I think many here have made the same experience, which is trying very hard as well as very unsuccessfully to convince their friends how awesome go really is. for me it was like that too. sadly it is much harder to stay passionate about something if you have noone to share the passion with.
luckily though, a go meet just recently formed in my town and i am super psyched about it . i just hope our members are committed so it wont disband any time soon!
Edit:
yes! imho that is the largest group by far unfortunately (other than people not willing to try at all). it is easy to gain someones interest for a short time, or get them to try the game, after all go is not hard to advertise with its superlatives and history. on the other hand getting people to stick with it seems almost impossible in my experience.
Wow, this really got to me. Almost teared up.
I know your feeling, I have the same feeling.
This happened with my family members, I was much better than them when I introduced the game and when I kept on winning, they didnât find the game to be entertaining. Its my fault for not really explaining the whole game to them so when a formation like Ko would happened, Theyâd start question how I did that and such. So im really at fault. but Ive learned from that. I play GO at my highschool and I started to explain the rules more clearly, everyone there are interested because I go easy on them and try to explain the formations and moves.
I hope that you find a way to play more Go IRL, its a whole different experience and much more enjoyable.
You must know my wife⌠I had almost the same experience. We played one game. But without the motivation to learn the game the skill difference became so huge that by the second game I just got a âwhatâs the point of even tryingâ and the same with handicap: somehow people who donât understand the concept of handicap think that a win somehow doesnât count if it was with a handicap.
@Aymon Thatâs really cool that you have a durable club in a relatively small city; that gives me some hope. The external events you mentioned sound like a great way to promote the club.
@david265 I would love to read a book or article on that as well! If Iâm ever in Massachusetts maybe Iâll visit that club in Cambridge and we can play a game.
@kickaha I totally agree, & good luck with your local go meet! That sounds like fun.
@HexGO23 Thank you for the kind words and empathy! Thatâs great that youâre teaching go to other students at your school - perfect time to get people interested.
@Kabootle Sounds very familiar! I can still get my wife to play Scrabble with me on rare occasions; it seems like the luck and vocabulary elements of that game appeal to certain people who donât normally play strategy board games.
Today I played a 2nd game with my wife. This time, full 19x19 board with 25 stone handicap and brief instruction (definition of string, liberties, and two rules of play). I gave no lectures, but did answer all questions. Tried my best to win. It went great!
If people wonât take handicaps and donât like to lose, just lose some games yourself.
Improving at go requires a love of losing - true- but sometimes people need motivation. I would suggest losing at least some of your teaching games. It doesnt matter who wins, so if some one else needs to win to enjoy the game (and you need them to play) just lose.
Also, you can safely stick to 9x9 until youâre over 20k. This provides for faster games, smaller handicaps, and faster improvement.
I second Cr4zyP4nd4âs suggestion. 9x9 and 13x13 games are probably going to be more interesting for beginners, because theyâre faster, and lost games wonât drag on for too long. You might think that people are uncomfortable with resignation, but it might be just that beginners arenât sure about when a game is lost, and people who arenât used to abstract games might not be familiar with the concept of resignation at all.
You might want to try meeting people at more general board game conventions. I myself come from that ~modern boardgaming~ background (believe it or not, if it werenât for Monopoly Deal, I probably wouldnât be playing Go now). People there might have some prejudice against traditional abstracts, but once they give it a try, they usually change their minds. But you too will have to open up for other kinds of games, tho.
Also, a friend of mine mentioned that he wanted to try Go because he saw it being played in Hunter vs Hunter. You can take your chances with the manga/anime crowd.
Oh, I remember a story. Donât know where I read it, though.
Player A was new in the club, and sat down to play his first game agains Player B. Player B offered Player A some handicap, but Player A did a whole speech on why heâd not accept handicaps. Player B was like âok, but I insist on playing with whiteâ. So playerB just passed nine times in a row =)
I would like to suggest that you build a website. Godaddy is giving good deals now. Other people may be looking for others in your town and have no means to find you. If you open the website often it moves higher up in google. You will need a place to play and advertise it. Is there a university in your town?