What is the difference between resigning and end game passing in terms of score, ranking, etc?
Nothing. The rating points exchange is the same regardless of win by resign or win by points.
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So winning by 5 or 50 points has no difference? I ask because counting points when game is not finished (resigned) usually needs human intervention by closing areas etc.
Correct. The margin of win has no effect on the exchange of rating points.
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Maybe you need to display this information somewhere?
Itās rather annoying when people just resign 2-3 moves before the end. I am absolutely convinced they think itās somehow better for them than just passing to lose by N stones.
Resigning is so-called āpoliteā way to end the game when one realizes he canāt win anymore, playing till counting and losing is kinda like telling that you either donāt know how to count or you are too lazy to count. (i belong to later)
Maybe, but i think it should be clear. I mean, itās the same as any other game where only two sides face each others, other one wins and other one loses, difference on score doesnāt mean anything after the game.
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My ego disagrees very strongly 
Seriously thoughā¦ yes, resigning is supposedly polite, but noone should feel compelled to resign a game she wishes to continue. if you are afraid you will annoy your opponent by playing on simply communicate to your opponent that you have recognized you are behind, but still want to play on/practice endgame or something. so far i havent met a player whos had a problem with that.
I on the other hand am absolutely convinced, that resigning just before the game ends is a way to play to the end of a game but sparing ones ego the pain of a 50 points loss 
. our brains are easy to trick that way. you should try not to feel slighted by it. it doesnt diminish your victory.
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Resigning is so-called āpoliteā way to end the game when one realizes he canāt win anymore, playing till counting and losing is kinda like telling that you either donāt know how to count or you are too lazy to count. (i belong to later)
What about fighting spirit?
I agree that resigning is considered polite, but a person can play through to the end for reasons that have nothing to do with counting. I like to play through to the end even if Iām losing because Iād rather go down in flames than quietly give up.
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I vaguely remember hearing that it was rude to resign when youāre close to the end, even if youāre behind. Never was clear on what ācloseā meant, though. If a game gets to late endgame, I tend to play to counting unless I make some huge, demoralizing mistake. Iāve seen a few NHK Cup games go to counting with a 10ish point difference (which, as far as I understand, is huge for a pro game), so maybe there is an etiquette.
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@archpaladin1 In my opinion, if the points difference is small and/or there is still room for some complexity, I agree. In the rest of the cases, I wouldnāt so much.
āGoing down in flamesā huh? I wonder if that isnt exactly the type of thinking i would perceive as impoliteā¦ 
But not to focus on the phrase: Fighting spirit is important! I guess the other side of that politeness coin is that players feel alright about resigning too early (which is also something ive heard complains about btw 
).
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I you did not read what I wrote.
Itās considered polite when you resign in the middle game or after a huge blunder that costs you the game.
I am talking about situations where they keep playing until the end and then resign. This is not polite, more like polar opposite.
In this case pass is the polite way to end the game. Not making random moves and waste opponents time just because you cant accept the loss and āhurt you feelingsā.
I resign when I know for sure Iāve lost. When I donāt, I let the game go to counting. There is one exception: if Iām losing by a lot of points from early on and I still played to the end (for whatever reason), I usually let it go to counting, because I feel it would be rude to play a lost game until the end just to resignā¦
Iāve taken games to counting that I was almost sure I had lost, just to find out Iād actually won by 20+ points. I could say I donāt count because when I know Iām ahead I play too passively, thus losing pointsā¦ but the truth is Iām actually too lazy 
So I only resign when Iām sure Iāve lost. Sometimes that only happens close to the end, what can I do? (besides counting, of course 
)
I am sure everyone has won games where at some point they think itās all over and huge loss is guaranteed.
If it looks close, why not download the sgf file and open it with something that can actually estimate the score? KGS client can do it well. Eyeballing the score is ok if you have huge lead. Manually counting is usually not an option because it takes too much time.
I consider it kinda cheating. I donāt really mind if my opponent does that, but I think if we should do something like that, then there is no point in actually learning to count, right? It isnāt much different from using the analysis tool, instead of learning to read.
sure, with a slow game, where you got plenty of time, counting is nothing hard. When you got 30 sec or less to make a move, itās a different story.
I think there is a VERY BIG MISUNDERSTANDING about the āpolite ruleā out there.
First: to play a complex game like GO to the end is important! Not only to look who won but rather to learn how certain position will play out for good or badā¦it is all about learning. Even if you can easily aproximate a outcome its even better to let your subconscioussness actullay see one of the results.
(You will steal this from your opponent AND you by just resigning)
BUT
of course it is unpleaseant to play a game to the end while you clearly losing.
To avoid this unpleaseantness in front of everyone else (remember: its an actuall board game in an asian culture, where ālosing faceā is a fix term) you CAN resign without a unpolitness whats usual comes with quitting earliyer and not playing to the end.
So it is for the winning party polite to accept the resigning without hesitation or repression.
Its funny to see how the āpolite ruleā become something different in our modern wolrd, where time is money and the weaker player have to decide that the game is lost without understanding, because it could be unpolite to play further. wtf
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Spot on sTan! +1
Generation snowflake is too obsessed with their own feelings and ego. Some call them the āMe Me Me Generationā with 58% higher narcissistic personality disorder than any generation before. Extensive research shows that generation snowflake (younger end of millennials) are the most entitled and spoiled generation in history.
If this makes you sad and hurts your feelings, take a selfy and complain to your hundred+ āfriendsā who, btw, wont recognize you on the street even if you run into them.
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Of course. But I would like to add that it is equaly as unpleaseant (or at least boring) to continue playing a game where you are clearly winning (or is it just me?) Resigning is a polite and clean way to end the game for both players, while they are both still enjoying it.
I must say I never really encountered this issue and in my experience weaker players are usually the ones to continue a clearly lost game because they cannot yet predict the outcome. If that really happens to you, then I agree that is a problem and a misunderstanding, but to me it seems you can easily help solve this and help the players by politely pointing out that the game is not yet lost for them in the chat. Right?
I just think that misundarstanding is best solved by telling the other side.
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I think he meerly meant it is problematic for the weaker player to have to decide, whether she chooses to resign or play.
If it gets to the point where the winning player has to encourage the player who is behind then they have both accepted that they are playing a teaching gameā¦ or at least some mix of teaching and serious play. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Im all for communicating such thingsā¦ makes them a lot easier to handle .
@sTan
Absolutely! All the talk about when to resign really misses how grossly impolite it is to be a sore winner and denying ones opponent a graceful loss.
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