Quote:
Originally Posted by ejSabathia
Seriously? Karthik, your experiment failed. My faith in people to draw logical and sane conclusions is gone.
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Experiments don't fail.
In fact I think that quote just reminded everyone of an inherent conflict of interest during Qualification matches.
It seems like every year someone gets accused of sandbagging in qualifications. Why? Because it's beneficial to your team in alliance selection, especially if your team has a reputation to fall back on.
Why don't we all sandbag? Because we as a community have labeled it as non-GP. It's an unwritten rule that no one can enforce or punish others for violating. Similarly, in baseball, it's against custom to bunt when you're way ahead of the other team. However, in baseball you're liable to be beaned the next time you're up to bat if you violate that unwritten rule.
Do people still bunt occasionally when they've got a big lead? Yes, but it's really rare.
Do FRC teams still sandbag, or otherwise seek to improve their situation for Alliance selection at the expense of the rest of their alliance? Again yes, but it's also really rare. (once or twice a year is a small amount compared to it being a problem at EVERY regional or just about everyone being accused of doing it.)