Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Fall Regional Prizes Anounced

This is horrible. I know that only X amount of people are going to get these awards in those divisions but it speaks magnitudes about the company that they are letting the 15+ division take care of themselves... Many of us are college kids and this money helps a ton when we have student loans to pay off . Others are kids that moved up from the 11-14 and could still use the money just as much as anyone younger than them.

This prize adjustment is targeted at parents who will take their kids to tournaments no matter what or those that are old enough that they naturally bite the bullet of travel. The latter of which isn't a justifiable reason. Its OP being greedy with their money. I'm sure someone will come on here and say about how the extra money has been reallocated to allow for more tournaments but this is by no means fair, and I'm chiming in to voice this.
 
Mystery Thing said:
I don't have an issue with this. 1st place still gets a paid trip for the Masters.

For 2-4, in most cases the Masters player can make the trip by themselves. For Juniors and Seniors, they will HAVE to make the trip with a guardian of some sort. I see the stipend as a way of them helping out those parents who would need to cough up the dough for a trip for 2, as opposed to a trip for one which in most cases the Masters 2-4 won't have to deal with.

If I'm finishing between 2nd and 4th, I would rather have to pay for a flight for me, than have to pay for two flights, even with the help of a stipend. Granted, airfare in Canada is 23987427839 times worse than in the US, but still.
Click to expand...

This isn't about 1st place and it isn't about Masters being able to make the trip themselves. It is about Masters getting LESS prizes than Juniors and Seniors. If they really want to give more travel money to Juniors and Seniors so their parents can go give them a couple hundred more, but don't do it like this. Giving the Masters NOTHING is a huge mistake and the wrong way to go about it. That is an undeniable fact.
 
The reason people like "The Roles We Play", NoPoke, and SDPokemom haven't chimed in yet is because they are probably still trying to think of a way to support the company's decision.
 
I cant even start to explain how i feel about this. I am happy that they are increasing prize support for regionals (after taking it away) but to put it in only 2 of the 3 divisions when you could easily make it all 3 (300 each instead of 500).
The're only reason for doing this is because "masters can pay for nationals but juniors and seniors cant"...
Good one pokemon, you do know that kids have parents that have money? If anything masters need it more because most of them are people in their twenties who are going to school.
I just dont get why you would discriminate on age.
Also once again you make a giant change to the game in some sense and still refuse to release any explanation for it and leave it up to someone to do a half @%$ job of doing it here.
 
Scizor said:
This isn't about 1st place and it isn't about Masters being able to make the trip themselves. It is about Masters getting LESS prizes than Juniors and Seniors. If they really want to give more travel money to Juniors and Seniors so their parents can go give them a couple hundred more, but don't do it like this. Giving the Masters NOTHING is a huge mistake and the wrong way to go about it. That is an undeniable fact.
Click to expand...

It's also an "undeniable fact" that the costs associate with getting Junior and Senior division players to Nationals is a much more costly than it is for a Masters player, simply because of the guardian factor.

You all seem to forget that TPCI's target audience isn't the Masters, it's the Juniors and Seniors. It is logical that their goal is to increase the numbers of JRs/SRs playing at Nationals. You can all scream and whine and moan to your hearts' desires, but when Nats rolls around, I would be willing to lay down some cash that the Masters attendance will still increase, despite this.

So you say "give them a couple hundred more, but don't do it like this," huh? How would you suggest they do it, then? Honest question. If you want to whine and claim there's better methods, have at it. But at least suggest an alternative. Convince me.
 
Mystery Thing said:
It's also an "undeniable fact" that the costs associate with getting Junior and Senior division players to Nationals is a much more costly than it is for a Masters player, simply because of the guardian factor.

You all seem to forget that TPCI's target audience isn't the Masters, it's the Juniors and Seniors. It is logical that their goal is to increase the numbers of JRs/SRs playing at Nationals. You can all scream and whine and moan to your hearts' desires, but when Nats rolls around, I would be willing to lay down some cash that the Masters attendance will still increase, despite this.

So you say "give them a couple hundred more, but don't do it like this," huh? How would you suggest they do it, then? Honest question. If you want to whine and claim there's better methods, have at it. But at least suggest an alternative. Convince me.
Click to expand...

How about you address my point that when those Juniors and Seniors age up they see a DECREASE in prizes and are discouraged by that and the increased competition before we start getting into alternative methods and the fact that focusing on the Juniors and Seniors has not worked for so long. You think I'm incapable of suggesting alternatives? How about you lay out a decent argument before singling me out.
 
It's funny because the Juniors/Seniors who are going to T4 regionals (and you know they're going to come out of the same pool of 8-10 players who are the only ones who do well in their division in the region) don't need the money. Their parents already bring them all over the place to play, yet somehow they need $500 extra dollars to attend Nats?

Pokemon needs to stop catering to the juniors and seniors. They might get their parents to buy the cards but they don't carry organized play. If your attendance is 20/35/150 and you only payout 1 of those 150 players something is wrong.
 
Scizor said:
How about you address my point that when those Juniors and Seniors age up they see a DECREASE in prizes and are discouraged by that and the increased competition before we start getting into alternative methods and the fact that focusing on the Juniors and Seniors has not worked for so long. You think I'm incapable of suggesting alternatives? How about you lay out a decent argument before singling me out.
Click to expand...

Because no Junior or Senior player gives a rodent's keester about travel stipend money. They aren't the ones paying for the trip. Don't kid yourself, that $500 isn't going to the kid, it's going straight to the parent. In terms of effective prizes to the player, 2nd-4th in all three divisions isn't getting a dime.
 
Mystery Thing said:
Because no Junior or Senior player gives a rodent's keester about travel stipend money. They aren't the ones paying for the trip. Don't kid yourself, that $500 isn't going to the kid, it's going straight to the parent. In terms of effective prizes to the player, 2nd-4th in all three divisions isn't getting a dime.
Click to expand...

While you may be a selfish parent, it's ignorant to assume that everyone else is like you.

When I won my first $1,500 purse from Pokemon, my parents put it straight into my college fund. When I was a senior, I certainly cared about prize money. Teenagers aren't idiots just because they're young.
 
Seniors and juniors do need to bring their parents to go to an event... but what about Masters who are still minors? Do they just not count? How about giving Masters HALF of what T4 in Juniors and Seniors are getting? Most masters are transporting half as many people to nats as juniors and seniors, so why not give them half the budget. Why not make it more fair and double it if the recipient is a minor?

As far as Juniors and Seniors being the primary market, I honestly don't believe that for a second. Masters tournaments ALWAYS outnumber the juniors and seniors by significant margins. For a time, I worked on a card shop. Masters were far mroe consistent spenders (two box per set) than juniors and seniors. J/S were compulsive buyers more than anything else. They bought a pack when they wanted a pack. I could count on masters to make regular orders. Juniors and seniors... not so much. Masters outnumber juniors and seniors, and they spend far more consistently than juniors and seniors. More over, masters care more about prizes. J/S love to fantasize about winning prizes, but they will often not care about single events based on the prize payout. Masters... do. You'd be better off offering more to Masters because they are more likely to want to play based on the larger carrots in front of their noses.


Sorry guys... I'm not buying it. This is highly disrespectful to the masters division as a whole. On the plus side though, this is way ahead of schedule, so major kudos for that.
 
Mystery Thing said:
You all seem to forget that TPCI's target audience isn't the Masters, it's the Juniors and Seniors. It is logical that their goal is to increase the numbers of JRs/SRs playing at Nationals. You can all scream and whine and moan to your hearts' desires, but when Nats rolls around, I would be willing to lay down some cash that the Masters attendance will still increase, despite this.

So you say "give them a couple hundred more, but don't do it like this," huh? How would you suggest they do it, then? Honest question. If you want to whine and claim there's better methods, have at it. But at least suggest an alternative. Convince me.
Click to expand...

No, it's a company. Their target audience are its most lucrative customers and largest customer base. The Masters division is both of those. They're giving prizes to everyone EXCEPT more than half their player base. There is 0 reason for this. And that trash about attendance not being affected is a bad argument, the reverse would hold true as well. Only giving the Masters a travel voucher wouldn't have an effect on the Seniors or Juniors either.
Convince you? We need to CONVINCE you that blowing off more than half of a company's customers and giving rewards to the other people is a bad idea? Is that a joke? There's no reason to single out the Masters division. NONE. You can call this a kid's game all you want, but the simple fact is that this is a kid's game where more than half the people at a given competitive tournament ARE NOT kids. From a gaming standpoint, blowing them off is stupid. From a common sense standpoint, blowing them off is stupid.
I'll try to keep an open mind for the reason they would do this, but really this idea seems just god awful.
 
psychup2034 said:
While you may be a selfish parent, it's ignorant to assume that everyone else is like you.
Click to expand...

Awwwww you think I'm a parent? That's cute ^_^


psychup2034 said:
When I won my first $1,500 purse from Pokemon, my parents put it straight into my college fund. When I was a senior, I certainly cared about prize money. Teenagers aren't idiots just because they're young.
Click to expand...

If it was that large of an amount, then it would have been a scholarship, not a travel stipend. So your parents put your scholarship towards education? That's a radical concept...


Lucario-Master said:
I just dont get why you would discriminate on age.
Click to expand...

Using my own location as an example, right now it would cost $1155 to get an adult and a 10 year old child to Nationals. For a single adult, $578. So a flight difference of $577 (go figure). Now lets add on, say, $120 for food for the adult. So for my hypothetical Senior player to get to Nationals, it's costing them an extra $700ish. Take out the stipend, and it's still costing the Senior $200 more to be able to play in Nationals than it does for a Master who goes by themselves.

Which age group is getting discriminated against? I would say it's actually the Juniors and Seniors.
 
if i had to GUESS why the additional support for juniors/seniors? they want to make sure more of the high-placing jrs/srs actually GO to nats and play. how many junior/senior players with byes and travel stipends let them go because it was too expensive to get there to claim their prizes?

and GBA: don't dare speak for me or anyone else =/
 
For anyone with the "the juniors and seniors need a guardian and need to pay double the cost" argument:

The median household income for an American family is around $50,000 a year. The average income of a single 16-24 year old is much less than that. The average student is tens of thousands of dollars in the red. Sure, they might pay more, but they also have a tremendously higher amount of disposable income than a single Master. I don't see why the parent/child combo is more deserving of a reward than the masters, especially when considering that Masters, on average, will donate a higher percentage of their income to the game.

And I still see no reason why a $300 distribution over all age divisions isn't a better overall decision.
 
Mystery Thing said:
Awwwww you think I'm a parent? That's cute ^_^
Click to expand...

Let me rephrase. "While you may be a selfish person, it's ignorant to assume that everyone else is like you."

Better?

Mystery Thing said:
Using my own location as an example, right now it would cost $1155 to get an adult and a 10 year old child to Nationals. For a single adult, $578. So a flight difference of $577 (go figure). Now lets add on, say, $120 for food for the adult. So for my hypothetical Senior player to get to Nationals, it's costing them an extra $700ish. Take out the stipend, and it's still costing the Senior $200 more to be able to play in Nationals than it does for a Master who goes by themselves.
Click to expand...

Using your own location as an example, right now it would cost $1155 to get an adult and a 15 year old child to Nationals. For a single adult, $578. So a flight difference of $577 (go figure). Now let's add on $120 for food for the adult. So for my hypothetical Masters player that placed T4 at Regionals to get to Nationals, it's costing them $500 more than a Seniors player that placed T4 at Regionals.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top