Your Opinion Please....

[robotwars]

Ok, random question.... came from a random thought ive had for a while thinking about the future...!

What is your thoughts if the events didn't make any money and the EOs decided to slow down on the shows or event stop?

Options.

Touring the Uk in a class 3 arena, maybe in the future only 4 events throughout the year with audiences and a show atmosphere.

Or....

A fixed arena in a warehouse, maybe class 1 so both fws and hws can use those nasty spinning things. maybe the two major EOS put together their resources and do it jointly, maybe an event a month... probably little or no audience, but a social weekend of robots ( sort of underground ). But roboteers would have to pay a yearly subscription to fund it.

Just wondering what drives people with their robots.... if theres no big events with a show and atmosphere... would people give up, or would they like to then carry on but without the audiences.
Whats more important... the buzz from the show and entertaining... or building and fighting robots to the death.


Dont read into this that I'm about to give up or anything, its just a bit of discussion, RR events are doing fine at the moment, and venues are already being booked for 2011, its just a bit of forward thinking, and what if scenarios.

John
Roaming Robots

[robotwars]

I think I missed something...

Instead of turning this into a once a month full on full combat competition, it could however be turned into a social event.

Play robots, grudge matches, full on fights, it doesn't have to be limited.

Fit swannys bar in the corner and have a drink afterwards.

Just use it to do what we all enjoy.

[RogueTwoRobots]

Whats more important... the buzz from the show and entertaining... or building and fighting robots to the death.

Definitely the building and fighting to the death aspect. The atmosphere of a show can be nice and getting people asking for your autograph is a lovely little ego boost ( ) but if there was no audience I would still fight, hopefully with at least one full-combat featherweight event a year.

Funnily enough I was wondering about something similar recently, the fixed arena in a warehouse idea. Been working my way through RW series 1 and 2 on Youtube so far and seeing the way they built the studio into the warehouse made me wonder if something similar would be feasible for the current level we're at with robot combat here.
If anything, it would make a better foundation for recording a new RW based TV show having a fixed loaction, rather than trying to film fights through an arena designed for touring.

The social aspect (Swanny bar, play fights etc) would also be lovely. Its great fun taking on opponents at a competitive level but mucking about in the arena with robots without having to worry about pleasing a paying public would make for a relaxed atmosphere.

With regards to a yearly fee, it's the only way something like this would be viable. Some people might not like it and for younger roboteers it could be costly depending on how much the fee was but if it helps support the setup then it's required.

Some of the roboteers in Australia have a similar setup. The fee for this year is $100AUD (~£60) and I believe some of that went to replacing the floor of their fixed location arena. They've also started beetleweights/kilobots this year. I'm sure if Glen or someone reads this they might be able to provide more info on their setup.

So to summarise, I would support such an idea

[ady]

if this was the way things went:-
i think location is key, as you have roboteers all over the country so i believe it would need to be somewhere central, otherwise you may loose a few who only attend events closer to home.
i also think fewer events would be better on peoples pockets, and make more of a build up to events.
personally i would still try and get a audiance if possible, it helps with the atmosphere, drums up interest, even if it is held in one area of the country, it would be a bit extra cash to put in a kitty to buy new things/upgrades....

the only disadvantages i could see is if you went to a event that you pay a yearly membership into and say the arena was getting a bit shabby in places, people might not be too impressed, or spinners were causing alot of damage pushing up the price of maintenance somewhat. also more than one EO would make a great competition but what about conflict of ideas etc....?

i have no idea of the costs involved so could be wrong in what im saying.

would you possibly get more tv interest?? having a designated place perminantly setup?

may not compete anymore but still have interest, i would say its something people should give further thought and post about.

i think cost would be the biggest factor as to weather people think its a good idea.

least their would always be enough tables and powerpoints, know where your going etc.... lol

just think jonno, never having to transport, setup or dismantle a arena again.... bliss lol

i dont know how many active roboteers are around 100? 150? say £100 each per year. thats £10-£15K a year, would that get you much of a warehouse? and thats before maintenance, insurances, bills.
im just guessing here and throwing opinions and numbers, i dont want a backlash.

no idea how many active roboteers their are, or how much it costs for a warehouse.

or perhaps have a audiance when its a major competition over a few days, uk/world champs,

[joey_picus]

Whats more important... the buzz from the show and entertaining... or building and fighting robots to the death.

Definitely the building and fighting to the death aspect. The atmosphere of a show can be nice and getting people asking for your autograph is a lovely little ego boost ( ) but if there was no audience I would still fight, hopefully with at least one full-combat featherweight event a year.

Funnily enough I was wondering about something similar recently, the fixed arena in a warehouse idea. Been working my way through RW series 1 and 2 on Youtube so far and seeing the way they built the studio into the warehouse made me wonder if something similar would be feasible for the current level we're at with robot combat here.
If anything, it would make a better foundation for recording a new RW based TV show having a fixed loaction, rather than trying to film fights through an arena designed for touring.

The social aspect (Swanny bar, play fights etc) would also be lovely. Its great fun taking on opponents at a competitive level but mucking about in the arena with robots without having to worry about pleasing a paying public would make for a relaxed atmosphere.

With regards to a yearly fee, it's the only way something like this would be viable. Some people might not like it and for younger roboteers it could be costly depending on how much the fee was but if it helps support the setup then it's required.

Some of the roboteers in Australia have a similar setup. The fee for this year is $100AUD (~£60) and I believe some of that went to replacing the floor of their fixed location arena. They've also started beetleweights/kilobots this year. I'm sure if Glen or someone reads this they might be able to provide more info on their setup.

So to summarise, I would support such an idea

I'm with you Jamie I think there should still be scope for having events happening for an audience if it did go down that route - maybe with the more 'fun' events such as Fairford and Aylesbury where you don't necessarily need to have a full competition going (so you could take a class 3 arena that could be put up/taken down easily and just mess around with the robots for the entertainment of people :P) as there seems to still be a core of people who like going to and watching events, attendances seem reasonably good still considering the credit crunch. From a personal point of view I'd be more than happy to pay a fee or support the event organisers any other way they asked us to if it meant I could go to events with my under-construction featherweight and fight and have fun ^^

[xtreme]

Id be well up for a fixed location Class 1 arena. Not having a big audience wouldnt bother me and im sure wouldnt bother alot of people, I go to events to fight robots and talk to people. Having a fixed location arena and not much of an audience would mean there was less of a show. The putting on a show part takes up alot of time, Im sure people would be happy if they got more fights with there robot over a weekend like at the robo challenge events. We could always take off from where robot wars finished and have a filmed show where we just have a series of knockout rounds where every fights filmed and catagorised into heats, once a full series is done release the full series + Side attractions + Competitions on DVDs. Plus you could still maybe do the more popular venues. Id love to see some heavyweight spinners in the arena too.
If it ever came down to the EO's having to stop doing the shows, All the roboteers would have to chip in to help set somthing up. Everyone would be left with two choices, help out funding and work wise or quit doing somthing they love to do and not be able to use them robots they have put so much time effort and money into. If to enter a robot into a weekends event it was a tenner it would be worth it to the roboteers. Pay a tenner to use your robot or have for example grands worth of robot sat there doing nothing. If sombody takes one robot to an event every month you get 120 quid that you wouldnt have had before. Say you average at about 40 robots per event with the heavys and feathers your getting nearly an extra 5 grand a year, Plus maybe charge for CO2 even if its not alot just a few quid from each person thats using gas for the day.

[banana_man]

Hi all,
nothing particularly well thought out, just a few ideas and opinions
I like the idea of a fixed arena, although, I am one of those 'cash strapped' younger roboteers that were mentioned earlier. I think that having the fixed arena would be great, and social weekends really appeal to me. When it comes to the aspect of funding this, perhaps we could put on two or three huge extravaganza shows a year, and have a paying audience. This way, we could still have a class 1 fixed arena, but avoid huge costs for those roboteers who might find a high subscription fee prohibitive to taking part. A subscription fee may well still be needed, but the alternative funding may soften the blow a little. This may also help to keep interest in the sport alive, and enable us to make all the public events absolutely top notch (not that they aren't already) so as to really enthuse potential new builders.

[widow_twanky]

I reckon the idea of a fixed base has some legs. For me I may warm to the idea but it doesn't really apeal to me.

Putting that aside I reckon the 'business model' you suggest is a bit unrealistic and badly thought out.

Have a guess what my reaction to the question 'Tell ya what, lets have a system where I take no risk, you pay for everything and that stuff then becomes mine, i get full use of the facilities for other parts of my business etc!!' would be cos that's what I'm reading into it. Put forward summat you want people to invest in and take ownership of then maybe it'd be attractive but then again you lose control of it and end up getting charged for the use by other parts of your business....................................

I know that it's just an idea but a business plan based on someone else paying for everything and having a very narrow base of potential clients to pay what would realistically be a lot of money is likely to be a VERY short term solution. Especially when you've taken out any realistic opportunity for earning revenue elsewhere.

That said if there was an educational base attached to it where the EO's could make money from school visits etc then maybe you have a compromise solution.

EO's do need to make money and without that there's a difficulty in the sport continuing but I don't reckon isolating the sport from the mainstream and essentially launching itself into its death throws would be such a good idea.

That said i do find it hard to get enthusiastic about responding to this in any great detail cos i reckon once you look at the feasibility of it that you'd throw it out anyway. I also find it very disturbing that i fiond myself in agreement with swanny that it's the EO's responsibility to make a profit and run a successful business, not the responsibility of the roboteers to fund the EO's

Andy

[xtreme]

So if we leave it all down to the EO's and they find it financially impossible to run live events what do we do then? no safe enviroment to fight our robots against eachother, no warm and dry and safe venues where we can leave our stuff without having to worry about things going missing or getting wet if it rains. Most other competition sports and hobbys charge you to be a member or take part. For example with racing, you cant just show up at an official race meeting and race your car for free. you have to pay an entry fee, even if its none competition, that fee you pay pays for your insurance cover for that day of racing, track maintainance etc. Jonno didnt say we all pay for everything then he owns it. He said there could be a subscription fee. And I can understand why there would be. I think there should be a fee even with the current live shows that happen, even if its only a few quid, Like what was said at Robots Live the other week we are using loads of gas, alot more than we need to use. It is gas that there supplying to us for free, because its free to us we dont really think about stuff like only having got 1 or 2 flips in the last fight so there should be enough co2 in the robot to last another fight, The co2 just gets dumped and the bottle refilled. You could say if they didnt supply us with co2 we wouldnt have these good flippers that draw the crowds in to earn them money, but the audience arnt paying to see the co2 get dumped. With no big TV deals and funding and publicity like robot wars had its got to be hard for the EO's to do there live shows and earn money. So we should be helping out if we want to keep fighting our robots.

[robotwars]

HIya All.

Interesting reponces....

Dont get bogged down in this, the business model, whether we should pay for events etc....

I just wanted to find out what peoples perception of what the future is, and which they felt was more important..

1) attending 3 or 4 events throughout the year where there's an audience and show atmosphere
2) ability to attend a warehouse social event organised each month and fight their robots

I wouldn't just hire a warehouse and stick an arena inside it......Andy, your right there are lots of ideas to take other forms of revenue, theres also lots of goverment grants available for things like this.
it wouldnt be... You pay and I'll take thats for sure!!, I'd be better just walking away if that was the case.

Like I said.... venues are being booked for 2011, and we also have a few new projects on the go for the later half of the year so things are looking good for now, BUT.... we if things turn, its good to have a plan B, or at least some knowledge in which direction to run to.

John