QotW 06-22-03: Incentive

[Beth Sweet]

Personally, I dont think that it would ever happen. It would basically go against all principals of FIRST that I can think of. Nonetheless, if it did happen, I think that it might change the spirit in which some teams conduct their game play. But I believe that the vast majority of teams would stay true to their morals and keep the spirit of gracious professionalism alive. Thats one of those situations where you've just gotta trust that people would do the right thing.

[Ken Leung]

I would rather FIRST use the price money to put better parts into the kit of parts... Or better field electronics and scoring system...

[link871]

I know this may sound corny but I believe that FIRST in itself is a reward. As far as rewards for winners I feel that this is a bad idea as stated once before the winners would just keep winning. And who said that money doesn't matter in this sport. I think money is a big issue in these games. i find my team is always in need of some type of money flow. I think that the machining was a good idea but yet again i feel that FIRST is its own reward. the winners get the trophies and banner to hang so proudly. I do not feel that FIRST is doing anything wrong or should do anything different for the winners. I do feel that if FIRST did do this it would change what FIRST is really about and why FIRST is so great. The spirit would be gone.

[Ryan Foley]

Originally posted by EddieMcD
One word: Battlebots. Battlebots pays people when they're on TV. And FIRST doesn't want to become Battlebots.

then how about anyprize money being used only for paying the huge registration fee, or if they have the $5000, then as extra to go to other regionals.



I don't know whether it would be a good idea or bad. It would put gracious professionalism at risk. On the other hand it would help a lot of teams out I'm sure.

[dez250]

i would not like to see first become like that, because if money becomes then we need to have professional refs and people that wont be influnenced or bribed now to make a call for one team to win and they get a cut of the cash, and if we needed professional refs they would have to be trained and all call the same thing, meaning they would be paid and also first needs then to pay to train them. with that siad if money was a prize, other then scholarships, i would think everything and everyone else would suffer, everything would be not as good quality and we could loose big sponsors if they see their money going to one team and not equally to everyone. this question i personally think has alot of logistics behind it and i think to get a good answer you need less of a winners standpoint and look at everything, including who would provide the money, FIRST is allready scrapped as it is providing extra things, i just dont think they could provide a monitary prize, and it wouldnt be GP or fair.
~Mike

[Joe Johnson]

I think it would be great if the winning team got some sort of grant to the winning school that they could used to fund a teacher/coach for FIRST.

I don't know how to write it in legaleze/union contract wording but I think that giving teachers more prep time for FIRST related activities would be awesome. I think it would be a real incentive for school districts to give time to teachers who make FIRST happen.

As to what it would do to the FIRST community, I think not much really. It would be hard to imagine teams wanting to win more just because of some small monetary prize.

But... ...an award of something tangible to the schood districts, this is another matter entirely. I think that such awards could prove effective at raising the level of visibility within the schools and this could work to the long term advantage of FIRST.

Joe J.

[Gadget470]

Because of the vast differences in teams, I think implementing this would not be beneficial. As the question asks, were it to be started what would effects be:

Monetary Awards: I think this would cause a general Rich Getting Richer feeling among the "losing" teams. "That team gets $100,000 to do their program from their sponsors, now FIRST is giving them cash because they can build a good machine?"

Machinary/Tooling Awards: Some teams build out of a garage, others out of machine shops, others in the school. There are too many "Build Rooms" with such different capabilities and ownerships that rewarding tooling may be either not neccesary or not installable. For example, say team 30 (who builds in the school chemistry lab) is awarded a large lathe. Where would they put it?

College Scholarships: This is another hard one. Some students don't go to college after high school, they may feel gypped out of money. Some students go international with college. Some teams are huge while others are small. Would each student on a 40-student team get 1/40th of the "Scholarship Fund" or would each student get $X,XXX.XX. This again would be difficult. Say, the "Scholarship Fund" is 20,000. A 40-student team if evenly split would get $500 each, while a 10-student team would get $2,000 each. Again, the larger teams students would feel gypped. For the sake of evenness, say each student gets $500, regardless of team size. That small team only gets $5,000 while the large one gets $20,000. I forsee only problems with a "Winning Team Scholarship".



All in all, I would love to see my team get an extra bonus for winning, but when games get won more and more by chance pairings and judges decisions, some element of fairness needs to be established.

[SarahB]

Originally posted by Gadget470

For example, say team 30 (who builds in the school chemistry lab) is awarded a large lathe. Where would they put it?

Wow, I can’t believe someone actually knows us… especially someone who wasn’t at any of our regionals

But that’s not exactly right. We used to build the robot in the Physics lab, but we now build in the basement. If FIRST really wanted to give us a lathe, I’m sure we would find someplace to put it. We’re a pre-engineering school, we don’t need the Spanish classroom right?

But on a more serious note, giving away machinery could pose some problems with insurance and what not. I know with our school district’s red tape, we wouldn’t be able to use it until 3 years later, and even then it would take a couple years more for any of the kids to actually get certified.

[Steve W]

I know this may sound corny but I believe that FIRST in itself is a reward.

Corny or not, it is the reason I donate my time to FIRST. If this event became "Professional" then this volunteer would probably go elseware. I work harder at FIRST than I do at work BUT I don't expect money in return(except at work). I volunteer for the wages of seeing young people grow and excell. No paycheck can give such a thrill. If we did it for money, teams would play only to win. When this happens, you won't see team members helping opposing teams when they could be spending extra time scouting or tweaking their machine. Mentors won't be helping other mentors or teams try and fix those nagging problems causeif they did then that other team could beat them and then they would be out cash. Keep it the way it is. These rewards last a lifetime.