@Stone:
It seems as though you're implying that PG can't be a successful game unless a good chunk of players are able to play at Tour Pro level.
I guess I would just disagree fundamentally around that point. I don't think PP has put in the varying levels to be something you work your way through in a progression and "become a Tour Pro" but rather just to have different levels of challenge for each person to find one that works for him/her and their interests.
I say this based somewhat upon a conversation we had here sometime in the past (I don't recall when...I'm sure search could find it if so inclined) about the naming of the levels. I'd suggested at one time that perhaps the levels shouldn't have names like "Pro" and "Tour Pro" for exactly the reason you're bringing up.
The naming is wrongly implying a progression that I don't think is intended.
(perhaps I'm wrong and a Dev will correct me, but that was my takeaway from the conversation at that time about the level naming)
I firmly believe that renaming the different levels to Easiest, Easy, Medium, Hard and Hardest would do a lot to curtail false perceptions of condescension and division and most importantly the perception of progression. I agree that the developers might not have intended the idea of progression but that is what the naming convention implies. Even without those, my mind, and I am sure that of many others, would still be that I can progress through the difficulties up to a point. Well at what point should that be then you might ask.
As a consumer my expectation is that with some familiarity of the game and some practice (time spent playing), I should be able to compete, not win, at the next to hardest level (Pro), this should require only a modicum of effort from players inclined to try. This is just smart business modelling to me. The levels below this are fine tuned for players that have no interest in Sim play or a challenging swing. By the way the new OGT system goes a long way to mitigate these issues. Thanks OGT! However, they are a third party site not a first impression.
Most players, I would think, that are content to play at Amateur or easier difficulty are just enjoying the game and playing with friends and do not take computer gaming competitions too seriously if they are concerned with them at all. You want the majority of your players on the bubble between the, in this case, Amateur and Tour Pro difficulty. That again is smart business modelling. Maybe it is that way but it sure does not feel that way to me as an RTSC die hard.
I am saying that that the ability for a small but not very small or tiny chunk of the player base to achieve satisfaction at playing at the highest level is directly and indirectly related to the games commercial success. These are things that the developer must resolve as they have most of the intelligence to make an informed decision. I'm not saying a good chunk, I'm saying a FAIR chunk. I'm sure most Tour Pro players want more Tour Pro players to play with. It's a balance.
This tipping point, if you will, or fair chunk can most likely be analytically arrived at by monitoring the games participation levels and doing some algorithmic analysis and demographic analysis. For all I know PP is already doing this at some level. I'd be surprised if they did not. I think that generally those that have been around are somewhat satisfied with the Tour Pro level and even the Pro level. As an outsider coming in, I'm challenging that assumption and asking the more experienced and higher difficulty level of players to challenge their own assumptions and what might be better for the game overall. Perfection can never be truly achieved unless you lower the bar a little but it is almost always worth pursuing.
This post was in response to a post from another thread. I started this thread only as a response and to stop hijacking Ted_Ball's original thread. I think it was important to post the response publicly as it is a topic that concerns the entire community and is an interesting debate in my opinion. I think as a community if we talk some of these issues through, civilly, the stronger we are and the more we understand each other.