Fierce Competition and Scarce GP

[Jnadke]

I'm not sure if anyone else experienced this, but at the Midwest Regional it seemed in general as if there was a lack of patience, and enthusiasm, among the participants. Mostly this became apparent at the awards ceremony as there was a general lack of enthusiasm except for a few teams. I saw that people were clapping merely out of courtesy.

Personally, I believe it is because the way this year's game is structured. This year, the game is structured more around the robots themselves being of strategic importance in the game, whereas last year it was mostly centered around the goals. This year, if you effectively remove your opponent from the game, you win the match, simple as that. Because of this, I found many teams using quite violent tactics (ie. flipping, ramming, cornering, etc) merely to win a match. While the game has been, and should continue to be, centered around a little physical contact, I don't believe it should be centered around the amount of violence that has been displayed.


FIRST has said that they are more than "winning", yet why do they structure the game in such a way that promotes robot violence? I bring this up so that this issue can be adressed before next year and tragedy can be averted.


Perhaps I am wrong. Any other thoughts on this? Maybe I am just behind the times and the rules/morals of FIRST are starting to change.