I play mostly long (correspondence) games (ladder, lately). Since those last days, weeks or more, I take it for granted that during this time, players would naturally come to try and know each other a bit, exchange in the chat about the game or whatever comes to mind, the weather in their respective countries, the music they love, unameit. After all, playing Go is a social interaction, and an opportunity to practice a foreign language.
So, I feel most frustrating to have a long game with the only exchange in the chat being āgl hfā in the beginning and āthx for the gameā at the end, or even less than that. Some players donāt even answer your first āhelloā and never answer any question, not even : I prefer not to answer. When my opponent is too silent, I usually try to ping him/her by some humorous remark. With various success.
What do people think? Is conversation with your opponent important for you, or you donāt care about it, beyond formal minimal exchange hello/thank you?
If the opponent doesnāt say anything then that probably means that he plays from a smartphone, eg. on the bus to work, and that he doesnāt even see the chat or itās too much of a bother to type much. Thereās no helping that really.
Indeed. I play on a laptop, I never used (and certainly never will use) a smartphone and I hardly imagine how you can see, let alone play on such little screens. I tend to forget that most players are youngsters (under 60).
Iām 50 and I play mostly on my smartphone: itās hard to see the chat this way. You have to intentionally scroll down to see if you opponent wrote anything.
I usually do it in correspondence games, because I like to chat, but in live game it could be difficult.
Itās not important to me, I rarely start a conversation (other than greeting), but I certainly do reply if my opponent starts it and in some cases Iāve really enjoyed it.
Related to this: Iāve not yet really gotten used to the in game chat being public. Itās not what Iām used to from other sites and I find it slightly disturbing.
The problem of phone interface I was not aware of leads me to a related question. What is the proportion of players playing on phones? I guess nowadays it is a vast majority (there are certainly stats on that on the servers), so I would suppose that interface should be mobile-friendly. If the chat is not immediately visible, I suppose it was not a priiority for developers in a reduced space.
Most of the time I donĀ“t talk during correspondence games (It feels weird to me), but if IĀ“m playing a live game on desktop IĀ“m happy to talk, although I donĀ“t like to initiate the conversation, but when I play on mobile I usually say hello and gg, but itĀ“s a bit of a bother to do so.
Iām a strong believer in the formalities, I open out with Hi letās have a good game!
And close with thanks for the game!
It doesnāt personally bother me if one of my opponents doesnāt say anything, and Iāll often leave it at that unless my opponent says something else
Smart phones are such a limited real estate that theyāve put everything they can into making the play experience itself the primary screen occupant. Making chat visible at all times would make game play impossible.
I only recently got into Go again and have been playing with a couple guys who offered a game after I posted on Reddit. Those two games are very social and we chat(ted) while playing. I quite enjoy the interaction as it simulates a social OTB atmosphere. But in games that I play with ārandomā players that accepted a game offer, there hasnāt been much chatting, just the standard greeting.
If I played on a phone or had a lot of games going on simultaneously, Iād be less chatty because itād get too much or be inconvenient (phone).
The same applies to me somehow, when I know people in real life I tend to chit chat a little. If I play a game with an unknown and we do a review that is nice, I could befriend him/her and chatting in other games in future is easier.
I do like to start end the game with a greeting, and I appreciate the return. If the other person doesnāt reply it could be that he doesnāt understand or doesnāt care or didnāt see it on his phone or just wants to play and say nothing, or some other reason, thatās just how it is sometimes.
Like you, I very much enjoy chatting during a correspondence game. During a recent game I took a āStreetviewā tour of my opponentās country (Singapore), and we talked about some of the features. Perhaps itās our age (Iām 63); things were a bit more leisurely in my youth. I also canāt imagine playing on a phone. It takes me about 5 minutes just to type a phone number, because of my large fingers.
I like chatting during correspondence games. I donāt always engage in conversation though. But if I do, I donāt feel insulted if I donāt get any reply. Most of the time I open with a greeting, and close with thanks. After live games I sometimes like to talk about the game I just played. Again I donāt feel insulted if my opponent doesnāt greet back, doesnāt returns the thanks, or doesnāt reply the game comments after a live game.
There are multiple reasons why an opponent might not reply: Perhaps they donāt speak English, perhaps they donāt see the comment, perhaps they are shy, perhaps they find me annoying, they might even believe it brakes the etiquette of go to talk during the game. Whatever the reason, Iām fine with it and will continue to enjoy the game.
Since the game is referred as āhand talkā(ęč«) in Chinese and Japanese, I assume one cannot be criticized for only saying hello/thanks for the game. Still, it would be great if I can practice Japanese one day with my opponent.
I definately prefer some light conversation to nothing. I will definitely always answer and be polite, but Id prefer if the conversation is there for a reason, and not just āhow is the weather?ā.
I also almost always play on a smartphone, and have no real trouble in using the chat.
I think people should make more use of the chat in general, I enjoy it, but do you think there should perhaps be a setting to switch it off when creating a custom game? Then if one does not want to converse and have to deal with being impolite or not, can simply switch it off. (Maybe its been mentioned above, didnt read all responses.)
I used to like chatting in correspondence and live games but as my competitive spirit take over, I rarely chat with my opponent unless I know them before the game. I will just greet them and start playing.
When I have a strong urge to win the game, I just donāt feel like chatting until the game is over. I also find it a little bit frustrating that most people donāt stay for aftergame review.
If my opponent makes a really good play I will mention it, and if I really goof up I will mention it, but because I am of the āpre-textingā generation, I write out my comments in grammatically correct English, and this can take more time away from the game than I can afford. I have chatted after the game if my opponent doesnāt run away too fast.
Standard comments, like my greeting at the start of the game, are written out in WORD, copied, and are then pasted in when someone accepts the game.
How anyone can watch a game on a smartphone is beyond me. That is so SMALL! I need my 17" screen. My own phone is a āspecial needsā phone and will only make phone calls.
hmm, I play 9 by 9 live game or 19 by 19 correspondence game on my 4.7 inch phone when Iām on subway. I think itās frustrating that I canāt see the timer and the board at the same time but the size of the board is fine for me. Itās a great way to kill time on transit.
letās have a good game!