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Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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An idea to encourage EO's
I bet this one wont fly, but it will be interesting to see reactions to it.
A possible method to encourage Event Organisers to do so.
The biggest problem a Robot Wars Event Organiser faces is competitor turnout.. Its not worth organising a big visually appealing, well run public show for 5 or 10 robots, half of which will probably retire after round 2 or 3.
Also, as we all know, builders often run into time issues, and dont show with a working bot
(sorry, blew up my esc at 3am the night before the event when I finally finished wiring it up - translated - I left my job until the last minute, did a rush job, screwed it up, and so cant make it, sorry about that, your problem now)
So how about, instead of insignificant entry fees and piddly prizes, we put some serious motivation for both sides (EO and competitor) in there ?
Something like a $100 - $500 entry fee that has to be *paid in advance*, the EO doesnt even start organising anything until a certain agreed-upon minimum level of funding/entrants is reached *and paid for*, then the date is set X months from now and the process begins.
If a competitor doesnt show, they lose their entry fee entirely - no excuses, you failed to live up to your end of the bargain and left the EO in the lurch, so you lose.
For every round that your robot makes it into the arena and puts on a credible battle (as decided by the judges), you get x% of your entry fee back. Make it all the way to the finals, and you get 100% of your entry fee back.
[edit: - if you get knocked out of an eliminator comp, you can still get a smaller percentage of your entry fee back by doing filler or second-round fights (if you can) - or a round-robin type structure which allows you to continue competing even after a number of losses.
Win the event, and you get x% of the remaining unrefunded (due to competitor no shows) fees as prize money. The EO gets a percentage as their reward for doing the event.
This puts responsibility for trying to compete back in the hands of the competitors - removing the option for them to drop out anytime its too much work for them to try harder with without any penalty to them.
It gives the EO a guaranteed budget to work with up front and gives them some confidence that entrants will make a reasonable effort.
It encourages competitors to put in a serious effort, and gets rid of the last-minute junk bots from the big budget events. Junk bots can still play, if they are prepared to ante up against the competition, or they can enter a smaller event with a lower entry fee until they get better.
So, you want more, better organised, bigger events with an audience ?
Are *you* prepared to put *your* money where your mouth is and consider an idea like this ?
Or does that sound too scary and you want to retain the option to bail out without consequences whenever you feel like it ? In which case, I'll shut up and get back to doing other stuff.
Just a thought, opinions ? _________________ Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people
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Sun May 29, 2011 2:11 pm |
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Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Newbies - Dont play with the big boys if you arent prepared to lose
If you have put a serious effort into your bot, then you are risking more by possibly getting it reduced to rubble by a dangerous bot, than just a few hundred $ of cash. your hours of work and expensive parts could get destroyed.
If a newcomer made their bot for $100 and you threw it together in a weekend, then why should someone who has put more effort into their machine have to fight their way past a swarm of junk bots with little to lose ? The loseable entry fee keeps the junk bots in the background until they decide to be serious about it.
If time permits, an event could run a "budget class" with a lower entry fee in addition to the "serious class", but Im thinking that budget class is better off left for an entirely seperate event..
If you want to play little-leage football, thats fine, but dont expect a spot at the MCG on Grand Final Day unless you are prepared to pay for it. _________________ Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people
Last edited by Spockie-Tech on Sun May 29, 2011 2:51 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Sun May 29, 2011 2:48 pm |
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Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Well, the price then entrants are prepared to pay determines the scale of event that the EO can do.
If noone wants to pay more than $20, and the EO can run with that, then thats the type of event that happens - a $20 event.
If there are enough competitors out there that want light, sound, cameras and an audience and are confident enough in their performance to front $hundreds, then the EO knows up front they can spend Entrants x Fee $ in making a bigger production.
Without some system like this, I think that willing EO's are going to remain pretty thin on the ground as they are currently. _________________ Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people
Last edited by Spockie-Tech on Sun May 29, 2011 2:55 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Sun May 29, 2011 2:54 pm |
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Knightrous
Site Admin
Joined: 15 Jun 2004
Posts: 8511
Location: NSW
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With single/double eliminator style event, it would be very unfair to anyone that goes out in the first round and cannot get their robot back for a second round. Basically half the field is throwing away their cash before they event start fighting. However, if this is applied to a round robin event, this will work great, because all robots are aiming to battle for 1-2 days, round after round, you have a good chance of earning your money back in a fair way (IE:, If your robot battles for 12 fights over 2 days, you've done a good job and deserve to get your entry back). If your robot craps it out after 3-4 battles on day one, you'll get crap all of your entry back and it will go towards the winner / EO pool.
IMHO, round robin events are better as your guaranteed to have as many battles as you can survive, which is great for both competitor, EO and crowd! _________________ https://www.halfdonethings.com/
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Sun May 29, 2011 3:00 pm |
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