Anybody really dis-like the game?

[ChuckDickerson]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

I am saying that I don't want to see a world where doing the bare minimum is rewarded.

Your bare minimum may just be some other team's best effort. Everyone deserves to be rewarded when they work hard and do the best they can don't they?

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

If you want to compete w/ less resources FIRST just isn't for you.

Really? That sounds pretty elitist to me. I feel the opposite. FIRST is for everyone. You do the best you can with what you have and hopefully everyone leaves with more than they came with.

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

FIRST is for those teams that partner w/ a corporate sponsor.

Easy for a Michigan team to say I suppose. Anytime you want to come on down to a small Mississippi town and bring some big corporate sponsors with deep pockets with you we would be happy to have you. We are known as the Hospitality State.

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

If a team doesn't have a sponsor why is it FIRST's job to design for them?

Because every student deserves the opportunity to experiance FIRST, not just the students that live in areas flush with big corporate sponsors.

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Remember, FIRST is not about teaching students.

You are kidding right? FIRST is all about teaching! Professional mentors teaching students how to solve a problem to the best of their collective ability given the tools available and within the constraints placed on the solution. It is not about who can build the shiniest, fanciest, most sophisticated robot using the most expensive CNC equipment they can find. If you have that resource great, if not that's fine as well. FIRST should be for everyone. I could have sworn that I had seen one or two of the hundreds of thousands of FIRST students over the last (almost) two decades learning something useful. I'm sorry you fell you weren't one of them. I suspect your corporate sponsors would be sorry to hear the money they invested in you must have been wasted as well because I'm pretty sure the whole reason corporations invest in FIRST is because they fell it better prepares their future work force by TEACHING students real world lessons.

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

FIRST is all about partnering students with industry and making kids realize engineers are a hell of a lot better role models than Paris Hilton.

Agreed but that is just one of many things that FIRST "is all about".

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Why should FIRST encourage these teams by saying it is ok to not do what FIRST was designed for?

FIRST = For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. Inspiration and Recognition comes in many forms and on many levels. If a team (rookie or vet) can only build a box on wheels but they learned even a little something along the way why is that a bad thing? At least they built SOMETHING. I have run across many people that couldn't figure out how to get themselves out of a hole in the ground if you gave them a pile of 2x4s, handsaw, hammer, and a box of nails.

As far as the main thread topic, I love the game and thank the GDC for leveling the playing field in such a elegant way. I also love the Moon theme and the tribute to the 40th anniversary of the FIRST lunar landing!