[marshall]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

I think that FIRST holds a lot of the blame here.

Three years ago they allowed all manner of things to be strapped to robots as blockers for full court disk shooters. Last year, the game design almost forced this because it required two good robots (a.k.a. the #1 seed and the first draft pick) to not be able to win unless the last team drafted (a.k.a. the 24th best team at a tourney) did at least SOMETHING that qualified as an "assist". These two years got the cheesecake snowball rolling.

But THIS year, this year was something special. FIRST made a game where two good robots could effectively get max points if and only if they won a battle that was over in a literal blink of an eye... ...during Auton. FIRST designed a game where a half a second into the match, not only didn't the best alliances need a third robot, often having a 24th robot around was a liability - having them do something, anything, only cost them points -- it never helped them. Add to this that Alliances get a 4th robot at the World Championships (not FIRST's best idea imho) and you have a recipe for the Harpoon Bot. It was going to happen.

I think this is bad for FIRST. Not illegal. Not immoral. Just not want we want more of. FIRST should take steps to make it clear that this is not something it supports both in terms of rules and expectations.

Dr. Joe J.

I think you and I agree with one another after all. I didn't think you meant anything bad earlier. It just came off one way to me, you know? It's all good though. I see your side more clearly now. At any rate, I think you're absolutely right about the game design. Games that can be won/lost in less than a second aren't nearly as fun as the ones that take the full time to play out.

And thank you for the kind words about my students. They definitely have a story to tell.