The Smash Community needs to help drivers.

[Voodoo Daddy]

Driving is expensive. Period. There's gas, maintenance and tolls, plus the fatigue of having to drive to a tournament and then having to compete in a high intensity smash Brothers tournament.

Lets face it, we are not neighbors. Especially in the Melee community, brawl maybe different but I'm not so sure.

And another fact, no one enters tournaments to make money. You can count the bread winners on your fingers, most of us lose money playing these games. We do it because the game is fun and more importantly the people are.

Thus to progress the community I suggest a driver discount.

Before the tournament, rides should be worked out and reported in a either the tournament thread or a separate thread dedicate to driving and housing and if a driver (eggm comes to mind as he has brought a lot of tristate to MD/VA) is bringing himself and 2 other people that driver should receive a discount on entrance (other then venue because they are still using the facilities).

We're all going to shovel money out to drivers anyway, but we should guarantee that they are not losing so much money by discounting them upfront.

Many times the winner of the tournament either has to pay gas or to whoever drove them or pay for the maintenance themselves.

I suggest this discount be effective for tournaments of significant interest and be the standard for the community from here on out.

I also suggest the discount be greater depending on how far the driver must travel.

I want tournament directors (plank, Alukard and the brawl community) to come aboard with this to help the financials strains of maintain a viable competitive gaming community where only 3 of 60 people can hope to make money.

i suggest that if a driver drives two people that driver should receive a 25% discount rounded up to both events (so if both events are 10 dollars their total entrance fee should be 15 instead of 20, the pots may be uneven by a couple dollars but we can work that out).

If a driver has to drive more than 3 hours (or from one region to another NY to MA or VA to NJ so SoCal to NorCal which is like 18 time zones) that driver should only pay venue and be able to participate for free.

With rising fuel costs this is especially important. And it will add incentive for higher attendance in the long run.

EDIT:
Since attendance is not guaranteed, lets just say "Tournaments of significant interest." I think we all know a 30 man tournament when it's coming up.

 

[D1]

Voodoo's onto something good here. People like Gmoney who goes out of their way to rally up players to go to outta state tournaments at their expense would benefit from this.

 

[Laijin]

I see this as a potential incentive for more OOS..hmm..

 

[Col Bol]

Voodoo's onto something good here. People like Gmoney who goes out of their way to rally up players to go to outta state tournaments at their expense would benefit from this.

I see this as a potential incentive for more OOS..

eh eh, nothin else i can say

 

[Dragoomba]

So basically, the more attendees the driver takes, the higher % of a discount? It seems fair to me, but it would likely be a hassle to keep track of all the drivers and what not. I'm still for it though.

Also, lol at the 18 timezones comment.

 

[Roman.]

considering i'm driving to tristate all the time from MA, i love this =))

i definitely lose more money than anyone else due to not wanting to ask for too much gas money + wear n tear + tolls all add up so much and trying to be there on time + fatigue suck

players don't want to miss any tournaments due to money being tight and it's definitely a plus for a bigger and more diverse turnout

 

[Alukard]

nice but i already started doing this a long time ago LOL ... thus why my turnout got so much better LMFAO

seriously tho ... everyone should do this !!

Roman u are getting the treatment too if u show up !! ... soooooo SHOW UP wit madd heads ... tell banks and them dudes to try coming down again or to hit me up on aim so i can propose a deal for them! =]

JULY 10th NO JOHNS LETS DO ITTTTTTTTTTT BIG AGAIN!

 

[Roman.]

nice but i already started doing this a long time ago LOL ... thus why my turnout got so much better LMFAO

seriously tho ... everyone should do this !!

Roman u are getting the treatment too if u show up !! ... soooooo SHOW UP wit madd heads ... tell banks and them dudes to try coming down again or to hit me up on aim so i can propose a deal for them! =]

JULY 10th NO JOHNS LETS DO ITTTTTTTTTTT BIG AGAIN!

yeah, thorn/banks loved what we did for last no johns so they'll probably come with me to more tristate **** =))

 

[Alukard]

yeah, thorn/banks loved what we did for last no johns so they'll probably come with me to more tristate **** =))

couldn't have done it without you guys ... seriously tho .. all the drivers coming with the cars from up there should hit me up for july 10th

 

[Voodoo Daddy]

couldn't have done it without you guys ... seriously tho .. all the drivers coming with the cars from up there should hit me up for july 10th

What about MD/VA cars?

 

[prog]

nice but i already started doing this a long time ago LOL ... thus why my turnout got so much better LMFAO

wat.

then you need to like pay me to come to the tournies.

 

[Banks]

sadly, me and my brother are leaving for a family vacation on the morning of the 10th for a week, so we won't be able to make this next no johns. hopefully other mainers still go tho

 

[otg]

wat.

then you need to like pay me to come to the tournies.

Yo me too, I always bring like 5 people with me to these things.

 

[pockyD]

i don't think this makes sense

why doesn't the driver just charge his passengers for his expenses? why [effectively] charge the tournament winner instead when the driver didn't render any services to him?

i always ask my passengers to pay for gas and tolls on longer drives, and i thought that was fairly standard everywhere... not just for smash but for any road trip, really

 

[Nintendude]

I actually kinda agree with pocky on this one. If the driver wants to be refunded but isn't making his money back from driving people, that's his own fault for driving people who aren't willing to (or can't afford to) pay.

I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that people who aren't paying their drivers just don't have any money (or are just being a jerk). So, what this is effectively doing is providing people money to travel to tournaments (basically the pot is paying the driver back instead of the people who got a ride). Since this gives OoSers more incentive to come, I don't necessarily disagree with that but I think that attendees should be notified in case they care about potentially making a little bit less money if they win.

 

[otg]

I actually kinda agree with pocky on this one. If the driver wants to be refunded but isn't making his money back from driving people, that's his own fault for driving people who aren't willing to (or can't afford to) pay.

I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that people who aren't paying their drivers just don't have any money (or are just being a jerk). So, what this is effectively doing is providing people money to travel to tournaments (basically the pot is paying the driver back instead of the people who got a ride). Since this gives OoSers more incentive to come, I don't necessarily disagree with that but I think that attendees should be notified in case they care about potentially making a little bit less money if they win.

I agree with you and Pocky, all I'm saying is if people actually want to implement this I wanna get paid son.

 

[Voodoo Daddy]

Expenses go deeper then that. The car maintenance, insurance and stress of navigating unfamiliar areas makes life even more difficult for drivers. Besides mathematically if a driver from OoS brings 2 people that actual increases the pot since the driver isn't paying but 2 other people are making it plus one. In the long run this will make transportation more viable and help attendance.

 

[pockyD]

Expenses go deeper then that. The car maintenance, insurance and stress of navigating unfamiliar areas makes life even more difficult for drivers. Besides mathematically if a driver from OoS brings 2 people that actual increases the pot since the driver isn't paying but 2 other people are making it plus one. In the long run this will make transportation more viable and help attendance.

then charge your passengers more to cover maintenance costs... when i go to socal, i tack on a bit for half of the oil change i'm pretty much going to need

insurance? you mean you don't normally have insurance when driving not to tournaments? my company doesn't charge me anything when i take people to smash tournaments, though i don't know if that's because i don't let them know about it...

stress? LOL. this isn't the 80s anymore with giant, poorly labeled maps. if anything, driving in a new place is fun; the only real annoying thing is finding parking where there is none

conceptually an idea like this is no different from taking money out of the pot to subsidize somebody else's plane or train ticket

 

[Glöwworm]

i agree

just have the driver charge the passengers for whatever the expenses may be

 

[Roman.]

there is no way to calculate 100 other expenses and drivers can look like they are taking advantage of the situation if we say "okay we split play $15 for oil, $10 maintenance, etc."

plus, as voodoo said, essentially it increases the pot if it's the incentive oosers need to go

 

[pockyD]

there is no way to calculate 100 other expenses and drivers can look like they are taking advantage of the situation if we say "okay we split play $15 for oil, $10 maintenance, etc."

...but that's exactly what you're trying to do by mandating a tourney discount! If you give drivers a $2 discount, you are asserting that the aggregate cost of the '100 other expenses' amounts to $2 per driver, which clearly makes no sense given the various vehicles, distances, and passengers

No, it makes much more sense for the drivers to be accountable for themselves

That's not to say if such a rule was in place I wouldn't take full advantage... it would just be a perk on top of the regular $$$ I'd be charging for road trips (a $2 discount would barely cover the drive to a local within the same city)

 

[Alukard]

i wasn't talking about paying people ... but just creating incentive for stuff like recording WHICH I PAID U FOR PROG >=[ kinda tight u even posted anything ... and eggm for bringing so many set ups ... people going to tournies come because more people come (pot is big) and their matches get put up from being recorded ... thats how i see it


altho i would love to see if i can get a deal with my boss for getting a discount off venue for people that drive 3+ hours for melee tourney

 

[Solid Jake]

It's definitely interesting and a good idea in a lot of ways, but honestly all my tournaments I have ran in the past have been really tight budget, the money would have to come out of the pot most likely

 

[Rain(ame)]

I agree...granted I rarely ever get rides. (though I never skimp out on helping a driver) They deserve more, most definitely.

Just a suggestion: Maybe a pool for their meal, as well?

 

[KAOSTAR]

its a good idea, but the reason I see this working is because its mutually beneficial. the "service" to the winner is bringing more people giving him a larger pot.

it would be nice and could work, but at the same time doesn't make sense as a necessity. the driver would have to get there anyway. its beneficial to everyone to car pool. it splits the cost of the individual to get there. if the driver picks you up that is a service to you directly, its fair for you to pay for that.

I can see it both ways, and it does have potential to benefit everyone.

 

[Spaghetti]

...but that's exactly what you're trying to do by mandating a tourney discount! If you give drivers a $2 discount, you are asserting that the aggregate cost of the '100 other expenses' amounts to $2 per driver, which clearly makes no sense given the various vehicles, distances, and passengers

Think of it like this. How many tournaments do you go to a year? Multiple, probably.
Those $2s add up quite a bit. Those "100 other expenses" probably do cost more than $2/tournament, but it's added incentive to become one of these drivers.

In fact, this incentive may lead many to introduce more people to the game in order to get these discounts.

As someone brought up, Brawl Tournaments are not about making money, rather having fun. Therefore you should be more concerned with enlarging the population of those who are "having fun", and be less concerned of the top player getting jipped $25 or so.

Perhaps you can think of this as a loop.
More players = more people who are good at the game = MORE TOURNAMENTS = MORE PAYOFF IN THE END = more drivers = more players.

inb4winwinsituation

 

[pockyD]

still hard to understand why all the tournament attendees should pay the driver instead of just his passengers

 

[omegawhitemage]

So take money that's needed to run the tournament and pay drivers for driving, which is something they'd do regardless? if driving people to a tournament is that much of a burden that you want the other entrants to basically fund it, then charge the people you're driving. There's no reason anyone should get a break on entrance just for going to a tournament they'd go to anyway. If it was that big of a deal the community would already be dead.

For the record, I don't think the idea is inherently bad. But in its current form it's not practical. Maybe there could some sort of fund for driver's set up ahead of the tournament and people could donate to that. Then it could distributed to driver's or something later? That way the tournament itself isn't funding the discount but the player's themselves. Even then though, I don't know what would drive people to donate. Outside of just general kindness I guess. Who knows how far that would get you anyway.

 

[KevinM]

I think its also adding the incentive of OOS thus boosting the pot that wouldn't have existed thus creating a happy circle.

But I mean you have to add a lot of stipulations, just doesn't seem practical.

Plus seeing Alu is the only reason I need to make it to tristate sometime soon <3.

 

[pockyD]

well come on, nobody's going to decide to drive 3 hours each way and put up $60 in gas just because there's suddenly a $2 discount

 

[KAOSTAR]

optimally I see bigger turn out from more people (i meant pay out) wanting to go and more people being willing to drive.

the more ppl they bring or the more they increase the pot, the more they get back.

they could also collect funds from riders.

its more like asking drivers to round ppl up who probably would not have come.

everybody can benefit from this.

the winners may get more than they would have otherwise, but its less than what they should have gotten based on turn out because some of the pot went to drivers.

 

[da K.I.D.]

Every tourney I travel to is pretty much free. since we use my car and I drive, all the people that drive with me pay for my gas. when I went to mlg columbus, it was about a 6 hour drive, which came out to about 60$ in gas. and since there was 4 passengers in my car, i charged each one of them 20 bucks.

60 in gas, and another 20 for me for organising the trip, driving the majority of the time, and letting them use my car for transport, since cars that can make long trips in my region is basically limited to... me. and they wouldnt have been able to get there otherwise.

I thought that was more or less how everyone did it.

 

[Hax]

pocky is absolutely right

 

[rpgfighter]

I like this idea, it seems to be fair for the people who help with transportation for people in the community. It just seems hard to execute and keep track of but I would love to see this happen.