i totally agree with you on your answer thanks for the input
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Maybe “thrilling” is a better word?
Which can be fun at times.
When you play against opponents of your strength, you win 50% of the time. You try to outwit each other constantly.
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i can contest that is not true just because you are of the same k factor here does mean you are equal some like me are in the high 80’s some are just what they say 24k– all are lumped together at 24k– so it quite difficult to play someone of equal standard when the standard is scewed and even then if you do some players of equal k factor just play better than others so 50/50 split is not a fair assessement of what really happens as some players are on the way up and some on the way down
“Equal strength” means 50% win probability by definition.
OGS caps the ranks at the bottom at 69 kyu I believe (for whatever reason). If you are weaker than 69 kyu, you will not be paired against players of equal strength on average.
That OGS displays players from 69 to 25 kyu all as 25 kyu is an issue from my point of view. However, I believe the pairing algorithm does consider ranks below 25 kyu correctly. No “lumping together” I believe. (Except for the capping happening at 69 kyu!)
I would be a strong proponent for not capping the ranks (on either end).
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Agree, but I’d preface that with “In the long run…”.
I got curious one day, looked at my stats. Pandanet, Fox and OGS my winrate was ~53% on all of them (about 2000 games combined). I checked out TelegraphGo on fox, he also had 53% winrate at the time up there in the heavens. I checked out various pro players, ~50% until you get up to the very very top. If it were consistently alternating WLWLWLWLWL…I’d get used to that, wouldn’t take the wins or losses to heart but of course there are streaks. Even TelegraphGo had an 18 game losing streak once! One day I played 6 games on Pandanet, 5 on Fox and 4 on OGS, won them all. Got up the next day all enthusiastic, played all day and couldn’t win a single game even against bots who I normally beat. Currently I’m just saving effort by not playing - the net effect is the same.
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When you learn go you may think there is one correct way to play. The advice is to find the balance between influence and territory, between fast play and thickness, etc. Balance everywhere.
But it’s your life. You should play in a way that’s exciting for you.
Sometimes I like to play calm, but usually I like pressure and going for a kill. Go was more fun for me after I read the Killer of Go. And after seeing the ultra aggressive play of the Asian players I was first intimidated, and that made me want to play like that. And sometimes I switch it up and play passive.
And perhaps a different player looks at my games and doesn’t recognise any of that. It’s all relative, that’s fine.
I think go is fun once you reach a level where you can experiment like this. To reach that you have to slog through the beginning. At the very least you must have some understanding of how to keep your groups alive, otherwise the rest is futile. Once you have that though, you can taste why this game is so addicting.
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More fun across the board
It is such a shame you do not have the chance to play across a real board. That is more likely to be fun, partly because the social element is much stronger, but sometimes also because you see how your opponent reacts to your moves. I have the impression that you quite like it when you have a bit more chat with your opponent, and across the board that is way easier than when you have to type everything, especially if you have never learnt to touch type. Across the board with a stronger player you would probably also pick the game up a lot faster, as the ease of communication also applies to explanations.
I personally also find it more enjoyable playing with physical equipment, handling the stones and seeing the board. And finally, I like having a beer or a glass of wine when I play casual games in our club; on-line that feels less natural.
Have you not got any neighbours who might be interested, or people who play other board games?
Your Go friend
You mentioned a friend who was a more experienced player and visited you (and, if I recall correctly, even played on OGS on your account — which I suspect is against the Terms of Use, even if the game is unrated, unless your opponent is in the picture). It would be ideal if they had a travelling Go set, and could bring it on a visit to you and teach you some basics. They could also show you how to play against bots on OGS, which would give you the chance to play at appropriate handicaps and practise the fundamentals.
Fun or satisfaction?
I think perhaps you should not look for fun so much as satisfaction. I suppose it gives you some satisfaction to reach you goals in Delaying Capture. but I still hope you will move to real Go. One problem with Delaying Capture is that it ought to be less satisfying, simply because you know that your opponents are seldom really competing with you, because they are not usually trying to stop you reaching your goals.
A game of Go presents you with a series of more or less closely related puzzles, and solving any one of those can be satisfying, even if you do not get the satisfaction of beating your opponent. It can also be satisfying to put into practice something you learn from the OGS course or a similar source: it feels good to see that you have (partially) mastered a technique, and to see that it is useful in practice.
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It’s mostly a formality. Are you actually thankful to the other person for the game?
Terms like “glfh” and “gg” have been pretty popular in online gaming at least since the 2000s when StarCraft took off as the first serious esport. (StarCraft is a real time strategy game that got very popular by having the first big esports league and it’s still played.)
StarCraft is very competative and people saying “glhf” didn’t really wish their opponent “good luck” for the game. They were just being polite. StarCraft players really hate to lose and especially to lose because their opponent “got lucky”. So that formality is especially ironic.
“gg” has become so common that it is basically synonymous with “I give up” and is said first by the player who lost / is losing. Therefore it’s always weird to me when someone on OGS writes “gg” at the start of the match.
This is the response of the most famouse western StarCraft streamer on what to say if someone says they’re “having fun playing StarCraft”.
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I’ve no idea how it got established, but at some point actual tournaments required this greeting, you could get DQd for not greeting your opponent or even using some unconventional form of greeting. In Korean settings especially, the Western folk seemed somewhat more relaxed
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Surely in that context it means “Have a good game!”, which is perfectly reasonable?
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See what I wrote before the “therefore”. It’s simply an expression that is usually (at least in my culture) used/interpreted differently.
If people on OGS would always tell me they are “afk” at the beginning of the game, then I’d figure out that they mean that they are on their phone and “away from a physical keyboard in the sense of a desktop computer / laptop” at some point. But it would continue to be a weird phrasing to me.
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Not sure from which culture you come (I do, however, know that “Regenwasser” means rain water in German, my native language), but in the context of online and IRL Go I’ve known “gg” at the beginning of a game to mean “schönes Spiel” – (have a) good game – for more than two decades.
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quite interesting this line of thought-- so Goed gespeeld! to the telling of these cultural differences
Oh man, I just wanted to point out that writing “have fun” is more of a formality. If you guys want to say “gg” at the beginning of the game I don’t want to stop you 
I see now that I worded that very unfortunately. I was referring to “online gaming culture”. Not to the country where I’m from.
I have played a good number of competitive online games over the years. In my experience “gg” stands for “good game” in the sense of “Gutes Spiel” (as in what you say at the end of a match). It is a more popular variant of “wp” or “ggwp”. At the beginning of a match “glhf” is more popular.
Edit: I’d also say that it is rather uncommon for people to say “gg” IRL. I found this video on the topic but you’ll find tons of content if you search for stuff like “that’s a gg” on youtube.
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I think that this is the most standard convention, as well.
“Gl&hf” at the start of the game and “gg wp” at the end of it.
That also makes sense, as well.
A wish for “good luck” is obviously talking about the future, so it is reasonable only before the game begins.
Saying “good game, well played” literally/grammatically implies that the game has concluded.
In Go I always thank the other person for the game because, as far as I am concerned, all Go games are “good games” by definition.
In other online games I do not, unless it is true, since there are a lot of online games were having a good/fun game is not guaranteed at all (e.g. the aforementioned StarCraft, League of Legends and so forth).
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a new book by Kiseido publisher
‘How to get fun at Go - a guide to enjoy the game when you have an annoying opponent’
price: ¥420
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just having an average loss night again tonight— i have not reached my goal in about 7 games in row very depressing but i did try sometimes different in the beginnings at each game that I thought would work out better, but sadly did not, and just led me down the prim rose path of destruction, getting beat up pretty badly in the first 50 moves or so --need to learn to stay away from my opponent more i think – not attack at all or try to encircle-- see if that helps — and maybe i will try a recommendation form one of my helpers here and just try to control one corner per game – maybe that will work out – side note my chess latley has also sliped about 15 points or so – so maybe its a mind thing happening tonight ?
i just finished the night at 10 in row not reaching my goal so enough for
tonight i guess
Hello @dokbohm The important thing is that you are enjoying yourself in your endeavour on OGS..
By the looks of it you are showing improvement. In the game below you made several living groups and reached your goal. So congratulations!!
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yes one of very few that i felt good about thats for sure
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