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Originally Posted by Alex Salomonsky
I don't understand why people are getting angry at teams who play defense. Not every team at regionals have professional engineers to help to build a beastly arm, some arms aren't perfect that they can't hold up a tetra, so to be an assest to their alliance they need to limit the scoring of other teams. Every team needs to be prepared for rough play, protecting all key components. Some defense is a little to far (ripping a radio out of bots), but theseteams are only trying to help their alliance. My team, 769, knew our strong points. We had nice traction, good mobility, and our arm interfered better than it stacked, so we said we would play defense. We knew the key to winning was limit the other team instead of trying to win a shoot-out.
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People aren't getting angry at teams who play defense. They are getting angry at the teams who play BattleBots in the middle of a FIRST match.
At the VCU regional, there were many teams that played a perfectly valid defensive strategy during part of all of a match. The effectiveness of the strategy varied, based on the opponents and their own capabilities, and it frequently made for an even more exciting match. Their style of play was legitimate, and consistent with both the objectives of the game and FIRST. But there were also a small set of teams that were clearly "over the line" in terms of their agressive play and the perceived intent to damage/disable their opponents. There were examples of robots repeatedly using their arms to strike opponents that were not in the process of scoring, "spearing" an opponent with a high hit from an arm that is held straight out, ramming into an opponent at full speed with a half-field running start, and similar activities. There was at least one team that committed all of these violations.
Any team may slip up and in the heat of the match make an "agressive play" violation once during the tournament. Nobody is going to jump all over you for that. In that case, you just suck up your penalty points, and move on. But the problems come when a team decides to take on a style of play that is intentionally agressive and repeatedly skirts the edges of these rules. In such cases - and we did see some at VCU - the team is flirting with disaster and deserves any penalties they may receive. If they are warned by the referees, yet still continue with agressive play, then they deserve to be disqualified.
Rule <G25> is quite specific about the intended spirit of play. Everyone should re-read it and be familiar with the expectations for reasonable and unreasonable game play.
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<G25> Strategies aimed solely at the destruction, damage, tipping over, or entanglement of ROBOTS are not in the spirit of FIRST Robotics Competition and are not allowed. However, Triple Play is a highly interactive contact game. Some tipping, entanglement, and damage may occur as a part of normal game play. If the tipping, entanglement, or damage occurs where it is not a part of normal game play, at the referees discretion, the offending team/ROBOT may be disqualified from that match. Repeated offenses could result in a team/ROBOT being disqualified from the remainder of the Regional or Championship competition.
Examples of normal game play interaction include:
Pushing low on another ROBOT.
Blocking or pushing on a TETRA that is in possession of an opposing ROBOT.
Establishing ROBOT position to block access to a GOAL by an opposing ROBOT.
Using an arm or gripper to prevent an opposing ROBOT from placing a TETRA on a GOAL.
Examples of inappropriate robot interaction include:
Pushing high on a robot and tipping it over.
Using an arm or gripper to repeatedly strike an opposing ROBOT that is not in the process of placing a TETRA on a GOAL.
Placing any part of your ROBOT under an opposing ROBOT, and then lifting to flip it over.
Using an arm and gripper to pull a ROBOT by grabbing electrical cables, hoses, etc. or disabling a ROBOT by tearing out wires or hoses.
Grasping or attaching to a TETRA that is in the possession of an opposing ROBOT, and using it to pull over the opposing ROBOT.
Ramming another ROBOT at high speed.
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Now, having said all that, we also all need to keep things in perspective. Remember, Triple Play is just a game. Mistakes will be made. Bad calls will occur. Teams and robots will do things they shouldn't. Things will be unfair. Blood pressures will rise. But at the end of the day, IT IS STILL JUST A GAME! No one is losing their job, or their home, or their livelihood, or their family, or anything else of real consequence. The most important part of the entire process is what we each do with the experience after the competition is all over. What we take away from the build season, and the competitions, and the involvement with our teams, and how we use those experiences to shape the rest of what we do, is the most important part.
The game ends after two minutes and fifteen seconds. The build season ends after six weeks. Using the experience to help improve yourself and the rest of the world will take the rest of your life.
-dave