Thanks chizzle. I will say that we appreciate all feedback, and it certainly shapes our program. You say you come to matches to get an honest appraisal of your skills. Well, apparently at this match, you got some feedback you didn't like regarding your listening and thinking skills, and that reflected accordingly on your 'run and gun' skills. You can certainly mentally reverse those stage penalties from your score that you felt were unfair and compare yourself that way, noone will know though and perhaps that the problem. ;-)
Less than 10% had similar cognitive pooch-screws, so clearly the intent to make people use their brains beyond 'run to box A, and if it's brown, mow it down' was not so challenging as to be unfair. The comments made by the ROs, MD on the forums, MD in the shooter's meeting, all clearly referenced _listen_ to your ROs and _think_, as this 3Gun is a very different test of skills than a typical IPSC match, for example. We specifically challenge our shooters with stages that emphasize thinking and solving problems in real time, and try to avoid any stage that begins with a 10 minute 'IPSC Parade'. That won't change. The vast majority of shooters seemed to welcome the challenge, even many of the ones who had similar brain-farts.
As far as the blindfolded stage, a lot of thought, discussion, and RO training went into that stage, as we knew some small percentage would be disoriented enough to not process the information in front of them (some of them were even RO staff). But that was the point, to artificially represent the confusion someone might have in a sudden high stress situation waking from a sound sleep. Nothing is perfect in the real world, but I'd say it worked out pretty well. I know for a fact (and I invite folks to watch Sinestral's video and listen to the ROs) that the ROs were consistently clear and thorough in their description all day. Noone is infallible, but I stand behind our ROs 100% in this case.
I'm sorry you had some disappointments. I hope you still managed to have fun, and went home with some cool stuff from the prize table.
Thanks chizzle. I will say that we appreciate all feedback, and it certainly shapes our program. You say you come to matches to get an honest appraisal of your skills. Well, apparently at this match, you got some feedback you didn't like regarding your listening and thinking skills, and that reflected accordingly on your 'run and gun' skills. You can certainly mentally reverse those stage penalties from your score that you felt were unfair and compare yourself that way, noone will know though and perhaps that the problem. ;-) Less than 10% had similar cognitive pooch-screws, so clearly the intent to make people use their brains beyond 'run to box A, and if it's brown, mow it down' was not so challenging as to be unfair. The comments made by the ROs, MD on the forums, MD in the shooter's meeting, all clearly referenced _listen_ to your ROs and _think_, as this 3Gun is a very different test of skills than a typical IPSC match, for example. We specifically challenge our shooters with stages that emphasize thinking and solving problems in real time, and try to avoid any stage that begins with a 10 minute 'IPSC Parade'. That won't change. The vast majority of shooters seemed to welcome the challenge, even many of the ones who had similar brain-farts. As far as the blindfolded stage, a lot of thought, discussion, and RO training went into that stage, as we knew some small percentage would be disoriented enough to not process the information in front of them (some of them were even RO staff). But that was the point, to artificially represent the confusion someone might have in a sudden high stress situation waking from a sound sleep. Nothing is perfect in the real world, but I'd say it worked out pretty well. I know for a fact (and I invite folks to watch Sinestral's video and listen to the ROs) that the ROs were consistently clear and thorough in their description all day. Noone is infallible, but I stand behind our ROs 100% in this case. I'm sorry you had some disappointments. I hope you still managed to have fun, and went home with some cool stuff from the prize table.