TIEBRAKERS to prevent RIGGING THE MATCH

[ChrisH]

Remember, the name of the game is QPs and EPs if you get that far. Whatever a team does to maximize it's QPs within the rules is OK with me. If that means (gasp!) co-operating with your opponents I don't have a problem with that. It is to your advantage to ensure that your opponents have SOME points. That may mean scoring for them and possibly IN SPITE of them. I know in the past we've scored points for an opponent in spite of their active opposition.

I have much more problem with teams "taking a dive" to lower their score in a hopeless match and therefore lower their opponents QPs. This is something we as a team have decided never to do deliberately. We will always strive to achieve the highest score we are able to. But let's face it accidents do happen. Like knocking over that tall stack while attempting to place that last box.

I was at the KickOff the year we first had alliances. I have told this before but not in a year or so and it may be instructive for the newbies.

In the process of announcing the game Woodie mentioned that something very strange had happened the year before. That year had been 1 vs 1 vs 1. The strange thing that happened was that NONE of the top 10 seeds on Friday evening made it to the finals. Doing a little research FIRST discovered that those teams were targeted by lesser ranked teams and interefered with to a much greater extent. The lesser ranked teams would ignore each other while deliberately lowering the score of the top ranked team in the match. They couldn't prove there was collusion, it may just have been that the teams independently decided that was their best strategy.

So Woodie announced that henceforth, since collusion could not be prevented, it would be required! They then went on to describe the alliance system we now know and (mostly) love.

In view of this history, I don't think FIRST will have any problems with four teams working together to achieve a higher score than would otherwise be possible. They will probably be delighted.

IF you make such an agreement, you'd darn well better KEEP it. Backstabbing your opponents at the last second will not help you win friends and word will get around pretty quick. Your team will be shunned and distrusted for years. People have long memories, and some of us mentors have been playing this game since you kids were playing with blocks. It could take a very long time to undo the damage done in a couple of seconds for a very minor advantage.