A reminder before the big day
 

As seen in this sticky from the Rules/Strategy forum, people have an annoying tendency to not read the game manual.

Folks, I want to point out that the Game Manual is important. It has the field diagrams, the game rules, the robot rules, and the tournament structure. Yet every year, I come on after Kickoff and there are hundreds of questions about the game, the robot, the tournament, what can we use on the robot, can we do xyz [illegal] action, and the like. 99% of the time, the answers are in one place: the Game Manual.

Read the Manual before posting your question. 99% of the time, the rules will be crystal clear. The other 1% of the time, everyone else has the same question. So you might want to search before posting your question. Chances are somebody has asked and answered it already

I remember last year that someone was confused over a very clear rule. Somebody had said something at Kickoff that was--while not in conflict with the manual--interpreted the wrong way. This is a perfectly reasonable time to ask a question. However, simply saying something to the effect of, "What is the maximum size of the robot?" or "Can we use CO2?" will almost always get you a very annoyed-"sounding" "Read the Manual!!!!" from everyone around you.

What I'm trying to say is, hold off on posting rules questions until you have actually read the manual and checked for any other questions on that topic here. (Hint: when looking for an answer in the Manual, use <Ctrl-F> to look for a particular word or phrase that will help you.)

Re: A reminder before the big day
 

Great post! Somebody should sticky this as it applies to every years game.

Re: A reminder before the big day
 

Thanks for posting this Eric.

I would like to add that not being able to get the manual off the FIRST site is not really an excuse.

Every year after kickoff the FIRST site becomes bogged down as thousands of people rush to download the manual. I recommend that everyone grab the encrypted copy of the manual off the FIRST website tonight and use the password given during the kickoff to decrypt it (write the password down!). You can replace the encrypted copy with a new decrypted copy tomorrow night or Sunday as the traffic starts to die down.

Re: A reminder before the big day
 

Agreed, agreed, agreed. A thousand times over. I'm in the process of printing out the sections I can access, so they're in the team binder before kickoff, just for organization's sake.

What we like to do is, right after kickoff, come back and read through the robot and game sections, as a team. That way, we know what we can and can't put on our designs as we start that phase of the process. Also, it avoids the situation where one person (guess who?) knows the manual inside out, and nobody else has read it. If you go through the parts that are most questioned (The Robot and The Game) as a team, nobody has an excuse to ask questions that are clearly defined therein.

Re: A reminder before the big day
 

I add my thanks to Eric. A bit self-serving of he and I though, as for a while last year we were answering most of the "read Rule <R##>" type of questions.

Better yet, take a picture of the screen with your camera and you can read it later.

Re: A reminder before the big day
 

One major point also needs to be made -
ALL answers provided, commented on, or discussed on CD are UNOFFICIAL.

We love that everyone in the FIRST community migrates to our website to share thoughts and ideas, BUT ...

ONLY FIRST can provide the OFFICIAL answers.

It's okay to refer the posters to the appropriate answer - if that answer is derived from the official response, but if you do that, please include the official response number too.

Otherwise, it's just another opinion and that may only create more confusion.

So, in closing...
Have fun and ask all the questions you want to, but just remember that the answers are NOT official unless they come from FIRST.

Mike Aubry
Team 47

Re: A reminder before the big day
 

Forget making a sticky, these should be big bold words on the CD forum home page.

Re: A reminder before the big day
 

Another thought,

With the FIRST website being bogged down after kickoff, does it become difficult to download the game animation? If so, could someone post the video on youtube, for teams to watch with out having to wait for it to download off FIRST's site.

Re: A reminder before the big day
 

Yes
No - the videos are copywrite protected.

Re: A reminder before the big day
 

really?

Re: A reminder before the big day
 

While I agree with your comments, let me add one thing. Take a look at the upper right corner of the offending post before saying, "dude, read the manual!" or "search before posting, man!" If they are new, welcome them to our little community and POLITELY point them to where they can find the answers they are looking for. Remember, your post maybe someone's first impression of the CD community specifically and the larger FIRST community in general.

Re: A reminder before the big day
 

Very true, good first impressions are a MUST in a forum. People are easily turned off when someone flames them in their first post.

Re: A reminder before the big day
 

I think that FIRST will put the video on youtube them selves since they have a FIRST youtube account.

Re: A reminder before the big day
 

Yes first impressions are important, but this also gives you a chance to say it in your own way. The game manual is sometimes worded strange or leaves gray areas. Its also a good idea to check the first updates. There are usually a few updates each year to clear up some of that gray area.

Finally, reading the game manual will save time and lead to more creativity in the end.

Re: A reminder before the big day
 

Don't Forget that hosting copies of the manual encrypted or not are also copyrighted. So please don't host copies of the manual either. Either wait for the downloads or download now and de-encrypt the files tomorrow with the password.

-Mike AA