Indeed so - It's why I always thought battles should've been one-on-one between the monarchs rather than a slug fest between 1000s of peasants. All we got was Henry VIII wrestling a French king (he lost). That's it. There'd be a lot less fighting if it was one-on-one combat.

The same applies to the meritocracy. If you submit an idea / business plan / piece of writing then there should be no way to identify you ahead of everyone deciding what you've submitted is the best of all the submissions. Not enough 'competitions' are judged this way.

You make some very valid points. :o)