Non - GP-ism at SVR

[DougHogg]

Originally posted by srjjs
Their behavior, though perhaps not morally correct, is certainly understandable.
When one robot flips another, it is just a part of the game. It shows the superiority of one robot over another in one of the most fundamental aspects of the robot that appears in almost every game:stability.

If one team is happy because of the demonstration of their robot's stability and power, why shouldn't they cheer?

If any complaints about cheering were to be made, I would have complained that there was not enough of it, not that there was too much.

I think cheering is fine by and large, but sometimes it's inappropriate. What if two race cars were going down the track and one flipped and lit on fire. Probably the other team wouldn't cheer, even if it meant they were going to win. True, that's an extreme case to illustrate the point.

I guess the point is that it is against the rules to flip another robot intentionally, and the other team is liable to feel a little bad about that happening to their robot, so cheering would be a little insensitive. Comments like, "Whoa", "wow" or "holy cow" might be appropriate, but loud cheering right at that point, especially if the robot is a bit top heavy or having some kind of problem, seems a little like rubbing salt in the wounds. Now if it wasn't illegal to tip robots intentionally, maybe it wouldn't be as annoying.

It also depends on whose robot you just tipped. Have they been cheering loudly every time they bashed into your robot? Then go for it. Are they a stacker robot, trying to put some bins up and you just rammed them and knocked them over? Nah, I don't think we want to cheer too loud about that.

I think the idea is to have some consideration for the feelings of the other team members. Of course, it is a contest and people do get excited at contests. It would just be nice if everyone cared about the other people enough to think about what effect they are having on them. Certainly when teams help other teams before the match, that is showing that they care.

As to the agreements that have been occurring, unfortunately the current rules "celebrate" (by which I mean "reward") that practice, so it is liable to crop up until the rules get changed. Same problem really I think--caring more about winning than about the overall effect that one is causing. I have seen people pretty saddened by the results, saying such matches are boring, lacking in spirit, etc. (Some regionals seem to have avoided this all together, so it is possible, and if anyone knows how it was avoided, I would love to know.)

However, I think the post season forums for team discussion will be quite lively this year. And I bet there are some positive changes for next year. (There will be if I have anything to say about it.)

:-)