[FRC Blog] 2016 Safety Animation Award Competition Details
 

Posted on the FRC Blog, 11/2/15: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...tition-details

Re: [FRC Blog] 2016 Safety Animation Award Competition Details
 

so theme for the entire season confirmed, not just the teaser. I hate to be that guy, but I think this is the beginning of the downfall for FIRST. Recycle Rush flopped, not entirely because of the theme but I definitely think the theme was a factor. I think FIRST took the whole "more than robots" thing in the entirely wrong direction. These themed games and Disney's involvement are making a mockery of our league and of our sport. We are never going to be taken seriously, let alone create a culture shift with games like these. FIRST has lost sight of its goal, which is to gain legitimacy in global culture at large. We need more partnerships with Google and and Apple, not Disney. This childishness worked in FLL, but it needs to stay there.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2016 Safety Animation Award Competition Details
 

In that case, go back to 2008 for when it began. '08, '09, '10, and '12 were ALL themed. (And, for that matter... '11 had a theme, too--something about it being FIRST's 20th game or something like that.)


Recycle Rush flopped primarily because it shared a key component with 2001: No defense. It shared another with 2003: Stacking is hard, knocking down is easy. Neither game is regarded as a particularly good one, for a variety of reasons; '01 is up (down?) near the top of lousy FRC games.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2016 Safety Animation Award Competition Details
 

This. 2012 is on a lot of top-five lists for games, 2008 wasn't bad at all either.

Theming doesn't scare me, lousy games do. I can only hope FIRST has learned its lesson from this year.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2016 Safety Animation Award Competition Details
 

I can't speak of '09 and '10, because I wasn't around then, but I don't consider 2012 a themed game. Sure, you could say it was "basketball themed" but that's not the idea I'm trying to capture when I say themed. "Themed" is something bigger. Its the unprofessionalism and childishness that arises when you make a game about recycling or medieval times. Sure, basketball and soccer are technically "themes", but they're also sports. Recycling is not a sport.

P.S. If were debating whether or not themes make games flop, I'm not sure '09 is the best counterexample.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2016 Safety Animation Award Competition Details
 

FIRST's mission isn't that FIRST gains legitimacy. The goal is not to change the culture to appreciate FIRST.

The goal is to change the culture to value science and technology. Whether or not people take FIRST seriously as a sport is a side issue.

I'm not defending themed games, but it seems that more and more people view the "sport" of FIRST being taken seriously as the mission rather than the vehicle.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2016 Safety Animation Award Competition Details
 

All I want is "Bring out yer' ROBOT! Bring out yer' ROBOT!"

I agree with you, but I think you get a lot more traction selling FRC as "Awesome robots playing sports!" than "Awesome robots at a renaissance faire!"

Re: [FRC Blog] 2016 Safety Animation Award Competition Details
 

If you're going to draw a distinction between sports-themed games and non-sports-themed games, then yes, there is a distinct difference in "not being a lousy game".

However, for your information:
2008, Overdrive: Auto racing theme
2009, Lunacy: Moon landing theme (and whether or not that's actually a flop is a matter of personal preference. I happened to like it.)
2010, Breakaway: Soccer theme
2011, Logomotion: Theme of FIRST logo. (If there had been significant changes with the minibots, this could have been a fairly reasonable game.)
2012, Rebound Rumble: Basketball theme

And they all had their "hated" items. 2010, one of the best games FIRST had done in several years, rewarded 6v0 games due to the rankings. 2012, "coopertition bridge" was fightin' words to teams that got burned by it. 2008 had penalties that were out of whack--10 points for spinning around in the wrong place wasn't uncommon. 2009's lack of traction led to a lot of scrums and a lot of human players draining shots. And 2011 had the minibots (OK, you all can go back to pretending those didn't exist now).

If you're going to say that 2012 isn't a themed game, then you basically get 2009, 2011, and 2015 as "themed" games ('08 and '10 were also sports themed). And as far as I'm concerned, those three ALL pale in lousiness to 2001's 4v0, which had no theme. Others may add in 2003's 2v2--stacks weren't made because it was easier to knock them down--again, no theme.

If you were to make a list of the all-time worst games, I'd say that the very worst a themed game would do would be #3. (Assuming that you asked people who actually played those games, mind you.)

Re: [FRC Blog] 2016 Safety Animation Award Competition Details
 

This is what it boils down to, for me. If the idea is increasing levels of respect for STEM, then making it more stereotypically nerdy isn't the way to go. The way to get people on board is to meet them in the middle with something they know (i.e. sports), rather than saying "we're nerds, come to where we are."

Re: [FRC Blog] 2016 Safety Animation Award Competition Details
 

Themed games in the past have gone well and others not so much (typically game dependent ex: Lunacy & Recycle Rush). Sports themes like 2008, 2010, and 2012 are easy for the community to love due to a large shared interest in various sports and universal acceptance in the outside community.

This announcement more or less solidifies the medieval theme this year (teaser video could always have been an abstract reference to the theme) which is still a toss up for me without knowing the contents of the game or how hard the theme gets pushed through the season. It could very well work in their favor and deliver a fantastic year, however it means everyone will be looking at the year with more scrutiny.

Either way we all still get to build robots in January so that's a plus. :)

I can't wait to see where the animation teams go with this!

Re: [FRC Blog] 2016 Safety Animation Award Competition Details
 

I whole-heartedly agree.

When showing sponsors videos or explaining the game, the Recycling theme of 2015 seemed a little... forced/awkward or childish... ultimately discrediting FRC a little from being a serious "varsity sport for the mind" with professional mentors teaching and working alongside HS students to inspire them to pursue STEM. The environmentally-themed game made it seem a little "cutesy" or political in a way that looks good in FLL, but not so much to the stereotypical machinist or business owner from whom you're requesting fast-turn, quality parts or a $5000 grant.

The medieval theme, while fun for pre-season speculation, follows right down this path of poorly themed games. I didn't think it was that big a deal last year because I assumed it was a one-time thing... not a permanent transition.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2016 Safety Animation Award Competition Details
 

How easily we forget:

WE HAVEN'T SEEN THE GAME.

Perhaps it would be nice to view what is rather than what we expect will be. If this ridiculousness had been applied to 2012 or 2013, very popular games, before they were announced - we would have had unfounded bedlam.

2012: Oh no it's a basketball game isn't Dean on record saying that knowing how to bounce a ball isn't a translatable skill and we're promoting a ridiculous game that features a culture that celebrates not finishing college and it's all awful and horrible and I heard the owners are racist and we'll probably have Kobe Bryant come to a competition and he didn't even go to college is this how we want to present ourselves?

2013: Oh great frisbees another niche culture now we'll be associated with the pot smoking hippies lounging around the quad rather than studying and applying themselves to making the world a better place and oh my goodness there are pyramids what a horrible bit of history to celebrate first they were built with slave labor are we saying we are pro-slavery because if so my team quits.

Of course neither of these games ended up this way. I personally have a lot of trust in FIRST to provide inspiration and recognition of science and technology. I have not heard any students say, "I didn't like Lunacy/Recycle Rush/minibots so I'm not going to be an engineer anymore I think I'll study cosmetology."

Let's sheathe the pitchforks and douse the torches for another two months, shall we?

Re: [FRC Blog] 2016 Safety Animation Award Competition Details
 

I'm in agreement with the general sentiment, but you're using a lot of hyperbole. I'm not so certain of a "downfall" of FIRST coming about, but in general i've noticed a shift in the mood. The trailer sends the message that FIRST is more casual than before. I know when I was in school, we heard a lot of "it's the varsity sport for the mind" and "the hardest fun you'll have", followed by shots of the crowds and cheering. This trailer just makes FIRST seem...casual. I contend that if we had just showed a few glamour shots of aerial assist gameplay, with the reveal of the theme and Stronghold at the end of the trailer, it would've gone over much better.

As far as the theme is concerned, I will admit I'm not a big fan of theming in general. Recycle Rush was a themed game, but at the end of the day all it affected was terminology of the game. This was the same level of "theming" in 2008-2014. The most blatant use of a theme that I can remember is 2009's Lunacy, or 2012's Rebound Rumble, both of which just had a themed kickoff. Ultimate Ascent had almost no theme behind it, same with Aerial Assist. However, we've already been asked to do medieval themed safety awards and been shown a teaser with a medieval theme. Something tells me FIRST won't stop at just defining game terminology to keep with the theme...

Re: [FRC Blog] 2016 Safety Animation Award Competition Details
 

I think statements like downfall of FIRST are a little much but I overall agree with the sentiment of others. I don't think it's going to kill FIRST but I think tying sports or something else non STEM people can relate to was a huge step in the right direction. I know FIRST likes to change things up every now and again but not quite sure if I agree this was the right thing to change.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2016 Safety Animation Award Competition Details
 

Is this the first year that the safety animation can be animated without 3D software? The rules indicate "any kind of animation". Just curious.