The Status Grind.....

[kickingguru]

Warning... Just my opinion here....This subject bothers me for some reason and I think it does have an effect on people's perceptions of the game and the community......

With the introduction of "Status" in Tiger last year, I got wrapped up into trying to maximize it. The lure of the CC leaderboard caused me to make some rash decisions on CC membership and I made a few people who I consider long term friends upset at me. (We have since gotten back on a good footing.... but I think I will forever be known as a Status Nazis in my group.... the jokes are good...)

This year, I vowed to not care one bit. My new focus is just to fine tune the group to ensure we have as many participating members as possible. It has worked and we have a solid group together.

The discussion topic is the idea that one guy in the game (xbox) basically has more status than any full club below the top ten. He is double the individual in 2nd... It is not cheating to get that out of the way.... but he is playing Wolf creek offline, customized holes, practice, over and over and over.... The effect is that it severly hampers and alienates a lot of people's attitudes in the game. (Low scores do this as well... but not the subject of the discussion)

I think a simple solution is in order here... just disable status points in any Practice rounds. If you want to maximize status with full rounds in Career, H2H, Live Tournaments, or even quick play tournament rounds....knock yourself out. I have zero issues with that.

This really should not bother me... I know.... but it does. I also think it bothers more than just me. The fact that the Country Club Tour and Connected Tournaments give us a CC competition is fantastic and takes away some of the sting off status.... Still, that one leaderboard is status driven and it is the one most look at and shake their heads....

I left this discussion off the EA boards intentionally.... I do want to hear some opinions on it though and maybe garner some attention toward an easily remedied issue...

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest....

The Guru

[kickingguru]

to lighten this up a bit....

Were talkin bout.... Practice

not a game... but Practice

This is the game I live and die for and were here talkin bout .... Practice...

Someone who can access YouTube from work... please post a link on that....

[JaymeeAwesome]

Agreed and signed. Thank you status nazi.

[kerosene31]

I've been around gaming for a long, long time and I learned years ago to ignore overall leaderboards. Some people are drawn to the grind. People like me... I just play to have fun. Ever since they put in online country clubs, I just find a bunch of similar players and have fun.

Our CC last year never rose to the top of any leaderboard. Yet I had the most fun competing against people who want to play the game for fun in their spare time (while still maintaining a life).

[Richzilla]

Good points raised.

I say dont change the game because one guy is taking advantage.

His punishment is that it has to be boring as heck playing the same crap over and over like a hamster on a wheel.

I enjoy the feature and find it fun to compete against the club members each week.

I also want points for the practice holes as I don't always have time to set down and play a full 18 due to real life getting in the way.

At the end of the day the winner of the status race wins.....nothing.

It's like playing poker online for fake money.

[Seymour Scagnetti]

Quote: Originally Posted by kerosene31

I've been around gaming for a long, long time and I learned years ago to ignore overall leaderboards. Some people are drawn to the grind. People like me... I just play to have fun. Ever since they put in online country clubs, I just find a bunch of similar players and have fun. Our CC last year never rose to the top of any leaderboard. Yet I had the most fun competing against people who want to play the game for fun in their spare time (while still maintaining a life).

This. I have a core group of friends who are all at about the same level as me and nothing is more fun than having H2H matches with stroke play, match play (waiting for the damn patch to give us back follow cam) and alternate shot. We all come on around the same time every nite and have a great time playing a few rounds and chat the whole time.

Could care less about CC or status points or leaderboards, CC and connected tourneys is fine just to pass the time when none of your friends are online but nothing beats H2H experience when you have a good group to play with. And I met up with these guys this year just playing the demo and they happened to be online.

And that's why I think the CC have somewhat ruined the H2H experience. Alot less people go into the lobby these days and that's a great way to meet up with people.

CC's made the game more social but in many ways made it much less social because everybody gets preoccupied with leader boards etc...

[DAROCK2300]

Quote: Originally Posted by kickingguru

to lighten this up a bit.... Were talkin bout.... Practice not a game... but Practice This is the game I live and die for and were here talkin bout .... Practice... Someone who can access YouTube from work... please post a link on that....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzI

"We in here talkin bout practice?" CLASSIC AI