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Unread 16-03-2008, 22:46
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Richard Wallace Richard Wallace is offline
I live for the details.
FRC #3620 (Average Joes)
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Re: Improving Officiating at FIRST Events

Quote:
Originally Posted by wilsonmw04 View Post
FIRST has made the initial attempt to help solve the ref problem. I think they will collect the data from this year and see what changes that need to make.
I'm pretty sure you are right about that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wilsonmw04 View Post
Here are my questions: how many requirements can you put on a volunteer before it's too much of a burden? When is too much too much? Where will we be if we cross that line and we do not have such wonderful people around to help us play a game?

I truly feel the answer to this is with the GDC and the level of complexity of the game.
Strange as it may seem to most of us, the GDC members are mostly volunteers, too. A few are FIRST staffers, but they are the minority. Most are very committed, long-time FIRSTers, who don't get paid to devise the game.

Remember Woodie's comments during kick-off, when he quoted Einstein: "I wouldn't give a nickel for simplicity on this side of complexity, but I would give my life for simplicity on the other side of complexity." We would be bored by a game that lacks sufficient complexity, but paradoxically the best games offer simplicity after their complexities have been understood. The best robot designs fit that description, too.

I agree that better volunteer training will enhance the FIRST experience for all of us. I hope the GDC will not oversimplify (i.e., dumb-down) future FRC games in an effort to make volunteer training more straightforward. If FIRST didn't drive us crazy, maybe we'd get bored and find something else to do.
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Richard Wallace

Mentor since 2011 for FRC 3620 Average Joes (St. Joseph, Michigan)
Mentor 2002-10 for FRC 931 Perpetual Chaos (St. Louis, Missouri)
since 2003

I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.
(Cosmic Religion : With Other Opinions and Aphorisms (1931) by Albert Einstein, p. 97)
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