Are The Penalties Too High?

[AJunx]

Now that we have a weekend of regional competitions under our belt, I would like to bring up a question that I heard many people asking during the NASA/VCU regional:

Why are the penalties so high?

I am, of course, extrapolating that question out of comments that sounded more like:

-"These penalties are absurd!" or,
-"The penalties are ruining the game this year" or,
-"Why should we get an automatic loss (effectively) just because our alliance partner accidentally bumped an opposing robot while they were in the loading zone?"

As you might imagine, I didn't have time to ask each person who made such an exclamation about their personal opinions concerning the penalties. I figured the best way to get an idea of what the FIRST community thinks about the penalties this year would be to start a thread and include a poll.

Back to the question at hand:
Why are the penalties so high?

I believe there is an answer for this, and I had the good fortune to speak with Mr. Lavery about the subject. Basically, the creators of this year's game were very intent that NO ONE violate rules that could potentially endanger the health and well-being of the field attendants and referees. I agree with that principle and I think that it is most definitely working.

As the competition in Richmond progressed, the number of penalties (particularly those for interfering with a robot in the loading zone) decreased. Play became much safer [for the field attendants and referees]. The reason, I believe, is because teams knew that they could not afford to receive a penalty and still have any chance at winning the match. Before the quarterfinals our team (Team 619) met with our alliance partners and the one phrase that was repeated the most: "No matter what happens, NO PENALTIES."

I know there were plenty of people in Richmond who felt that the penalties were much too high this year. Please feel free to post your opinions and your underlying rationale.

-Andrew