This year's "game" is a job, not a game

[BHS_STopping]

I think this game is quite exciting, at least from the perspective of a team member. I've really enjoyed the season so far since we're continuously iterating and improving our design. I like how we can purely focus on playing the game instead of making provisions for highly variable things like defense. On the other hand, it does feel more like a match of solitaire than it does an actual competition. However, there exist many non-interactive sports which are still exciting and easy to appreciate: Gymnastics, track and field, swimming, and so on. How many of us would argue that the 100m dash would be better if runners were allowed to trip each other?

Sometimes a game requires you to put aside things like opponent interaction. We would never have a game like Recycle Rush if defense was a major factor; the GDC would certainly be stifled for creativity if they only allowed games where robots could prevent each other from scoring. Sometimes defense allows for a grotesque imbalance between the effort required to create something and the effort required to destroy it. I'll take 2007 as an example: It was way too easy to shut down a really good team by simply getting in the way. I hate watching games where robots simply slam into each other and struggle to do anything exciting game-wise. This year's game has forced teams to build more than just a working drivebase. Recycle Rush is helping to raise the bar of general robot quality and has been encouraging teams to step up their game and think more about neat designs and strategies instead of impromptu tactics during a match.

I feel like we're going to see some very exciting matches in St. Louis this year. Instead of having to drag down the best teams via defense, teams must instead iterate and evolve in order to remain competitive. Teams are pushing the limits every single match, and to me that's exciting. I can really appreciate the amount of skill and precision that goes into crafting and executing the perfect match plan. I want to see two killer alliances face off on Einstein and have to be just *that* much better than the other in order to win. I want to see robots have to race to create their stacks just a few seconds faster because their opponents are just as evenly matched as they are.

In addition, I'm glad we have a game this year where few teams had the ability to recycle previous years' designs. I've been racking my brain the last 2.5 months to try and solve all of these brand new problems. I don't think I've ever had to think as hard over my last ten years in FIRST as I've had to this year. I suppose that's worth something.