FIRST & Combat Robotics

[Nate Smith]

Originally posted by K2unit
Third question:
With the near competitionless “challenge” the FIRST game was last year, do you believe that we will have a new game this year with more head to head competition and a lot more of a “Made for TV” feel to the game? Should FIRST be pursuing the TV publicity?

I haven't seen enough of the "combat robotics" programs to really address the other questions, I can say that FIRST has said there will be a return to a head to head competition format for this coming year, but they have been predictably vague as to what it means when they say that. Will it be a return to 2v2 as we have seen in years past, or something new? We'll have to wait a few more months to see....

As far as pursuing the TV publicity, while I commend the other programs for their efforts in getting on TV, I think that at the same time, it also hurts our efforts, not so much in getting on TV, as things such as the A&E program shows, but getting the viewers that it would need to keep us on the airwaves. I feel personally that people any more, when you tell them that another robot show is coming on TV, will automatically associate it with the shows they already see. What their reaction will be when they see something entirely different, I honestly don't know.

I personally don't think that we should develop the game and the competition in general specifically FOR TV, as doing this, I feel, will cause us to have to lose a lot of what makes FIRST stand out among all of these competitions. When you start trying to design something specifically for TBV, you have to take too much into account what Joe TV-Watcher at home will want to see. I know this question has been raised before, but the question still remains in my mind, do we really need the nationwide, series-style TV coverage to continue to grow? The fact that FIRST has seen a 50% growth rate without massive, or even substantial, amounts of TV coverage makes me think that we would be fine without our own series. Yes, getting a spot on nationwide, or better yet, local news, will help, but the massive amounts of coverage that Battlebots and other similar programs have I view as simply a perk, not a requirement.