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Unread 23-03-2014, 23:32
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Alex2614 Alex2614 is offline
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Re: Why does everyone hate this game so much?

Quote:
Originally Posted by 3175student17 View Post
I keep reading these threads, and people seem to think this game is terrible.
People are saying this game is 'worse than 2003', 'fouls decide too many matches', 'if you have one really bad alliance member, you will lose'. This negativity is just terrible for FIRST. I feel like most people never gave this game a fair chance, just because it is a little different.

1) 'Worse than 2003': I wasn't around in 2003 for the game so I may be incorrect, but from what I've heard, what was bad was that it was nearly impossible to score after autonomous, and robot parts were on the field after almost each match from poor field setup. In this game, scoring is possible after autonomous. This is clearly evidenced by the scores that are being put up after autonomous. Also, the field is well set up, with no field elements causing damage without the fault of a team.

2) 'fouls decide too many matches': While in Week 1, teams may have drawn fouls which decided some matches, that has been fixed. If teams are drawing fouls, they should be more careful, and READ THE MANUAL. Also, if you notice that your future alliance partners are getting fouls, tell them what they are doing and how to stop. When you are scouting for eliminations, a good thing to rank on MIGHT BE to make sure they don't get many fouls. There is a reason Technical Fouls are 50 points. THEY DONT WANT THOSE THINGS HAPPENING. Don't do those things. Also, fouls decide games every year.

3) 'if you have one really bad alliance member, you will lose': No. This is how most team sports work, so why should it be different here? It should be a team effort. In football, you cannot have just a good quarterback who carries the team. You have to have receivers who catch the ball. In baseball, you cannot have a good pitcher who holds the tem to one run, if your hitters cannot score.

Honestly, I think this game is one of the best. For once, you can be a 6, 7, or 8 captain, and not abandon all hope once you are set there. Upsets happen more often, defense is a viable strategy, and spectators are entertained. I would like to hear a legitimate reason that this game is bad.

Sorry if this seems ranty
Thanks for this! Very well said. And actually, at Palmetto in week one, the only time I saw fouls determine the outcome of matches (which happens every year) is when teams blatantly disregard the manual (mostly accidental, of course). If you stay within the boundaries the GDC has set for you, fouls will not happen as much. I think our alliances had only had fouls called against us a couple times throughout the duration of the event. And rarely did it call the match in our case (not for every match, but for the ones in which we played). At WEEK ONE. I don't know what was different at Palmetto, but I haven't seen a lot of things people are ranting and raving about.

What 3175student17 has summarized, in particular 2 and 3 HAPPENS EVERY YEAR. And every year, I see the same complaints.

First of all, when IS a game exactly like we (and the GDC) imagined it would be by the time April comes around? I've only been involved with FRC for 7 years, but I can't recall a time (other than MAYBE 2008/2012) that had every element of the game stay the same from the visions of kickoff to Einstein. But as far as gameplay itself goes, it's pretty similar to what I imagined. It just turns out to be better and more exciting than I thought it would be.

That being said, my team has only competed in one event so far (Palmetto) and will be traveling to Knoxville this week. So, I only have one event's point of view, and admittedly have not seen other events other than maybe a match here or there via webcast.

I really like this game. I was extremely skeptical at first (which isn't unusual for me), but even going into the week one event, I thought the game would be a total flop. We have some of the worst luck when it comes to reliable alliance partners in qualifications. I thought it was going to be a mess for everyone.

What I saw, however, was completely the opposite. There were a couple matches that saw little to no collaboration, and it showed in the scores. But because this game forces teams to collaborate to be successful (even more so than 2012), most teams put forth the extra effort to do so. There were countless extremely close matches often determined by a single last-minute score. It was down to the wire ALL THE TIME, and proved to be a very stressful game, which is a good thing in my opinion. It's more engaging and fun.

To quote our wonderful coach, we can't control what happens on the field. What I see in this game is a lot more of a real-world experience. For example, we saw some awesome defense, but some even better clever replies to the defensive strategies.

Again, I admittedly do not have as much experience with this game as I would like, and this is my first time posting in this thread. I'm sharing a semi-outsiders' point of view. I like the extra challenge of having to collaborate with alliance partners. I think that whatever the circumstances may be, the best and healthiest thing we can do as a community is work with it. If FIRST makes decisions to alter the gameplay, then our students need to come up with clever solutions. It makes life more interesting and challenging, and is definitely preparing our students for the real world. We can never control what happens on the field... That's one of the most exciting parts about FIRST. You never know what you're going to find.
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2016 season in memory of Phil Tucker
We came to be inspired. We stay because we are. We will become the inspiration.


2016 Championship - Newton quarter-finalist, Hopper-Newton Gracious Professionalism Award
2016 Regionals - Finalists (x2), Chairman's Award, Gracious Professionalism (x2), Industrial Design
2015 Championship - Hopper Finalists
2015 Regionals - Chairman's Award, Regional Champions, Gracious Professionalism, Woodie Flowers Finalist
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2014 Regionals - Chairman's Award, Champions, Finalist, Entrepreneurship, Gracious Professionalism, Dean's List Finalist, Creativity
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2013 Regionals - Engineering Inspiration Award, Entrepreneurship, Dean's List Finalist
2012 Championship - Woodie Flowers Award
2012 Regionals - Champions, Chairman's Award, Finalist, Innovation in Controls

Last edited by Alex2614 : 23-03-2014 at 23:43.
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