Great topic again F_S you really do deserve your title.
THE PROBLEMS
- The players have very little say in the operations and development of OP. POP does run forums for the PTOs and professors of this game, but those who are primarily players have little or no contact with POP whatsoever.
- There are very few benefits for joining this game in comparison to other games. Think about this. If someone decides to quit Yugioh, and start another TCG, the only real TCGs they have to choose from are Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering. Why would anyone choose Pokemon over Magic as far as OP is concerned?
- The professor program is almost meaningless. Being a professor does not guarantee that you know how to make rulings or judge an event (especially since it is possible to cheat on the test). And, not being a professor is not evidence that you do not know certain rulings. So, what exactly does a professorship mean?
- Fair play and helpful attitudes seem to be at an all-time low. Anything that would encourage top-level players to help new players would certainly be beneficial in hooking those new players for a long time.
1) I think that POP is listening more and more players opinions thanks to Pokegym as Mike already said. So the new forum isn't that necessary.
2) If people compare MTG's and Pokemon's OP they can find good and bad things in both OPs so I can't really say that MTG's OP is better, it's just more developed and experienced. But there is one thing why people prefer Pokemon to MTG, it's the cost. If you want to be "uber-pro" player in MTG your pocket money won't be enough ever. MTG is soooo much more expensive than Pokemon and that's why people may choose Pokemon over MTG. Of course all people have different goals in card games so if you don't have problem with money issues you could choose Pokemon or MTG, but if you're just an ordinary guy with an ordinary job or you're just a student, pokemon is the way to go.
3) I really can't comment on this because I haven't experienced professor program yet.
4) It's low but I think it isn't all time low, but eitherways it has to change. There is something that POP could do for this. When I read Tego's posts from Japan I noticed that people cann get extra points if they write an article about issues in pokemon, new archetype or things like that. Then there would be few POP people who would read all articles, then publish them monthly on the OP's official site and/or public boards like at the gym. Then there would be a "carrot" to people who write those articles, promo cards or something like that. That would cost PUI/POP money but IMO it could encourage good and "uber" players to write articles about everything that's happening around, like you do all the time. Japan has the point system where you can get a promo card every time you reach a goal of X-points so they could try it here too if their budget has enough money for it. They could give points from each article, judging tournaments and being a league leader, that's the best way to hook new players. It would be awesome to kid who has just started a league and his league leader is a World Champion. He/She would be very glad if he/she could get help from a WORLD Champion. That's respect.
REQUIREMENTS
- The candidate should have and maintain a 1800 or better rating. I believe that one of the keys to knowing rulings, and gaining a better understanding of the game, is to play at a competitive level. 1800 should be wholely reachable for anyone of a moderate skill-level.
- The candidate should help to run a league at least 6 times a year. Basically, forcing good players to help new players. The good players gain more experience in helping people and sharing the game, and the little kids just may become better players. Everyone wins.
- The candidate judges 3 or more premier events per year. A professorship is most of all a certificate to judge events (that’s really the only thing it is ATM). This one comes as just obvious to me.
- The candidate acts as a Tournament Organizer at least once per year. Again, just adds more experience to a persons repertoire of skills. Not quite as important as the ones above.
- The candidate helps demo the game (at a major gaming convention or something similar) at least once per year. Building on the ‘good players helping new players’ ideal, but in a slightly different context.
- The candidate submits letters of recommendation to re-affirm their intentions are only good. If someone helps in league, but is a complete jerk about it, then that shouldn’t count towards their requirements. This is pretty simple to understand.
1) As already said that wouldn't be very good idea. BDS wouldn't ever be the highest professor because he organizes and judges judges tournaments and that's what's the most important thing, but that's about it.
2) This is very important as you said everybody wins when all people run leagues and that's how OP grows in all regions. Leading the leagues and helping little children is the best that people can do to help the game grow.
3) 3 Premier Events would be just fine but when thinking of this, we have to remember that people in other regions have more Premier tournaments than people in the other regions. So that should be considered when thinking the amount of Premier Tournaments.
4) Agreed.
5) This is what I think very important too. People has to find their way to league somehow and someone has to told them where and when and what are the leagues. We just can't hope that people find their way to league someone has to "show them the way". This is VERY important.
6) That should be the easiest part of the system.
BENEFITS
Once again,
Bold are those things I think would be hugely popular, normal type are things I think would be a good idea.
- Extra POP packs each quarter. Probably the lamest (from my perspective at least) thing on the list, but it’s a possibility none-the-less.
- Optional Round 1 bye at any premier event. This has never been discussed before (to my knowledge), but I think it would be an awesome idea. A Round 1 bye is a free win, and pads your resistance slightly. Any competitive player would LOVE this, and be more than willing to help in League a few times in order to get this power. BTW, this costs POP no money to implement, so that is a major positive.
- Access to forums on the same (or close to same) level as the PTO forums. Or maybe just an extra board on the professor forums. As long as there is a theatre where the best players and POP officials can discuss the game frankly, it can only be of benefit to all involved.
- Special items in the professor store. A distinct possibility. It would cost POP more money, but the option is always there.
- Ability to judge matches in a tournament you’re participating in. I think this one is hugely important, probably the second most important on the list. Judges can be terribly overworked at small events. I think finding a way to allow high-caliber players to both play AND judge an event would be beneficial to almost everyone. Of course, any questionable rulings can still be appealed to the HJ. And, there would need to be some restriction on ‘scouting’ the competition; but that is done very easily. Again, this is one that costs POP no money to implement.
- Special promos, either given out at the end of the year, or when certain milestones are reached. People like promo cards. And, the higher the resale value, the more people like them. :wink:
- Rating Protection. Many possible ways this one could work. This one is very easy to understand, and again, costs POP no money.
- Possible Worlds Invites. The most important one. People like Worlds. They will do almost anything to guarantee an invite for themselves. This would be a very effective way of drawing the best players into this program. And don’t tell me that this is impossible because Worlds can’t be of undefined size. There are many possible ways to decide who can and who can’t play in Worlds. As long as the possibility is there, people will go for it.
1) I think if people organize tournament and leads leagues POP boosters are kind of unnecessary stuff, they share them enough at the leagues. And it takes money from POP when they're posting POP5 boosters around the World in the expensive letters. So I think Professors won't need it.
2) This idea is very fresh and it sounds cool. But here would be cool to here if the people who really love to organize league needs those advances. Do they even ever play at the events or do they even want to? But this might be a good "carrot" for players who usually only play, this could make them to lead leagues and judge events so after all this would be a very good idea.
3) This might be a good idea, but we already got the Gym and Professor Forums and as I already said I think POP listens to player very well so this isn't SO necessary.
4) I'm almost sure that every Professor would love to get shiny and Rare thing but after all they do organizing for love to this game not for those prizes and that's why the TO's and league leaders are the people who I personally respect the most. This is also a good suggestion but not necessary.
5) Here is an issue that I have tought about myself. But how would this work. Can the player judge in the event where he plays. He can "scout" other people decks and all that and gain an advantage from their opponents that way. Of course everyone wouldn't do this but I'm sure that there may be players who could use this to help themselves not the TO's and other judges. A very good discussion about this could be made.
6) As I said in 4), Professors lead league leaders do their job because their love for the game and I think that those "player-judges" would never reach this milestone if they do play continously to keep their ranking high enough, so this isn't the number one thing either.
7) How would this work, what would be the milestone in professor points to reach this. This would be also a good idea but the way this would work should be very carefully planned.
8) Worlds trip/ invite would always attract player and TO's to be even more active so I'm lovin this idea even tough PUI's budget would be the only problem here.
THE MORE PLAYERS WE GET INTO THIS GAME, THE BETTER OFF WE ALL ARE.
Amen.
Here are my thoughts and I hope that I brought my point of view clearly enough :smile: