[Chris Hibner]

I don't think the human player involvement was a popular part of the game for casual observers. I usually bring a lot of "outsiders" to FIRST events (I always convince a lot of friends, family, and associates to come to the events). I always ask them for their feedback on the game. Virtually all of them stated that they didn't like the fact that the human player was so important. They basically thought that it cheapened the event, and it implied that the robots weren't good enough to do the scoring (they knew that this wasn't true, but they felt that the casual observer would feel this way). It is easy to discount their statements because maybe "they just don't understand", but if FIRST is to move forward and get the competition on TV, these people are the target audience, and their opinions matter.