[cglrcng]

The largest problem of all is the subjectiveness of the calls and the sheer total number and types of penalties ref's are forced to call by the original game design. (The fixes have been the best things yet, some good, some not really helping, but all have improved the game so far as far as making it more suit the actual as designed mission IMHO....and I absolutely usually hate rules tinkering as a whole).

But, that is a whole different set of issues.....Can you actually compare teams that competed across the board (game play wise, across the entire season, based on any reasonable scoring metric), from Week #1 through Week #4 and further beyond to the last match on Einstein? No, not this year....You cannot and should not (you would have to look at each task each robot can perform & complete, and you will not see that on ANY RESULTS SHEET this year as a whole. Just too many changes so far.

Case in point, posession of an opponents ball last week was a 50 point penalty against and scored as for the offended alliance and added to their score....Yesterday, it was 20 points added toward an offended alliances score (that wouldn't have changed who won or lost in the match I am personally comparing and thinking about, but would / could, many others). And I actually witnessed a called pinning penalty yesterday w/ a completed 2 different sets of full call flag action, that was never even later added to the score, I've assumed, because the offended alliance was a hundred points ahead in an elimination match...They didn't even have the usual (and there were many), end of match ref conference that particular match, because it was evident which alliance had won the match. (So those points were never even added to the ending score).

So IMHO, after all the rules tinkering that this game design has received so far, it is getting much closer to what I personally "think" the GDC had in mind, you will still need to compare all the games played each week to one another, and not any week against any other week, and definitely not across the spectrum of the season as a whole. (If you measure it that way - across the whole season,...You will be very far off on the actual cut). And your ending pcs. just won't fit. That is why most of the adults dislike the game....And why (I believe), most of the students responses, as seen here, they actually love this game.....Now!

By lifetimes of experience, most adults simply dislike change or rules tinkering causing constant change. Most of the students have yet to gain that adult disavantage, and that helps them to adapt quicker and much more easily.

But, we adults can anticipate through having those previous life experiences, what disappointment can and WILL happen when they add those huge subjective penalty points after the matches are completed, and apparent wins can turn to actual losses, and all the effort seemingly just goes up in smoke like a shorted motor. And the "magic" is released in an instant due to subjectiveness of a single action that nobody seemingly has control of. The Ref's are human and stuck in the middle of a human / robot game officiating...It is NOT their fault. PERIOD.

What we will see (I hope and already have seen the effect of the changes take effect), at the Championships, and eventually on that Einstein Field that every FRC Team aspires to play on, will be a very different game than the one we all read that thick rulebook in the first week of January and since, and was set our minds eye then, to really be. It will be a great game to watch if played as designed. And I personally saw some of that yesterday.

It can be an amazing game, but it takes tinkering to get the intended result, and that is why many of us actually disliked (and some may still highly), it to begin with.

I will not make this book any longer. I have added my 2 cents and it is now up to $3.50 by now or $125.00 at least. I congratulate the GDC on getting much closer in Week #4 to their intended vision, but fear there is still a long way to go.

The secret to getting the teams to be more offensive and less defensive is located in a financial reward (IE: As was offered at the AZ Regionals by the Event Sponsor of $500.00 off next years event fee, for all teams involved in both alliances of any 2 alliances, that exceeded 200 points each side). That act culminated in a final match (and true coopertition all around), that rivaled what we saw in another Regional ending match yesterday (Waterloo comes to mind), too. (Last year the offer by the sponsor was all 6 robots hanging legally in any match, which was completed many times). The task was not completed this year in AZ, but they came quite close in the final match.

Watching teams back completely off of the defensive angle on the most part (working together to attempt to rise to another different challenge not in that all important book), and play a really fast paced, and fairly clean offensive only game of Aerial Assist, showed just how great this game can be, how fast paced and artful it can be, and exactly how great each of the participating robots and team members on both sides, can really be, if not hindered by each other. And those matches were cleanly done too, thereby keeping those subjective calls pretty much in the bag. (But, that was a very special case).

I'd bet the Ref's. felt more at ease too in not having to end the event by announcing ANY penalties also.

If you students enjoy this game...Just go play it. (Do not pay attention to how us old foggies feel about it...As we aren't the ones playing)...Enjoy yourselves...You have earned that. But, also understand and accept the associated disappointments too....And, that there will be many of those. So, expect them and prepare for them....And, when they seem subjective to you, understand why some of us expected that and complained about this particular game. Go w/ the flow.

Congrat's to all who played this Week #4....And to all the WINNERS! And Good Luck to Week #5 players.