[EricDrost]

At the Mount Olive 2014 District Event, every match after 31, and every replay (8, 30, 31) were played with a 120 second teleoperated period.

2 teams had only three correctly timed matches.
18 teams had only four correctly timed matches.
18 teams had only five correctly timed matches.

This likely occurred because the FMS allows you to change the default Autonomous and Teleoperated time in a match. During week one events, this defaulted to 15 seconds and 120 seconds respectively upon shutdown of the FMS. This required a manual override to fix.

While, I don't think there is a good way to handle this situation, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. This incident, the execution of this game, and my experiences this year leave me disillusioned with FIRST. FIRST is setting the example that mediocrity is acceptable by not doing due diligence in validating this game.

The FMS and referee tablets were not tested well.
The rule set is impossible to enforce and incentivizes bad play, the including value of penalties.
Every aspect of ball reentry from pedestal problems to G40 seems like an afterthought.
The metagame in regions where 8/24 eliminations teams cannot easily control the ball is far more focused on smashing each other to bits than assisting.

Any company that releases a product has to validate it. NASA, Boeing, and all of the other FIRST sponsors need to rigorously validate a product before they ship it. Companies would die if they delivered a product without validating it. It's just not analogous to industry.

A culture where mediocrity is acceptable is both a bad example for students and completely uninspiring.