It would be great to have just a little insight. I really hope it is that it is casual players letting teams down, and not actual code that counts up the amount of members in a team, divides by the number of games played, and consequently punishes those with a poor showing. Nah, surely not?? That'd be pretty punitive.
I wonder about the faerieland thing though, isn't the "a lot of kids join that team then don't play" thing a bit of a long-standing tale that's maybe no longer accurate? I see a few people say it but there really aren't many kids on Neo now.
Ok, I'm gonna do some researching using the Money Tree!
So out of 20 people on one page of the Money Tree:
14 didn't sign up - 7 of which are brand new accounts - those with older accounts have never competed.
apart from one who joined LD in 2011, clearly hated it and has never joined up again since, lol.
Out of the rest:-
Maraqua: signed up but didn't compete - 4 month old account
Roo Island: Rank 1 - 18 yr. old account
Darigan Citadel: signed up but didn't compete - 3 month old account
Meridell: Rank 5 - 15 yr.old account
Kiko Lake: Rank Beginner - has played in 8 ACs but only to get participation trophy
Huh. I realise the Money Tree wasn't a good place to find people for this, as most of the people who give to it are new players who've not yet learnt the all-important Neopian mantra of HOARD ALL THE THINGS. xD Nice to see all those new accounts though!
*tries Kadoatery instead*
Alrighty then! Out of 20 Kadders, with join year
3 didn't sign up: 1 joined 2006 and has only played once and didn't do much, one's a brand new account but old player, last has played in 6 previously but only got participation medals.
The rest:-
Krawk Island: All-star(2008); beginner(2005); beginner(2011);
Darigan Citadel: All-star(2010); rank 1(2009); All-star(2005) ; All-star(2005); Beginner(2004 - joined every year just for participation medal) ; All-star(2018)
Terror Mountain: All-star(2005)
Shenkuu: All-star(2009)(also, my friend Aya )
Maraqua: All-star(2006)
Roo Island: Rank 12(2005)
Meridell: All-star(2010); All-star(2005)
Brightvale: All-star(2005)
Roo Island: All-star(April 2020)
That's quite telling, isn't it! Out of 20 people DC has the lion's share, that's interesting. I know it's way too small a group of people to be able to draw any proper conclusions. But one thing REALLY stands out. People who are into the AC work hard for their team, look at all those AS ranks! I admit Kadders are maybe also liable to be a little on the obsessive side? So AS ranking kind of to be expected?
If doing this wasn't so flippin' time-consuming I'd go through things like the Wishing Well and Lottery winners too.