If you were at FLR this weekend, you saw members of the red alliance go over and exchange high-fives with the blue alliance after a qualifying match...why? Because all six teams were deliberately scoring goals only for the blue alliance. (I think the score was 11-0 for that match.) It was great for the seeding points for those six teams, but anyone who didn't understand the seeding point system - including members of the general public who might never have seen a FIRST event before - would have have been totally baffled.
Yes, it's strategy, and it does encourage cooperation. But it also removes competition, at least until the elimination rounds. It's a bit odd to be cheering for your team's robot when it spends the entire match sitting in front of your goal to block it!
