Probaly next game will be required of having higher merit ranks 100 or 200, good or not?
In addition to what LoyceV mentioned
[earned Merit], I'd suggest going a step further and only allow users to participate if they've earned 25% of the required merit
[earned] within the past two months.
In regards to something new, how about allowing certain types of participants to change their predictions for a change...
e.g.
- Deadline is in 3 months > upon reaching the halfway mark [one and a half months], allow those users with "close predictions [5k up/down of its value on that moment]" to change their predictions for one last time [it could lead to someone winning/losing it].