[Bill_B]

First, the seeding system is confusing because it's new and you haven't seen it before. Anything you see that's new will be confusing because you try at first to relate it to the things you have already seen. This works enough times for you to be more confused when it fails. In the case of the FRC and GDC and several other acronymities, they may actually have been trying to cause the confusion in an attempt to make you think about what to do this year.

FRC and GDC have a daunting task each year to try to keep things interesting, challenging, approachable, intimidating, etc etc to a wide range of participants. Those who will "play" this game range from rookies to varying degrees of experience with past games. How shall the team structure be preserved without making it virtually impossible for a startup team to participate? Have you ever thought about what it would take for a startup enterprise to compete with a well-established one? Even giant firms have trouble introducing new products that appear to compete with their own product lines.
Innovation is one answer for the startups. FIRST is trying to foster that thought and give those of us who would try it a place in which to get experience in the application of our thinking. Continually changing the game in some respect is one way in which the playing field can be levelled, even if this year it has bumps on it.

My take on the seeding system is that experienced teams that might have dominated in last year's scoring system will need to re-think how merciful they are toward the newer teams' efforts. Co-opertition? A cute term for it? Maybe it is, but the fact remains that all teams will have to make more effort in their alliances and their scouting to put them in the best positions for the elimination rounds. In short, we all will have to pay more attention to the other teams' performance and results or risk missing an advantage obvious only in hindsight.