[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by TheMadCADer

Obviously you should talk to your alliance partners about it, but even if they don't want you to, I don't see that as an issue. You shouldn't be obligated to win for some other team's sake, especially if it isn't in your own best interests.

This is just wrong. Those other teams on the field want to win the tournament just as much as you do, and it is absolutely unethical to sabotage your allies for your own selfish gain.

If they want to rank high, they should do it themselves.

Excuse me? You're saying if the teams that are with you want to rank high, they should do it without your help? You're saying a team should expect to be able to overcome a *partner intentionally playing against them* in order to get into the top 8? How could you possibly justify this ethically?

Imagine three teams, given numbers based on how many points they score. Team 200 scores 200 points each match, Team 150 scores 150 points, Team 80 scores 80, and every other team scores fewer than 80 points. You are on Team 150, and you already have a few losses with just one qualification match left, against Team 200, but you have better alliance partners and could win the match. Both Team 200 and Team 80 are undefeated, and Team 80 has already played all of their matches. If you win your last match, Team 80 is the #1 seed and picks Team 200. If Team 200 wins that match, they get the #1 seed and pick you, Team 150.

It should be obvious which situation gives you a better chance of winning, since no other robots can top Team 80, and you can't top Team 200. Also, this matches the expected outcome, where the best teams win the event. While we always want to see good competition, we also want to see the robots that are legitimately the best win the competition.

I think most of us can understand situations when there is an incentive to not win. It's not hard to think of them. And if you were playing one on one, an argument could be made that you should take the opportunity presented to you. But as long as you have alliance partners, you have absolutely no ethical leg to stand on. Those teams have a right to have their partners do everything they can to help them to win a match. And you can't just ignore their legitimate concerns because you are selfishly glued to your own goals.