I'M NOT SANDBAGGING

[ErikW]

Joshua, that's not gaming or unethical, that's making the best of a poor course design. Hopefully the designer learned from the experience and won't give up in frustration of having his stage gamed.

[Detlef]

in fact, I think *ethics* has as little place in planning a strategy for a stage as it has in our practical shooting roots (winning a gunfight). Need to *cheat* to win? Go for it (gunfight) or go for it within the rules (IPSC match)! Maybe the stage designer *wanted* you to think? Never attempt to guess the stage designers intent...

--Detlef

[joshua]

I guess I should just stop listening to shooters who doesn't have enough brain power to game the stage design, because they are getting to me.  I love shooting as fast as I could so bring it on.  josh

[Ron Ankeny]

joshua:

Poor course design sucks. I agree with Detlef and Erik, there is nothing wrong or unethical about gaming a stage. In fact, it is an important part of the sport. The objective is to get the highest hit factor that you can get and if that includes skipping targets where the time doesn't justify the points then that's part of it. Good course design encourages shooters to go for 2 Alphas on every target (or knock down the steel).

Where ethics does come into play is during small club matches. If I see a problem with shoot throughs, etc., I will bring it to the MD's attention. If they choose not to fix it, I'll game it to the max.

[jkmccoy]

I'm with Detlef...you can't always guess the stage designer's intent. I take particular delight in drawing up stages that some shooters will try to game (without really gaining any advantage).

I set a real simple stage at one of our local matches a while back. Four targets on each side of a Bianchi barricade (three at about 4 yds and one at about 12 yds on one side, three at 12 yds and one at 4 yds on the other side, a couple of no shoots just for fun). The stage descriptions just said engage all targets from inside the box. One of our gamier shooters pointed out that the stage description didn't require shooting from both sides of the barricade. I agreed. Although almost everyone shot from both sides of the barricade, he shot the entire stage from one side (shot the last target as he was stepping out of the box). He didn't win.

Cheers,