The situation of players "sitting out" has been an ongoing problem for Poker Stars and the subject of much discussion. Poker Stars has been unable or unwilling to address it because there are too many variables associated with a player "sitting out," which changes the outcome toward the end of a specific tournament. One reason they have avoided making a definitive decision has been that once a tournament starts, there are a multitude of things that can happen technically that could cause the player not to be able to finish the tournament (i.e. computer malfunction, power outage, server problems, etc.) Obviously, these are play money tournaments and depending on how many register for each tournament worldwide, determines the number of play money chips awarded for finishing. Add the human element of having to leave after the tournament starts, etc. and there are more variables. As a player, if you end up at a table of 10 players and eight are "sitting out," you are pretty much done as far as advancing as play is pretty much limited to "head-to-head" action, and soon one player will exhaust all their chips and the "sitters" advance to another table once the active players knock each other out. That's what happened in our tournament.
Since there is no known mechanism to eliminate players who "sit out" for whatever reasons electronically, the only way to fix the problem for future tournaments is have tournament director put into the rules a statement that allows for adjustment of final results, "if a player does not ever start the tournament or fails to play in at least one hand." That way, for whatever the reason, everyone is treated equally by rules, and no one is penalized. Since the club administers the awarding of a trophy as a prize in the tournament, we manually adjust the weekly standing based on actual play. It's fair to all concerned since we already do the accounting and post the points for four places using a spreadsheet after each week's event. This would only apply to our club or special tournaments operated by a tournament director. The weekly poker tournament was originally intended as a weekly game where members could enjoy competing against other club members. The trophy is awarded for consistent play to reward them for their competitive poker skills and bragging rights. There are no entry fees necessary to play. My play stinks, but I have been able to get a few points, but it's my goal to be a better player so I enjoy the lessons everyone has been giving me each week. Hope this helps.