Wes, thanks for some of that clarification. I definitely appreciate the work that you and Robbie have done to collaborate with Richie on these matters so that player input is heard and considered well in advance of the event.
There is some reading in-between-the-lines that can be done here. Realistically, it is extremely likely at least one player from the current Arcade Top 12 decides not to come to the event. In that circumstance, next in line would be Corey Chambers. Assuming Corey doesn't go (and I have a hunch he wouldn't), Steve Wiebe would be next in line.
However, to add to this, there is not a single player that would be excluded by this rule, and I can't think of a single player who would fall out of inclusion by it either (such as Dean and Willms).
I'm a bit surprised by the lack of forsight on this -- the event is nearly a year away and current interest and level of talent is stronger than ever. I would not be surprised at all if the 12th place ("overall") score is 1.12M points or higher by next summer. In fact, unless some of these guys quit playing, I fully expect all 6 of the current 7th - 12th place "arcade" scores to raise to at least that level (assuming at least some access to a machine), and that doesn't even factor in people like Ethan, Dan, Adam and several other "newer" players who are actively pursuing 1.1M and beyond, including some who may only be playing on MAME. Assuming Steve and Billy do not raise their own scores, they could easily be out of the Top 20 before the KO5 imo.
I guess it just seems like there is a little bit of "hoping" that things will play out a certain way -- like, let's impose a rule that doesn't currently change anything and hopefully it won't end up being an issue -- and I just hope that everyone involved fully understands some of the potential outcomes.
That brings me to another point, which I think has been assumed but is not spelled out anywhere. Has it been agreed that the rankings will be based on DKF tracking of the arcade platform? Or will another scoreboard (such as TG) be used?