There should be a special subscription type for tournament organizers IMO. It would allow them to spawn multiple servers, set ingame ad panels to display sponsor logos on their servers etc
The problem with that model is that it does not include server hosting nor prolonged bug fix / updates etc. The community has proven to handle these things well in q3, but it was based on individuals who did put in their time and money, which cannot be taken as granted.
it can't be taken as granted with the money we're paying id as well. the problem really isn't the subscription itself, but this particular subscription which is fucked beyond belief. the server base is shit and there are no visible efforts being made to make it better. the options are taken from free users to blackmail them into putting money into supposedly free to play game instead of making an effort to draw them into paying money by (wait for it) providing content that they would like to pay for with flexible deals content packages and shit. It's not rocket science ffs. I know this topic has been discussed to death, but it still boggles my mind.
Edited by kk-super_koziol.pl at 04:55 CDT, 8 May 2013
The community provided them in terms of features, servers. Not so much in maps, but let's say they could. However, here was no developer interest to prolong the product's life, and there was little incentive to make the game have too much replay value in general. That's the problem that is best solved with subscriptions and, even more so, microtransactions. The new Quake needs hats. badly.