A Recycle Rush Reflection

[JPopham]

While my team had a great season, and had a ton of fun, this is my least favorite game. I think, unintentionally, it does the opposite of what FIRST tries to do. What I mean is, FIRST wants robotics to be thought of as important as a sport, and that is why sports inspired games do so well, because it gets the crowd going, and can pull attention from all kinds of people who would not normally be excited about robots. With no defense, you take away a lot of the strategy in the game, and excitement. Also, rookie teams often could/would build defensive bots and be able to be competitive, teams can build a purely defensive bot and be an asset to their alliance. If you can't stack in this game, you are in the way and a liability for your alliance.

Also, hard to explain, but after a 3-regional season, I do think it is not as exciting for spectators, and it changes the way teams watch the games. In the past, teams would cheer on an alliance, with the win-loss system for ranking. Now, this year, I found a lot of teams/members cheering for low scores all around, because that helps your rank. This is not GP, and seems to take out alot of the spirit of traditional FIRST games.