Gracious Professionalism VS Competition

[GGCO]

I agree that, at times, these two ideas seem to conflict with each other. However I think that there is a healthy balance that can be found.

First, a competition is only interesting when you compete against another evenly matched team and you both play at your best. So in the interest of a great competition, teams should attempt to help other teams out.

However, once teams compete on the field the gloves should go off! It's totally fair to exploit design flaws in the other bot just like it's fair to exploit strategic and tactical errors made by the other teams. I owe this to my opponent and they owe this to me. Anything less is not fair.

Where things become blurry are:
1. Designs - if we have a great design idea during build season should we share it with everyone?
2. Strategy at games - I know I said exploit this, but do you go out of your way and give advice to EVERY team in the competition? Or should you let them figure out the optimal way to play the game for themselves?

To go full circle, there is a line between GP and intense competition. The debate is just where exactly is that line.