Life In 19x19

This is purely from myself as kyu level players point of view. Dan level players may face different issues and have different take.

I would vote for both DGS and OGS as best servers.

For live and blitz games, OGS is number #1, no doubt about that. I spent lots of
time last year at KGS and due to some life changing events that I was idle for couple of months, and later found out that I lost my rank at KGS. This was none sense.
Rank should stay with owner for life. Couple of months inactivity with severe penalty does not make sense. Although no official policy, I tend to believe OGS does not do that to its users. Further, I think OGS web based GUI is better than KGS java based GUI.

I tried IGS recently, and I actually like IGS for GUI and easiness to get games. But IGS ranking and rating system is way inferior to OGS. It needs 10 games net winning to be promoted and DDK range at IGS is full of sandbaggers and many weak players that do not feel right to me. The ranking at IGS on kyu level is not real. Ranking and rating at OGS is a lot better.

I also tried Tygem and WBaduk. It was tough to find games at kyu levels at both servers. Lots of different servers to connect and there was no automatch feature that allow proper handicap settings allowing rank restriction. The players at both place were fighters, very aggressive style. These two places may be fun for a few games here and there, but not worth spending lots of time there.

For turn based games, I would vote for DGS as best, OGS as close second. The DGS ranking system is best, fast and quick adjustment with lots of dan/kyu level bots. OGS corresponding games are comparable, but lack of working bots and ranking system is slower on adjustment compared to DGS. It is a lot easier to get proper ranks at DGS. I think DGS has this ranking system and bots edge against OGS so far.

Rank should stay with owner for life

If one truly is a certain rank, they will get it back after a win and a loss

The ranking at IGS on kyu level is not real.

DDK ranks can be very "fluid", unstable, and unreliable.
At higher levels, say around 3 kyu or better, the ranks become much more stable.

EdLee wrote:

The ranking at IGS on kyu level is not real.

DDK ranks can be very "fluid", unstable, and unreliable.
At higher levels, say around 3 kyu or better, the ranks become much more stable.

I would say today at DGS, rank between 20 kyu to 1 kyu are quite reliable and stable. DGS rank between 30kyu and 20 kyu are unstable because there was no robots in the past to anchor playing strength. In the future DGS rank between 30 kyu to 20 kyu could be stable and reliable too with introduction of more kyu level bots.

nukeu666 wrote:

Rank should stay with owner for life

If one truly is a certain rank, they will get it back after a win and a loss

easy said than done. Time, effort investment on resource is tough with busy schedules.

Shoreline wrote:

nukeu666 wrote:

Rank should stay with owner for life

If one truly is a certain rank, they will get it back after a win and a loss

easy said than done. Time, effort investment on resource is tough with busy schedules.

Ranks shouldn't be thought of as a "reward" or "penalty". Ranks are there to calibrate which opponents you should play against, and at what handicap. If you're playing that rarely, it is reasonable to assume that the class of opponents you were 50% against before, are no longer at 50%. Why is it a "penalty" to be matched against the right opponent?

apetresc wrote: Ranks shouldn't be thought of as a "reward" or "penalty". Ranks are there to calibrate which opponents you should play against, and at what handicap. If you're playing that rarely, it is reasonable to assume that the class of opponents you were 50% against before, are no longer at 50%. Why is it a "penalty" to be matched against the right opponent?

Not to try to perceive the rank as reward. The rank is coupled with playing capability and the rank should be correctly reflecting that. The owner of the rank deserve a correct number.

I kind of regretted to push so positively on OGS. Recently there has been lots of server stability issue due to upgrade. If OGS does not resolve this issue quickly, the only good choice would be KGS and DGS.

Shoreline wrote:I kind of regretted to push so positively on OGS. Recently there has been lots of server stability issue due to upgrade. If OGS does not resolve this issue quickly, the only good choice would be KGS and DGS.

Don't regret it. It was certainly true until recently and it might well be true again in a couple of weeks.

Gotraskhalana wrote:

Shoreline wrote:I kind of regretted to push so positively on OGS. Recently there has been lots of server stability issue due to upgrade. If OGS does not resolve this issue quickly, the only good choice would be KGS and DGS.

Don't regret it. It was certainly true until recently and it might well be true again in a couple of weeks.

I played couple of live and blitz yesterday with no problems. But I am still hesitate to say OGS trouble is over

Shoreline wrote:

Gotraskhalana wrote:

Shoreline wrote:I kind of regretted to push so positively on OGS. Recently there has been lots of server stability issue due to upgrade. If OGS does not resolve this issue quickly, the only good choice would be KGS and DGS.

Don't regret it. It was certainly true until recently and it might well be true again in a couple of weeks.

I played couple of live and blitz yesterday with no problems. But I am still hesitate to say OGS trouble is over

I agree with that, I only play correspondence games for now until things are settled down. I am still quite optimistic that things *will* get settled down eventually.

I had similar experience with lagging on OGS a couple of days ago. But now it seems solved and even faster than before, especially it seems now much faster on mobile devices. Also it seems nowadays easier to get a game on OGS (by just opening a game request) than some time ago. Nevertheless I am not sure if I have a "favorite" server, I like to have these multiple options, also the playing styles on different servers feel different, which is good.

schawipp wrote:I had similar experience with lagging on OGS a couple of days ago. But now it seems solved and even faster than before, especially it seems now much faster on mobile devices. Also it seems nowadays easier to get a game on OGS (by just opening a game request) than some time ago. Nevertheless I am not sure if I have a "favorite" server, I like to have these multiple options, also the playing styles on different servers feel different, which is good.

you probably play a lot of games. I only play a couple of live games per week. For light players like me, it is more important to find the best server to focus instead of spreading out to different places because only lots of game in one server can result in proper ranking.

Shoreline wrote: you probably play a lot of games. I only play a couple of live games per week. For light players like me, it is more important to find the best server to focus instead of spreading out to different places because only lots of game in one server can result in proper ranking.

I play a lot lighter than you do, and I would still suggest playing on a bunch of different servers.

oren wrote:I play a lot lighter than you do, and I would still suggest playing on a bunch of different servers.

I agree -- very different playing styles across the different servers.