Is a freeroll top 10 really more difficult?

[TheDrone]

I would like to get your thoughts on calculating tournament leaderboard points based on a unusual formula.

Essentially the formula downplays the buy-in to the extent that placing top 10 in a 900-person freeroll yields about 50% more leaderboard points than a top 10 in a $50 buy-in with 200 entrants.

This did not make sense to me, so I questioned the person who is doing this calculation. His response was that it's harder to place high in a larger field of bad players than in a small field of good players. He posed two contradictory arguments:
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1. A freeroll is easier because the participants don't know how to play very well, therefore it's easier to beat them.

2. A freeroll is more difficult because the participants don't know how to play very well, therefore it's harder to beat them.

I gurantee that you will find players of all abilities arguing either side of that.

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I agree with the first argument and not the second one. I could elaborate, but I'm curious to see the initial thoughts of more experienced tournament players first.