Hi all!
I'm one of the 2020 (better to say 2021) wf participants, according to this link there are two major differences between the upcoming WF and previous WFs:
- Each team member will be provided with a computer.
- The competition is scheduled to last four hours.
Obviously the first rule results in the second rule because when teams can write codes on three computers they are faster and so time should be reduced.
But the reason mentioned in the link for the first rule is " Individual computers are provided for health safety purposes. " which looks kinda meaningless.
The reason I say that, is that all team members which participate WF on-site are fully vaccinated, multiple times PCR tested people, and if they're infected by COVID, they will spread the virus between themselves in the hotel room they have to share or all the other places they are in touch together.
The only logical reason for the first rule (in my opinion) is that it tries to synchronize two scoreboards ( ICPC World Finals Championship & ICPC World Finals Invitational which are defined in the link) which doesn't look like a fair trade off to me. And it is good to mention that it won't be a satisfying experience for two years awaiting participants if three team members are separated from each other meanwhile they have three computers. It isn't much different from online participation which was available a year ago.
Which one do you choose? to change ACM ICPC WF procedure for separation of three fully vaccinated, PCR tested people for health safety reasons or to experience a normal WF after two years of waiting?