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Official Q&A: VRC 2020-2021: Change Up
772: World Skills Standings Calculation
I would like to ask for clarification on the topic of how world skills standings are calculated. It is clear that in RobotEvents a team's final score is a combination of driver and programming scores from the same competition. However, in Page 6 of the Skills appendix, that metric is only listed as the first "tiebreaker" and not as the initial ordering of scores. If this is the case, can one not assume that the initial ordering may be based on another score (such as the highest programming and driver from any event) and then the tiebreaker is if someone scored those both at the same competition.
My team wishes for this to be reworded in future publications of the Skills Appendix if scores from the same competition are to be your primary order and not, as it says, the first "tie-breaker". It would have had a large impact on our season if we had known. Thank you.
The section in question reads as follows:
Teams will be ranked Globally based on their Robot Skills scores from Tournaments and Leagues that upload results to robotevents.com according to the following tiebreakers.
Highest Robot Skills score (combined Programming Skills Match and Driving Skills Match Score from a single event).
Highest Programming Skills Match score (from any event).
Highest sum of Skills Stop Times from the Robot Skills Matches used for point 1.
Highest Skills Stop Time from the Programming Skills Match used for point 2.
Highest Driving Skills Match score (from any event).
Highest Skills Stop Time from the Driving Skills Match score used for point 5.
Earliest posting of the Highest Programming Skills Match score.
Earliest posting of the Highest Driving Skills Match score.
The word "tiebreaker" in in the opening sentence could be replaced with the word "criteria". One way to think about this ranking list would be to add a step "zero", before any scores are submitted, where all Teams are "tied" with scores of zero. As soon as any scores are submitted, they have then broken that "zero" tie, and it moves to the next item.
The intent for using the word "tiebreaker" was to reinforce that no subsequent criteria could out-rank a criteria above it. For example, a team with a 100-point Programming Skills Match Score may still rank below a team with a Programming Skills Match score of 10, but a 120-point combined score from a single event.
If this does not answer your question, please feel free to rephrase and re-submit.