tufft, i'm starting to agree with Mike that this is a waste of time, because you missed the point of my entire post. But, here goes another attempted explanation...
The current GMs are dedicated because of the complexity and competition of the game. Couple that with a reasonable barrier to entry, and the people that simply would not care are not playing. As it stands, we have people that care about their teams.
Add sims to reduce rollover and the competition fades (using sim teams as the programming currently allows - no futuristic 'good' sim teams, because they don't exist at present, so they're irrelevant). People start to leave. Worlds are going defunct, the price drops, and now a group of less dedicated people come in. You act like the new people would ADD to the current group, when in reality, the new, less dedicated GMs would REPLACE the current group. That isn't a solution. Long-term, WIS should want to appeal to the group of people currently playing, as they're the most compelled to play well, to pay, and the most likely to stick around.
I have a degree in economics and am currently studying to receive a master's degree. My knowledge of economic principles that can be crafted to fit the scenarios that you're discussing simply do not support the results that you (and only you) support so fervently.
Does any of that make sense, or will you continue to be so bull headed? Others have at least conceded points in their argument to appeal to you, but you give no ground in yours - despite the fact that zero people see the logic in your argument. And that isn't a shot at you, but it is to say that, how could several well-educated people totally and utterly miss the point of what you're trying to say? But this thread is not split. Nobody here agrees with you. Does any of this post make sense to you?