precisely, it's international politics. That's why the i is there you know. :wink:
No one should be "sympathetic" to a CORPORATION. We can however understand the obvious frustrations faced by the employees within it.
Sympathetic most certainly not, but understanding most certainly. Parts of the inner workings are and will remain a mystery, and understanding that is important when working to make change.
