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Unread 23-06-2002, 22:53
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#0047 (ChiefDelphi)
 
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Re: Next year: Make the game understandable

Posted by Tom Vanderslice, Student on team #275, ORHS/AST/Hitachi, from Academy of Science and Technology and Hitachi.

Posted on 5/2/99 8:04 PM MST


In Reply to: Re: Next year: Make the game understandable posted by michael bastoni on 5/2/99 3:30 PM MST:



: 1.) What you noticed Andy..the game was REALLY easy to understand..
: Any average Joe surfing through the channels lands on a Robot Wars game and he or she
: immediately 'gets it'..like WWF Wrestling....

: 2.) It was immediately apparent who was winning and who was losing. This
: certainly makes it worth watching....it actually resulted in the
: average channel surfer putting down the remote and setteling in for the
: duration of the program.

: 3.) This is for you JJ....That average channel surfer IMMEDIATELY recognized
: the game from year to year....cause it remained simple and unchanged.

:
: Now I'm NOT advocating we keep the game the same forever....
: Just do not change it EVERY YEAR....why is that such a big
: compromise....what is the difference between 12 months and
: say 24 or 36 or even 48 months....c'mon think about it...give up
: so little,,,,,possibly gain so very much...

Simple games are fun to watch, but simple games are...well...simple...
Part of the fun in doing this is theres a new challenge every year...
something new to do...a different twist on the same thing...now...don't
get me wrong...i'm all for a game the 'average joe' can understand...but
not if it means sacrificing the challenge of FIRST...I mean...the reason
you have so many strategies is there is more than one way to win...now
that makes the game more confusing for a viewer..but more fun for us
(sorry viewers, but in my book you lose this one)...Robot Wars is all
good...let's see if we can kill each other..etc...but if you want robot
wars go do robot wars (or do both)...but i'd like to think that FIRST
wasn't 'just another Robot Wars'...

Sorry...there's not a lot you can do about the winning/losing thing...
the 'running scoreboard' they had this year was about as close as you can
come to that...or play by play...one of the things that makes this
confusing for viewers i think is that teams scores fluctuate...they
can lose points just as easily as gain points...you watch most highly
televised sports...and once the team has the points they aren't going to
lose them...and the team in the lead may change...but once a team has points
they are there...none of this wow...that teams score just doubled...then
10 seconds later...wow it just got cut inhalf and the other teams score
doubled...or anything liek taht...now don't get me wrong...i like scores
that fluctuate and there is a 'max' score that everyone can shoot for and
things...but i'm jsut saying it makes it more confusing...

Recognizing the game is another thing you can't do a lot about w/out
taking the fun out of it...see above...but the fun of it all is the new
challenge...the challenge of building something to do all this stuff in
just 6 weeks...when you have a WHOLE year to think about it...its not
as much fun...i mean...you can have all kinds of ideas for drive trains
and arms etc...but until the official problem is released...you can't
finalize/perfect these designs....if you are going to repeat games then
there is no point in having the 6 week build thing or having teams box
it up or anything...now i know all you engineers would love to do FIRST
all year...forget about your REAL jobs...but somehow i doubt your employers
would love it...
one way to increase recognizability would be to televise all the regionals...
now not neccesarily prime time...just afternoon on broadcast stations or
whatever...or discovery channel or whatever...just to get the word out...
i dunno..just a thought...

another thing about the simplicity thing...all the people i explained the
game to this year were just like 'wow...that sounds really hard...how did
you do this?' or something liek that....i mean...some were overwhelmed..
but if they coudl watch a round while the explanation was going on it made
a lot more sense...its cool to have something people can relate too...
(it's a big pillow...or it's a lot like a big beach ball)...but i don't
think you really want to go all the way to being like...look...our robots
can kick field goals...or hit a home run or whatever...its almost like
you are trying to compete with the sports that way...

well...gee...i'm not sure i said EVERYTHING i wanted to say ...but
it's enough for now...sorry it was so long...

i'd say that was worth at least 3 or 4 cents, right?
Tom
Team 275
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