[DougHogg]

Originally posted by Jnadke
I'm not sure if anyone else experienced this, but at the Midwest Regional it seemed in general as if there was a lack of patience, and enthusiasm, among the participants.
...
Perhaps I am wrong. Any other thoughts on this? Maybe I am just behind the times and the rules/morals of FIRST are starting to change.

I think it is good to confront the reality of a situation, so that something can be done about it. Personally, I think the rules/morals did change some this year and that some people have been put off by things like "game fixing" and having to throw your second match to win in the elimination rounds. I believe that the game lost some of its innocence, and so lost some of its joy, and more violence came in to fill the vacuum. But the joy can be restored, and we can shift away from violence at the same time. I think the post season forums are very important this year. We need to give FIRST some good ideas for next year's game.

And yes, we do need need to notice the positive things that are occurring and "celebrate" them, while we are handling areas where things might be going a bit astray.

(Running a game where the object is different each year is not easy. It's a real engineering challenge.)