Quote:
Originally Posted by EricH
The point structure to get to the State Championship. Right now, it says one thing. Most of FIRST would rather it said something different.
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Are you sure that "most" of FIRST would rather a different point system? The posts of a few angry CD users don't constitute a true random sampling of the community. I for one think the point system is by far the best change being created by FiM. For years I have lobbied for FIRST to move to a qualification only Championship Event, and I'm glad Michigan is piloting this point system.
People keep talking about how FiM doesn't value gracious professionalism because their point system only awards points for technical awards. If we're seriously in a position where we need to hand out points to encourage GP, I think we all need to step back and re-evaluate this entire program. I mean, are teams submitting for Chairman's only because it offers a spot in Atlanta? Are teams only being safe to get some tokens? Are teams only cheering loudly for a chance at a trophy?
I see FiM's point system as a way of making sure the best robots move on to the robot competition at the State Championship. Similarly, the best Chairman's submissions will move on to the Chairman's competition at the State Championship. It makes sense to me.
Just looking at the numbers and doing some simple analysis based on past trends among CA contenders, I would be shocked if all 7 district CA winners don't end up being among the 66 robot competitors at the MI State Championship. As Ike pointed out, you basically only need to just make the elims at both districts to move on to the State Championship. (I could make some more detailed comments and pointed analysis here, but I'm afraid of an angry mob of "It's not about the robot" fanatics showing up at my doorstep with flaming torches.)
I've been to many non-FIRST events, with a small minority of FIRSTers. It's amazing to see how quickly they can spread gracious professionalism to others in a short period of time. Amazingly enough, these events don't actually have points being awarded for being graciously professional!!! Shocking, I know...
As long as the participants in FiM continue to practice and embody gracious professionalism, there's no reason to expect the sky to fall on our program. A point system that is more focused on robot building is not going to make FIRST spontaneously combust.