What if the initial fee to enter Smashtality was $1 to enter? Would that mean that the entry fee shouldn't be raised because the winner of the tournament knew that it was only $1? Of course not. It's the same principle for lowering the entry fee. Just because that's how it's been doesn't mean that's a good idea. If the entry fee had initially been $10, would you be calling for the fee to increase? I don't think so. The only reason I'm calling for the entry fee to be lowered is because I don't feel the venue is that much better than Marcel's mom's apparently or cheezit's.
While Cheezit's are technically a biweeklies, I went and checked the first post and the last 4 tournaments were
09/08/07
8/19/07
07/15/07
6/30/07
Here are some good reasons why the $15 is well worth the tournament in case of venue.
Emblem Lord's Mom's House:
Pros
- It's conveniently by a train station
- Food was often cooked for smashers thanks to Mrs. Emblem Lord
- Location is more central to the state
- We never had to pay for a venue fee
Cons
- It's inside an apartment
- Parking is hard to come by
- We have to leave by 9
- It's cramped inside, and cases where players have broken things. Probably can't hold more than 40 people.
- It's hard to control the temperature. In most cases, it was hot as hell upstairs - someone even got a nosebleed
- A bit difficult to find, and many complaints of people getting lost
CyberConXion
Pros
- Great location in a strip mall with lots of parking and food, and even a game store next door
- Bigger space, and a more gamer-friendly environment
- Buses can take you right in front of the store itself
- Provides TV's thanks to the store
- Always air conditioned. Better cold and breezy than hot and sweaty
Cons
- For bigger events, we can't really do more than 80 people.
- Complaints of lag in TV's, though minimal
- Store asks for a 40% cut of the pot
- Location is in North Jersey
I really can't think of anymore, but those are really the bigger issues. Now, since the biweeklies never had a venue fee, we could get away with $10 for it to be cheap, and we didn't really have to pay anything to the owner of the house. However, for $10, what we got is, though hospitable, an environment that was really cramped, uncomfortable, and hard to move around in without bumping or breaking something. Parking is often a hassle, and we couldn't do a big event there even if we wanted to, and there were certain house rules we had to follow. One of the biggest perks I do miss is that the location is more centralized, so its often easier for smashers from down south to make it to these events. Food was also free for the most part, but if you don't like a home cooked meal, it's a bit difficult to look for fast food restaurants without getting lost. I think a group was gone for an hour because they couldn't get back from a McDonald's that was 15 minutes away.
With CyberConXion, the entire store, save for perhaps 25% of it, is completely in TSA's control on tournament day. We have the store managers who make sure the store rules are being run, and we get to do the tournament however we want. The store will even let us run it late if it's completely necessary to do so, which of course, is a case I try to avoid as much as possible. Food is also easily accessible. While the food isn't free, there are a variety of places you can visit without even getting in your car - the deli, the pizzeria, or the nearby fast food restaurants just down the street. The best part is that we can have more people come over than something less than 32. With the added venue fee, we could, or perhaps should be, charging everyone $20, because we're quite grateful for everything CCX has done for the crew, and they've been a godsend. An extra $5 is worth what I consider a much considered upgrade on the entire scale, and in doing so, the prizes are also a bit higher. Actually, you'd probably be paying more money per month between the biweekly and the monthly.
Biweekly = $20 a month*
Monthly = $15 a month
*Though you could only go to one event if you choose to, but this wasn't a case for the majority of our state smashers. Had you always gone to both biweeklies, you're possibly losing more money than you are by going to our monthly each month.
That's really all I have to say about that. If you want it to be $10 just because you don't want to pay an extra $5, then it's your loss.
As for other points you bring up, spamerer, I bring people outside during announcements because it's how I've always done things. We've never had a huge problem with it before, and we usually take a group shot of the crowd at the tournament. It also lets me know the full extent of the amount of people who showed up, as well as allowing my crew to set the rules for the tournament inside. There's nothing wrong with going outside - it was a beautiful day that Saturday after all.
Pools are always handled by crew members, so thanks for advising me to do so, but it's always been that way already.
Lastly, I haven't spoken to Neal yet. I've been busy all week and I can hardly find the time to come online.
If anyone else has any other questions, please let me know.