Quoted from ZenTron:What is the difference if you pay a $5 or $10 entry fee for a pinball tournament and don't finish in the money? I've had players who attend every single monthly tournament I've ran who pay $10 entry fee and have never finished in the Top 4 to win money. They play because they have fun, like the community and like the establishment.
Let me ask this question in reverse. How does bigger pots at state and national tourneys hinder the development of pinball?
To answer your first question: The difference is that the money is staked to that event, in which you are playing. The winners of that prize pool competed against you that day and all of the money was paid out to participants. I really disagree with the notion of " you weren't going to win it any way, so what's the difference?" 1) I never enter an event assuming I am going to lose. 2) The money should be for that event and those players, not a windfall for some other schmuck who has nothing to do with your local events. This aspect is why the proposed tax is just that...a tax, or redistribution of funds within the community.
Second Answer: Why would a noob or someone casually playing be willing to support games in which they would virtually never have a shot to play? To help elite players with no upside in furthering the game to feel more enticed to participate? Keeping the money in local events and promoting competition is what grows the game of pinball. This proposed fee is about growing the BUSINESS of pinball. That's 2 different things. Some of us are not interested in that aspect. We shouldn't be FORCED to pay, and when people answer that by saying, "Then don't play," they are doing exactly what you asked about...hindering the game of pinball.
Local events drive interest. IFPA rankings also absolutely add a layer of competition in the big picture of things. I want to be fair here. I do feel that the fee proposal and continued ranking with points are 2 separate issues. Many folks who oppose the fees have posited that they would support IFPA with an annual fee if financial maintenance is needed. Personally, I feel the proposal holds the casual player hostage with the value the rankings do provide, at the benefit to a very small contingent of players, who already are generally hardcore pinheads. That's not a knock on the elite players, but rather the proposed fee and the alleged benefits. Just because someone SAYS they intend to benefit the game, doesn't make it so. Unless the prize amounts start getting significantly bigger, and by that, I'm talking hundreds of thousands bigger, I don't see how the media is going to wet their pants over a $10k purse versus $2k.
The other aspect I see is that pinball is currently on the upswing with organic growth of interest and participation. I'm just waiting for the "See, our numbers grew and the fee worked." yeah, it's already growing at a nice clip. The fee is just a reward for people already in the game, gleaned from the preexisting interest and participation of an already growing community. The growth in pinball is already occurring and not because of prize purses at State or Nationals.