Best 4 Year Game Career?

[EricH]

My take on 2010 vs 2014:

2010 had hits, shots, missed shots, and a consistent theme (which, for FRC, is hit-and-miss.... this one hit). It's the first year yellow cards were an option for the refs. The game pieces (or simulated game pieces) were readily available, there was terrain, and the biggest problem was the DOGMA penalties if a human made a mistake. (That, and 469 hogging all the balls they could get to .) But, due to some of the rules being the way they were, scores were low: you couldn't really fully possess the balls, and you were limited to one at a time. Low scores meant lots of ties. And the ranking system I won't even mention. (Yes, it was that bad.)

2014 had hits, shots, and missed shots. The excitement level was way up there. On the other hand, the entire game relied on the referees to make the right call with not enough eyes on the field, and to make it right away with a laggy system. To make matters worse, the penalty point values were out of whack with the scored point values.

I'd have to give 2014 the edge for the continuous action... but 2010 gets the edge for being somewhat easier to ref (and keep track of). YMMV.

To me, that's actually what can make or break a game, ANY game: if you get a penalty, is the value of the penalty in proportion to the offense committed AND to the typical score of a given match in that game? Recycle Rush actually nailed this one: get a penalty, score 3 totes or 1 noodle on a stack and you're even (other than the hit to the ranking points that you'd have otherwise gotten). Several other games were similar in the past--but, at the same time, there are games like '08 where simply spinning around in place in a lousy spot could get you a penalty (no joke--try G22 from that year, and add in that 2/4 lines were in a place the refs couldn't see 'em very well).