Real Week 2 update

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Boltman

I think to really do scheduling "correctly" some unbiased FTA needs to "adjust" when the computer prints out what it thinks is optimal based on some algorithm. The FTA knows or should know the perennial teams and could easily see the duplicates or inordinate amount of powerhouse pairings with a single highlighter . They could adjust anytime up to when its posted. It can be done and I think it improves the game play as well if instituted correctly.

This proposition is inherently contradictory. You are asking for an "unbiased" volunteer to introduce bias into the schedule based on their perception of historical robot / team quality. No matter how you slice it, that is biasing the results even farther from random than what they are, and there isn't even a chance of a volunteer doing this "fairly".

Changing the algorithm to try and pair teams of different ages with each other was tried once, in 2007, with generally disastrous results. The match making generator is already far from random when you consider all of the constraints on it - adding more constraints to make schedules "fairer" all but requires loosening one of the other constraints. In 2007, this meant matches had a consistent mix of young teams, old teams, and middle aged teams... at the cost of having to play with and against the same robots over and over again. It was almost universally disliked.

My advice? Get over the fact that schedules won't ever be "fair" however you see it, and work on becoming a team that isn't dependent on a perfect schedule to play well into Saturday / Sunday afternoon.