No More Scholarships in Regional Level Events?

[Card Slinger J]

Okay so I recently read kwisdumb's article about this on http://google.com/ and he believes that getting rid of Scholarships on the Regional level for Junior and Senior Division players will greatly hurt the TCG itself and kill it. I kind of see where you're getting at kwisdumb but what is TPCi or PUSA's motive for even removing scholarships in Regionals to begin with? How would that kill the Pokemon TCG? Please enlighten me I'd really like to know kwisdumb...

I mean I know it doesn't effect players in the Masters Division when they literally make up 2/3rd's of the game's playerbase worldwide (could be wrong on that so feel free to correct me) and even though this doesn't really effect me as a player or any of my friends who play it since most in my area are in the Masters Division as well I'm still trying to wrap my brain around this. I understand that the Junior and Senior Divison players are sort of the "lifeblood" of the TCG itself but is this scholarship thing going too far? It's great that they are getting rewarded for something but why take it away?

Nintendo has decreased the prize support for the Pokemon TCG so maybe that could explain why they are scaling back with scholarships in the Pokemon TCG. So Juniors and Seniors are really quitting the Pokemon TCG because of this? I thought the point of the Pokemon TCG was to have fun and If you're having fun playing the Pokemon TCG why quit? Just cause you're not getting rewarded with a scholarship to help you get through school in these tough economic times? Well that's understandable but still do you expect TPCi and PUSA to offer the best prize support for Juniors and Seniors in this game aside from Masters? Nobody's perfect.

kwisdumb I also read about how you said that this would also make it to where most Pokemon TCG players are going to be playing in Leagues only instead of Tournament Events such as BR's, Nats, Cities, Regionals, and Worlds. Really? Player turnouts this year for BR's, Nats, and World's wasn't that bad aside from the Japanese players not making it this year due to the Earthquake/Tsunami disaster in March but still that's pretty good. It's hard for me to understand unless you tell me why this is a problem and why TPCi and PUSA need to fix this for the TCG itself.

 

[Zyflair]

I stand by what I said earlier:

Going after scholarships with such a ridiculous entry fee (making the deck, driving to the competition) and spending the time to play there (not to mention having to get enough experience to prevent misplays) is like playing the lottery; only the people hosting it really win. Cutting off scholarships barley changes the scenario. You're still playing because the game's fun, not because you can earn money off of it.

The article's argument on scholarships is too weak. Parents that would be persuaded due to hearing about a scholarship at the Regional level better make sure their kid knows how to play or else it's just another profitless hobby. Since I'm sure that's not the case... it's silly logic.

 

[PokeMedic]

The company has stated they received no extra money for their program and are working with the same amount they were budgeted last time. Cutting back on scholarships I suppose helped expand the amount of regionals. I don't know how many people actually play for the scholarship, and I'm not sure at all how many people who play to win, then win, actually had it on their minds.

 

[Shaymin Lv.X]

We never had scholarships for regionals in europe and we dont care about it.
Scholarships are great rewards, Nintendo has to save more money because of the nintendo 3ds being a fail.

 

[PikabooPikachu]

No scholarships? That's like one of the top reasons that convense my mom to drive me to these things!!! Instead of cutting out the scholarships conpetely they should just reduce it.

 

[Zyflair]

No scholarships? That's like one of the top reasons that convense my mom to drive me to these things!!!

Not to offend your skills as a TCG player (which I don't plan to really do), but does your mom think you have that much of a chance winning?

 

[Card Slinger J]

Hey as long as he does the best he can that's really what matters most isn't it? That's all we can expect from eachother...

 

[Blue_Horizon]

I'm not in America, so wouldn't know what being able to potentially win thousand dollar scholarships at non-national events would be like, but I'd assume it would be quite nice.

Outside of NA, scholarships are really only awarded at nationals, for first place (about $1000 for us). I don't think criticizing TPCi is right at this stage, as a lot of information about the coming season are yet to be announced, such as where the saved regional money may go to. They have already stated that this money will be reallocated as other prizes, or used to expand the game worldwide so there is a consistant structure. I wouldn't mind ratings invites to get a trip to worlds, personally.

 

[Zyflair]

Hey as long as he does the best he can that's really what matters most isn't it? That's all we can expect from eachother...

None of that has to do with a scholarship. If Mom and Dad are like, "Okay, you can play this card game if you can get scholarships," that sort of makes the fun aspect of playing the TCG a little less... fun. At least, for me, I would feel pressured to win if I were to wish to continue playing under those conditions.

 

[hojinisabeast22]

I agree with you. I'm never in it for scholarships, I'm just in it to win. The feel of playing makes my heart race... Shame on you.

 

[PikabooPikachu]

Not to offend your skills as a TCG player (which I don't plan to really do), but does your mom think you have that much of a chance winning?

I don't really know ?_? I play to have fun, like bowling. I have fun, she sees I have fun. She enjoys it them, too. If I win a some money plus, but that's just a little bit of a convenser to drive us 70 miles away to a pokemon thing.

"Okay, you can play this card game if you can get scholarships,"

They never say anything like that. They just want me to have fun or else it's not really worth it. So I always have fun with the TCG. You kiding me, tonight was league and i thought it was tommarow!!! My friend was like "yay... It was tonight..." I was so anrgy when I heard that, i punched the brick wall next to me... ( ' -_-)
But yay, I only play to have fun, because I do find it fun. To me, Having fun earns 1000 points and winning earns 10 points. I take thigns carefreely,

 

[Zyflair]

You said it convinced your mom to take you to Regionals, so clearly they're at least influenced by the money. And like I said, it's a silly hope for them.

 

[Celebi23]

What I'm basically hearing from the complainers in this thread is:

All of this FREE STUFF isn't as good as this other FREE STUFF was last year. We need better FREE STUFF.

The scholarships were good, but I think it's better to split the regionals and double their length. I'm still tired from being up at three in the morning at regionals two years ago... As to why they limited it to a top 16 though; that's beyond me.

 

[Card Slinger J]

Either way scaling back on prize support for the Pokemon TCG is
bad overall and is not a healthy path for the game's direction. If PUSA and TPCi
don't want to lose their Junior and Senior Division playerbase they REALLY
need to step things up a notch instead of this, "Well fix it as we go along" mentality.

If Kenny Wisdom is saying this poses a dangerous threat to killing the Pokemon TCG
then he definitely may be onto something:

Also, something that a lot of people are misconstruing about my article: The people at P!P should not be to blame. It's not that they DON'T want us to have nice things, it's that they can't. I'm sure if they had infinite money they would give out $1M per BR, but the fact is they're probably doing the best they can with what they've got. Yes, I think they should've cut basically anything else before scholarships, so perhaps they've made some incorrect decisions, but at the end of the day none of us can really know, and I'd put my good faith in OP and assuming they're doing their best.

I've been pushing for Pokemon to start charging the Masters for events (Yes, the Masters, the adults, not the kids, inb4 moderators) for a long time. If the system were something like this...

BRs = Free

BRs should always be free as introductory events.

Cities = $5

We have around 30 Masters per Cities here, so that'd be $150 dollars. That could pay for the CC winner to get a full box, maybe? I think most people would even be fine if Cities started charging and not increasing suppport, as long as that support was going into other events.

States = $10

I think we have around 100 Masters at our States, so that'd be $1k, which should be more than enough to pay for trophies to come back?

Regionals = $10

Again, $1k combined with the leftover money from Cities and States should at least do a great deal towards helping bring scholarships back, yes?

Nationals = $20

Not sure how many Masters were at Nats last year, but I'm assuming this would be enough to bring back trophies, and maybe even increase trips/scholarships?

I just feel like it's more than fair to say "While you're a child and in your early teenager years you get to play tournaments for free and enjoy the benefits of those who do pay for it, and then once you get to the age where you can get a job, you start paying for the tournaments." Obviously I would want all of these prizes to go to every division, but maybe Masters could even get a little bit more stuff for having to be the only ones to pay? I dunno.

I also feel like there are so many cheap/free prize support options Pokemon could be exploring. Why not give State champions 1,000 PTCGO credits and a special State/Regional/National champion title on their PTCGO avatar, or something? Why not print alternate art Collectors for the top 32 at Regionals? Why not have a top 32 and 1st place playmat at States/Regionals/Nationals? Why not give out a "VIP pass" to States/Regionals winners that lets you have a priority line for registration, a static seat, and stuff like that? Some of this costs money yes, but the VIP pass and PTCGO stuff are completely intangible and cost almost nothing. I don't get it.

Sorry, I'm tired and rambling. No scholarships is bad, I stand by everything I said in my article.

A Guy who works for TPCi did mention the reason behind this:

There are a number of reasons for these changes.

We have a flat budget, meaning, I have to make each season work with a fixed amount of money. Correlate that to being on a fixed income. Your bills and needs may change year to year, but your income does not.

Most of the major changes in prizing fall into one of two (or both) categories. Reallocation for infrastructure improvements, or moves towards creating a more consistent worldwide structure.

Regional scholarships *might* return in a future season. They might not. They *might* show up as additional events, they might not. Also remember, while we're not increasing the number of Regional Championships in North America, we are increasing the number YOU can attend. That costs us more, but we think it's cool.

Again, this season is not costing us less than last season. Not $1.

Note: This season will not be perfect.

Thanks!
Dave

baby mario responding to whether Pokemon is on a fixed budget and with inflation they could be earning less money each year.

No, it's not good, but with the economy like it is worldwide, a lot of businesses are actually having to cut their budgets and make people redundant. Pokemon (and the companies that own it) aren't immune to all that, so I guess I'm just slightly relieved that the budget is frozen and not slashed.

It's difficult to have an opinion on paying for tournaments as Europeans have always had that anyway. I think Pokemon has a different 'vision' for its game than other TCGs, and really doesn't want to go down the 'big entrance fee, huge prizes' route. That probably has more to do with them not charging for tournaments than whether or not they think players are willing to pay.