[Skyehawk]

I'm going to jump back into this thread after several hours of just watching.

I find TNA a tantalizing new aspect to FRC, we have had copertition in the past, but this brings it to a whole new level. In its original form co-op meant an even gain for both alliances (i.e. 20 points each) we now face the dilemma of an uneven split (i.e. 22-18) While the difference in the amount of points awarded is fairly minimal we could see a back-stab situation (i.e. 40-0).
This brings us into ethics, the spirit of FIRST is GP, so who is going to be the first to say "I have a greater desire to win." And what repercussions will that have? Will we see back-stab after back-stab? Counter back-stabs? Will 2015 be remembered as the "Year of The Noodle Agreement"?
If (by some miracle) back-stabbing does not take place and TNA thrives in competition, with every team participating we see a situation that results in closer QA's but an overall sense of accomplishment by the teams in the competition as a whole (win or loose). On the flip side, if none of the teams participate in TNA then we see QA's that have a larger spread and compitition as normal.
But here is where it gets interesting, suppose half the teams decide on TNA for their own reasons, and the other half don't. Here we see the widest spread of QA's with some serious mix-ups with the seeding. Granted there have been years in the past where teams have been carried to the top that do not deserve to be there, but what happens if there are 3 or 4 of the top 8 teams that simply get carried by this noodle agreement. This poses a serious problem for any team under the top 8.

In my experience my team has always found our way into the top 8, not too difficult if you have friendship amongst the other teams (especially spanning multiple years). Trust is built. But if TNA stays in place we are seeing an expedited trust, and with it comes some expedited bad blood (especially if a back-stab results in an 80+ point difference and a solid hit to QA.

As much as I would love to see how TNA would work in a competition (a fascinating social experiment). I agree that It has to be stopped, for fear of REALLY screwing up the game and resulting in the "Year of The Noodle Agreement".