[AmyPrib]

A few not-so-positives:

- Rule and penalty calls very inconsistent between regionals. Rules were being made up at some regionals, and at at least one, almost no defense was allowed. A decision about not refilling load stations in Atlanta defies the rules. There were a lot of rules changes and interpretation miscommunications on various things. Some solutions have been offered in previous threads, but I think something definitely needs to be done to improve this. A few thoughts:
- Simply having all rules/updates, and even Q/A by section available, printed out, at regionals to refer to might have helped the refs on a number of issues.
- Rules/game test perhaps is in order, specifically for refs... Since they're volunteers, and they are interested in the game and helping with organization, there should be no quarrel to taking a game test, as many teams make their team members do. Only seems logical, and shouldn't take much of their time. Updated tests could come out to incorporate Updates to rules.
- FIRST could include a 1-2page summary of penalties and calls within the rules so that there is one place to refer to, for teams and refs, when looking for clarifications. Also helps finding the incorporated updates.
- Maybe not feasible, but any chance FIRST officials could be more active on CD? CD is a huge resource for teams, and it might be nice to get direct feedback to some topics that are highly discussed and controversial on CD, esp if not covered in Q/A. It would show they are actively listening to team concerns and want to improve, and it might even help soothe some of the heated debate over interpretation differences. They might also become aware of big issues early and resolve it sooner. Reason I say this is because there's a number of regional planning committee members that request feedback like these threds and confirm that they want to use it for improvement. So, this thread, will FIRST see it, read it, and use it for improvement? Not really sure. Maybe not reasonable, but just a thought.

- Penalty/scoring weight seemed a little off. I think the 30pt penalty could have been a little less, but still effective. Even 15-20pts, but as someone stated, with 30pts, you can almost expect a loss. When you start seeing numerous matches that result in 0's, because the score itself never even reached 30pts, something might be off. I'm sure none of the 30pt penalties were results of malicious intents - and I understand the need for safety calls, but it seemed a little extreme when scoring was only worth 3pts and some 10pt bonuses. Granted, drivers got better in avoiding it, but still.

- Not forseeing the potential injuries resulting in tetras over the player station and implementing some protection early. But applause for implementing for Atlanta. If HPs are going to be getting close to robots, something besides penalties should protect them.

- Although Triple-Play got more exciting as regionals went on, I personally like seeing more robot and game variety, and more available tasks in the game, like last year. It was also virtually impossible to help your opponents score if you needed/wanted to.

- Ceremonies should have been broadcast on all field screens in Atlanta.
- Would be nice to ask Georgia Dome staff to open more than 2-4 doors when the bulk of 15k+ people are going in. Not sure if they had any open on the other sides, but the main entrance was crowded at times.
- A couple of the wrap-up party shows were a bit.... silly? I suppose there were younger kids there, but early in the evening, there wasn't much to keep a crowd in the seats. But other than that, pretty good.
-Closing ceremonies on Einstein, speeches a little too long. While there are great speakers, and they are great to have, the length tends to disrupt the energy flow of the competition.

Overall I think this year has been a great experience.