Handicap series writeup

[topazg]

My good friend Chew and I have been having a blast with our revisited handicap games, and we came up with an idea: Much like Kage's chronicles of handicap go (outstanding book by the way, in case you haven't read it), we're planning on putting together our 3 stone handicap series, complete as a set of commented .sgfs with discussions, conversations, and variations, designed probably for a) entertainment, and b) instructive content for anyone probably between 5 and 15k. The idea would be to have them all compiled into a single .pdf document, freely available (probably off my website).

So, a couple of questions:

1) Does this sound like a worthwhile exercise with respect to potential readership finding it interesting enough to download and read.
2) Are there any suggestions as to what might improve the idea / project?

[BobC]

I'd look forward to this. A couple of things:

1] Your video on capping plays was excellent. I'd prefer that medium. SGFs with variations break continuity and I find it makes them hard work.

2]From the point of view of mass communication I think videos would be better..

3] Each game might start with what the game emphasizes.. the strategy, the techniques. So many of the GTL sgfs appear to be ramblings about how things could be done better.

4] Get someone who doesn't know what he's doing to ask questions about moves - and answer them!

[emeraldemon]

I also like the idea of doing a video. sgfs are helpful too, especially if you want to read over variations, but a video creates a kind of pacing and continuity that is sometimes nicer to follow. IIRC Araban tried doing videos in a malkovich at one point, but it wasn't too popular. But maybe something more structured would be helpful. (I've always liked countsheep's videos)

[jts]

On the one hand, I'm sure I'd read it. On the other hand, the general point of Kage's Chronicles was to make fun of amateur misconceptions about handicap go and compare them to how pros approach the use of the handicap stones. So it would be difficult to make the book "like" Kage's.

As an aside, I read somewhere that in handicap games you should try to visualize the stones with the colors reversed to picture W's vulnerabilities and B's strengths. It might be instructive to include a couple of diagrams like that.

[topazg]

Ok, well, in that case, first thing I'm going to do is another Go video from material I prepared about 7 months ago, it's long overdue. I'll post that here, and make a new thread, and depending on feedback, I'll either do the series as a video commentary exercise, or I'll do the .pdf

[ez4u]

Have you considered doing it using the Smartgo book format?

[mw42]

I really like video Malkovich games. Battousai has several on his youtube account (http://www.youtube.com/user/dwyrin). I'd like to see more people do this (I plan on if I ever get strong enough where people might learn something from watching them).

[Joaz Banbeck]

I've been thinking about this issue at some length previously. You need depth, not width.

...
3] Each game might start with what the game emphasizes.. the strategy, the techniques. So many of the GTL sgfs appear to be ramblings about how things could be done better.
...

...IIRC Araban tried doing videos in a malkovich at one point, but it wasn't too popular. But maybe something more structured would be helpful...

Araban's videos were admired by a very small audience: the people who were already fans of our game. I did a couple of my moves in that game as videos, and got compliments from the same people.
But outside of that, I heard nothing, for as BobC says, they were 'ramblings about how things could be done better'. They were very good ramblings, but they were not focussed. As such, they were only relevant to a very small fan base, and they served as much for entertainment as anything else.

If you do a video purely about your games, some small parts may have wide appeal. Maybe one small section will appeal to those who want to understand a particular joseki, or another small portion will appeal to some who want to see how to attack a two-space extension. But the whole video will apppeal to almost nobody - except for the few fans who want to study 'how to play like Graham', for that, indeed, will be the defacto subject of your video whether you try to make it so or not.

Most people want to study some particular subject. To produce a video that focusses on one particular subject you need repetition with variations. Unfortunately your games with Chew don't have that much repetition.

( Sorry, I wish I could say something more encouraging )

[lorill]

There's another point. I can read comments or a book at my own pace. I can't do that for a video, and it's harder to stop midway. I'd rather have a pdf than another video. (Realtime commented games are something else, I'm fan of battousai's series).

[Hushfield]

What a cool initiative. Thank you both. To answer your questions:
1) Yes, I'd definitely read it. I'll probably study it in front of the go board.
2) Since it's designed as instructive content, it might be a good idea to put only a few moves per diagram, with the appropriate comments next to or below the diagram. This might make the commentary easier to study. I'm thinking of Yuan Zhou's "Understanding How to Play Handicap Go" or the "Masterplay Series" from the same author here.

Concerning the text or video question:

There's another point. I can read comments or a book at my own pace. I can't do that for a video, and it's harder to stop midway. I'd rather have a pdf than another video.

Lorill summed it up perfectly. When I devote time to this, working with a text just seems more appropriate. That's how I like to study.