I thank the TD team for reverting their previous decisions. It does however seem like a change made not because of a change of heart in the TD team but rather postponing the ongoing discussion until later. Thus, ahead of time for the next round of discussions, I want the TD team to keep the following in mind:
Why is the change important?
So far the primary reasons I have identified have been to increase accessibility, prevent burnout in RBY players and to achieve "equality". I'd like you to take these months to identify how big of a problem this is. How many RBY players have been excluded from SPL participation because of the tier being played as a Bo3? How many players and/or supporters have suffered from burnout in RBY, contrasted with those that have played SPL but not engaged with RBY - are they fewer, more, or the same?
Does your target audience want the change?
This most recent proposal seems to have been supported almost exclusively by individuals with zero RBY games in team tournaments. Sometimes decisions are made by leadership without having support of those that are affected by it (we've all seen price hikes on products we consume IRL). Is this a case where the ends justify the means? Maybe you think the ones affected by the change just have to suck it?? Hopefully not.
What will you do to make the audience accept the change?
Highlighting this because of the absurdity. Merritt's initial response said that the TD team didn't believe it'd be worthwhile to be "having another year of inaction on this thread only to come to the same conclusions outlined above" (direct quote). As it stands, none of the current TDs engaged with the original topic of allowing player input on Bo3 in DPP (which it absolutely deserves, btw), and only Merritt has engaged with this thread, which is the only one to actually revolve around Bo3 in RBY, while only communicating through press releases addressing a monolith audience. Will you actually talk to the people whose tournaments you manage or continue to rule by decree?
What is the role of the player base on tournament issues?
The TD team of today has faced an unprecedented uproar where their ability to lead has been put into question due to their repeated failure to listen to the wants of the playerbase. Only after tripling down on an idea that barely any directly affected party wanted did public pressure become too much for this to be implemented at the eleventh hour. Indeed it seems like the current TD team has a contempt for what the general public thinks, as beyond the disallowance of the TD team to allow DPP players a voice on how their format should look like, Kristyl was just denied a discussion on the similarly controversial forbidding of gentlemen's agreements. With the TD team of today seemingly out of touch with its playerbase, the TD role being only granted by higher-ups and the community at large having no formal way to influence the decision making process, it seems to me that there is a need for some kind of structural change to ensure that the general playerbase is guaranteed a formal part in the decision making process, be it through an directly-elected player representative in the TD team, a supermajority veto or whichever other way you could imagine.
I have been a TD and a head TD. It is not always easy to do right, and heaven knows I made plenty of mistakes during my time with power. I still believe that the TD team of today wants to do right by the players, but I am not certain that the current system is the best way to organize.
The decision making process displayed here showed to me that there is a clear need for change, but not just at an individual level. Complaints about TD teams being out of touch with the playerbase have always existed on Smogon, perhaps maybe never so loudly as now, but it still points towards a systemic issue that does not begin or end with any one individual. The current system is simply not sustainable. Public outrage might have prevented a poor decision for now, but it comes at a cost - trust between leadership and general public is damaged, and morale is down across the board. Again, this is not a unique occurence, I've been at the other side of this as well.
I'd like for Smogon to investigate new ways for the playerbase at large to influence the decision making process. How would that look? Who knows. Maybe inspiration can be taken from the OU council, which I hear has been changing their ways and standards over time to a great public response. The only thing I feel certain about is that the current system needs to change for the sake of everybody.
