[EricH]

Originally Posted by Valley Raider

<G22> is a rule that doesn't nothing to help the game. You already can't play defense for longer then 6 seconds. Tell me what does a team gain from driving backwards, nothing so why does this role need to be in place? Lawyering around the roles is part of the game and if someone can come up with a good way of getting around a pointless rule then good for the its time well spent.

Plus when your Robots in a crate there not much you can do to learn how to drive it better.

So you're saying that <G22> helps the game? If that isn't your intent, then pay attention to that double negative.

Now, as to the rule being "pointless" and what teams gain from going backwards, a team can gain a lot from going backwards. Let's see-- the chance to grab another trackball, allowing a second hurdle--uninterrupted defense--I can think of more. The point of the rule is to keep the game moving in a particular direction. If you saw old games, they were all over the place.

Now, your final statement is wrong. You see, you can build a practice robot (or just a practice drivetrain) to practice driving with while the real robot is in the crate on its way to wherever it's going.

BTW, if you think FIRST doesn't think about practicality of their rules, then you need to watch the kickoff again. One of the "Big Three" made the comment that Aidan (the HEAD REF of head refs) was "complaining" a lot about "How are we going to enforce this?"

And the 6-foot rule was added pretty much last-minute, as GDC members have noted here (if you read between the lines of the threads about it). So that's not a good example. (Plus, it was removed almost instantly.)