**FIRST EMAIL**/Team Update #16

[Mark McLeod]

Greetings Teams:



In the spirit of Continuous Improvement, we have made some changes to team seeding points. The following is included in Team Update #16: <http://usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Robotics_Programs/FRC/Game_and_Season__Info/2010_Assets/Team_Updates/Team%20Update%2016.pdf>



Now that the competition season has begun, and teams have been exposed to the 2010 ranking system, we would like to elaborate on the intent behind the system. Coopertition™ is a core tenet of FIRST, as evidenced by the patent FIRST received for it last year. Breakaway’s ranking system uses the combination of alliance scores and Coopertition Bonuses to rank teams based on their ROBOT performance during the Qualification Matches. The objective of the system is to reward high-scoring, close, competitive matches. Furthermore, we intended to make a disincentive for teams to win with a high margin.



Several members of the community have identified opportunities within the ranking system to achieve very high scores, but at the cost of the competitive nature of the event. In an effort to remedy the issue, we have amended the ranking system to add 5 seeding points for the winners’ score. The expectation is that winning will be a priority, but still values the high, close-scoring, matches.



Go Teams!

[Joe Johnson]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Greetings Teams:



In the spirit of Continuous Improvement, we have made some changes to team seeding points. The following is included in Team Update #16: <http://usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Robotics_Programs/FRC/Game_and_Season__Info/2010_Assets/Team_Updates/Team%20Update%2016.pdf>



Now that the competition season has begun, and teams have been exposed to the 2010 ranking system, we would like to elaborate on the intent behind the system. Coopertition™ is a core tenet of FIRST, as evidenced by the patent FIRST received for it last year. Breakaway’s ranking system uses the combination of alliance scores and Coopertition Bonuses to rank teams based on their ROBOT performance during the Qualification Matches. The objective of the system is to reward high-scoring, close, competitive matches. Furthermore, we intended to make a disincentive for teams to win with a high margin.



Several members of the community have identified opportunities within the ranking system to achieve very high scores, but at the cost of the competitive nature of the event. In an effort to remedy the issue, we have amended the ranking system to add 5 seeding points for the winners’ score. The expectation is that winning will be a priority, but still values the high, close-scoring, matches.



Go Teams!

This is BEAUTIFUL.

I love that they give some detail of the problems experienced, give us a push in the right direction (5 pts for winning, we can debate if it is enough to get the perfect alignment of rewards but that is for another thread) and then explains in plain language their expectations.

Exactly how I would treat my kids in a similar situation.

I really believe that the FIRST community is one of the best in the world and we will rise to expectations. They don't have to lawyer this to death to get 99.99% of the possible bad outcomes out of the system. They tell us the direction and we will take it from there.

GDC, I salute you.

Joe J.

P.S. By the way, my son goes to a Jesuit school. They have some general rules about hair. Then they put an the end that if Mr. X or Dr. Y has a problem with it, you are out of compliance and you will have to fix it to their satisfaction. Life is like that some times. Better to learn it in Junior High and High School than when you are out in the hard cruel world... ...I think FIRST may do well to have a Mr. X/Dr. Y that will nip some of these hard to write rules to prevent strategies from taking root inside the FIRST community.

[nikeairmancurry]

+10 rep to the GDC