On Tue, 2007-06-19 at 12:15 -0700, steve uurtamo wrote: > > That still has the undesirable characteristic that you can use much less > > time than your opponent but still lose on time. > > not to be too obtuse, but why is this an undesirable characteristic?
No, I understand your question. It is a matter of what you consider important. You could argue that as long as the rules are the same for both players it's fair so it doesn't matter in that sense. I consider it "undesirable" because it takes a little dignity away from the players. It could be perceived as a bit unfair that you can can lose on time despite using much less time. But also, you are being forced to play a fairly steady rate instead of being given control over your own time-allocation. So there is less dignity in that. It also seems more elegant to me to reward the player who has taken the least amount of time. Remember, I'm a firm believer in the time/strength curve so to me if you spend less time playing the first N moves and have an equal position, then in my view you have "out-performed" your opponent. I consider it a travesty that you should get penalized for this. Instead, your reward should be a payment of some kind and extra time is the most logical payment! If you don't view it this way, then you are adding elements to the game which might make it more interesting in some ways, but those elements are not pure go, it's extra sub-games that you have to skillfully navigate. Wouldn't it be silly if you added a rule that said if you can't lift a 200 pound weight, you lose a turn? It would give the physically stronger player the advantage. There is nothing wrong with that, after all the physically stronger players have an advantage in sports and the more skilled players have an advantage in GO, but do you really want to add more non-go-specific elements to the game? It's appropriate that the more skillful go player has an advantage but not that the player with the strongest physical muscles does. I realize I'm really straining the gnat on this. byo-yomi time control isn't some kind of horrible travesty and it doesn't add very much extra non-go skill to the game, but it does a little. It's a step in the wrong direction even if just a little. This reminds me of what Universities and other government agencies have to live with with respect to funding. You are given a certain amount of money to spend in a certain amount of time, but if you don't use it, you lose it. You cannot save it up to be spent on something more intelligent later. When I worked at the lab we ran into that situation and as a result we all got laptops! We didn't really have a desperate need for laptops, but we had to go on a silly spending spree otherwise we would lose the money! Byo-yomi is exactly like that. If the byo-yomi time is 60 seconds, you must use the full 59 seconds or lose it. It's a shame that if you don't really need it, you lose it. - Don > s. > > > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Got a little couch potato? > Check out fun summer activities for kids. > http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=summer+activities+for+kids&cs=bz > > _______________________________________________ > computer-go mailing list > computer-go@computer-go.org > http://www.computer-go.org/mailman/listinfo/computer-go/ _______________________________________________ computer-go mailing list computer-go@computer-go.org http://www.computer-go.org/mailman/listinfo/computer-go/
