Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Thoughts on PSP Changes for 2010

This post is only my initial reaction to the raised ROF and new fee/prize structure announcement and I won't spend a lot of time on either now. Once all the changes are announced VFTD will break it all down in more detail.
For the most part this is all good news. The original ROF moves last year were justified by making some rather dubious claims about trickling down and saving paint. (Which apparently are no longer desirable results or else nobody believes it anymore. And why should they since neither one was correct.) The lower ROF however did have the potential to make better players faster at the lower levels. (I posted on the concept extensively last year.) Anyway, I think this had less to do with the PSP and more to do some future announcements that should be upcoming. Overall, it's a relatively neutral change (and will make a vocal internet crowd of forever D3 players happy so what's not to like?)
The new pricing and prize structures signals a change in direction for the PSP that is a very positive one. It is incentivizing excellence. After all we are supposedly playing a game with the purpose of being the best we can be, right? So why reward mediocrity? If the league wants teams to move up, don't force them, give them a reason. Give them an incentive to improve. Next step is to see if classification rule changes are adopted more in line with these pricing and prize concepts. And while I certainly appreciate the new pro pricing--after years of paying huge fees (relatively) for somebody else's decisions--I think all the prize money divisions ought to be the same. If D2 & D1 are $2750 then semi-pro and pro should not be less but should probably be a match. After all, s-p and pro already have game play benefits over D1 and D2 as it is. I'm not complaining, I just think identical pricing would seem fairer to the majority and the difference is negligible anyway. Just a thought.

UPDATE: ROF. In the original post above I allude to a reason why the PSP would make this change now--after saying no change a few days ago--and after seeing the threads at PBN it seems I ought to explain. If for no other reason than just for fun. Well, and to demonstrate one more time why it is VFTD is the only place for unique competitive paintball commentary. The decision was made yesterday at the "secret" PSP meeting in San Diego at the behest of the very guys who are busy crediting the PSP for listening to the players' cry for change. (For those trying to keep score that would be Hinman and Pauly so far.) It sounds swell and if it plays in Peoria it's a small (and harmless) deceit by paintball standards. I will explain further when more of the meeting's details are released.
I am not, btw, calling anyone out here because it's not really important. I just find it amusing how paintball public relations tends to work no matter whose responsible for it. Are you having fun today?

7 comments:

Missy Q said...

Nice undercover-work Loco!

I'm referring to your article of course, not our recent sex-date (which was crap..).

Baca Loco said...

Elementary my dear Q, elementary.

The guy at the rental company promised the crane I rented would be able to pick you up--but I apologise.

SSRoman said...

its a conspiracy to sell aftermarket boards...

houdini said...

Off topic - some of you may find this interesting:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/top-10-toys-that-will-scar-your-child-for-life-78673802.html

Anonymous said...

Yeap, PSP is trying to get people to buy new boards to replace all the boards out there that can only shoot 10.5 bps but not 12.5 bps.

Anonymous said...

Re the "update":

All you've illustrated is the way paintball 'journalism' works, no matter who does it. You're both wrong on the details and even if you were right on the details seem to not be able to comprehend that Hinman and Pauley are/represent players.

Baca Loco said...

Hey Anon
So I've heard and while I'm prepared to take certain peep's word for it, it makes no logical sense. But hey, that's paintball.

Mike & Greg may (and do) rep players but that's not the role that was important in Tuesday's meeting.