Prize Increase for States!

[z-man]

Rarely is it the case that they'd choose an such a thing for only one reason. Although he said that that was the reason, there were likely additional reasons. Plus what better way to foster a better connection than to lessen the obvious downsides of being a part of said age group. The two reasons aren't mutually exclusive.

I agree! The decision wasn't based on one or two things. I'm sure there are tons of reasons they made this decision. Even so, when Professor Dav spoke, he made it very clear that fostering the growth of J/S was the main purpose. To accomplish that goal, many of us feel that there are better ways to spend $400/tournament.

I'll admit that I forgot that point. Even so my point should be fairly obvious, the majority of masters don't have to pay for multiple people for a single person's participation.

I'd be careful saying things like that. There's a pretty large 15-17 population playing this game... overlooking that population would be a mistake. A large number of masters don't need guardians... but many masters still do. In the past, free trips have been for the winner and guardian if necessary. If they want to give stipends in the same way, I'd be whole heartledy for that. Giving additional stipends only to juniors and seniors though... that I disagree with

Frankly I doubt it, why would they spend money in an inefficient way? The obvious answer (which I believe to be likely) is they can't, or b, is too difficult to do. We rarely see the true costs of things, as there are a number of factors that they have to take into account for any one result.

TPCi (and all other businesses ever) is not infallible. They are perfectly capable of making mistakes. You're absolutely correct that we know less about the budget than TPCi. Even so, it is pretty easy to guess that the cost of giving $400 per states is... $400. Many of us don't agree that giving $200 extra to J/S will foster growth. For $400, imagine what we could do... for all age divisions. We could print t-shirts exclusive to the tournament ($10-$20 each) and hand them out to the winners/T8/randomly. We could buy more boxes to give out as random goodness or even set up random contests to give packs out for (So-Cal LOVES its airplane contests). The key to promoting growth is to make sure that everyone has fun and has a unique experience. Winning tons contributes to that... but it isn't the only factor.

And again, just because we don't know everything TPCi knows doesn't make them immune from criticism. I think we can all agree that we don't know all the facts. Even so, we can still make pretty convincing arguments or come up with good ideas to help foster growth that doesn't involve bothering many masters.

 

[TheRolesWePlay]

I can't imagine printing advertisement cards for leagues and premier events to be put in booster packs would cost that much, TRWP. At some point you have to stop defending the company and accept that they are making mistakes.

And at others you need to actually think outside of the box and realize there are other factors at play. The people in charge aren't stupid, and they do want the best for the game. Also effective marketing takes more that you think it does.

 

[GodBlessAmerica]

This mindset of unconditionally supporting the people in charge of the game is keeping the game from growing. If you continue to tell them it's okay, they aren't going to change anything. If you make them know that what they're doing isn't pleasing their fan base along with contributing to the cause with possible solutions to their problems, you are doing what's best. They make mistakes with using their budget, quite frequently I might add.

For example, look at the Worlds commentary. Instead of letting The Top Cut commentate on the finals of worlds for FREE, they threw money at people who didn't know what they were talking about, which isn't good for the game at all. Pokemon easily could have posted a link to TheTopCut's website where they'd be streaming the finals.

 

[TheRolesWePlay]

TPCi (and all other businesses ever) is not infallible. They are perfectly capable of making mistakes. You're absolutely correct that we know less about the budget than TPCi. Even so, it is pretty easy to guess that the cost of giving $400 per states is... $400. Many of us don't agree that giving $200 extra to J/S will foster growth. For $400, imagine what we could do... for all age divisions. We could print t-shirts exclusive to the tournament ($10-$20 each) and hand them out to the winners/T8/randomly. We could buy more boxes to give out as random goodness or even set up random contests to give packs out for (So-Cal LOVES its airplane contests). The key to promoting growth is to make sure that everyone has fun and has a unique experience. Winning tons contributes to that... but it isn't the only factor.

And again, just because we don't know everything TPCi knows doesn't make them immune from criticism. I think we can all agree that we don't know all the facts. Even so, we can still make pretty convincing arguments or come up with good ideas to help foster growth that doesn't involve bothering many masters.

My point is that there's a number of factors that we don't know, in the case of the stipends, it may be the most effective way to impart money directly to the winners, and easiest, as there is little in the ways to get in the way. Making a T-shirt for instance isn't a simple $10-20 to produce, as then you have to factor in development, shipping, production, and make sure it's all done in time. All I'm saying is that things are rarely if ever as simple as one might think (and I do mean EVERYTHING, both in and outside of Pokemon). TPCi may very well be making a more educated approach to this then we give them credit for, and the numbers may very well be on their side.

 

[FSULugia]

I'm getting so tired of this argument. The point of the reward increase isn't solely to increase Junior/Senior attendance, but to compensate them for the additional costs that they must pay for being minors, as they have to cover the expenses for both parent and child. For those of you thinking that it doesn't matter, it does, you try convincing a parent to take you to an even that you've received a voucher for only to be shot down because the compensation isn't good enough.

Children have more expenses and inherent hoops to jump through as they have parents to deal with. FACT

Masters have fewer people to pay for per individual going. FACT

Stop making this about Pokemon hating, or mistreating masters. That isn't what's going on, AND YOU KNOW IT!

To me it seems like a huge maturity and personal issue. TPCi isnt making anything personal, yet people are taking it so personal and being so emotional about it. So TPCi made a decision that was not in the best interest in the consensus, but the decision doesnt affect the game to where anything made a difference in your decision to keep playing. They didnt take anything away, they just gave more to a younger group and who cares if that doesnt improve the game, that probably wasnt the reason why they did it. Not every decision TPCi is going to benefit everyone who plays as a whole or improve the game and that is something people need to learn to accept. Its like people see extra money given to younger groups and go "omg they hate us masters, this doesnt improve the game what a waste tpci is dumb they need to listen to all my ideas instead", no just chill out about it. 1 Decision isnt meant to be a huge vendetta on the masters player base. I bet if TPCi didnt even mention it and just made the changes at the tournament without saying anything, nobody would notice or care.

Its not equal but people need to grow up and accept that products you willingly buy and willingly commit yourself into arent going to go the way you want them to. If people dont like it, then they dont have to feel super obligated to play or buy Pokemon cards. I dont understand why that is so hard to understand. If your mad about prizes, play a game that gives better prizes. If you dont want to do that, then why complain? Its senseless to have billions of walls of text and arguments that lead to nowhere instead of actively doing something about it or just not even letting it bother you.

 

[TheRolesWePlay]

This mindset of unconditionally supporting the people in charge of the game is keeping the game from growing. If you continue to tell them it's okay, they aren't going to change anything. If you make them know that what they're doing isn't pleasing their fan base along with contributing to the cause with possible solutions to their problems, you are doing what's best. They make mistakes with using their budget, quite frequently I might add.

For example, look at the Worlds commentary. Instead of letting The Top Cut commentate on the finals of worlds for FREE, they threw money at people who didn't know what they were talking about, which isn't good for the game at all. Pokemon easily could have posted a link to TheTopCut's website where they'd be streaming the finals.

I find it offensive for you to say that me trying to be open to the possible problems that are at play and trying to communicate them to others, is inhibiting growth, especially when you have no evidence to show for it.I don't have to constantly criticize the people in charge of the company in order to grow the game, especially when the biggest factors in growing the game have absolutely nothing to do with prize support and is much more local. Frankly

As I mentioned earlier there are ALWAYS a number of hoops that Pokemon MUST jump through, as they are a company and criticism takes a much more dangerous role. In the case of the Worlds commentary, even if you think that TTC would have been a grand choice, and you may be right, you don't know what kept them from making that choice, and if you took the time to think about it, you might find the reason to be very understandable.

The main reason why I defend TPCi so often, for the record, is because I don't think they're stupid, I think they're human. Sure they may make some dumb choices, but they deal with what they have, and they don't always have the options that they, or we would like, but they do what they can with what they have, and to blatantly insult them is discourteous and unfounded.

 

[z-man]

My point is that there's a number of factors that we don't know, in the case of the stipends, it may be the most effective way to impart money directly to the winners, and easiest, as there is little in the ways to get in the way. Making a T-shirt for instance isn't a simple $10-20 to produce, as then you have to factor in development, shipping, production, and make sure it's all done in time. All I'm saying is that things are rarely if ever as simple as one might think (and I do mean EVERYTHING, both in and outside of Pokemon). TPCi may very well be making a more educated approach to this then we give them credit for, and the numbers may very well be on their side.

Giving out stipends is definitely easy. Is it the best way to foster growth in J/S. Almost definitely not. Will it help? Possibly, but I really doubt it. Obviously any change will be difficult to enact... especially on a national or even global scale. I think we're giving TPCi good credit... they've obviously thought everything through. Does that mean we have to agree with the change? Most definitely not. We do not know what they know, but that doesn't stop us from criticizing decisions we disagree with.

Next, I wasn't trying to point fingers, but when I said this:

Also, guys, can we please please please stop with the snide comments? People in this thread have been called (mostly indirectly), "entitled", "ignorant", and "selfish". Nobody likes being talked down to. This is a good conversation, so please keep it good.

I was referring to comments like this:

To me it seems like a huge maturity and personal issue. TPCi isnt making anything personal, yet people are taking it so personal and being so emotional about it.

Please stop that. Nobody here is being immature or overly emotional. I don't think we're taking this out of scale either. There is very little whining here. The reason we're giving negative opinions towards the issue is because we want TPCi to improve. We all love the game and enjoy going to tournaments. I think everyone here wants to see Juniors/Seniors grow, and many of us feel this is an ineffective way of making J/S grow. Many of us also feel like TPCi is unnecessarily treating Juniors/Seniors better than masters. This is not whining or being emotional. It is taking valid concerns and presenting them as a result of the change.

I find it offensive for you to say that me trying to be open to the possible problems that are at play and trying to communicate them to others, is inhibiting growth, especially when you have no evidence to show for it.I don't have to constantly criticize the people in charge of the company in order to grow the game, especially when the biggest factors in growing the game have absolutely nothing to do with prize support and is much more local. Frankly

I agree that GBA's criticism of your posts was unfair. These discussions definitely, at worst, have no effect on growth. I'd hope that some rep from TPCi is looking at these and reading the opinions of concerned players. As I've said before, many of us criticize because we love the game. Most of us will applaud decisions that we agree with, and show why we disagree with the decisions we disagree with. Almost nobody on gym "constantly criticizes the people in charge of the company". That being said, taking the position of always defending TPCi isn't a healthy position to take either... criticize where you feel necessary. Almost every decision they make is well thought-out, but that doesn't mean that every decision they make is a good decision.

As I mentioned earlier there are ALWAYS a number of hoops that Pokemon MUST jump through, as they are a company and criticism takes a much more dangerous role. In the case of the Worlds commentary, even if you think that TTC would have been a grand choice, and you may be right, you don't know what kept them from making that choice, and if you took the time to think about it, you might find the reason to be very understandable.

I don't know about that one. The commentators knew almost nothing about the TCG. I'd argue TPCi made a huge slip up on this one. We may never know the reasoning behind having the commentators we did, but we do know what we got out of it. The product we got and the product TTC could have given us... massive difference. It doesn't matter how logical the original decision was from their point of view. We ended up getting a disaster of a commentary and this decision is what made that happen. We can certainly be upset about this, and I'd hope that TPCi, if nothing else, tests its commentators before letting them go on stream (although trash claw has become a fantastic joke in my community).

Most of us aren't exactly insulting TPCi. We criticize because we care. If something goes wrong, it doesn't matter how much sense the decision made initially... that thing still went wrong.

 

[FSULugia]

Everyone is being overly emotional about it. I see so many comments that have to use so many negative adjectives like "smack in the face" or "disrespected", nobody can make a point without it making it sound like an F U to TPCi. People on here have openly admitted that they were "offended" by the decision, thats just pathetic to let yourself feel that way.

Criticizing TPCi isnt going to change their minds. There a billion dollar company that makes lots of decisions all the time and they can only do what is in their limits. Like TheRolesWePlay said, there human and they arent perfect. I think peoples expectations of TPCi are WAY too high. People on here all have different ideas of what they should do, but its virtually impossible for them to take majority of the ideas here and make them happy. Plus how does anyone know that TPCi isnt working on anyway to improve the game for ALL? Just because they didnt say anything doesnt mean that they arent doing anything.

 

[z-man]

Everyone is being overly emotional about it. I see so many comments that have to use so many negative adjectives like "smack in the face" or "disrespected", nobody can make a point without it making it sound like an F U to TPCi. People on here have openly admitted that they were "offended" by the decision, thats just pathetic to let yourself feel that way.

Like who? Psychup (the person who used "disrespect" most) beautifully explained everything in his posts. Ness (who said "smack in the face") has already voiced his opinions on similar issues in previous threads and extensively on facebook. He wanted to make short and sweet comments, so he did. If I had to take a stab at it, the most negative person in this thread... is you, my friend. The fact that we all use TPCi's services probably means we appreciate them. Most of us (if not all of us) are going to continue happily using TPCi's services. We all love the game and what TPCi does for us, but we feel there are better ways to use the extra money they are giving Juniors and seniors to accomplish their goals.

Criticizing TPCi isnt going to change their minds. There a billion dollar company that makes lots of decisions all the time and they can only do what is in their limits. Like TheRolesWePlay said, there human and they arent perfect. I think peoples expectations of TPCi are WAY too high. People on here all have different ideas of what they should do, but its virtually impossible for them to take majority of the ideas here and make them happy. Plus how does anyone know that TPCi isnt working on anyway to improve the game for ALL? Just because they didnt say anything doesnt mean that they arent doing anything.

Isn't it? They've listened to fan input before. The community was very vocal about having a mid-season ratation... and guess what we got. A mid season rotation! Hurray! With the TTC boom recently, a large number of people wanted commentators at worlds. Guess what we got. Commentators at worlds! Hurray! They've listened to us in the past, and many of us are being vocal about this change. They might change their minds... they might not. I find it hard to imagine that keeping divisions equal in prize support is outside of their limits. Also, this isn't us wanting them to implement the majority of the ideas here. We have a fairly majority opinion (this is a negative change), and many of us offered solutions of potential alternatives. The reasoning behind our suggestions is the same... and THAT is what TPCi should be focusing on.

When TPCi brought in the worlds commentators, many of us were skeptical of why they didn't bring in TTC. As it turns out, our skepticism was well founded... the commentary for TCG was awful. Sometimes, criticism helps prevent future blunders. Sometimes, criticism is against an eventual good thing. It is very hard to tell, so taking the position of never giving criticism is not a good idea. If we can prove that these changes directly help grow J/S in a large way, many of us will admit we were wrong. Until then, many of us will be skepticle and think that there are better ways of accomplishing the goal.

Maybe not a billion dollar company. IDK... possibly... but probably not.

 

[the cheating bidoof]

Why don't we just take the money we have nwo and change the way it is distributed to
Make it fair for every one? It will make it so a division Is not screwed over and it will still allow for a prize increase for all divisions. Not only could this be an effective strategy for states but for regionals too in terms of that top 4 money.

For states:

500(2) + 300 = 1,300.

Masters = 500
Seniors = 400
Juniors = 400

This increases prizes for all division and supports the biggest one along with spreading out the money in a fairer way.

 

[bullados]

z-man, you forgot probably their biggest concession ever.

10 Foreign Cards. To wean us off of them instead of taking a sledgehammer to the problem.

 

[Gengar16]

Giving out stipends is definitely easy. Is it the best way to foster growth in J/S. Almost definitely not. Will it help? Possibly, but I really doubt it. Obviously any change will be difficult to enact... especially on a national or even global scale.

How else would you recommend to foster growth in JR/SR?

TPCi definately wants to do that and they believe this is one of the ways....

Form a judging standpoint there are a lot of "consistent' masters that show up but you dont have that many in JR/SR. Also, if you noticed a LOT of new JR/SR show up for pre-releases but dont end up going to premier events. Pokemon still wants to market itself as a "kids" thing. I guess this is one of the ways they see it working.

 

[eriknance]

The main reason why I defend TPCi so often, for the record, is because I don't think they're stupid, I think they're human. Sure they may make some dumb choices, but they deal with what they have, and they don't always have the options that they, or we would like, but they do what they can with what they have, and to blatantly insult them is discourteous and unfounded.

While I truly do agree with you on this point Roles, I do want to say something that has just been itching to come out. I've played this game for many, many years, and one thing that has always bothered me is the reactionary manner in which P!P operates. While I don't expect them to personally drop in on forums and tell us their thinking on every decision made, I honestly do feel they can take a more proactive approach that communicates to the players, "We care about how our decisions affect you."

Most often, decisions seem to be made in a vacuum in some far-off place. Us players learn about these changes, then gripe about them until a higher-up drops in and tells us "what he/she can." I know there are NDA's and whatnot, but consider some of the "mistakes" P!P has made within recent memory:

• Replacing tournament-worthy Trainers in Boundaries Crossed with cruddy reprints
• Pre-Release entry fees being increased (not to mention other decisions that have been made concerning Pre-Releases)
• Allocating more money to Juniors/Seniors during Regionals (and now States) while disregarding Masters
• Eliminating top cuts for Battle Roads
• The Dragon Vault release issue just before Regionals
• Unbelievably late news on the "Point System" for each new season (2 years running now)
• PTCGO

The thing is, whether or not you supported TPCi/P!P on these various issues, each situation grew into a "problem" because nothing was done proactively. Decisions were made, and it seems that P!P expected players to just go along with it. The elimination of top cut for BR's is a good example. We heard the news from PokeMom on the PokeGym. She stated the following:

As per a post by Pete De Shaw on the TPCi PTO forums, and which we have permission to publicize: there will be no top cuts at BRAutumn. Standings after Swiss will be final.

Honestly, does anyone think that competitive players — after reading that bit of "news" — wouldn't be upset? The elimination turned out to be okay, mainly because of the readjustment of the Championship Points, but it seemed like a bomb had been dropped on competitive play at the time. Eventually, things were cleared up and worries eased, but "damage control" is not a proper substitution for just basic, decent communication.

And this is where TPCi seems to fall short in many cases. I know not everyone feels the same way, but it always bothers me when a decision gets made by TPCi without any sort of context whatsoever (no top cuts at BR's), followed by bickering among the players, followed by posts from someone "in the know" that seem to reveal some of the motivation behind a decision. Honestly, it can feel like a slap in the face, followed by the explanation that there was a bug on one's cheek. Or take the beginning of the past two seasons as an example: no communication whatsoever until the very last minute, by which time players were understandably upset. Had someone stepped in a week or two before and said "Hey guys, don't worry, we're working on it and will keep you updated," things would have gone smoother. But nobody did, so players responded accordingly.

---------- Post added 02/08/2013 at 11:58 PM ----------

How else would you recommend to foster growth in JR/SR?.

Had you read through the thread...

So really, your just frustrating some Masters players while not helping attendance at all. I just don't see the point. If they have extra money in the budget, why not spend that on better prize support all around? (For example, and extra $125 for all 3 divisions rather than $200 for 2 of them or something like that) Or, if you REALLY want to improve attendance, spend that money on advertising and door prizes.

Advertising on cartoon network every 3 months for the new sets is not the way to go. Advertising OP is. And what better way to get kids to talk about pokemon than merch? I went to MO regionals, and saw the kids getting their free hats, how excited they were, how even when they lost they still felt like the trip was worth it since they got a hat. Kids aren't usually allowed hats in school, and even free shirts might not get worn because of school uniforms, but bindera are really a great item. If they only have one, it will likely just be used for cards, but if they have 2 + (say from attending more than one state championship, or regionals and a states) then one will likely become their school notebook. Their friends will ask about it, and then by word of mouth, they will talk about it and kids will find out that the TCG even exists.

Completely agreed with whoever made the point about deeper prize supporter rather than even more top-heavy prize support. Most new J/S are going to have no chance at that $200; the same kids are still going to win everything. If I were considering entering a new card game, and was told "wow, they just added $200 to the first place prize at huge tournaments!" it would have next to no impact on my decision.

I feel the $200 could go somewhere else, I.e staffing, door prizes, venue payments, LUNCH, etc.

Deeper prizes (2nd place getting the 200, or even 100), or just more prizes/support- new players getting a theme deck, every JR/SR getting a pack, the top16 getting HATS, or beach balls, or a playmat, or something else.

There are so many other (costless) things that TPCi could have done to increase attendance that are being ignored. First, the advertisement space for organized play on the actual booster packs/theme decks is terrible. Someone who bought a Pokemon product would not know about organized play unless they visited the website (very few people actually do that), or read the really fine print (no-one really does that either). Second, the advertising for organized play on the Pokemon website itself is done horrendously. There's absolutely nothing on the home page of www.pokemon.com that would indicate to a parent that they could take their children to organized play.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Instead of adding a whopping $200 to the junior division prizes and to the senior division prizes, take all of that money and put it towards better advertising. Make commercials that advertise pokemon league. Put an advertisement card in each booster pack advertising organized play, whether it be leagues or pre-releases or other pokemon events. It tilts me the wrong way that someone gets paid to make decisions that enrage the largest part of the pokemon community, when a better use of their resources wouldn't hurt anyone's feelings

 

[Phazon Elite]

Phazon, erik, you two are probably right. Tournaments have been free for years, so adding an entry cost would definitely be difficult. I can definitely understand and, had this been brought up before I went "competitive", I'd probably be against fees as well. If fees were added, we'd probably see a thread on gym with people defending and opposing the decision (which is good! discussion is good!).

i agree, nothing wrong with some level-headed discussion. However, that only happens roughly half the time. The rest of the discussion is usually equivocal to my nephew throwing a fit because he was denied Yo Gabba Gabba privileges.

This has been a much better thread than most others I've seen, though. Much better.

Let's say they collect $10 per player. If we get 200 paying players, that'd be $2000. All of that extra money doesn't need to go to prizes necessarily. What would you (this is more targetted towards Phazon and people who agree with him) take to be willing to pay the $10 for tournaments? We (as a community) are already comfortable paying $25/$30 for prereleases, so would you feel okay paying $10 to get some packs at the beginning of the event? What if they were like POP packs where you could only get them by entering events? What if, if you register early, you would get a hat/playmat/binder/whatever with the tournament logo on it (i.e. a unique Oregon States playmats). Would that make you more comfortable with tournament fees? If I were to guess, I'm pretty sure there is a compromise to be made regarding tournament fees. Finding where that compromise is will be difficult, and I'm not sure TPCi would ever decide to enact fees, but there's definitely a way to... erm... "buy" players into paying fees (tee hee).

Just for history, if you're interested, nationals up until 2007 (I think) took place at Origins. Badges just to get into the tournament area were $70 (ish... IIRC)... even if you were a parent. That was awful and I'm glad we moved, but people have, in the past, been willing to pay to get into the tournament... that was too much, though. Most of us didn't care about the other things Origins had to offer, so the badge was absolutely worthless beyond getting to the Pokemon area. Even so, we stuck through it (not without being upset about it, though).

I dislike booster pack prizes because I dislike booster packs in general. Aside from the epic promo tins, I almost never purchase them: I've usually known exactly which cards I want from a set, so the other 100+ cards hold almost no use to me aside from an eBay listing and that's just not worth the gamble. This was even during the sets that had a large number of playable cards, and was also true during my brief stint in magic.

However, if I was promised a cool playmat, dice assortment, or other thing I pay money to get anyway, I would be fine with an entry fee. That kind of "prize" is unique and very appealing to me. Remember those ghetto deck boxes from the old ex prereleases? I loved those! I never even cared what I got out of prerelease paks back then, because I had an awesome new deck box. Id love to see something like that for other tournaments, and since I'd be getting something that would have a perceived value to me, I'd gladly fork over $10 extra three or four times a year.

 

[psychup2034]

And at others you need to actually think outside of the box and realize there are other factors at play. The people in charge aren't stupid, and they do want the best for the game.

I don't see how being "not stupid" and wanting "the best for the game" necessarily implies that effective and cost-efficient policies are being implemented to grow the Junior and Senior divisions.

Case and point: JCPenney. Their marketing department implemented a plan a couple years back that they would advertise their "everyday low prices" instead of having sales/coupons, like every other department store. Well, people hated everyday low prices, and their revenue plummeted (about 20%, iirc) because of their failed marketing. Instead of admitting to themselves that they made a mistake, they doubled down and lied to themselves that the plan would work out in the end. Well, it's not working out, and those "not stupid" marketing executives who "want the best for the company" are to blame.

A multitude of people in this thread have given ideas for increasing attendance in the Juniors and Seniors divisions. It's clear that the $200 prize increases for Juniors and Seniors are not being allocated efficiently. There are also "not stupid" marketing people who "want the best for the company" at Pokemon who are making questionable decisions.

 

[rayc591]

Not this again :/ Well first of all i find it funny how some of the people defending TPCi act like the 200$ increase will increase attendance or change anything at all because im pretty sure it wont. Whoever wins the 500$ was more than likely already going to win it and go to Nats either way. The only thing this is doing is making all of us masters feel like crap. Also the grown men acting childish argument is incredibly frustrating because i bet if you had any shot at winning the money you would be upset to.

 

[the cheating bidoof]

Guys this is not the hate on tcpi thread... It's talking about the unequal prizes, nothing else. We need to fix this or it will just continue and become worse overtime.

 

[yoshi1001]

One of the inherent assumptions here is that TPCi talked to some people who won travel awards previously but did not attend Nationals. Based on that feedback, they determined that the reason for this for a significant number of them was that the award wasn't enough to justify the trip, and that the additional funds would make a difference.

(Some of you I'm sure have inferred that, but I felt it was useful to summarize)

In any case, that might help Nationals a little (maybe a few dozen more players), but if the goal is to improve attendance at lower-level tournaments, I still think it's a better idea to put that money (at least some of it) somewhere else.

Also, if the other goal is to get more people at Nationals, shouldn't the amount of compensation be on a sliding scale based on where the players live (or where the event is) relative to the nationals location? There would have to be a base (since just about everyone needs a hotel), plus an amount based on (roughly) how far they'd have to travel.

 

[psychicpokemon]

Guys guys stop fighting, please. We're getting more prize support even if it isn't for masters and that means the game is growing (or trying to grow) which is a good thing. Let's not be greedy, they'll eventually raise our prize support as well if the game keeps getting bigger. So in that case this should actually be seen as a step closer to higher prize support and a bigger game for everyone. Also, I'm 15 so I would fall into the "Masters that need parents to drive them" category, and although I'm a bit bummed at not having extra support, it's nothing to cry spilled milk over. I mean it's not like they're decreasing the prize support or anything like that.

 

[GodBlessAmerica]

Another thing I want to say is this: Why couldn't TPCi just bump up the prize support from $300 to $400 for all divisions, and use the other $100 from each S/T/P to advertise in the ways I suggested, or other ways that could also be efficient. This would please everyone because the prize support would be raised for everyone without displeasing the biggest portion of the player base, still encourage younger players to come participate, and would leave $100 left over that could be used elsewhere in the budget. A raise of $100 isn't all that much, especially in this economy, but it's one of what I like to call "small miracles" that boost player morale and keep everyone happy. It's like when a silly McDonald's employee accidentally puts an 11th Chicken McNugget in your 10-piece order, or when you hit nothing but green lights on your way to work/doctor's appointment/etc. These types of events make everyone happy without taking much effort.

TPCi has missed a lot of opportunities to create "small miracles". The computer search earlier this season is another example. If they had allowed players to use an old copy of comp search in their deck and been consistent with their claims that players aren't their main audience, it would have made players happy without all that much effort. They still would have made money from little kids and everything would be dandy and other words for "good".

Another example would be the Regionals support dilemma, very similar to this states prize support decision. Instead of giving an extra $3000 combined to the younger divisions, they could have done the following:

Give an extra $1000 to each division. 2nd-4th each get $250 in addition to other prizes. This leaves $250 left in each division ($750 total for those not strong in mathematics), which can either be put towards more advertising for the events, more prize support in the form of boosters to trickle down to top 8/16/32/64, or towards more complementary gifts to give to participants. Little things. Even if this extra $750 was put solely towards the junior division for small prizes like boosters or beach balls or cheap plushies or stickers, I don't think it would anger the older divisions. The $250 that is given to the masters top 4 would be a big morale booster.

Another opportunity that TPCi continues to miss is raising the top cut cap on tournaments, even if only for regionals which are now two-day events. If more states follow Jimmy Ballard's lead and make their State Championship events two-days, raising the cap to top 32 will be much appreciated. Raising it and giving PTO's the option is the least that can be done imo.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I should be doing more productive things than giving suggestions that probably won't be taken into consideration (I kind of have a lot of snow to shovel).