Boring Game

[Valley Raider]

This is my first year as an alumni and i wad looking forward to watching my team on the web casts. However upon doing so I found it was not exciting.

From a distance most of the robots look the same, i found the numbers on the bumpers harder to read than in past years, making recognizing teams really hard, and the ranking system made the scores of the match meaningless.

Then i realized that that i never saw a single shot made from more than two feet, or a hang (there were only like 2 or 3 in the whole portland regional, i have watch some other highlights of hangs sense). I recognize that there probably were shots made from longer range and the web feeds don't catch everything, but i would say most points are scored from herding ball in from two feet away.

My conclusion was that this year game is just boring. I don't see two robots going at it, fighting to hang a ringer on the rack to double the alliance score at the last second to win. Thats what makes FIRST exciting.

So my question is, do people who watch the game live think it is exciting? Are there really cool designs across the board or are them really mostly the same? Is this year game just boring, or is it just the web casts?

[BrendanB]

I think it was very exciting! I am not surprised that you are seeing this since most of the teams are new. What I really like about it is that when a team kicks the ball, you know there is a good chance it will bounce out which makes moving balls more of a suspense to watch and such an excitement to watch.

I personally like this years game.

[Stephen of REX]

Its still week 1! The final match at DC ended up being 5 goals to 5 goals, with a two point hang, making the score 7 - 5. I'd imagine that as the season progresses, more teams will increase their capabilities, and the real stars will begin to shine.

[Valley Raider]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

I think it was very exciting! Notice, you are from Oregon so you must be talking about the rookie regional up there are you not? I am not surprised that you are seeing this since most of the teams are new. What I really like about it is that when a team kicks the ball, you know there is a good chance it will bounce out which makes moving balls more of a suspense to watch and such an excitement to watch.

I personally like this years game.

Yes there were a number of Rookie Teams but the Portland Oregon Regional has been around for years, there are a number of vets who always show up, yes there are no national powerhouses but in past years I have found the competition very exciting.

[synth3tk]

Well the webcasts always take away from the excitement of the match, but it does seem a bit bland to me as well. I can't know for certain whether I like it or not until my local regional in week 4.

[Vikesrock]

I watched the finals of KC which were quite good (IMO) and from what I've read the finals of Peachtree were quite good as well.

I highly recommend watching the KC finals between 2410, 1625, 16 and 525, 931, 2345, and see if that changes your opinion on the game at all.

Those matches are already archived and available:
http://www.more.net/content/2010-fir...-final-matches

[Duncan Macdonald]

It is not that bad. Webcasts aren't as exciting as attending an event because you never see the whole field and the team you want to watch is always off camera.

A mentor on our team came up with the system of multiplying all scores by 10 and results of 70-30 just felt more like a first game.

[dtengineering]

Webcast < Being there

Just wait another decade or so and we'll get our webcasts in 3D HD, with mulitple feeds so we can watch the robots and not the artfully selected close-ups of the drivers.

Jason

[MagiChau]

We had an exciting competition in Traverse City. It was an awesome first robotics competition for me There was full field goal shots and some nice mid field shots. This one team even got two balls in with one kick. We also had battle bots! Teams were constantly trying to tip over other robots.

[RobertG]

I found that my enjoyment of the game correlated significantly with the quality of the webcast. The high quality webcasts (KS and DC), I found very fun to watch as I could clearly the team numbers and all of the action. Other webcasts, however,(all of the U-Stream's) were barely watchable, and I had to depend on the announcer to follow the game.

Overall, I found this game much more interesting to watch because it was easy to tell a robot's alliance and the score.

[sanddrag]

On Friday in San Diego, I stood fieldside, and found most of the matches rather boring. I can remember three teams I saw hang, two of them multiple times. But other than that, and the occasional tipping, nothing too exciting. No real head to head action (yet) in this game. Everyone just seems to do their own thing. Were finals better I hope?

[Hurband]

Now I must admit I am biased but if you get a chance to watch the Greater KC Regional final you will change your mind. The Red Alliance was beat handily in the first match then rallied to take the next 2 in the most exciting matches I have ever observed in FRC history. For all present, including Bill Miller and Woody Flowers, it has to be the best weekend of our teams history.
Dick Hurban FRC 525 Cedar Falls, IA

[hg273]

You have to keep in mind that the GDC designed this game with the spectator in mind. My dad remarked that this year's game was much more exciting to watch, because he could tell which team was which, and what exactly was going on.

The only thing I wish was different was that more teams hung. Other than that, I think this game is great!

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Valley Raider

This is my first year as an alumni and i wad looking forward to watching my team on the web casts. However upon doing so I found it was not exciting.

From a distance most of the robots look the same, i found the numbers on the bumpers harder to read than in past years, making recognizing teams really hard, and the ranking system made the scores of the match meaningless.

Then i realized that that i never saw a single shot made from more than two feet, or a hang (there were only like 2 or 3 in the whole portland regional, i have watch some other highlights of hangs sense). I recognize that there probably were shots made from longer range and the web feeds don't catch everything, but i would say most points are scored from herding ball in from two feet away.

My conclusion was that this year game is just boring. I don't see two robots going at it, fighting to hang a ringer on the rack to double the alliance score at the last second to win. Thats what makes FIRST exciting.

So my question is, do people who watch the game live think it is exciting? Are there really cool designs across the board or are them really mostly the same? Is this year game just boring, or is it just the web casts?

The game is terrible to watch in qualifications and will only get worse in the coming weeks but is the complete opposite in eliminations and is terrific to watch in the elims when teams actually try to win the game.
I can't wait til the off season events when the stupid seeding system is dumped (we have already talked about it for Ruckus and we will not be using the ranking system at all but will be doing the traditional W-L-T method) and you will play a game that is interesting for the public to see all day long that rewards teams for being good at it instead of punishing them if they are too good at it.

[Chris Hibner]

Originally Posted by Valley Raider

From a distance most of the robots look the same, i found the numbers on the bumpers harder to read than in past years, making recognizing teams really hard, and the ranking system made the scores of the match meaningless.

My conclusion was that this year game is just boring. I don't see two robots going at it, fighting to hang a ringer on the rack to double the alliance score at the last second to win. Thats what makes FIRST exciting.

So my question is, do people who watch the game live think it is exciting? Are there really cool designs across the board or are them really mostly the same? Is this year game just boring, or is it just the web casts?

After Friday at Kettering, I was starting to think that this game was a dud. A LOT of matches ended 2-1 or 3-2 and the game play was pretty ugly. I was starting to be disappointed. That all changed on Saturday, especially in the eliminations. After eliminations on Saturday, I started thinking that this might be one of the best games FIRST has come up with. My opinion might change as the year goes on, but as the robots get better, this game improves drastically.

As far as the bumpers go, the numbers can be a bit hard to read, I suppose. However, the color-coded bumpers is a HUGE improvement for watchability of the game.