What I had in mind with the sentence "It can be done reasonably, but it has to be thoroughly managed and structured" was something like open chess tournaments (even has the name in common, after all!). Not really comparable, but the situation where completely asymmetrical skill levels encounter each other is very similar to our wild and uncontrolled "Open" mode. The biggest difference is that in a well-organised structure like a chess tournament, this situation evens out very quickly and everyone finds themselves in a field of equally strong players after a few rounds. This even goes so far as to have different rewards at the end, with prizes for each rating group (with the highest prizes for the most skilled players).
From a chess player's point of view, all Open in ED stands for is extremely poor, almost non-existent game design. And so, in the end, no one is really satisfied: ace pilots looking for a challenge are disappointed because they waste their time with too many sheep, while the sheep are unhappy about being constantly steamrolled. There's a reason why there's a never-ending stream of threads initiated by enthusiastic PvPers trying to force everyone into their favourite battleground - which is Open. And of course, by its very nature, the higher a pilot's skill level, the more this state of affairs tends to be welcomed. You could of course (and it does seem to happen) organise private tournaments. Which, however, only helps one of the two sides.
But if you look at the basic design of ED and compare it again to chess, it's as if the developers don't provide the game as such, but only the venue, boards and other needed material, but can't even design reasonable tournament rules. If that's fine with you, then good for you. For my part, I find this a pathetic display of any self-respecting game designer.
But as I am all too aware that I am questioning a sacred cow here, and before this thread becomes another of the many "Open" vs "Solo" threads, I'll shut up and take my coat.
