#398462
Potentially unpopular opinion, especially in the middle of Worlds:
Speaking only for myself, as much prestige as we might attach to the World Champion title, I think it's a greater accomplishment to be the #1 rated player for the year--and that's not necessarily the World Champion.
This is not meant to take anything away from the title of World Champion. Winning Worlds, even now with the game shrinking and Continental champions no longer given airfare and such, is no mean feat. But ultimately it is one tournament, while #1 YTD (to draw a term from Magic, let's say Player of the Year) is based on a year's worth of excellence.
To give but one example, who was the better 2E player last year: Michael Van Breemen or Stefan Slaby? (And again, this is not meant to take anything away from MVB's accomplishments.)
And so I've said it before, but I think that just as there are forum badges for winning particular tournaments, there should be one for being the #1 for the year, because it's a feat just as worthy (if not more worthy) of recognition.
Speaking only for myself, as much prestige as we might attach to the World Champion title, I think it's a greater accomplishment to be the #1 rated player for the year--and that's not necessarily the World Champion.
This is not meant to take anything away from the title of World Champion. Winning Worlds, even now with the game shrinking and Continental champions no longer given airfare and such, is no mean feat. But ultimately it is one tournament, while #1 YTD (to draw a term from Magic, let's say Player of the Year) is based on a year's worth of excellence.
To give but one example, who was the better 2E player last year: Michael Van Breemen or Stefan Slaby? (And again, this is not meant to take anything away from MVB's accomplishments.)
And so I've said it before, but I think that just as there are forum badges for winning particular tournaments, there should be one for being the #1 for the year, because it's a feat just as worthy (if not more worthy) of recognition.
[Y]our report describes how rational these people are. Millennia ago, they abandoned their belief in the supernatural. Now you are asking me to sabotage that achievement, to send them back into the Dark Ages of superstition and ignorance and fear? No!