so other then giving peoples egos a boost what do these invites give poeple do they start higher in the tourney or something?
Seeded players will have to play Round 1, just like everybody else. It's really just an honor.
The only benefits are that they don't have to sign up, they know they'll be seeded far away from each other in the early rounds, and if we don't fill the tourney (with a round number like 64 or 128), the highest seeds will be the ones to get the byes.