Originally posted by Ponderable
1
5. Non-subs should be allowed to enter club tournaments within the 6 game limit.
This is a difficult one. How would you control that. If you organize a tourney yourself: no problem. If you use the site's interface you would have to leave the two tournament slots needed open as long as the tournament runs. This would be probably not attractive to the non-subs.
I think the site could allow non-subs to enter tournaments with some restrictions which, as Ponderable points out, may make them unappealing to non-subs. Maybe so unappealing that they do not join the tournaments, maybe so appealing that they subscribe.
For these restrictions, I'd say:
--only in clubs
--only duels, so as to only take up 2 of their 6 games
--it's up to the non sub to keep the 2 games open in their allotted 6. You subscribe for a tournament, you keep two slots ready for when it starts. You don't have them open when the tournament fills up? You're bumped out of the tournament.
--more than the needed number of players could be allowed to sign up for each tournament, expecting a few to not leave their slots open and get bumped. The system would check them by the order in which they signed up to see who has enough slots open.
--once the tournament is under way, if a player wins his duel and goes on to the next round, he or she must keep those two slots open for that next round. He or she fails to do so and gets kicked out of the tournament. His place is NOT replaced by another non-sub who signed up; that only happens to fill the first round. It's a forfeit, a no-show, and the booted player's would-be opponent simply gets a bye.
--limit these non-sub eligible tournaments to non-subs only
--tournament victories do not get listed on the non-subs profile page
I think in this way, an attempt could be made. I also think many of these tournaments would fall apart as many players would not keep their slots available. And that's when the site basically says, "That's the best we can do without you subscribing." I'd limit the types of tournaments to duels because there's at least a chance of non-subs keeping two slots open. Require non-subs to keep 4 or all 6 of their slots open and not a single tournament will ever get past the first round, if any even start.
Another option is to limit non-sub tournaments to duels, but once a tourney starts and for as long as a player keeps winning their rounds, their game limit drops to 4 plus the games they need to progress in the tournament. So if you choose to join a tournament, you also choose to potentially have just 4 games going while you wait for the next round of the tournament.