Who would like to see longer matches?

[mwtidd]

Originally Posted by MaxMax161

The big thing that's different in FIRST compared to something like the NFL is that FIRST has a LOT more teams. There are many teams who can't afford to go to more then one regional so they need to cram an entire season worth of games in to a few days, unlike say football where they have an entire season for an entire season's worth of games.

I think that the only way you could do longer matches (assuming the technical problems can be overcome) is by either making regionals longer to accommodate the increases in time or making more of them so that there's less teams at each one.

The downside I see with longer matches from a spetators point of view is that scoring could be slower. I know the game would be different but take this years game, in the higher level matches eventually the racks would be full and the game would start to get drab.

I think that for the purpose of getting more spectators longer matches wouldn't be the best place to start, I'd look at number of game pieces and stuff like that first.

For a 2 minute game to be interesting, they should switch back to 2v2. Its chaotic on and off the field, and for a spectator its tremendously easier to watch 4 robots compete rather than 6.

Regarding a second regional, I spoke on it briefly, but FIRST regionals usually cost between 200 and 300k. WPI has a model to host a regional for between 50k and 75k. By hosting a season of university events, then regional events, and finally the championship, all teams could attend 2 events. If it was a goal of FIRST to support this model, you could attend a university event for 500 - $1000. Much of the cost to a FIRST regional is due to renting out huge venues, where it is nice for a big event, being a pig like that has its cons. Also where some teams pay 5k for a rinky dink venue, vs teams that pay 5k for BAE and other huge regionals is not fair.

Where we don't have a whole season, and spectators don't have time to get familiar with the teams, increases the need for a longer match so they can at least get familiar with the robots in that match.

Again I think FIRST could learn a lot from video games and field games. With video games there are many conscious design decisions that incorporate into how much fun a game is to play and watch.

but I agree, it would be a big change, and if done wrong, it would go horribly wrong. However in my eyes the current FIRST model is starting the break (hence the 10% loss of teams every year). I think FIRST should start looking to reduce costs and a good place to start is the $5000 price tage for everyone. If you go to a rinky dink regional that costs 100k to pull off you should pay less than someone who goes to a 300k regional.