Is there an alternate server for relatively weak (DDK) players?

I'm kinda tired of escapers and those who offer free games even when I've explicitly ruled it out.

KGS has worn me down. The ratio of bad behavior to good games is too high for me but I've tried IGS and am totally crushed.

What's the ratio that has you so upset? I tried to look at your account but kgs doesn't list any games under 'scara'.

I don't recall much bad behaviour on KGS when I was a DDK a couple of years ago. If anything, I think KGS is one of the better servers for DDK, with things such as the Beginner's Room (worth checking out), people's willingness to teach on the server (see the KGS Teaching Ladder room), and the relatively low amount of sandbaggers when compared to other servers.

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Each of us woke up one moment and here we were in the darkness.
We're nameless things with no memory; no knowledge of what went before,
No understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be.

use automatch

Welcome to L19.

Hang around here, meet people, and maybe you can schedule game with them, either casually or formally as described in this thread: http://lifein19x19.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 061#p78061

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this

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I am John. John-I-Am.

My experience with automatch is that guests often escape, but registered players rarely do. So I'd use automatch and disable "Unranked players".

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Sanity is for the weak.

flyordie.

Not a good idea. If you don't play there regularly, your rating will be reset to 0 quite soon.

Not that much different than KGS where your rating goes to [?]. The pros outweigh the cons on that server for beginners regardless.

Agreed. For very beginners the rating is quite uninteresting anyway. Usually you get a match quickly as a beginner, you will be challenged by some player in the room.

play the bots

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

I just tried FlyOrDie. It is worse than the Gaming Zone used to be.

Yuck.

LOL

it has its charms

You could try GoShrine (http://goshrine.com). All 19x19 games are ranked, and there are no escapers; if you leave a game, you will lose.

-Pete

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Creator of GoShrine

LOL. It takes some time getting used to it. One funny thing is that you play on a 15x15 board. I play there every now and then, before going to sleep, when I am bored with TV program and when there are no new posts on L19 Since the rating is reset to 0 after some (quite short) time, I often get challenges from opponents around 200 pts who obviously want to smash some (apparent) beginner. Usually I wipe the board with them. But generally the server is beginner friendly and also has a good escaper policy (if you leave the room, you have lost). If you manage to hide the annoying flickering ad behind an "always-on-top" IrfanView window, it is ok to play there.

hate the 15 x 15 board.

It is big enough to be an investment of time.

It is non standard enough so the opening is all screwed up.

No plus side in my opinion.

Terri

Not sure whether some time investment in a 15x15 game is bad. Yeah, most standard sequences may not work on that board size, but it forces you to reflect more on your moves. Learning this kind of tactic would help you on other board sizes as well.

The reason why I don't like it very much is that you rarely get even matches. But for a beginner that doesn't count. If he has a non-even match, it is a teaching game for him.

I like it.

Much better than 13 x 13. Yet still smaller than 19 x 19 (smaller boards are good when I don't want to spend hours playing a game)

Just tried flyordie. Not too bad for beginners like me. Needed to get used to 15x15.

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Ancora Imparo