Quote:
Originally Posted by Monroe
Yeah I guess this makes a certain sort of sense, but I have to agree with Appoco on this one, it's better for the game finances to have a known number of rounds, plus two allies could game things by intentionally kicking members to keep it close so that the round goes on and on and on.
Seriously though, while there is nothing fundamentally wrong with this idea, I just don't see how it helps the game when so many other good ideas would in fact improve the game.
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The problem, though, is this: if nothing changes (as it hasn't for many rounds now), then the future of PA is
certain: decline, decay, death. I don't think anyone believes that PA as it is now will ever grow. To illustrate the decline of PA: never have fewer people taken part in a free round than this time. There are currently 1347 players in the game. The previous free round was r30, which had 1628 players. Before it, round 27 had 2376. Even despite the 200 new players (up from 1118 last round, and 1076 the round before), there are currently 142
fewer people in alliances with 40 or more players than last round (the 40 player minimum is an arbitrary limit I've used for many rounds to objectively separate the wheat from the chaff (though perhaps not entirely reliably)).
Without radical changes, the best we can hope for is stability. As shown, PA is declining and this will continue to happen either until PA is closed, or until radical changes are put through. The problem is that the two are not mutually exclusive (things so rarely are). Even if radical changes are put through, PA might still very well fail.
So, yes, it's understandable that PA Team is hesitant to put through changes that would so directly affect the finances of PA. Appoco does not
own PA. For him, this is just an unpaid hobby. For him to radically change PA would be like your neighbour painting your living room bright orange. If lots of people turn out to love the colour orange and would pay to look at it, then you'll thank him. But that is probably not going to happen, so it's more likely that you'll sue him. So it is for PA.
To a lesser degree, the same is true of any other radical change. PA Team get enough flak as it is, and while it is not nearly all unwarranted, that sort of feedback would make anyone think twice before putting their head into the guillotine that is the PA community. The most we can expect from Appoco is pressure on Jagex to do something.
In the short term, radical changes would make the future of PA more uncertain. I understand why that would make people uncomfortable. It it easy for someone like me, without a stake in the future of PA, to say that they should get over it. But ultimately,
any uncertainty is good if the alternative is certain death.
(All that said, I agree that this idea is not particularly good, nor particularly bad.)